Can There Really Be Love Without Law?

Question: The Apostle Paul states that “love is the fulfillment of the law” (Romans 13:10). Does his statement mean that we don’t need to keep the Ten Commandments if we have love?

Answer: The “love” of which Paul writes is not a sentimental feeling of human origin—he explains that it is the very love of God imparted to our minds by the Holy Spirit (Romans 5:5; Galatians 5:22). This is the love that enables one to keep—or fulfill—the Ten Commandments. But how exactly does God’s love fulfill His commandments?

Jesus Christ set the example all Christians are to follow (1 Peter 2:21). He kept His Father’s commandments, and He taught others to keep them (John 14:15; 15:10; Matthew 19:16–19).

Jesus summarized the Ten Commandments as the expression of love to God and to our fellow man (Matthew 22:35–40). The first four commandments show us how to love God, and the last six commandments show us how to love our neighbors. Since the Apostle John tells us that the most fundamental characteristic of God’s nature and character is “love” (1 John 4:8, 16), the Ten Commandments are therefore expressions of the Supreme Lawgiver’s divine love, because they reflect His very character, which is summarized by love. This love is not a form of humanly devised affection, but is instead the true, divine love that comes directly from God through His Holy Spirit (Romans 5:5).

As God is love, Jesus showed that the spiritual intent and purpose of God’s law is love. The divine love of God, imparted to true Christians by His Holy Spirit, is expressed within the mechanism of His law—the Ten Commandments. It is manifested in adoration and worship of God and in faithful obedience to Him, as well as in outgoing concern, compassion, kindness, and service to those around us. The love of God enables us to fulfill not just the physical intent but also the spiritual intent of His law.

“He who loves another has fulfilled the law,” Paul explains. “For the commandments, ‘You shall not commit adultery,’ ‘You shall not murder,’ ‘You shall not steal,’ ‘You shall not bear false witness,’ ‘You shall not covet,’ and if there is any other commandment, are all summed up in this saying, namely, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ Love does no harm to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law” (Romans 13:8–10).

God reveals that we express His love through keeping His commandments. John plainly explained how God’s love is expressed, and he defined that love as follows: “By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and keep His commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome” (1 John 5:2–3).

The Commandments Define God’s Love

All of this having been stated, could there possibly be any truth whatsoever in the widespread belief that “love” fulfills the law of God in such a way that the keeping of the Ten Commandments is no longer necessary?

John emphatically wrote that the answer is no:

Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. He who says, “I know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him. He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked (1 John 2:3–6).

John certainly emphasized the necessity of God’s love, but never did he, nor any other writer of Scripture, teach that this love supersedes, puts away, or invalidates the law of God. John, who was one of Jesus’ disciples and His close friend, stated plainly that one who truly has the love of God will be keeping the commandments of God: “This is love, that we walk according to His commandments” (2 John 5–6).

The time is coming soon when the whole world, ruled by Jesus Christ, will understand and appreciate what an incredible blessing the law of God truly is. A glorious world of peace and harmony will result from the keeping of God’s law (Isaiah 2:2–3).