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Question

How does love fulfill the law? Jesus summarized the entire Decalogue as love for God and love for neighbor (Mat 22:36-40). Paul declared "love is the fulfilling of the law" (Rom 13:10). John defined love of God as keeping His commandments (1 John 5:3). How do the two great commandments relate to the ten? Does love replace the commandments or does love express itself through commandment-keeping?

Topics

LOVE (of man for God)

EXO 20:6; DEU 5:10; 6:5; 7:9; 10:12; 11:1,13,22; 13:3; 30:6,16,20; JOS 22:5; 23:11; PSA 18:1; 31:23; 37:4; 45:10,11; 63:5,6; 69:35,36; 73:25,26; 91:14; 97:10; 116:1; 145:20; PRO 8:17; 23:26; ISA 56:6,7; JER 2:2,3; MAT 22:37,38; MRK 12:29,30,32,33; LUK 11:42; JHN 5:42; ROM 5:5; 8:28; 1CO 8:3; PHP 1:9; 2TH 3:5; 2TI 1:7; 1JN 2:5,15; 3:17,18; 4:12,16-21; 5:1-3; 2JN 1:6; Jude 1:21

LOVE (of man for Jesus)

MAT 10:37,38; 25:34-40; 27:55-61; MRK 9:41; LUK 2:29,30; 7:47; JHN 8:42; 14:15,21,23,28; 15:9; 16:27; 17:26; 21:17; ACT 21:13; 1CO 16:22; 2CO 5:6,8,14,15; GAL 5:6,22; 6:14; EPH 3:17-19; 4:15; 6:24; PHP 1:9,20,21,23; 3:7,8; COL 1:8; 2TH 3:5; 2TI 1:13; 4:8; PHM 1:5; HEB 6:10; JAS 1:12; 2:5; 1PE 1:8; 2:7; REV 2:4

LOVE (of man for man)

LEV 19:18,34; DEU 10:19; PSA 133:1-3; PRO 10:12; 15:17; 17:9,17; So 8:6,7; MAT 5:41-47; 7:12; 10:41,42; 19:19; 25:34-40; MRK 9:41; 12:30-33; LUK 6:31-35; 10:30-37; JHN 13:14,15,34,35; 15:12,13,17; ROM 12:9,10; 13:8-10; 1CO 8:1; 13:1-13; 14:1; 16:14; 2CO 8:7,8; GAL 5:13,14,22,26; EPH 5:2; PHP 1:9; 2:2; COL 2:2; 3:12; 1TH 1:3; 3:12; 4:9; 1TI 1:5,14; 2:15; 4:12; 6:2; 2TI 2:22; TIT 3:15; PHM 1:12-16; HEB 10:24; JAS 2:8; 1PE 1:22; 2:17; 3:8,9; 4:8; 2PE 1:7; 1JN 2:9-11; 3:11,14,16-19,23; 4:7,11,12,20,21; 5:1,2; 2JN 1:5

COMMANDMENTS

General scriptures concerning: EXO 13:8-10; 20:3-17; DEU 4:5,9,10; 5:6-21; 6:4-9; 11:18-21; 32:46,47; JOS 8:30-35; 2CH 17:7-9; NEH 8:2-8; PSA 78:1-7; PRO 3:3,4; 6:20,21; 7:1-4; ISA 57:8; JER 11:4; ZEC 7:9,10; 8:16,17

Precepts of Jesus: MAT 5:16,22-24,27-48; 6:1-4,6-8,16-25,31-34; 7:1-29; 10:5-42; 16:24; 18:8-10,15-17,21,22; 19:16-19; 20:25-28; 22:21,34-40; 24:42-51; 25:34-46; JHN 7:24; 13:34,35; 14:11,15,23,24; 15:2,4,5,7-12,14,17,20-22

Precepts of Paul: ROM 12:1-3,6-21; 13:8-14; 14:19-21; 15:1,2; 1CO 8:1,7-13; 10:7-10,24,28,29,31,32; 14:20; 16:13,14; GAL 5:1,16; 6:1,2; EPH 4:1-3,26-32; 5:1-6,11,15,17-21; 6:10,11,13-18; PHP 1:27,28; 2:2-8,12-16; 4:6,8,9; COL 2:6,16,20-23; 3:1,2,5,8,9,12-17,23; 1TH 3:12; 4:1,3,5,6,9-12; 5:6,8,12-22

