1. Love is the fulfilling of the law; it leads to the avoiding of every thing injurious to our neighbour, and to sedulous attention to every thing adapted to promote his welfare, v. 9.
2. The relation in which Christians stand to each other is that of mem- bers of the same family. As, however, it is not a relation constituted by birth, nor secured by the adoption of a name, there is no evidence of its existence but that which consists in the exercise of that ' brotherly affec- tion' (that spiritual ciopyfi) which brethren in Christ feel for each other, V. 10.
3. Religion is the soul of morality, without which it is but a lovely corpse. Our moral duties we must perform as "serving the Lord." The religious affections and emotions do not supersede those of a simply benevolent or social character, but mingle with them, and elevate all social and relative duties into acts of religion and genuine morality, V. 11.
4. The source of our life is in God ; without intercourse with him therefore we cannot derive those supplies of grace which are requisite to preserve the spirit of piety in our hearts, and to send a vital influence through the various duties and avocations of life. Hence the absolute necessity of being "instant in prayer," v. 12.
5. God has made of one blood all men that dwell upon the face of the earth. There is in this fact, of a common origin and the possession of a common nature, a sufficient ground, for the inculcation of a universal sympathy with all our fellow men. As he is no true Christian who is destitude of a genuine sympathy for his fellow Christians, so he is very