Love doesn’t harm a neighbor. Love therefore is the fulfillment of the law.
Parallel Translations
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Love doesn’t harm a neighbor. Love therefore is the fulfillment of the law.
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Love hurteth not his neghbour. Therfore is love the fulfillynge of the lawe.
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Loue doeth not euill to his neighbour: therefore is loue the fulfilling of the Lawe.
Examined in Scripture Analysis
Contradictions (1)
Questions where the Bible appears to say two different things, with the passages on each side set together.
Cross-references (3)
Passages linked to Romans 13:10 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Romans 13:8 Owe no one anything, except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law.
- Matthew 22:39-40 A second likewise is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments.”
- 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 Love is patient and is kind. Love doesn’t envy. Love doesn’t brag, is not proud, doesn’t behave itself inappropriately, doesn’t seek its own way, is not provoked, takes no account of evil; doesn’t rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, and endures all things.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (14 sources)
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain 10. Love doeth no evil to a neighbor, etc.…
10. Love doeth no evil to a neighbor, etc. He demonstrates by the effect, that under the word love are contained those things which are taught us in all the commandments; for he who is endued with true love will never entertain the thought of injuring others. What else does the whole law forbid, but that we do no harm to our neighbor? This, however, ought to be applied to the present subject; for since magistrates are the guardians of peace and justice, he who desires that his own right should be secured to every one, and that all may live free from wrong, ought to defend, as far as he can, the power of magistrates. But the enemies of government show a disposition to do harm. And when he repeats that the fulfilling of the law is love, understand this, as before, of that part of the law which refers to mankind; for the first table of the law, which contains what we owe to God, is not here referred to at all.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain 10 Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore…
10 Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.
Ver. 10. The fulfilling of the law] The filling up of the law in this, that it closeth the duties of the law with the glory of a due manner, and seateth them upon their due subjects, with the unwearied labours of a constant well doing.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain This verse is an argument to prove what was…
This verse is an argument to prove what was proposed, Rom 13:8. It may thus be formed: That which worketh no ill, or doth no hurt to our neighbour, fulfilleth the law: but
love worketh no ill to his neighbour; ergo. That this is the property of love, see 1Co 13:4,5. When he saith, Love doth no hurt, this is implied, that it doth good to his neighbour. Where only negatives are mentioned, the affirmative also is included; and the negative only is set down in this place, that it may the better correspond with the foregoing verse.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain Love worketh no ill to his neighbour,.... That is,…
Love worketh no ill to his neighbour,.... That is, the man that truly loves his neighbour, will contrive no ill against him, nor do any to him; he will not injure his person, nor defile his bed, nor deprive or defraud him of his substance; or do hurt to his character, bear false testimony against him, or covet with an evil covetousness anything that is his; but, on the contrary, will do him all the good he is capable of:
therefore love is the fulfilling of the law: so far as a man loves his neighbour, he acts agreeably to the law, and the particular precepts of it above mentioned: what the apostle says of love to the neighbour, the Jews frequently say of love to God;
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"he that loveth God (they say (d)) , "hath fulfilled the decalogue", both above and below.''
And again (e),
"there is no service like the love of God, R. Abba saith it is , "the sum of the law"; for the ten words of the law , "are herein comprehended", or "fulfilled":''
and elsewhere (f) they observe,
"that , "the whole law is comprehended", or fulfilled "in love".''
(d) Zohar in Deut. fol. 111. 3. (e) Zohar in Deut. fol. 113. 1. (f) Moses Kotsensis Mitzvot Tora, praecept. affirm. 3. prope finem.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain Therefore love is the fulfilling of the law -…
Therefore love is the fulfilling of the law - For the same love which restrains from all evil, incites us to all good.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 10. Love worketh no ill] As he that…
Verse 10. Love worketh no ill] As he that loves another will act towards that person as, on a reverse of circumstances, he would that his neighbour should act towards him; therefore, this love can never work ill towards another: and, on this head, i.e. the duty we owe to our neighbour, love is the fulfilling of the law.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain Love worketh no ill ... - Love would seek…
Love worketh no ill ... - Love would seek to do him good; of course it would prevent all dishonesty and crime toward others. It would prompt to justice, truth, and benevolence. If this law were engraved on every man’s heart, and practiced in his life, what a change would it immediately produce in society! If all people would at once “abandon” what is suited to “work ill” to others, what an influence would it have on the business and commercial affairs of people. How many plans of fraud and dishonesty would it at once arrest. How many schemes would it crush. It would silence the voice of the slanderer; it would stay the plans of the seducer and the adulterer; it would put an end to cheating, and fraud, and all schemes of dishonest gain. The gambler desires the property of his neighbor without any compensation; and thus works “ill” to him. The dealer in “lotteries” desires property for which he has never toiled, and which must be obtained at the expense and loss of others. And there are many “employments” all whose tendency is to work “ill” to a neighbor. This is pre-eminently true of the traffic in “ardent spirits.” It cannot do him good, and the almost uniform result is to deprive him of his property, health, reputation, peace, and domestic comfort. He that sells his neighbor liquid fire, knowing what must be the result of it, is not pursuing a business which works no ill to him; and love to that neighbor would prompt him to abandon the traffic; see Hab 2:15, “Wo unto him that giveth his neighbor drink, that putteth thy bottle to him, and makest him drink also, that thou mayest look on their nakedness.”
