For all the law is fulfilled in one word: Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

“Now, if none other but the Creator shall be found to execute judgment, it follows that only He, who has determined on the cessation of the law, shall be able to condemn the defenders of the law; and what, if he also affirms the law in that portion of it where it ought (to be permanent)? "For," says he, "all the law is fulfilled in you by this: `Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.' " If, indeed, he will have it that by the words "it is fulfilled" it is implied that the law no longer has to be fulfilled, then of course he does not mean that I should any more love my neighbour as myself, since this precept must have ceased together with the law.”

“That charity and brotherly affection are to be religiously and stedfastly practised. In Malachi: "Hath not one God created us? Is there not one Father of us all? Why have ye certainly deserted every one his brother? " Of this same thing according to John: "Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you." Also in the same place: "This is my commandment, That ye love one another, even as I have loved you. Greater love than this has no man, than that one should lay down his life for his friends." Also in the same place: "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the sons of God." Also in the same place: "Verily I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree on earth concerning everything, whatever you shall ask it shall be given you from my Father which is in heaven. For wherever two or three are gathered together in my name, I am with them." Of this same thing in the first Epistle to the Corinthians: "And I indeed, brethren, could not speak unto you as to spiritual, but as to carnal, as to babes in Christ. I have given you milk for drink, not meat: for while ye were yet little ye were not able to bear it, neither now are ye able. For ye are still carnal: for where there are in you emulation, and strife, and dissensions, are ye not carnal, and walk after man? " Likewise in the same place: "And if I should have all faith, so that I can remove mountains, but have not charity, I am nothing. And if I should distribute all my goods for food, and if I should deliver up my body to be burned, but have not charity, I avail nothing. Charity is great-souled; charity is kind; charity envieth not; charity dealeth not falsely; is not puffed up; is not irritated; thinketh not evil; rejoiceth not in injustice, but rejoiceth in the truth. It loveth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, beareth all things. Charity shall never fail." Of this same thing to the Galatians: "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. But if ye bite and accuse one another, see that ye be not consumed one of another." Of this same thing in the Epistle of John: "In this appear the children of God and the children of the devil. Whosoever is not righteous is not of God, and he who loveth not his brother. For he who hateth his brother is a murderer; and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him." Also in the same place: "If any one shall say that he loves God, and hates his brother, he is a liar: for he who loveth not his brother whom he seeth, how can he love God whom he seeth not? " Of this same thing in the Acts of the Apostles: "But the multitude of them that had believed acted with one soul and mind: nor was there among them any distinction, neither did they esteem as their own anything of the possessions that they had; but all things were common to them." Of this same thing in the Gospel according to Matthew: If thou wouldest offer thy gift at the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee; leave thou thy gift before the altar, and go; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift at the altar." Also in the Epistle of John: "God is love l and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him." Also in the same place: "He who saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother, is a liar, and walketh in darkness even until now."”

