ACC ~ Romans 13 v9

THE RELATION OF LOVE AND LAW. ORIGEN: If you love somebody, you will not kill him. Nor will you commit adultery, steal from him or bear false witness against him. It is the same with all the other commands of the law: love ensures that they are kept. COMMENTARY ON THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS.

LOVE FULFILLS LAW. AMBROSIASTER: Moses wrote all this in order to reform the natural law. … Although there may be other laws which Paul has not mentioned, love is the fulfillment of them all. For if the human race had loved from the beginning, there would never have been any wickedness on earth. For the result of unright-eousness is discord. COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES.

LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF. CHRYSOSTOM: The beginning and the end of virtue is love. … But Paul is not looking merely for love; he wants it to be an intense love. For he does not say merely: “Love your neighbor,” but adds: “as yourself.” Christ himself said that the law and the prophets hang upon this. HOMILIES ON ROMANS 23.

CHRYSOSTOM: Note that love has two excellent qualities: it abstains from evil and does good deeds. HOMILIES ON ROMANS 23.

THE LAW WRITTEN ON THE HEART. AUGUSTINE: This law is not written on tables of stone but is shed abroad in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who is given to us. THE SPIRIT AND THE LETTER 29.15.

GOD’S LOVE POURED OUT ON THE NEIGHBOR. AUGUSTINE: No one loves his neighbor unless he loves God, and by loving him as himself, to the limit of his ability, he pours out his love on him so that he too may love God. But if he does not love God, he loves neither himself nor his neighbor. LETTER 20.

THE SUM OF THE COMMANDMENTS. PELAGIUS: The whole of righteousness is summed up in the love of one’s neighbor. Unrighteousness is born when we love ourselves more than others. For one who loves his neighbor as himself not only does him no wrong but also does him good. He knows how much he wishes both aspects to be done with regard to himself. PELAGIUS’S COMMENTARY ON ROMANS.

THEODORET OF CYR: If a man is well disposed by love for another person, he will not kill the one he loves, nor will he rape his wife, nor will he steal goods or do anything which might harm them. INTERPRETATION OF THE LETTER TO THE ROMANS.

ABSTAIN FROM EVIL, DO GOOD. THEODORE OF MOPSUESTIA: Every law either forbids evil or tells us to do good. Legislators pass the first kind of law in order that we should not harm one another and the second kind in order that we should help one another as far as possible. But they are all summed up in the one command that we should love our neighbor. PAULINE COMMENTARY FROM THE GREEK CHURCH.

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