The Pulpit Commentary — Romans — Section 396

Vers. 8-10.-Love and law. To the unthinking, and at first sight, there seems a contradiction between law, which expresses authority, and is sanctioned by force, and love, which is spontaneous, and is of the heart. Christ himself, however, brought the two into harmony when he said, "If ye love me, keep my commandments;,. and the apostle, in this passage, shows that, really and essentially, the two :ire one. I. THE TRUE PRINCIPLE OF SOCIAL LIFE IS LOVE. The new co=andment which Christ gave was, "Love one another; " and "his peculiar canon of conduct was, "Thou she.It love thy neighbour as thyself." Of this principle we may remark that: 1. It is in harmony with our own constitution. Our true nnture is to live in mutual affection and confidence; it is the depraved nature that devt>lops hatred, malice, and uucharitableness. 2. It is imposed and sanctioned by the Divine Head of the new humanity, the Lawgiver of the spiritual kingdom. 3. It provides the radical cure for human ills. 4. It has not only a negative, it has also a positive virtue; it is the proper and natural origin of the several virtues, supplying their motive, prompting to their exercise. II. THE APPLICATION OF TmB PRINCIPLE IN PRACTICE, The apostle, whose mind WlL9 as thoroughly ethical and practical as it was theological and doctrin,11, traced the working of this principle of love, in preserving human nature and protecting human society from the vices, crimes, and sins which have cursed the world. In this passage he teaches us that love must act in keeping Christians from wronging their neighbours. He whose heart is filled with true love will neither covet nor steal his neighbour's goods, nor take his neighbour's life, nor make inroads upon his neighbour's domestic happiness, nor in any we.y inflict injury upon his neighbour's interests, or deprive him of his rights. For to love our fellow-men is to couut their welfare our own, and to do to them as we would they should do to us. III. '!'HE ACQUISITION OF THIS PRINCIPLE, It may be argued that the counsels of tho apostlo are unpmctical; tbl\t whilst lovo is a cure for human ills, it is not shown how love mBy be acquired, any more than it is how sin may be a'l'oided. But the fact ls that revolation links together the love of man and the love of God. and t~a.:11.:is us  THE EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE ROMANS, [on. xm.1-14.