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为了帮助我的学生思考爱和神的律法之间的关系，我会问他们：“你想用以下内容作为你的婚礼誓言吗？‘我保证不杀你，不偷你的东西，不欺骗你，不咒诅你的父母……’”没有一个学生说：“哇，这听起来很好！你能为我的婚礼准备一份模版吗？” 因为这些是负面的律法约束，而不是正面的爱的承诺。

法律禁止伤害，而爱应许良善。当然，你不会想嫁给一个发誓要杀你或偷你东西的人。但是承诺不伤害别人也不会给别人与你结婚的理由。当然，你不应该伤害任何人。而且你应该只向一个人承诺终生的爱。

那么，爱和法律是如何协调的呢？在罗马书中，使徒保罗解释说，我们通过服侍和顺服神来表达爱，神的律法提醒并指导我们爱神并爱他人。保罗写道：“爱人的就完全了律法。”

尽管如此，我们仍有很多问题需要解答。律法是如何通过爱来实现的？基督的工作如何改变我们与律法的关系？为什么我们依然要遵守律法？这些问题的答案，将指导基督徒的生活。

To help my students think about the relationship between love and God’s law, I would ask them, “How would you like to use the following for your wedding vows? I promise not to kill you, not to steal from you, not to cheat on you, not to swear at your parents…” Not once did a student say, “Wow, that sounds great! Can you send me a copy for my wedding?” That’s because these are negative legal statements, not positive promises of love.

Laws prohibit harm, whereas love promises good. Of course, you wouldn’t want to marry someone who vowed to kill you or steal from you. But promising not to harm someone would not give them much of a reason to marry you, either. You should not harm anyone, of course. And you should promise lifelong love to only one person.

So how do love and law work together? In Romans, the apostle Paul explains that we show love by serving and obeying the Lord, whose law reminds us and guides us to love God and love others. Paul writes, “Whoever loves others has fulfilled the law.”

Still, plenty of questions remain. How is the law fulfilled by love? How does the work of Christ change our relationship to the law? Why do we still need to obey the law? The way Christians live out the answers to such questions will direct our lives.