“Having set forth the example of standing firm and having removed its impediment, here he indicates the manner of it. And first he sets down the manner of standing; second he explains it, where he says for the whole law, etc. Concerning the first he does three things. First he sets down the condition of the state; second he removes the abuse of standing; third he indicates the manner of standing. The condition of standing is indeed liberty. For every condition of a state pertains either to servitude or to liberty; but the state of the faith of Christ, to which the Apostle leads, pertains to liberty and is liberty itself. And therefore he says for you, etc., as if to say: they rightly disturb you, because they lead you away from the better to the worse, since you were called - namely by God - unto the liberty of grace. Romans 8:15: you have not received the spirit of servitude again in fear, but you have received the spirit of adoption of sons, etc. Above, 4:31: we are not children of the handmaid, but of the free woman, etc. You, I say, who are free through Christ, they wish to lead into servitude. Now the abuse of the state is if it should slip into something worse, and the liberty of the spirit be perverted into the servitude of the flesh. But the Galatians were already free from the law; yet lest they believe it lawful for them to commit the sins which the law forbade, therefore the Apostle adds the abuse of liberty, saying only not, etc., as if to say: you are free, yet in such a way that you should not abuse your liberty, thinking that you may sin with impunity. 1 Corinthians 8:9: see lest perhaps this license of yours become a stumbling block to the weak. Now the manner of standing is through charity, whence he says but through the charity of the spirit, etc. Now the whole state consists in charity, without which man is nothing, 1 Corinthians 13:1f. And according to the diverse degrees of charity, diverse states are distinguished. Thus therefore the state of grace is not through the affection of the flesh, but through the charity of the spirit, that is, which proceeds from the Holy Spirit, through whom we ought to be subject to one another and to serve. Below, 6:2: bear one another's burdens, etc. Romans 12:10: in honor preferring one another, etc. But since above he says that they are called unto liberty, what is it that now he says serve one another? To which it must be said that this is what charity requires, that we serve one another, and yet it is free. It must be known, however, that, as the Philosopher says, he is free who is the cause of himself, but the slave is for the sake of another, whether as the one moving or as the end: because the slave is not moved to his work by himself, but by his master, and for the sake of the advantage of his master. Charity therefore, as regards the moving cause, has liberty, because it works from itself. 2 Corinthians 5:14: the charity of Christ urges us - spontaneously, namely, to work. But it is a slave, when, having set aside its own advantages, it accommodates itself to the advantages of its neighbors. Consequently, when he says the whole law, etc., he explains what he says, and first concerning love, second concerning liberty not to be given as an occasion to the flesh, where he says walk in the spirit, etc. Concerning the first, he exhorts to the pursuit of charity: first on account of the advantage which we obtain in its fulfillment; second on account of the harm which we incur by the neglect of charity, where he says but if one another, etc. Now the advantage which we obtain from the fulfillment of charity is greatest, because in it we fulfill the whole law. And therefore he says for all, etc., as if to say: therefore charity is to be had, because the whole law is fulfilled in one word, namely in the one precept of charity. Romans 13:8: he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law. And in the same chapter it is said: the fullness of the law is love. And therefore he says, 1 Timothy 1:5: the end of the precept is charity. But on the contrary, because it is said in Matthew 12: on these two commandments - namely of the love of God and of neighbor - the whole law depends, and the prophets; therefore it is not fulfilled in one precept only. I respond. It must be said that in the love of God is included the love of neighbor. 1 John 4:21: this commandment we have from God, that he who loves God, love also his brother. And conversely we love our neighbor on account of God: therefore the whole law is fulfilled in the one precept of charity. For the precepts of the law are reduced to that precept. For all the precepts are either moral, or ceremonial, or judicial. The moral precepts indeed are the precepts of the Decalogue, of which three pertain to the love of God, the other seven to the love of neighbor. The judicial precepts, however, are such as that whoever steals something should restore fourfold, and things similar to these, which likewise pertain to the love of neighbor. The ceremonial precepts, however, are sacrifices and things of this kind, which are reduced to the love of God. And thus it is clear that all things are fulfilled in the one precept of charity, you shall love your neighbor as yourself: and it is written in Leviticus 19:18. But he says as yourself, not as much as yourself, because man, according to the order of charity, ought to love himself more than another. Now it is explained in three ways. In one way, so that it be referred to the truth of love. For to love is to will good to someone. And therefore we are said to love someone to whom we will good, and we also love that good which we will for him; but in different ways, because when I will good for myself, I love myself simply on account of myself, but that good which I will for myself, I love not for its own sake, but on account of myself. Then, therefore, I love my neighbor as myself, that is, in the same way as myself, when I will good for him for his own sake, not because he is useful or delightful to me. In the second way, so that it be referred to the justice of love. For each thing is inclined to will for itself that which is most excellent in it; but the most excellent thing in man is intellect and reason; he therefore loves himself, who wills for himself the good of intellect and reason. Then, therefore, you love your neighbor as yourself, when you will for him the good of intellect and reason. In the third way, so that it be referred to order, namely that just as you love yourself on account of God, so also you should love your neighbor on account of Him, namely that he may arrive at God. Consequently, when he says but if one another, etc., he leads to the pursuit of charity from the harm which we incur if we neglect it. Here he speaks to the Galatians as still, as it were, spiritual, abstaining from the mention of greater vices, and he makes mention of those which seem lesser, namely of the vices of the tongue. And therefore he says but if one another, etc., as if to say: in love the whole law is fulfilled; but if you bite one another, that is, by detracting from your neighbor you take away his reputation in part - for he who bites does not take the whole, but a part. And devour, that is, you take away his whole reputation and utterly confound him by detracting totally. For he who devours, absorbs the whole. James 4:11: do not detract from one another, my brothers, etc. If thus, I say, you neglect charity, see the harm which threatens you, namely that you be consumed by one another. Philippians 3:2: beware of the dogs, beware of the evil workers, etc. Isaiah 49:4: and in vain have I consumed my strength, etc. For as Augustine says: by the vice of contention and envy, pernicious quarrels are nourished among men, by which society and life are consumed.”

