God's Laws are Love

Romans 6:13-16 (KJV)

13 Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.

14 For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.

15 What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid.

16 Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?



Romans 3:31

Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law.


Romans 13:8

Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law.

Romans 13:10

Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.



It's at times surprising to see many well-meaning Christian leaders teach the moral laws of God are no longer relevant to His people, or to the world.

The major confusion comes from not distinguishing between justification and sanctification. No one is made right with God other than through repentance and faith in Jesus Christ. As Paul said, let anyone preaching another gospel be accursed. Only through the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ do we have a right standing with God the Father through faith in His only begotten Son.

Where the assumption of their being no more moral law to follow comes in is where believers think the law given to Moses is no longer a requirement and guide to the way of life.

As Romans 3:31 says,

Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law.

See how simple that is?

The law was never removed when we place our faith in Jesus Christ, it is established.

When it says he who loves his neighbor fulfills the law, it means those that live under the requirements of the law as revealed to Moses by God Almighty.

Loving your neighbor isn't some type of childish sentimentality. It's a rigorous discipline we engage in with the help of the Holy Spirit who dwells within all believers.

Love is action, and that action is to line up with the law of God.

If you don't believe that, what's to keep you from killing your neighbors, stealing from them, raping them, or whatever else comes to you mind to do?

You may respond: "Well, that's not love." How do you know if you seriously believe there is no longer any requirement to obey the laws of God.

The truth is the law of God as revealed to Moses is what real love is, as defined by God Himself. Do you think he changed the murder prohibition, or the adultery prohibition? Of course not. It would be nonsensical to come to that conclusion.

We aren't saved by the law, but we are to live in obedience to it. And we are empowered by the Holy Spirit to accomplish that.

Having said that, of course the ceremonial laws are no longer relevant, as the sacrifice of Jesus Christ rendered them null and void. He was the Lamb of God, and there is no longer any need to offer animal sacrifices, which couldn't bring the remission of sins even before Christ's sacrifice on the cross.

There were other parts of the law no longer in effect, including Jubilee. The point is, none of the moral laws revealed by God have been removed, and we are still expected to walk in obedience to them. We do not in order to be made right with God, but because of the new birth, now are able to do so by the Holy Spirit dwelling within us.

We need to look afresh at the law of God as a true revelation of how to love our neighbor, as that's how love is defined - doing no harm to our neighbor. The law teaches us and guides us into how to do that.

Also keep in mind the moral law was the very revelation of the character of God. To think that character has been thrown away and buried with Christ is the wrong way to look at it.

Legalism isn't the laws given by God, legalism is the additional laws of man added, and then given the same weight or authority as the actual law of God. That was the error of the Jewish leaders in Jesus' earthly days, and why He condemned them. They had added so many laws it made the people of Israel walk under a heavy burden God never intended them too.

Those who refuse to accept the fact the moral laws of God are the guide to the way we are to love our neighbors, simply make up their own laws to live by, or worse, live by the laws made up by those who are the enemies of Jesus Christ and His people.

To separate love from God's laws is to create a vacuum for humanism to step in and create laws in their own image and according to their own ideology.

If we don't seek to once again understand and obey God's laws, we'll see things continue to get worse as the spirit of the world and Satan infiltrate the Church, convincing it they have to endure their laws while ignoring the very laws of God as revealed in the Holy Scriptures.

Or worse, maybe a few decades under Sharia law will convince Christians the law of God is in fact truly a revelation on how to love Him and one another.

Love isn't a feeling or emotion, love is words we may say or not say, or action we take toward our neighbor. It is defined by God's word, and only searching out His law and applying it to all areas of life are we able to truly love one another, and show the world the true character of Jesus Christ.

True love establishes His law. It doesn't operate outside of it in any way a person wishes.