How can a believer actually fulfill the whole law?
A believer fulfills the whole law not by self-effort, but when the love of God is imparted through the Holy Spirit and works in his life. Walking after the Spirit rather than the flesh, that divine love does no ill to a neighbor and thereby fulfills the law.
Les explains that Romans 13:8 and 13:10 say the believer owes no one anything except to love one another. When the love of God is operating in a believer, he has fulfilled the Law, because love works no ill to his neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law. Les stresses that nothing we can do in ourselves would accomplish this, but when the love of God is imparted through the power of the Holy Spirit and works in our life, then yes, we fulfill the whole law. Returning to Romans 8, he ties this to the righteousness or completeness of the law being fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit. One of the first marks of true salvation, he says, is a changed lifestyle, changed appetites, and a changed thought process, because whereas we were once under the control of the world, the flesh, and the devil, now we are under the control of the Spirit of God.
Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.
More Questions
Why can't we fulfill the law by our own efforts?
No one can fulfill the Law by his own effort; the whole Law is fulfilled only when God's love, imparted through the Holy Spirit, works in a believer's life.