Romans 13:8-10 - Love & Fulfillment

Paul turned from the believers' responsibility to government to their responsibility to others.

Romans 13:8-10 (KJV)
⁸ Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law.
⁹ For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
¹⁰ Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.

According to verse 8 believers are to owe nothing to anyone except love, because that is the fulfillment of the Torah. Paul went on to list several of God's commands like, "You shall not commit adultery," "You shall not kill," "You shall not lie," and "You shall not covet." All God's commands regarding the treatment of others falls under loving your neighbor as yourself (verse 9). So, if believers do no ill to their neighbors they have fulfilled the Torah (verse 10).

The overarching theme of the behavior of believers is love. Any action taken must be with the good of others in mind. Therefore, when multiple actions are compared, the one that demonstrates love is the correct action to take.

However, traditional Christianity has gone beyond Paul's intent and generally has believed that Paul was saying that the individual Torah laws weren't important, that as long as a believer responded in a loving way to others, Torah was fulfilled. In essence Christianity has determined that the only law regarding others that anyone needs to be concerned about is, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself."

Rather, Paul was placing a hierarchy over the details. Each of all the Torah Laws are still in force, but deciding which one might take precedence in any given situation could be determined by asking, "Am I loving my neighbor as myself if I take this action, or another?"

This way of looking at the Romans passage fits in with Yeshua's comment to the Pharisees in Matthew.

Matthew 23:23 (KJV)
²³ Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.

Before the Pharisees should have tithed their mint, anise, and cumin, they should have treated their fellow man with love. Their tithes (following a Torah law), although good in principle, gained them nothing because other weightier (loving) Torah laws were ignored. They did not fulfill the Torah by their actions.

Any time believers act in love towards others they fulfill the Torah. It is something that can be done over and over again. When Christianity removed Torah from believers' obligations, it removed their guidelines on what love looks like. Without Torah, believers no longer know what God expects and they are left choosing actions based solely on feelings. Without knowing the Torah how can the believer ever fulfill it?