For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
Parallel translations
- WEB For the whole law is fulfilled in one word, in this: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
- BSB The entire law is fulfilled in a single decree: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”
- 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 7:12Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets.
- Lev 19:18Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am the LORD.
- Gal 6:2Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.
- Mark 12:31And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.
- Rom 13:8–10Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law.
- Matt 22:39–40And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
- John 13:34A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.
- Lev 19:34But the stranger that dwelleth with you shall be unto you as one born among you, and thou shalt love him as thyself; for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God.
- 1 Tim 1:5Now the end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned:
- Jas 2:8–11If ye fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well:
- Matt 19:18–19He saith unto him, Which? Jesus said, Thou shalt do no murder, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness,
- Mark 12:33And to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love his neighbour as himself, is more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.
- Luke 10:27–37And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
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Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
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.