Galatians 5:14
For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
Truth to Learn
Freedom from the law means freedom to love others.
Behind the Words
The word translated “fulfilled” is from the Greek plēroō, meaning “to fill” as one would fill a glass with water. However, this word is also used to express the fulfilling of an obligation or to completely satisfy legal requirements. This is the sense in which it is used in the current verse.
“Shall love” is translated from the future tense of agapē, the type of love that is focused on the welfare of the object of the love, rather than on self.
The word translated “neighbor” is plēsion, which is an adverb derived from the noun pelas meaning “near.” Hence, plesion refers to someone who is physically near to you, but it is also used of a fellow countryman or, as in this case, another member of the human race.
Meaning Explained
Paul has been strenuously arguing against the false teaching that keeping the Law of Moses is necessary for salvation. In the previous verse he introduced the new concept of freedom, or liberty. We have been set free from the bondage of the law, but that does not mean that we should live without any bounds.
When Paul says that “the law is fulfilled,” he is referring to the Ten Commandments given to Moses on Mt. Sinai. The Hebrew words from which we translate the expression “the Ten Commandments” literally mean “the Ten Words,” so when Paul says that the law is fulfilled in one word, he means that fully keeping a single commandment satisfies the spirit of all ten. That single commandment is this: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” In his letter to the Christians in Philippi, Paul expressed it this way:
Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each consider others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others. (Philippians 2:3, 4)
The Ten Commandments are often referred to as the two tablets of the law. The first tablet includes the first four commandments, which regulate our relationship with God. The second tablet includes the remaining six commandments, which regulate our relationship with others.
What Paul is saying is that trying to keep the requirements of the Law of Moses with all of its rites and requirements does not produce righteousness. Righteousness comes through faith, which applies to the first tablet of the law. Now that we have righteousness through faith, however, we can fulfill the second tablet if we live in such a manner that we always have the good of others on the same level as our own.
Application
One of the problems with the law, and the worldly messages with which we are inundated daily, is that they focus our attention on ourselves. Being free from the bondage of the law, however, means that we are now free to focus our efforts on loving others as much as we love ourselves.
In God’s service, for His glory,
Copyright © 2008 Will Krause. All rights reserved.
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