Loving Your Neighbor

Have you ever really stopped and thought about the command to love your neighbor? I have a friend who throws deep thoughts and feelings out and recently made the statement that there were very few people in this world that he truly loved. I think he does things like this to just to stimulate thought and if we are really honest with ourselves, we could quickly come to the conclusion that there are very few people that we truly love. For now, I would call this line of thinking the theory on limited love. There are many questions that can arise in this struggle between command and theory. There are difficulties and concerns and these should be examined, but we will have to dig deep. We should examine what the word neighbor really means, we should examine what the word love really means and how do these relate to things like enemies and war. So let’s jump in and do a little word study. The first place I could find the love your neighbor command was in Leviticus 19:18.

Leviticus 19:18 (New International Version)
18 " 'Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against one of your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the LORD.

The Hebrew word for neighbor in this case is Amiyth which means a comrade or kindred man, fellow or neighbor. Still looking historically at this command, the Pharisees (always looking for a loophole) added to this command deducting that if you love your neighbor you should hate your enemies (do we descend from a line of Pharisees?). However, Christ sets us straight on that which we will get to in a minute. There is a Rabbi from the 13th century (Nahmanides) that provided commentary on this subject saying “One should place no limitations upon the love for the neighbor, but instead a person should love to do an abundance of good for his fellow being as he does for himself.” Neighbors are not just those living close by, but anyone we come into contact with (NIV Study Bible). In greek, neighbor is plesion meaning close by, fellow man, but Christ defines neighbor clearly for us in Luke 10:25-37: The Parable of the Good Samaritan

25On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. "Teacher," he asked, "what must I do to inherit eternal life?" 26"What is written in the Law?" he replied. "How do you read it?" 27He answered: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind'[a]; and, 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'[b]" 28"You have answered correctly," Jesus replied. "Do this and you will live." 29But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?" 30In reply Jesus said: "A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. 31A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. 32So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. 34He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, took him to an inn and took care of him. 35The next day he took out two silver coins[c] and gave them to the innkeeper. 'Look after him,' he said, 'and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.' 36"Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?" 37The expert in the law replied, "The one who had mercy on him." Jesus told him, "Go and do likewise."

Now it seems clear to me that neighbor is more than a fellow Christian (or Jew) as we are all aware of the relationship between Jews and Samaritans. However, just so there is no question, Christ sets us strait on this loving our neighbors business and he does so in Matthew 5:43-48:


Matthew 5:43-48 (New International Version) Love for Enemies

43"You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' 44But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. 46If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? 47And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? 48Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

Pretty clear, but the other side of this theory was that love was such as strong word. Let’s examine the root of that word. In Hebrew, love is Ahab meaning to have affection for; love and in Greek, love is Agapao or Phileo meaning to love in a social or moral sense or to have affection for; a personal attachment as a matter of sentiment or feeling. So it is pretty clear we are to have affection and care for whoever these neighbors are.

John Stott in his book Basic Christianity gives what I think is a great description of Christian love in the example of Christ. He states:

“Never has anyone given so much. It is claimed (by him as well as by us) that he renounced the joys of heaven for the sorrows of earth, exchanging an eternal immunity to the approach of sin for painful contact with evil in this world. He was born of a lowly Hebrew mother in a dirty stable in the insignificant village of Bethlehem. He became a refugee baby in Egypt. He was brought up in the obscure hamlet of Nazareth, and toiled at a carpenter’s bench to support His mother and the other children in their home. In due time he became an itinerant preacher with few possessions, small comforts and no home. He made friends with simple fishermen and publicans. He touched lepers and allowed harlots to touch him. He gave himself away in a ministry of healing, helping, teaching and preaching. He was misunderstood and misrepresented, and became the victim of men’s prejudices and vested interests. He was despised and rejected by his own people, and deserted by his own friends. He gave his back to be flogged, his face to be spat upon, his head to be crowned with thorns, his hands and feet to be nailed to a common Roman gallows. And as the cruel spikes were driven home, he kept praying for his tormentors, ‘Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do’. Such a man is altogether beyond our reach. He succeeded just where we invariably fail. He had complete self-mastery. He never retaliated. He never grew resentful or irritable. He had such control of himself that, whatever men might think or say or do, he would deny himself and abandon himself to the will of God and the welfare of mankind. ‘I seek not my own will’, he said, and ‘I do not seek my own glory.’ As Paul wrote, ‘For Christ did not please himself’. This utter disregard of self in the service of God and man is what the Bible calls love. There is no self-interest in love. The essence of love is self-sacrifice. The worst of men is adorned by an occasional flash of such nobility, but the life of Jesus irradiated it with a never-fading incandescent glow. Jesus was sinless because he was selfless. Such selflessness is love. And God is love.”

