Does Love Replace Law?

Does Love Replace Old Testament Law?

Many Christians answer this question with a firm, unequivocal "Yes!". For most of my life, I agreed with such a short and simplified answer. But is this the case? Does love replace Law?

The idea that love replaces the Law comes from interpretation of passages like Matthew 22, Romans 13 and Galatians 5 which state:

Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”

Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’  This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” 

Matthew 22:34-40

Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law. The commandments, “You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not murder,” “You shall not steal,” “You shall not covet,”  and whatever other command there may be, are summed up in this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no harm to a neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.

Romans 13:8-10

For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” 

Galatians 5:14

Critics of law-observant believers would say that since Jesus and Paul summarized the Law as love, practicing love alone satisfies everything written in the Law. 

I agree with the statement's premise. I deeply believe Jesus' words that loving God and loving our neighbor fulfills the Law. However, removing it from its context creates a significant void in understanding what love truly means. This context gap prevents us from asking a critical question:

How do we love?

That is the problem with such oversimplified readings. They do not define how to love; they only state that we must practice it. Love, then, becomes shaped by our emotions, moral relativism and we end up with ideas like:

…love is love

....love means never having to say you're sorry

…love means affirming everything about a person

…love is blind

…love shouldn't hurt

….you can't help who (or what) you love

When Jesus answered the question, "Teacher, which is the greatest command in the Law?" He replied: to love God and to love others. He then continued by saying: "All of the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commands." All of the Law hangs on love. Every teaching of God is established in love. Asking the question “what is the greatest command?” entirely misses the point, as the Law’s intended purpose is to demonstrate love. Without the boundaries provided by the teachings of God’s Law we will define love in ways that only justify our sin and unrighteousness.

Contextually, Paul's writings in Romans address a culture clash between Jewish and Gentile believers. Disagreements around the Law and its role in salvation created division in the early church but the idea that love canceled Law was not the point of Paul's writing. In Romans 13 the statement of love fulfilling the Law comes in the middle of a discussion on the necessity of obedience and righteousness. Paul is not saying that love erases the Law but that obedience to the Law brings about the fullness of God’s love.  

Similarly, in Galatians, Paul spoke in opposition to the Judaizers, who were teaching that adherence to the Law and circumcision were necessary for salvation. Paul argued that the Law should be applied rightly through the Spirit, but he did not advocate throwing it away.  Love is the intended purpose of the Law, not salvation. It's not a coincidence that Paul follows this statement by listing sins of the flesh that contradict God's Law (5:19-21). If love erases Law, then Paul's argument is meaningless. Paul teaches that love is the fulfillment of the Law because what it means to love truly cannot exist outside of God's definition of love. Love is shaped by God's instructions, not by our preferences.

I've come to believe that one of the enemy's greatest lies is that New Testament believers should not concern themselves with matters of the Law. What better way to fracture relationships, and damage the witness of the Gospel than to distort the very meaning of love given to us by the Father, which Jesus Himself exemplified? 

How can the church know how to love if it only acknowledges a lawless Jesus? Such a picture is counter to the story of the Bible. Sin is lawlessness (1 John 3:4). Jesus committed no sin (1 Peter 2:22). Jesus did not separate himself from the Law for the purpose of love. Rather, He demonstrated perfect love by living a blameless life, in full submission and obedience to God. 

Jesus calls us to the same obedience when He said, "If you love me, keep my commands," (John 14:15). 

Without boundaries for our obedience, love is an empty notion that gets shaped by our preferences, emotions, and worldly desires. True biblical love does not dismiss God's commands; it is found in obedience to them.

God gave us the Law to show us how to love rightly. To love is the intended purpose and meaning of the Old Testament law. 

Reflection Questions:

• In what ways have you seen Christians misrepresent biblical love? How were you able to identify their “love” did not align with Scripture?

• How does the idea that “love fulfills the law” differ from the idea that “love replaces the law”? How does this understanding impact your understanding of Jesus’ and Paul’s teachings?