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Word Studies

Question

How does love fulfill the law? Key terms: love, commandment, law, fulfill, obedience.

Hebrew Words

H157 -- אָהַב ('ahab) -- "to love"

Transliteration: 'ahab Pronunciation: aw-hab Part of Speech: Verb BLB Count: 208 occurrences Definition: A primitive root; to have affection for (sexually or otherwise); (be-)love(-d, -ly, -r), like, friend.

Key Uses in This Study

  • Deu 6:5 -- "thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart" -- the Shema command
  • Lev 19:18 -- "thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself"
  • Lev 19:34 -- "thou shalt love him [the stranger] as thyself"
  • Exo 20:6 -- "them that love me, and keep my commandments"
  • Deu 7:9 -- "them that love him and keep his commandments"
  • Deu 10:12 -- "to love him, and to serve the LORD thy God"
  • Deu 11:1,13,22 -- "thou shalt love the LORD thy God" (repeated with commandment-keeping)
  • Deu 30:6 -- "to love the LORD thy God with all thine heart"
  • Deu 30:16 -- "to love the LORD thy God, to walk in his ways"
  • Deu 30:20 -- "that thou mayest love the LORD thy God"
  • Psa 119:47 -- "thy commandments, which I have loved"
  • Psa 119:97 -- "O how love I thy law!"
  • Psa 119:127 -- "I love thy commandments above gold"
  • Psa 119:165 -- "Great peace have they which love thy law"

Hebrew Parsing of Deu 6:5

וְאָ֣הַבְתָּ֔  (we'ahabta)
Verb.Qal.Perfect.2ms -- "and you shall love"
Lemma: אהב ('ahab)
The Perfect with waw-consecutive functions as an imperative command. The same form (Qal Perfect 2ms) is used in Lev 19:18 for "love thy neighbour."

Hebrew Parsing of Lev 19:18

וְאָֽהַבְתָּ֥  (we'ahabta)
Verb.Qal.Perfect.2ms -- "and you shall love"
Lemma: אהב ('ahab)
לְרֵעֲךָ֖ (lere'aka) -- "to your fellow/neighbour"
כָּמֹ֑וךָ (kamouka) -- "like you" / "as yourself"
Identical verb form to Deu 6:5. Same verb ('ahab) used for both love of God and love of neighbor.

LXX Translation of H157

The Septuagint overwhelmingly translates H157 ('ahab) with G25 (agapao): - G25 agapao: 144 occurrences (PMI score: 32.42) -- dominant translation - G5368 phileo: 12 occurrences (PMI score: 15.06) -- secondary - G3404 miseo: 24 occurrences (PMI score: 14.02) -- used in negated contexts ("not love" = "hate")

Significance: The LXX established agapao as the standard Greek translation for the Hebrew love ('ahab) of the Shema and the neighbor command. The NT authors inherited this translation when quoting Deu 6:5 and Lev 19:18.

H4687 -- מִצְוָה (mitsvah) -- "commandment"

Transliteration: mitsvah Pronunciation: mits-vaw Part of Speech: Feminine noun BLB Count: 181 occurrences Definition: From H6680 (tsavah, "to command"); a command, whether human or divine (collectively, the Law); commanded(-ment), law, ordinance, precept.

Key Uses

  • Exo 20:6 -- "them that love me, and keep my commandments (mitsvotay)"
  • Deu 5:10 -- same phrase as Exo 20:6
  • Deu 6:1 -- "these [are] the commandments"
  • Deu 6:25 -- "if we observe to do all these commandments"
  • Deu 10:13 -- "To keep the commandments of the LORD"
  • Deu 11:1 -- "love the LORD thy God, and keep...his commandments"
  • Deu 30:11 -- "this commandment which I command thee this day"
  • Deu 30:16 -- "to keep his commandments and his statutes"
  • Psa 119:6 -- "respect unto all thy commandments"
  • Psa 119:47 -- "delight myself in thy commandments, which I have loved"
  • Psa 119:96 -- "thy commandment [is] exceeding broad"
  • Psa 119:127 -- "I love thy commandments above gold"
  • Ecc 12:13 -- "Fear God, and keep his commandments"

H8451 -- תּוֹרָה (torah) -- "law, instruction"

Transliteration: towrah Pronunciation: to-raw Part of Speech: Feminine noun BLB Count: 219 occurrences Definition: From H3384 (yarah, "to throw, shoot, teach"); a precept or statute, especially the Decalogue or Pentateuch; law.

