By Ademola Aderibigbe

“Owe no man anything, but to love one another: for he that loves another has fulfilled the law.

For this, You shall not commit adultery, You shall not kill, You shall not steal, You shall not bear false witness, You shall not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is summed up in this saying, namely, You shall love your neighbor as yourself.

Love works no ill to his neighbor: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.”
(Romans 13:8-10)

In the books of the Old Testament from Exodus to Deuteronomy, we see God giving the people of Israel various instructions through the prophet Moses. One of the most notable instructions was The Ten Commandments as given to him on the mountain after they departed from the land of Egypt and crossed the red sea miraculously. The ten commandment was not just a set of instructions given to them to live by but it also became their constitution as a nation of people ruled by God and the requirement was that they were to obey it without failing one of them.

“For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.” (James 2:10)

The words of the law were lucid enough to be construed by children hence God instructed them to teach their children so that they can learn to observe the Lord’s way as they grow and not forget the God of their fathers.

“And these words, which I command you this day, shall be in your heart:

And you shall teach them diligently unto your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise up.” (Deuteronomy 6:6-7)

The law is God’s standards and the people were meant to live by it. It is the revelation of how God expected man to live and order his life but the nature of sin makes it practically impossible to attain. The summary of all the law as Jesus said is to love God with all your heart and love your neighbour as yourself (Matthew 22:37-40, Mark 12:28-34). Love is the fulfilling of The Law. When you walk in love you are walking in God’s perfect will. By giving man the Law, God was in essence telling man that he wants him to live a life of Love but the nature of sin wouldn’t let him.

Sin (the nature) is a strong force in man which constantly pulls him in the opposite direction of God’s will hence the need for salvation and the recreation of the innermost man to make him stay in line with God.

“A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh.

And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and you shall keep my judgments, and do them.” (Ezekiel 36:26-27)

As we receive a new heart, we receive along with it the nature of love – the capacity to love like God. He said when his new spirit is in us he will cause us to walk in his statutes. This also means that his laws will be written in our spirits. Wow! Now we don’t just try to do right but we know how to do right because we have the ability. Just like sin was a negative force in us propelling us to do evil, now love has become a new force in us, compelling us to do good.

As a new creation, we have fulfilled the law in Christ Jesus, because he fulfilled the law and died in the place of man. As we accept his work, we have been perfected in the love of God. We are now born with the nature of love and given the capacity and ability to love and obey God.

We are thus admonished in the epistles to walk in love.

“Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.” (Ephesians 5:1-2)

Love is the Law. Let your focus be on the Love Nature in you and expressing that love nature then you will see the life of God manifested through you.