The Meaning of Romans 13:10 Explained

Romans 13:10

KJV: Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.

YLT: the love to the neighbour doth work no ill; the love, therefore, is the fulness of law.

Darby: Love works no ill to its neighbour; love therefore is the whole law.

ASV: Love worketh no ill to his neighbor: love therefore is the fulfilment of the law.

KJV Reverse Interlinear

Love  worketh  no  ill  to his neighbour:  therefore  love  [is] the fulfilling  of the law. 

What does Romans 13:10 Mean?

Context Summary

Rom 13:8-14 - Love Fulfills The Law
The one debt which can never be discharged is love. Because we can never be out of debt to God, we are called upon to show unending love to man. So long as we love we cannot injure; and therefore the man who is always caring for others as much as, or more than, he does for himself (and this latter is the Christian ideal) is fulfilling that ancient law.
We resemble soldiers slumbering in their tents while dawn is flushing the sky. Presently the bugle rings out its awakening note. The long night of the world is ending, the dawn is on the sky, and all the malignity of men and demons cannot postpone it by a single hour. Let us put off the garments which only befit the darkness, and array ourselves in the armor of the day! What is that armor? In a word, it is Jesus Christ-His character and method, His unselfishness and purity-so that when men see us, they may involuntarily turn to Him. [source]

Chapter Summary: Rom 13

1  Subjection, and many other duties, we owe to the authorities
8  Love is the fulfillment of the law
11  The acts of darkness are out of season in the time of the Gospel

Greek Commentary for Romans 13:10

The fulfilment of the law [πληρωμα νομου]
“The filling up or complement of the law” like πεπληρωκεν — peplērōken (perfect active indicative of πληροω — plēroō stands filled up) in Romans 13:8. See note on 1 Corinthians 13:1-13 for the fuller exposition of this verse. [source]

Reverse Greek Commentary Search for Romans 13:10

Romans 11:12 Fullness [πλήρωμα]
See on John 1:16. The word may mean that with which anything is filled (1 Corinthians 10:26, 1 Corinthians 10:28; Matthew 9:16; Mark 6:43); that which is filled (Ephesians 1:23); possibly the act of filling (Romans 13:10), though this is doubtful. Here in the first sense: the fullness of their number contrasted with the diminution. They will belong as an integral whole to the people of God. [source]
Romans 10:4 The end of the law [τελος νομου]
Christ put a stop to the law as a means of salvation (Romans 6:14; Romans 9:31; Ephesians 2:15; Colossians 2:14) as in Luke 16:16. Christ is the goal or aim of the law (Galatians 3:24). Christ is the fulfilment of the law (Matthew 5:17; Romans 13:10; 1 Timothy 1:5). But here (Denney) Paul‘s main idea is that Christ ended the law as a method of salvation for “every one that believeth” whether Jew or Gentile. Christ wrote finis on law as a means of grace. [source]
Galatians 5:14 Is fulfilled [πεπλήρωται]
Has been fulfilled. Comp. Romans 13:8. The meaning is not embraced in, or summed up in, but complied with. In Romans 13:9, ἀνακεφαλαιοῦται issummed up, is to be distinguished from πλήρωμα hathfulfilled (Romans 13:8) and πλήρωμα fulfillment(Romans 13:10). The difference is between statement and accomplishment. See on do the law, Galatians 5:3. [source]
1 Timothy 1:5 Love [ἀγάπη]
See on Galatians 5:22. The questionings, on the contrary, engendered strifes (2 Timothy 2:23). Love to men is meant, as meant as N.T. When the word is used absolutely. See Romans 13:10. [source]
James 2:8 Fulfil the royal law [νόμον τελεῖτε βασιλικὸν]
The phrase occurs only here and Romans 2:27. Τελεῖν , fulfil, is stronger than the more common word τηρεῖν , observe or keep, which appears in James 2:10. Compare, also, Matthew 19:17; Matthew 23:3; John 14:15, etc. James here speaks of a single commandment, the proper word for which is ἐντολή , while νόμος is the body of commandments. It is appropriate here, however, since this special commandment sums up the entire law. See Romans 13:10; Galatians 5:14. It is the royal law; the king of all laws. The phrase royal law is of Roman origin (lex regia )In the kingly period of Roman history it did not signify a law promulgated by the absolute authority of the king, but a law passed by a popular assembly under the presidency of the king. In later times the term was applied to all laws the origin of which was attributed to the time of the kings. Gradually the term came to represent less of the popular will, and to include all the rights and powers which the Roman people had formerly possessed, so that the emperor became what formerly the people had been, sovereign. “It was not,” says Gibbon, “before the ideas and even the language of the Romans had been corrupted, that a royal law (lex regia )-DIVIDER-
and an irrevocable gift of the people were created … .The pleasure of the emperor, according to Justinian, has the vigor and effect of law, since the Roman people, by the royal law, have transferred to their prince the full extent of their own power and sovereignty. The will of a single man, of a child, perhaps, was allowed to prevail over the wisdom of ages and the inclinations of millions; and the degenerate Greeks were proud to declare that in his hands alone the arbitrary exercise of legislation could be safely deposited” (“Decline and Fall,” ch. xliv.). -DIVIDER-
-DIVIDER-
[source]

What do the individual words in Romans 13:10 mean?

- Love to the neighbor evil not does do [the] fulfillment therefore of [the] law love [is]
ἀγάπη τῷ πλησίον κακὸν οὐκ ἐργάζεται πλήρωμα οὖν νόμου ἀγάπη

  - 
Parse: Article, Nominative Feminine Singular
Root:  
Sense: this, that, these, etc.
ἀγάπη  Love 
Parse: Noun, Nominative Feminine Singular
Root: ἀγάπη  
Sense: brotherly love, affection, good will, love, benevolence.
τῷ  to  the 
Parse: Article, Dative Masculine Singular
Root:  
Sense: this, that, these, etc.
πλησίον  neighbor 
Parse: Adverb
Root: πλησίον  
Sense: a neighbour.
κακὸν  evil 
Parse: Adjective, Accusative Neuter Singular
Root: κακός  
Sense: of a bad nature.
ἐργάζεται  does  do 
Parse: Verb, Present Indicative Middle or Passive, 3rd Person Singular
Root: ἐργάζομαι  
Sense: to work, labour, do work.
πλήρωμα  [the]  fulfillment 
Parse: Noun, Nominative Neuter Singular
Root: πλήρωμα  
Sense: that which is (has been) filled.
νόμου  of  [the]  law 
Parse: Noun, Genitive Masculine Singular
Root: νόμος  
Sense: anything established, anything received by usage, a custom, a law, a command.
ἀγάπη  love  [is] 
Parse: Noun, Nominative Feminine Singular
Root: ἀγάπη  
Sense: brotherly love, affection, good will, love, benevolence.

What are the major concepts related to Romans 13:10?

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