Romans 13:8-10 – Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.
Before I jump in, notice that the word love is mentioned five times in these two verses. There are four types of love in Greek:
Storge – empathy bond.
Philia – friend bond.
Eros – romantic love.
Agape – unconditional “God” love.
In this verse, love is referring to the Greek word agapē. Agape is equivalent to having an unconditional, unchanging, or God-like love.
We also see that we “fulfill” or “sum up” the Law through love. This is mentioned three times in these verses.
As I was studying these verses, I reflected on how in vs9 Paul quotes a few of the Ten Commandments from Exodus 20:13-17 and how we truly can avoid breaking these commandments and therefore fulfill the Law just by loving others.
If you look at committing adultery: you’re sinning against your spouse, others, and ultimately God.
If you look at murdering: you’re sinning against another by ending life, whether physically or emotionally (Matthew 5:27-28).
If you look at stealing: you’re sinning against another by taking what belongs to them and making it yours.
If you look at coveting: you’re yearning to possess someone else’s belongings and making them your own.
All of these would be avoided if we were just to love. Love others, love God, and even love ourselves. When I say “love ourselves” I mean the true meaning of the word love… by preserving our own life. Scripture mentions multiple places about how we care about our own bodies, and we even see that we are to love our neighbor as ourselves. This shows that we naturally care for our own wellbeing.
So, go throughout your day remembering to love others, love God, and love yourself… in the truest sense of the word: agape. Unconditional, unchanging, pure, God-like love.
