[aron]

A little background is in order, perhaps. Prior to the NT era, the Jewish nation was unique in access to God, via obedience to the divinely accorded law. The Psalmist thus thanked the LORD for blessings, followed by, “You have done this for no other nation, because they have not known your law” (Psa 147:20, NIV). Without the law, the Jews were no better than any other people, but by knowing God’s law, they were in a position far superior to the nations (Gk, ethnoi). This can be seen in the gospel messages given by Paul, who addresses both groups, in synagogue. “Fellow Israelites, and those who worship God.” (Acts 13 The law-keeping Jews were the first group, the gentile proselytes were the second. There was not just distinction but separation by class.

Another example is in the gospel story of the Roman centurion. "For he loves our nation, and has built us a synagogue" (Luke 7:5). This person, for all his love for God and God's people, would forever remain a non-citizen in the commonwealth of Israel.

But Christ changed all that. Christ was the new Moses, the new Law-giver. "A prophet will God raise up like me, you must listen to him" (Deut 18:15; Acts 3:22,23). So Christ as the new Law-giver instituted a new commandment, to love one another, that Paul said filled all the requirements of God. My comment was that James called this the royal law (2:8), that Paul and James were saying the same thing.

Another poster then came on and mentioned the necessity keeping the whole law of the OT. I now understand it was meant that it's impossible to keep the whole law, but I and several others (bearbear, Ohio) interpreted this as a kind of injunction for (non-Jewish) Christian believers to keep the law. Obviously there are modern "Christian" teachings like the Sabbaterians who require this. But I guess the reaction, and the subsequent deviation from the OP, was based on a misunderstanding.

But your original point about the law of Christ, I felt, was an excellent observation. I merely tried to affirm that. The Jew/nonJew topic was an unnecessary sidebar.