Therefore ... - “Because” love does no harm to another, it is “therefore” the fulfilling of the Law, implying that all that the Law requires is to “love” others.
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Is the fulfilling - Is the “completion,” or meets the requirements of the Law. The Law of God on this “head,” or in regard to our duty to our neighbor, requires us to do justice toward him, to observe truth, etc. “All” this will be met by “love;” and if people truly “loved” others, all the demands of the Law would be satisfied.
Of the law - Of the Law of Moses, but particularly the Ten Commandments.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Love of the neighbour worketh no evil.[2] This, by…
Love of the neighbour worketh no evil.[2] This, by the Latin, is the true construction; and not, love worketh no evil to the neighbour, as it might be translated from the Greek. (Witham)
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[BIBLIOGRAPHY]
Dilectio proximi malum non operatur, i.e. dilectio non operatur malum proximi, vel proximo, Greek: e agape to plesion kakon ouk ergazetai.
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain Love worketh no ill to his--or, "one's"
Love worketh no ill to his--or, "one's"
neighbour; therefore, &c.--As love, from its very nature, studies and delights to please its objects, its very existence is an effectual security against our wilfully injuring him. Next follow some general motives to the faithful discharge of all these duties.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 10. No ill… fulfilling—As working no ill, love performs…
10. No ill… fulfilling—As working no ill, love performs the decalogue in the negative form in which it is written.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 10. Love worketh, &c.] Such is its very nature,—to…
10. Love worketh, &c.] Such is its very nature,—to avoid the kind of acts which as a fact the Law forbids. Therefore Love (“Charity,” 1 Corinthians 13, &c.), though its action is not, strictly speaking, originated by the Law, but the necessary result of its being Love, is in perfect harmony with the Law—which is the precept of Eternal Love; and so is the surest secret of fulfilling it.
his neighbour] Lit. the neighbour: the neighbour in each case.
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the fulfilling] Better, the fulfilment. The Gr. word means not the process of obedience, but the result of the process; obedience as an accomplished fact. For this view of Love, see note on Rom_13:8; “hath fulfilled.”
The doctrine of this passage (that to love one another is the true secret of obedience to the Divine Law,) is in perfect harmony with the doctrine of the “bondservice” of the Christian, as stated in ch. 6; for the true secret of that bondservice is adoring gratitude for emancipation from the slavery of sin; a gratitude which after all does but joyfully recognize the unchangeable fact of the lawful claim of the Creator and Redeemer to the devotion of the whole man. Thus love to God is in fact the full acceptance of His will, His law; and love to others for His sake is therefore the sure way to carry out that law in its special precepts regarding duty to fellow-Christians and fellow-men.—Manifestly the law is to be the authoritative guide of “love.” Love is not “a law unto itself,” but the “fulfilment” of the definite and objective rule of God’s revealed will.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (10) Fulfilling of the law.—The form of the Greek…
(10) Fulfilling of the law.—The form of the Greek word implies not only that love helps a man to fulfil the law, but that in the fact of the presence of love in his heart the law is actually fulfilled.
The principle here stated is beautifully worked out in 1Co_13:4-7.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
B. W. Johnson 1891 · Public Domain 10. Love worketh no ill, etc. Neither the ills…
10. Love worketh no ill, etc. Neither the ills forbidden in the commandments, not any other. Love is the fulfilling of the law. Not the law, but law. There is no article in the Greek. All divine law is fulfilled by love. God requires nothing which is not comprehended in this word.
B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.
J. W. McGarvey 1914 · Public Domain Love worketh no ill to his neighbor: love therefore…
Love worketh no ill to his neighbor: love therefore is the fulfillment of the law . [All divine law, whether of Moses and the prophets, of Christ or the apostles, is fulfilled by love, for those things that law requires are the natural, normal acts of a loving heart. "Love," says Leibnitz, "is that which finds its felicity in another's good." Another has defined it thus: "Love is holiness, spelt short." How easily, then, will it keep all precepts, whether toward man or God! "The expression implies more than a simple performance of the precepts of the law; true love does more than this: it adds a completeness to the performance. It reaches those lesser courtesies and sympathies which can not be digested into a code or reduced to rule. To the bare framework of law, which is as the bones and sinews, it adds the flesh which fills it, and the life which actuates it" (Webster and Wilkinson). "Nor is it possible to find for human life, amid all the intricate mazes of conduct, any other principle that should be at once as simple, as powerful and as profound" (Sanday). "How many schemes would it crush. It would silence the voice of the slanderer; it would stay the plans of the seducer and the adulterer; it would put an end to cheating and fraud, and all schemes of dishonest gain. The gambler desires the property of his neighbor without any compensation, and thus works ill to him. The dealer in lotteries desires property for which he has never toiled, and which must be obtained at the expense and loss of others. And there are many employments all whose tendency is to work ill to a neighbor. This is pre-eminently true of the traffic in ardent spirits" (Barnes). Love is the spirit of gracious addition, while covetousness, theft, etc., are the spirits of subtraction. Love emanates from God, whose name is Love, but selfishness is of the devil, who asserts himself even against God. Love, therefore, is the basis of all godlike action, the motive power for every noble deed.]
J. W. McGarvey (with Philip Y. Pendleton), Commentaries on the New Testament (The Fourfold Gospel, 1914; Acts; and the epistles) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.