Think about that, think about the difference between keeping the law out of love verses keeping the law out of consequence. Now, for most of us, the consequences of cheating, stealing, or murder would keep us from breaking those laws even if we weren’t Christians. But what about bearing false witness, what about telling a lie about someone, what about spreading gossip that may or may not be entirely true? Typically, there aren’t legal repercussions for these things but, as Christians, we know that these things could bring harm to a neighbor and is not showing love to them, it’s not the way Christians should act, and definitely not anything we want done to us so we don’t do it. The law itself doesn’t keep us from it, love does. Love therefore, as Paul says, is the fulfillment of the law. We love God and we love each other to the point that we are basically saying, “I owe you my very life.”
Paul says in verse ten, “Love does no harm to a neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law. 