Romans 13:10

Love worketh, &c. Such is its very nature, to avoid the kind of acts which as a fact the Law forbids. Therefore Love ("Charity," 1 Corinthians 13, &c.), though its action is not, strictly speaking, originated by the Law, but the necessary result of its being Love, is in perfect harmony with the Law which is the precept of Eternal Love; and so is the surest secret of fulfilling it.

his neighbour Lit. the neighbour: the neighbour in each case.

the fulfilling Better, the fulfilment. The Gr. word means not the processof obedience, but the result of the process;obedience as an accomplished fact. For this view of Love, see note on Romans 13:8; "hath fulfilled."

The doctrine of this passage (that to love one another is the true secret of obedience to the Divine Law,) is in perfect harmony with the doctrine of the "bondservice" of the Christian, as stated in ch. 6; for the true secret of that bondservice is adoring gratitude for emancipation from the slavery of sin; a gratitude which after all does but joyfully recognize the unchangeable factof the lawful claimof the Creator and Redeemer to the devotion of the whole man. Thus love to God is in fact the full acceptance of His will, His law; and love to others for His sake is therefore the sure way to carry out that law in its special precepts regarding duty to fellow-Christians and fellow-men. Manifestly the law is to be the authoritative guide of "love." Love is not "a law unto itself," but the "fulfilment" of the definite and objective rule of God's revealed will.