“For all the law is fulfilled in one word. That is, the whole law so far as it concerns our neighbour, or according to what was said in the preceding verse, as we serve one another. Cf. Rom. xiii. 8. S. Augustine (de Trin . lib. viii.), S. Thomas, Anselm, however, say that the who’e law rests on the love of God or of our neighbour, but that the latter presupposes the former, inasmuch as our neighbour is to be loved for the sake of God. Therefore he who loves his neighbour both fulfils the law, which says, Thou shall love thy neighbour , and also loves God and fulfils the law, which says, Thou shall love the Lord thy God. Ver. 1 5. — But if ye bite and devour one another. Beware, if you attack one another with calumnies, lest you be mutually consumed. Two men calumniating and enviously pursuing each other are like two dogs fighting, and biting each other. They consume each other, nay, they devour themselves. Well said the poet : “ Than envy nothing is more just f for it forthwith bites and tortures its author .” And therefore : “ Than envy not even Sicilian tyrants have found a greater torment” See my notes on Phil. i. 18, where I enumerate the properties of envy. Wisely and piously said S. Augustine {Sent. 179) : “ To a religious man it ought to be little not to excite enmities , or to excite them only by awkivard speech ; he ought to strive to extinguish them by seasonable discourse.””

“But if ye bite and devour one another,.... Another reason inducing to love is taken from the pernicious consequences of a contrary spirit and conduct. The allusion is to beasts of prey falling upon and devouring one another: for wolves or dogs to worry sheep is not strange; but for sheep to distress one another is unnatural. The apostle does not say, if grievous wolves should enter in among you and not spare the flock; but suggests if they themselves should act the part of wolves to one another; having reference to their controversies about the law and circumcision, and the necessity thereof to justification and salvation; which were managed with great heat and bitterness, occasioned great contentions, and threatened them with divisions, parties, and factions; and were attended with envy and malice, with reproachful words, biting sarcasms, scandalous invectives, and injurious actions, which must be of bad consequence: hence he adds, take heed that ye be not consumed one of another; that is, either beware lest each other's particular peace and comfort be destroyed, which is oftentimes done this way, though a person's state and condition God-ward may be safe; or lest their church state should be destroyed and come to nothing, since love is the cement of it, which being loosened, threatens a dissolution; for as no civil community, either public or private, divided against itself, can stand long, so no religious one; and for want of love the Lord threatens to remove, and sometimes does remove, the candlestick out of its place.”

“all the law--Greek, "the whole law," namely, the Mosaic law. Love to God is presupposed as the root from which love to our neighbor springs; and it is in this tense the latter precept (so "word" means here) is said to be the fulfilling of "all the law" (Lev 19:18). Love is "the law of Christ" (Gal 6:2; Mat 7:12; Mat 22:39-40; Rom 13:9-10). is fulfilled--Not as received text "is being fulfilled," but as the oldest manuscripts read, "has been fulfilled"; and so "receives its full perfection," as rudimentary teachings are fulfilled by the more perfect doctrine. The law only united Israelites together: the Gospel unites all men, and that in relation to God [GROTIUS].”