Is it Love or Serve or Obeying ?

People,

You may look below and compare 2 translations.

Romans 13:

9 The commandments, "You shall not commit adultery," "You shall not murder," "You shall not steal," "You shall not covet," and whatever other command there may be, are summed up in this one command: "Love your neighbor as yourself."
10 Love does no harm to a neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.

Romans 13:

9 The commandments, "You shall not commit adultery," "You shall not murder," "You shall not steal," "You shall not covet," and whatever other command there may be, are summed up in this one command: "Serve your neighbor as yourself."
10 Obeying does no harm to a neighbor. Therefore obeying is the fulfillment of the law.

__________________
Matthew 12:

36 I tell you, on the day of judgment you will have to give an account for every careless word you utter;

37 for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned."

Christ taught us that what it means to love is to lay down our lives for people. So serving and obeying would be part of what it means to love, but it certainly would not be limited that.

__________________
"Aslan," said Lucy, "you're bigger."
"That is because you are older, little one," answered he.
"Not because you are?"
"I am not. But every year you grow, you will find me bigger."



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knee-v,

Originally Posted by knee-v

Christ taught us that what it means to love is to lay down our lives for people. So serving and obeying would be part of what it means to love, but it certainly would not be limited that.

Have you ever looked at 2 John 1:6 ?

2 John 1:6

And this is love: that we walk in obedience to his commands. As you have heard from the beginning, his command is that you walk in love.

__________________
Matthew 12:

36 I tell you, on the day of judgment you will have to give an account for every careless word you utter;

37 for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned."

The word translated love is "agape". It is consistently translated love.

But let's think about the translation that says "obey":

Jesus said "if you love me you will keep my commandments" so it would be safe to say that if we love Jesus we will obey him.

I would think it more proper to translate "love" rather than "obey" in this case.
I f love is the fulfillment (completion) of the law the love is expressed in the doing of what the law says. One may "obey" and that obedience not be out of love.

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The 5 Solas: Fide, Scriptura, Gratia, Christos, and Deo Gloria!!! †

People,

You may look below and think of reasoning of the words love and obedience.

2 John 1:6

And this is love, that we walk after his commandments. This is the commandment, That, as ye have heard from the beginning, ye should walk in it.

Obedience is doing the commands of God. Above was shown "that we walk after his commandments".

So from that the word love has the same meaning as obedience or obeying.

2 John 1:6

And this is obedience, that we walk after his commandments. This is the commandment, That, as ye have heard from the beginning, ye should walk in it.

In 2 John 1:5 below you may think the word love was used. And in translating 2 John 1:5 a person may look at the definition of agapaō.

2 John 1:5

And now I beseech thee, lady, not as though I wrote a new commandment unto thee, but that which we had from the beginning, that we love one another.

G25
ἀγαπάω
agapaō
Thayer Definition:
1) of persons
1a) to welcome, to entertain, to be fond of, to love dearly
2) of things
2a) to be well pleased, to be contented at or with a thing
Part of Speech: verb
A Related Word by Thayer's/Strong's Number: perhaps from agan (much) [or compare G5368]
Citing in TDNT: 1:21, 5

So partly from "to entertain" of the definitions above the word serve may be used in 2 John 1:5.

2 John 1:5

And now I beseech thee, lady, not as though I wrote a new commandment unto thee, but that which we had from the beginning, that we serve one another.

To serve one another how God wants, a person must obey God's commands.

Romans 13:

9 The commandments, "You shall not commit adultery," "You shall not murder," "You shall not steal," "You shall not covet," and whatever other command there may be, are summed up in this one command: "Love your neighbor as yourself."
10 Love does no harm to a neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.

Romans 13:

9 The commandments, "You shall not commit adultery," "You shall not murder," "You shall not steal," "You shall not covet," and whatever other command there may be, are summed up in this one command: "Serve your neighbor as yourself."
10 Obeying does no harm to a neighbor. Therefore obeying is the fulfillment of the law.

Next you may compare below definitions of agapē from Thayer's Greek Definitions.

G26
ἀγάπη
agapē
Thayer Definition:
1) brotherly love, affection, good will, love, benevolence
2) love feasts
Part of Speech: noun feminine
A Related Word by Thayer's/Strong's Number: from G25
Citing in TDNT: 1:21, 5

__________________
Matthew 12:

36 I tell you, on the day of judgment you will have to give an account for every careless word you utter;

37 for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned."

.

__________________
Matthew 12:

36 I tell you, on the day of judgment you will have to give an account for every careless word you utter;

37 for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned."

What it comes down to is this:

The balance of saying you love the Lord is "do you obey Him?".

Love (agape as in Romans 13:10) is always demonstrated by action

__________________
The 5 Solas: Fide, Scriptura, Gratia, Christos, and Deo Gloria!!! †

People,

You may look in a bible and see the word love used many times and in many places and you may agree that some words sometimes maybe used for different meanings. I think another example is the word good which may mean beneficial or righteous.

From what I've posted to you I have shown the word love maybe taken out and the words obey or serve used.

If you look at the definitions of the words obey or serve you may think they show better the logic in The Bible.

You may look below at 1 John 4:20 and think of how the word love is used.

1 John 4:20

Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen.

You may look below and think again of what the meaning of the word love may be shown to be in the bible.

2 John 1:6

And this is love: that we walk in obedience to his commands. As you have heard from the beginning, his command is that you walk in love.

You may look below and think of another translation of 1 John 4:20 and you may think it's logical.

1 John 4:20

Whoever claims to serve God yet neglect a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not serve their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot serve God, whom they have not seen.

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Matthew 12:

36 I tell you, on the day of judgment you will have to give an account for every careless word you utter;

37 for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned."

I'm not aware of any translation that says that: I think the OP made it up.

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Lord, make me an instrument of your peace on this forum. Where there is hatred, grant that I may sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is discord, unity; where there is doubt, faith; where there is error, Your truth and not my personal opinion; where there is despair, hope; where there is sadness, joy; where there is darkness, light. O, Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled by people here as to console them; to be understood by them, as to understand them; to be loved by them, as to love them: For it is in giving that we receive; it is in pardoning that we are pardoned; and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.

Radagast,

Originally Posted by Radagast

I'm not aware of any translation that says that: I think the OP made it up.

What did you take the word obey from ?

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Matthew 12:

36 I tell you, on the day of judgment you will have to give an account for every careless word you utter;

37 for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned."