The entire law is fulfilled in a single decree: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”
Parallel translations
- WEB For the whole law is fulfilled in one word, in this: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
- KJV For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
- NKJV For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
- NASB For the whole Law is fulfilled in one word, in the statement, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
- NLT For the whole law can be summed up in this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
The whole law is fulfilled in one command: love your neighbor as yourself. Love is the heart and summary of all God requires of us toward others.
Overview
Quoting Leviticus 19:18, Paul shows that the law's true aim is realized in love. Far from despising the law, the gospel of grace produces the very love the law sought. This does not make justification depend on love-works, but reveals that Spirit-wrought love is how believers genuinely live out God's righteous standard, fulfilled perfectly first by Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 13
- Matt 7:12In everything, then, do to others as you would have them do to you. For this is the essence of the Law and the Prophets.
- Lev 19:18Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against any of your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the LORD.
- Gal 6:2Carry one another’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.
- Mark 12:31The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ No other commandment is greater than these.”
- Rom 13:8–10Be indebted to no one, except to one another in love. For he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law.
- Matt 22:39–40And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’
- John 13:34A new commandment I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you also must love one another.
- Lev 19:34You must treat the foreigner living among you as native-born and love him as yourself, for you were foreigners in the land of Egypt. I am the LORD your God.
- 1 Tim 1:5The goal of our instruction is the love that comes from a pure heart, a clear conscience, and a sincere faith.
- Jas 2:8–11If you really fulfill the royal law stated in Scripture, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well.
- Matt 19:18–19“Which ones?” the man asked. Jesus answered, “‘Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not bear false witness,
- Mark 12:33and to love Him with all your heart and with all your understanding and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself, which is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.”
- Luke 10:27–37He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’ and ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
Christ became a curse for us to redeem us from the law's curse, that we might receive the Spirit and be sons — justified by faith in him, not by works.
How Galatians 5:14 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.