Romans 13:9Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

The Apostle did not simply say, 'is fulfilled,' but 'is summed up.' That is, the whole structure of the commandments is contained briefly and concisely in it, since the beginning and end of virtue is love. Love is the root, the necessary condition, and the summit of virtue. If love is the beginning and the fullness, what is equal to it? Yet the Apostle requires not simply love, but love in the highest degree. He did not merely say, 'You shall love your neighbor,' but added, 'as yourself.' Christ also said that the law and the prophets are established on love (Mt 22:40). Having pointed out two kinds of love, see what a high place He gave to love of neighbor.

He who loves his neighbor fulfills the law. Therefore everyone must love his neighbor, because from him, and from love for him, he receives so many benefits that he fulfills the whole law. He did not say “is supplemented,” but “is summed up.” That is, the whole structure of the commandments is contained in brief in this commandment. For the beginning and end of virtue is love. Further, the law requires love in the highest degree. It says, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” But our Lord requires something greater, teaching us to love our neighbor more than ourselves, for He teaches us to lay down our life for a friend (Jn 15:13).

This law is not written on tablets of stone, but poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us (2 Cor 3:3). No one loves his neighbor unless he loves God. And by loving him as himself, as far as possible, he pours out his love upon him, so that his neighbor also may come to love God. But if he does not love God, he loves neither himself nor his neighbor.

For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not steal,” and the others are fulfilled in this saying: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Lev 19:18; cf. Gal 5:14; Jas 1:8).

Moses received from God what was written for the renewal of the natural law. Everything established in the law is expressed in the words, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Lev 19:17). And although there may be other laws that Paul does not mention, he says that the law is fulfilled by love. If the human race had remained in love from the beginning, there would have been no vice on earth. The outcome of unrighteousness is discord.

For one who is well disposed toward someone does not kill the one he loves, does not commit adultery with his wife, does not appropriate anything belonging to the beloved, and does nothing else that would grieve him. The Apostle added this: “Love does no evil to a neighbor.”

Lest anyone think that only superiors must be respected, the Apostle teaches that one must be attentive to all. One must relate to all with love, expressing this love by fulfilling all the duties of common life and avoiding the vices opposed to them, such as theft, murder, and every evil deed in general. Saint John Chrysostom dwells especially on the Apostle's teaching about love. He praises it in this way, and at the same time shows its relation to all deeds and to virtue in general: 'The Apostle again turns to the mother of good things, the fulfiller of every virtue, to love. He says that it is our debt, not a temporary one, but a perpetual one. The beginning and end of virtue is love. It is the root and the necessary condition, and it is the summit of virtue.

He shows how love fulfills the law. He lists deeds that civil law also pursues, and teaches that love will not allow even one of these or similar deeds. Can one who loves another permit himself to seduce his wife? Can he raise his hand against him, or stretch it out toward his property? Will his tongue turn to speak something false against him? Will his heart move with desire for anything belonging to his neighbor, or with envy toward him? Nor will he allow himself to do anything else unpleasant or harmful to his friend. Thus, where love is, there are only lawful deeds. They are not only deeds of justice, but also of mutual cooperation, help, and support. Blessed Photius, in Oecumenius, writes: 'How the one who loves his neighbor fulfills the law is clear from what follows.