Now back to our neighbors and the command to love them as ourselves and in fact to even love our enemies. A good point could be made related to our enemies as it relates to the military and conflicts with enemies of this country. There really is a broad spectrum of Christian thought on this point; ranging from outright pacifism to crusades. I think this alone will require further study but for now we do know that John the Baptist tells soldiers it is ok to be soldiers in Luke 3. We also know from Ecclesiastes that there is a time for war and a time for peace. Further, I found an article written by Darrell Cole, a Visiting Instructor in Religion at the College of William and Mary. I don’t know too much about him, but he did quote John Calvin and Thomas Aquinas on war. He writes:


Calvin, too, looks at the soldier as an agent of God’s love. As he argues: “Paul meant to refer the precept of respecting power of magistrates to the law of love.” The soldier is thus as much an agent of God’s love as he is of God’s wrath, for the two characteristics are harmonious in God. Calvin argues in this way because he holds that to soldier justly-to restrain evil out of love for neighbor-is a God-like act.

When Thomas Aquinas discusses just war in the Summa Theologiae (II-II.40), he does not do so in the section on justice, but rather in the section on charity-specifically, the love of God. He makes it clear that war is not a vice that is opposed to the love of God. On the contrary, war-making, when just, can be a form of love.

In addition, I found a good article written by Timothy J. Demy, Th.D. Commander, Chaplain Corps, U.S. Navy which covers much on this topic. See the link below

http://www.leaderu.com/humanities/demy.html

So while agreeing to further research the Christian Just War Doctrine let’s continue with a quick look at the greatest commandment.

Matthew 22:34-40 (New International Version) The Greatest Commandment

34Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. 35One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: 36"Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?" 37Jesus replied: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.'[a] 38This is the first and greatest commandment. 39And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'[b] 40All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."

Note the words in verse 40 where all the law and the prophets hang on these two commandments. In other translations the word hang is replaced with depends. To me this means without love of God and love of neighbors all is lost. I personally like hang better as I get a much better visual understanding.

William Hendriksen in his commentary on Mathew noted that “this twofold command (love for God and love for neighbors) is the peg on which the whole law and the prophets hang. Remove that peg and all is lost, for the entire Old Testament, with its commandments and covenants, prophecies and promises, types and testimonies, invitations, and exhortations, points to the love of God which demand the answer of love in return.”

I believe it is clear our duty in this commandment to love our God and our neighbors. Further, I recognize and admit this is not an easy task. John Piper commented on our command to love in a sermon from 1995. He so eloquently describes what a real challenge this command is for us. Piper said;

“It is an absolutely staggering commandment. If this is what it means, then something unbelievably powerful and earthshaking and reconstructing and overturning and upending will have to happen in our souls. Something supernatural. Something well beyond what self-preserving, self-enhancing, self-exalting, self-esteeming, self-advancing human beings like John Piper can do on their own.”

Here is hoping and praying that something supernatural, unbelievably powerful and reconstructing happens in all of our souls so as the Samaritan we can “Go and do likewise”.