Cannot Distinguish Between Law and Love

“The whole law is fulfilled in one word: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself’.” (Galatians 5:14)

Some people understand Paul to say that the New Testament principle of love has replaced the Old Testament principle of law. Whereas the Jewish nation in the Old Testament lived under a number of specific moral laws, the church in the New Testament has “come of age” and now lives by the higher principle of love. Since love must be voluntary and cannot be compelled, so the thinking goes, love and law are mutually exclusive.

But if we realize the moral law is a transcript–a written reproduction–of the moral character of God and that “God is love” (1 John 4:8), we see that we cannot distinguish between law and love. Both express the character of God. They’re two sides of the same coin.

For example, Paul said in Romans 13:10, “Love does no wrong to its neighbor” (NIV). If we didn’t also have the commandments (which Paul quoted in verse 9) against such things as adultery, stealing, and murder, how would we know what it means to harm one’s neighbor?

Love provides the motive for obeying the commands of the Law, but the Law provides specific direction for exercising love.

~ via Pure Church