Key Uses

  • Psa 1:2 -- "in his law (torah) doth he meditate day and night"
  • Psa 19:7 -- "The law of the LORD [is] perfect, converting the soul"
  • Psa 119:1 -- "walk in the law of the LORD"
  • Psa 119:44 -- "I keep thy law continually"
  • Psa 119:97 -- "O how love I thy law"
  • Psa 119:165 -- "Great peace have they which love thy law"
  • Jer 31:33 -- "I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts"

Greek Words

G26 -- ἀγάπη (agape) -- "love"

Transliteration: agape Pronunciation: ag-ah-pay Part of Speech: Feminine noun BLB Count: 117 occurrences Definition: From G25 (agapao); love, i.e., affection or benevolence.

Key Uses in This Study (translated "love" 45 times)

  • Rom 5:5 -- "the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost"
  • Rom 5:8 -- "God commendeth his love toward us"
  • Rom 8:35 -- "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?"
  • Rom 13:10 -- "Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love [is] the fulfilling of the law"
  • 1 Cor 13:1-13 -- "charity" (agape) throughout; "the greatest of these [is] charity"
  • 1 Cor 16:24 -- "My love [be] with you all in Christ Jesus"
  • Gal 5:6 -- "faith which worketh by love"
  • Gal 5:13 -- "by love serve one another"
  • Gal 5:22 -- "the fruit of the Spirit is love"
  • Col 3:14 -- "charity, which is the bond of perfectness"
  • 1 Tim 1:5 -- "the end of the commandment is charity"
  • 1 Jn 4:7 -- "love is of God"
  • 1 Jn 4:8 -- "God is love"
  • 1 Jn 4:16 -- "God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God"
  • 1 Jn 5:3 -- "this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments"

G25 -- ἀγαπάω (agapao) -- "to love"

Transliteration: agapao Pronunciation: ag-ap-ah-o Part of Speech: Verb BLB Count: 142 occurrences Definition: Perhaps from agan (much); to love (in a social or moral sense); (be-)love(-ed).

Key Uses

  • Mat 22:37 -- "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God" (quoting Deu 6:5)
  • Mat 5:43-44 -- "love thy neighbour.../Love your enemies"
  • Jhn 13:34 -- "love one another; as I have loved you"
  • Jhn 14:15 -- "If ye love me, keep my commandments"
  • Jhn 14:21 -- "he it is that loveth me"
  • Jhn 14:23 -- "If a man love me, he will keep my words"
  • Jhn 15:9 -- "As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you"
  • Rom 13:8 -- "to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law"
  • Gal 5:14 -- "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself"
  • 1 Jn 4:7 -- "let us love one another"
  • 1 Jn 4:19 -- "We love him, because he first loved us"
  • 1 Jn 4:20-21 -- "I love God, and hateth his brother...he who loveth God love his brother"

G4137 -- πληρόω (pleroo) -- "to make full, fulfill"

Transliteration: pleroo Pronunciation: play-ro-o Part of Speech: Verb BLB Count: 90 occurrences Definition: From G4134 (pleres, "full"); to make replete, i.e., (literally) to cram, level up; (figuratively) to furnish, satisfy, execute, finish, verify.

Greek Parsing in Key Verses

Romans 13:8 -- πεπλήρωκεν (pepleroken) - This is a form of pleroo used with "he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law"

Galatians 5:14 -- πεπλήρωται (peplerotai) - V-RPI-3S = Verb, Perfect, Passive, Indicative, 3rd person Singular - "all the law is fulfilled (has been fulfilled)" -- Perfect tense indicates a completed state with ongoing results - Passive voice: the law is acted upon (fulfilled) by the love command

Romans 8:4 -- πληρωθῇ (plerothē) - "That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us"

Note on G4138 πλήρωμα (pleroma) -- "fullness, fulfilling"

Used in Rom 13:10: "love [is] the fulfilling (pleroma) of the law" - Noun form of pleroo - Means "fullness" or "that which fills up" -- love fills up / makes full the law's requirements

G1785 -- ἐντολή (entole) -- "commandment"

Transliteration: entole Pronunciation: en-tol-ay Part of Speech: Feminine noun BLB Count: 71 occurrences Definition: From G1781 (entellomai, "to command"); injunction, i.e., an authoritative prescription.

