Galatians 5:14 For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself
This week my wife and I are in a county that is known for its restrictions, its codes and its laws. I love this area. Many of its people have been very kind indeed. However, it is obvious to a casual observer that there are a lot of laws, but not a lot of trust. Everywhere you go, you see walls, fences, and gates, yet you hear a lot of honking. People impatiently honk their horns and are impatient in the grocery store. So, there are all kinds of laws that regulate their conduct between each other because there is nothing else to do that.
In Galatians 5:22 the Bible gives us another way, a love that is produced not by laws, regulations, or codes but by a person. That person is the Spirit of God. Galatians 5:22 says, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love.” Flowing from and following that are a number of virtues that make a society a civil society: joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith. The Bible goes on to say, “Against such there is no law.” There is no law against love, joy, or peace.
On the other hand, if you had laws mandating love, joy, or peace, they would not work because no law in the world can produce what a living person, Jesus Christ, can produce in you. You see, the more love you have, the less law you will need. You don’t need laws telling you to be decent to people when you have a living God, living Jesus, living Spirit living within you.
Galatians 5:14 says, “For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.” If I am loving my neighbor as myself, I won’t need to be told that I shouldn’t rob him, beat him up, cheat him, or lie to him. In Romans 13 it says that love is the fulfilling of the law “for this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.”
In short, we need rules and laws because we live in an imperfect world, but nothing outside of you can produce what only Jesus Christ can produce inside of you. What Jesus provides is not natural, but supernatural; it is the love of Christ because the more love you have, the fewer laws you will need in order to do right by the people in your world.