2. The fulfilling of the law, therefore, is keeping it in its fullest, its deepest, its most spiritual meaning. Every angry feeling, every wanton thought, every uncharitable and suspicious thought, every unfair advantage and dishonest trick, however it may be allowed to pass free by human laws, and however customary in men's dealings with each other, — all these, and all manner of greediness after the things of this world, are breaches of one or other of the commandments. Nothing short of perfect kindness, perfect purity, perfect honesty, perfect truth, and perfect temperance will fulfil the law. Nothing short of perfect kindness, because every degree of unkindness is forbidden by the sixth commandment ; nothing short of perfect purity, because all impurity is forbidden by the seventh ; nothing short of perfect honesty, because every kind of dishonesty is forbidden by the eighth ; nothing short of perfect truth, because all falsehood is condemned by the ninth; nothing short of perfect temperance, because all greediness and covetous desires are forbidden by the tenth commandment. Such are the vast claims which God's law has upon us, when taken in its full extent.
^ When Christ denounced the breaking of any of the commandments, He spoke on the very point that St, Paul is speaking of. His subject was " fulfilling the law." " Think not that I am come to destroy the law or the prophets. I am
^ Benjamin Jowett.
372 LOVE AND THE LAW
not come to destroy, but to fulfil. Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven. For I say unto you," — I, the Eternal Word and Infallible Truth — " that except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the Ivingdom of heaven." Or we might paraphrase it thus : " I am come to fulfil the law of Moses ; I am come to show you the exceeding depth of God's commandments ; I am come to show you how much they require of every one, when they are taken in their full meaning. This ia one object of My mission. If any man, then, fancies that I am come to bring a licence for sinning — if a person conceives he may continue in sin, because I have brought pardon and grace into the world — he takes a mistaken view of the object of My coming. My Father sent Me not to abolish holiness, or to diminish aught from its claims, but to place it on a firmer foundation, and to give it its true scope ; so that it shall embrace, not only the outward actions of men, but their very thoughts and inmost wishes. I am not come to make the law void, but to fill it up."
III.
How Love Fulfils the Law.
" Love is the fulfilment of the law." If we had perfect love for our neighbour we should keep the commandments perfectly : and in proportion as love fills us, in the same proportion shall we fulfil them. Love will enable us to keep the commandments. That is the Apostle's argument.
1. The love which is here spoken of, and which the writers of the New Testament set before us on every occasion when they teach about the inner principle of Christianity, is a reverent good- will, not only from man to God, but from man to man. The very same word which describes love to God is used by New Testament teachers, by the great Apostle of the Gentiles, and by John the Divine, to describe the relations which should exist between man and man. The same quality of reverent affection which is due from man to God is due from man to man.
It is not easy for men to comprehend the full meaning of this term " love." We identify it with amiability and mildness and sentimentality. We confuse it with the petty standards of love
ROMANS XIII. lo 373
that are partial, weak, and blind : that limit their favours to one or two ; that are no more than a flush in the blood or a thrill along the nerves. Love as St. Paul means it, love as it was newly and divinely characterized by the Saviour, is a broader and more comprehensive thing than any of these, — rises higher, runs deeper, sweeps around larger interests, includes nobler ideals. It is a feeling which pervades all conduct, governs all motives, sustains every duty, extends to all souls. It is the kindliness which prompts to courtesy, the sensitive fairness which insists on perfect equity, the sympathy which reaches after the lost, the mercy which softens the doom of crime. And it is the strength and the courage which dare to undertake severities which are destined to end in blessings; to be a little hard in order to be very tender ; and to go forth with the scom-ge against offenders, and draw the sword of retribution against the oppressor and his hard-hearted crew. And, over and above all these peculiarities, love rises above this earth and the humanity it supports, and exalts the soul to heaven's gates ; reaches out for God, and loses itself in the Being whence its holy impulse was derived. That is what Christianity means by love.