Other apostles: JAS 1:16,19,21,22; 2:1-4,8-12; 3:1; 4:7-11,13-15; 5:7-12,16; 1PE 1:13-17; 2:11-25; 3:8-12,15-17; 4:1-16; 5:1-3,5-9; 2PE 1:5-7,10; 3:14,18; 1JN 2:15,28; 3:10-23; 4:1,7,8,11,12,15,16,21; 5:21; 2JN 1:5,6; REV 3:11,18,19; 22:17

OBEDIENCE

General scriptures: GEN 18:19; EXO 19:5; 20:6; 24:7; NUM 9:23; 14:24; DEU 5:10; JOS 14:6-14; 22:2; 24:24; 1KI 3:14; 2KI 18:6; 21:8; NEH 1:5; PSA 1:2; 18:44; 25:10; 99:7; 103:17,18,20,21; 111:10; 112:1; 119:2,4-6,8,10,15,16,22,30,31,33,44,45,55,56,59,60,72,77,87,97,100-102,104-106,109,112,129,167,168; 143:10; PRO 1:33; 19:16; 28:7; ISA 1:19; JER 7:23; EZK 18:19; 33:14-16; DAN 7:27; MAT 5:19; 6:24; 9:9; 12:50; 13:8,23; 25:20-23; JHN 8:28,51; 9:4; 10:27; 14:15,23,31; 15:10,14,16; ACT 4:19; 5:29; ROM 6:17; EPH 2:10; PHP 2:12; HEB 10:7; JAS 2:10-12; 1PE 1:2,14; 1JN 2:3-6,17; 3:22,24; 5:2,3; 2JN 1:6-9; REV 12:17; 22:7,14

Enjoined: GEN 17:9; EXO 23:22; LEV 19:19,36,37; 20:8,22; 22:31; 26:3-13; NUM 15:38-40; DEU 4:1-40; 5:1-33; 6:1-25; 8:1-6,11-14,16-20; 10:12,13; 11:1-3,8,9,13-28,32; 13:4; 26:16-18; 27:1-10; 28:1-68; 32:46; JOS 22:5; 23:6,7; 24:14,15; JHN 12:26; 13:17; 14:15,21; GAL 3:10,12; 5:3; EPH 4:1,17; 6:6-8; PHP 2:12; 1TI 6:14,18; HEB 13:16; JAS 1:22-25

LAW

General scriptures: PSA 19:7-9; 119:1-8; PRO 28:4,5; MAT 22:21; LUK 16:17; 20:22-25; ROM 2:14,15; 7:7,12,14; 13:10; 1TI 1:5,8-10; JAS 1:25; 1JN 3:4; 5:3

Of Moses: Given at Sinai (EXO 19; DEU 1:1; 4:10-13; 33:2); written with finger of God (EXO 31:18; DEU 9:10); engraved on stone (EXO 20:3-17; 24:12; 31:18; 32:16; 34:29; 40:20; DEU 4:13; 5:4-22; 9:10); preserved in ark (EXO 25:16; DEU 31:9,26); epitomized by Jesus (MAT 22:40; MRK 12:29-33; LUK 10:27).

HOLINESS

General scriptures: GEN 17:1; 35:2; EXO 19:6; 22:31; LEV 10:8-10; 11:44,45; 19:2; 20:7,26; DEU 13:17; 14:2; 18:13; 26:19; 28:9; 30:2,10; JOS 7:12,13; PSA 4:4; 15:1-5; 24:3-5; 97:10; 119:1-3; ISA 4:3; 26:2,8,9; 35:8; 51:7; 52:1,11; MIC 6:8; MAT 5:6,8,48; ROM 6:1-23; 12:1,2; 1CO 3:16,17; 6:19,20; GAL 5:22-25; EPH 4:20-24; 5:1,3,8-11; 1TH 4:3,4,7; HEB 12:14; 1PE 1:14-16; 1JN 2:1,5,29; 3:3,6-10

Key Connections Between Topics

  1. LOVE and OBEDIENCE are consistently paired -- Exo 20:6 ("them that love me, and keep my commandments") sets the pattern repeated through Deu 7:9, Neh 1:5, Dan 9:4, Jhn 14:15, 1 Jhn 5:3
  2. LOVE and LAW are explicitly linked -- Rom 13:10 ("love is the fulfilling of the law"), Gal 5:14, 1 Tim 1:5 ("end of the commandment is charity"), Jas 2:8 ("royal law")
  3. HOLINESS and LOVE intersect -- Lev 19:2 ("be holy") introduces the chapter containing Lev 19:18 ("love thy neighbour"); 1 Jhn 2:5 ("whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected")
  4. COMMANDMENTS entry contains Jesus's love-command discourse -- Jhn 13:34,35; 14:11,15,23,24; 15:2,4,5,7-12,14,17 are listed as "precepts of Jesus"