For the commandments… are all summed up in this saying, namely, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no harm to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law. Romans 13:9b-10
Last week I talked about the need to engage with people’s questions as to why God deems certain things wrong. It’s up to us to show people that God’s laws are reasonable.
But the morally relativistic world has its own way of thinking, and its arguments often seem reasonable too.
For example, the world today reasons against God’s laws concerning sex and marriage with arguments that center around the concept of love.
Why should we save sex until marriage if we love each other?
Why should I stay married if I don’t love my spouse anymore?
Does the Bible tell us why God has so strictly limited the sexual relationship?
Romans 13:8-10 says:
Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law. For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not murder,” “You shall not steal,” “You shall not bear false witness,” “You shall not covet,” and if there is any other commandment, are all summed up in this saying, namely, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no harm to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.
We see here that God centers His argument around the concept of love too. Love does no harm to a neighbor, and therefore adultery is unloving just as murder is unloving.
Why is it wrong to steal, especially if I am in need and someone else has an abundance, and maybe that person is even stingy, unkind, unscrupulous, etc.? God’s word says it’s because of love. Even if someone treats me in an unloving way, I’m charged by Jesus Christ to respond to them in love, which means to do what is good for that person, not just whatever seems fair to me or good for me. I would not want someone to steal from me, so I should not steal. I would not want someone to steal my husband, so I should not steal someone else’s husband. That’s it. It’s not complicated.
But sometimes the harm done is not so obvious. Take fornication as an example. If two people are in love but not married, what’s the big deal? In any one instance of fornication, it may not appear that anyone is harmed. And yet, each person has taken something very personal from the other without any commitment to the other. Multiply that by two or three or ten partners and we can begin to see how some damage may be done.
When a man sleeps with a woman before marriage, he is doing what he feels like rather than what is best for her. He puts her at risk of pregnancy with no husband. If they really love each other, then why not get married?
Furthermore, acceptance of the argument that love justifies fornication has led to acceptance of fornication for any reason. So now we have the hook-up, people using one another with no emotional attachment for the sake of a brief feeling. They sear their own consciences, and they teach each other to think of sex as purely physical. This is not anyone’s definition of love.
Last week we talked about wrath; it appears that adultery and fornication do not work the righteousness of God either (cf. James 1:19-20).
It’s a perfect example of the slippery slope. If all that matters is a feeling that we call love, anything can be justified. The harm caused isn’t always immediately apparent, but such reasoning always leads to chaos.
If God says something is wrong, He has a reason. You can count on it— that wrong action, sooner or later, will lead to negative consequences for somebody. There is no victimless crime. God is the only one with unlimited foresight. Even when we can’t see how it’s hurting anyone, God can. Oftentimes the person most hurt by a man’s sin, is the man himself.
by Christie Cole Atkins
Dear God, I ask Your forgiveness for my selfishness and pride. When I am tempted to go my own way, please remind me that Your way is always for my good and for the good of others. In Jesus’s name, Amen.
Related Reading:
Walk Worthy 