Thought For Today: “Law and Love are Kinfolk”

We are often told that the Law of God and the Love of God are somehow opposites. Even Jesus said, “For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.” (John 1:17)

The truth, however, is in the “but.” The only distinction between the two is that the Law tells us what we’re to do, while grace enables us to do it. This was the Apostle Paul’s point.

“Love is the fulfillment of the law.” (Romans 13:10b)

Look now at Paul’s whole point.

“Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law … and if there is any other commandment, (they) 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)

The law, therefore, is an expression of love, and love is the fulfilling of the law.