Distribution Across Key Books

  • Matthew: 15:3,6; 19:17; 22:36,38,40 -- Jesus on the greatest commandment
  • Mark: 7:8; 10:5,19; 12:28 -- which commandment is first?
  • John: 10:18; 12:49,50; 13:34; 14:15,21,31; 15:10,12 -- Jesus's love-command discourse
  • Romans: 7:8-13; 13:9 -- Paul identifies entole with Decalogue commands
  • 1 John: 2:3,7; 3:22-24; 4:21; 5:2,3 -- John's love-obedience theology
  • 2 John: 1:4,5,6 -- love = walk after commandments
  • Revelation: 12:17; 14:12; 22:14 -- end-time commandment keeping

Note: The same word (entole) is used for (1) Jesus's commandments in John 14:15, (2) the Decalogue in Rom 7:12 and 13:9, (3) the love command in John 13:34, and (4) "the commandments of God" in Rev 12:17 and 14:12.

Greek Parsing of Key Verses Using entole

John 14:15: τὰς ἐντολὰς τὰς ἐμὰς τηρήσετε - τὰς ἐντολὰς (tas entolas) -- Accusative Plural Feminine, with double article (τὰς...τὰς ἐμὰς = "the commandments, the mine") -- emphatic specific reference - τηρήσετε (teresete) -- Future Active Indicative 2P (you will keep) -- some MSS read τηρήσατε (aorist imperative, "keep!")

1 John 5:3: τὰς ἐντολὰς αὐτοῦ τηρῶμεν - τὰς ἐντολὰς (tas entolas) -- Accusative Plural Feminine - τηρῶμεν (teromen) -- Present Active Subjunctive 1P ("that we should keep") -- hina clause expressing purpose/content of love

G3551 -- νόμος (nomos) -- "law"

Transliteration: nomos Pronunciation: nom-os Part of Speech: Masculine noun BLB Count: 197 occurrences Definition: From nemo (to parcel out, especially food or grazing); law.

Key Uses

  • Rom 7:12 -- "the law [is] holy"
  • Rom 7:14 -- "the law is spiritual"
  • Rom 13:8 -- "fulfilled the law"
  • Rom 13:10 -- "love [is] the fulfilling of the law"
  • Gal 5:14 -- "all the law is fulfilled"
  • Gal 5:23 -- "against such there is no law"
  • Jas 2:8 -- "the royal law"
  • Jas 2:10 -- "the whole law"
  • Jas 2:12 -- "the law of liberty"

Greek Parsing in Rom 13:10

νόμου (nomou) -- Genitive Singular Masculine
"of [the] law" -- love is the pleroma (fullness) OF THE LAW

Greek Parsing in Gal 5:14

ὁ...πᾶς νόμος (ho...pas nomos) -- Nominative Singular Masculine
"the entire/all law" -- with article + pas = "the whole law"

Additional Greek Words

G937 -- βασιλικός (basilikos) -- "royal, kingly"

Used in Jas 2:8: "the royal law" (nomon basilikon) - From G935 (basileus, "king") -- pertaining to a king - The love command is called "royal" -- belonging to the King / supreme among laws

G5048 -- τελειόω (teleioo) -- "to complete, perfect"

Used in: - 1 Jn 2:5 -- "whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected" - 1 Jn 4:12 -- "his love is perfected in us" - 1 Jn 4:17 -- "our love [is] made perfect" - 1 Jn 4:18 -- "perfect love casteth out fear"

Love is "perfected" (brought to completion) through keeping God's word/commandments.

G5083 -- τηρέω (tereo) -- "to keep, guard, observe"

The primary verb for commandment-keeping in John's writings: - Jhn 14:15 -- "keep my commandments" - Jhn 15:10 -- "If ye keep my commandments" - 1 Jn 2:3 -- "if we keep his commandments" - 1 Jn 5:3 -- "that we keep his commandments"