8Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for he who loves his fellowman has fulfilled the law. 9The commandments, “Do not commit adultery,” “Do not murder,” “Do not steal,” “Do not covet,” and whatever other commandment there may be, are summed up in this one rule: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” 10Love does no harm to its neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law. – – Romans 13:8-10
God had given the Israelite 10 commandments after coming out of Egypt. These were given as basic “lowest acceptable level” type rules that God put in place to esure a happy and blessed life for His people.
As you continue to read through the Old Testament and into the New Testament you start to realise that these laws are constantly being broken by God’s people – and even continue to be today.
So Paul decided to try and make things a little simpler when he said, “The commandments, “Do not commit adultery,” “Do not murder,” “Do not steal,” “Do not covet,” and whatever other commandment there may be, are summed up in this one rule: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”
Jesus put it this way in Mark 12:28:
“The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. 30Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ 31The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’There is no commandment greater than these.”
So what Jesus and Paul are both trying to say is, “All we need is love.”
To follow God’s commandments, we need to:
- Love God
Our love for God is but a faint reflection of His love for us. We would be unable to truly express love to ourselves or others unless we had first experiences God’s pure love.And once we have, how can we fail to love Him back?
- Love Ourselves
You may be thinking, ‘shouldn’t we put others before ourselves?’ I mean we are always taught ‘others first’ but that’s not what God is saying. Both Jesus and Paul specifically say, ‘ love your neighbour as yourself’‘. So how can we attempt to love others if we do not first love ourselves.How we see and treat others is a direct reflection of how we see ourselves. If we do not respect ourselves and put value on our own lives, then how will we ever be able to see the value in others?
- Love Others
We you love yourself for who God created you to be, then you cannot help but see others in the same light. When you start to look at yourself through the eyes of God’s love, you cannot but look at others in the same light.
And the thing is that when you truly are able to love God, love yourself and love others, then you wont have to worry about the 10 commandments. You will automatically steer clear of them!