This, according to Jesus, is the second great commandment in the law. There is only one that surpasses it: "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength" (Mark 12:30). On these two commandments, says the Lord, hang all the law and the prophets (Matt 22:40). They are the essence and proof of true religion.

It is significant that these two greatest Commandments, although repeated in the New Testament, did not originate there. They both come from the Old Testament Law of Moses (Deut 6:5, Lev 19:18). They are not, as some would have it, New Testament innovations that mark a change in the character of God's law with the advent of Christ. From the beginning, God has required nothing less than supreme love and devotion to Him; and, in complement to that, and in consequence of that, He requires that we love others as we love ourselves. There has never been a time in which it has not been so, nor will there ever be. Here is where proper theology must stand opposed to the teachings of even those we admire and respect. There are many teachers who, thinking that they magnify the grace of God, nullify His law. In seeking to uphold the grand truth of salvation by God's grace alone, and not by works, they portray the law of God as an enemy. But what God has joined together, let not man separate. Christ Himself said, "Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill" (Matt 5:17). He did not come to remove the bar but to meet it in the place of His people. So those under grace can still say with the Psalmist, "Oh, how I love Your law! It is my meditation all the day," (Psalm 119:107), and with Paul, "Do we then make void the law through faith? Certainly not! On the contrary, we establish the law" (Rom 3:31).

The second great Commandment says that you shall love your neighbor as yourself. It sets the standard of our care and conduct toward others as that which we demonstrate toward ourselves. It assumes that every person has a love for self, and this is true. The popular psychology of our day would tend to differ. It says, "How can we say that people who profess to hate themselves really love themselves?" Or "How can people love themselves when they commit self-destructive acts?" "Or when they submit themselves to abusive relationships?" The list goes on and on. Indeed, that people say and do such things is evident. Have we not all, to some degree, done ourselves harm? Even when we knew better? Have we not all put ourselves in bad situations, or prolonged our stay in them? Have not many of us at times spoken hateful things against ourselves? "I hate my looks," "I hate my personality," "I hate my life." But these, when rightly viewed, are only signs that we fail to love ourselves rightly and that we all too often love ourselves too much. So in telling us to love others as we love ourselves, the standard that God has in view is the love that we have for self by nature, not our sinful distortions of it. Every one of us knows the difference. "Therefore, whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets" (Matt 7:12).

Note that Christ does not instruct us to stop loving ourselves. Love for self is not inherently evil. Even God loves Himself, and rightly so. He must do so for at least two reasons: first, because He is altogether lovely, and if anything at all is to be loved, it must be Him; second, because God is love, and for Him not to love Himself would be contrary to His very nature. Both of these may also be applied to mankind. We are not altogether lovely, but we are beings made by God, and in that sense, worthy of our own love. We are not capable of loving to the degree that God loves, but as beings made in His image, we can, and should, love even ourselves. Therefore, in scripture we see that God does not despise a righteous regard for self, which we may call love; Rather, what He sets Himself against are things such as pride, covetousness and selfishness, which are elevations of self-love above love for others. So in commanding us to love others, God does not say, "Stop loving yourself and love others"; instead He says, to paraphrase, "Take that same standard of love that you have for yourself, in all of its aspirations, desires and actions, and apply it to others." "Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others" (Phil 2:3-4).

Love is not seen merely in its principles or professions but also by its actions. "If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, and one of you says to them, 'Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,' but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit?" (James 2:15-16). Love seeks the best for others. It considers them better than self. Love thinks of the consequences of actions towards them: the way to avoid offending them; the way to serve them; the thing that is most needful for them. "Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law. For the commandments, 'You shall not commit adultery,' 'You shall not murder,' 'You shall not steal,' 'You shall not bear false witness,' 'You shall not covet,' and if there is any other commandment, are all summed up in this saying, namely, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' Love does no harm to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law" (Rom 13:8-10). And although love is much more than feelings, we ought not think that we have loved to the most proper and fullest extent without them. Love must be in accord with what is true and right but at the same time it must exhibit affection and compassion. "Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails" (1 Cor 13:4-8). Yet that same love should, yes must, be willing to confront if needed for the sake of righteousness. It must not be silent about offenses so as not to foster guilt and bitterness. "You shall not hate your brother in your heart. You shall surely rebuke your neighbor, and not bear sin because of him. You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the children of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord" (Lev 19:17-18). Love is the seasoning by which all things are made savory. It is the motivation behind all that is pure and perfect. Without love, there is death in the pot. Without love, there is a serpent in the garden.

We may view the Second Great Commandment as a test of adherence to the first. How can someone love God and not love the beings made in His image? Applying this truth to the love of the brethren, John says, "If someone says, 'I love God,' and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? And this commandment we have from Him: that he who loves God must love his brother also" (1 John 4:20-21). The converse is not stated, but it is also true: it is not possible to truly love our brethren without loving God. We will never find a person who has one of those loves in proper degree without the other as a complement. Such love comes from God. Much like the light of the moon, which is a reflection of the shining sun, so our love for God and for others has as its source the love of God Himself. "We love because He first loved us" (1 John 4:19).

"But," you may ask, "who is my neighbor?" It is the person next to you. It is, according to Jesus, the person you encounter along the way, even though a foreigner (Luke 10:29-37). It is the stranger who dwells in your midst. "The stranger who dwells among you shall be to you as one born among you, and you shall love him as yourself" (Lev 19:34). Your neighbor is not only the one like you but also the one different from you. It is the one who offends you as well as the one who praises you. It is the person you encounter during your day; the person with whom you work; the person in your church. In the familial sense, it is your mother, father, sister, brother, spouse, and relatives; and, of course, the children born to you. Not only that, but it is also your enemy, the one who persecutes you and who spitefully uses you. "For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others? Do not even the tax collectors do so? Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect" (Matt 5:46-48). Your neighbor is every human being, for, like you, every human being is made in the image of God.

Here is our call to seek the mercy of God in Christ. Have you seen that it is not in you to truly love your neighbor as yourself? You have fallen far short of keeping this commandment to the extent that God requires, and you lack the ability to do so. Do not say in your heart, "I have not killed," "I have not committed adultery," "I have not stolen," "I have loved my neighbor as myself." The Lord says, "You have heard that it was said to those of old, 'You shall not murder, and whoever murders will be in danger of the judgment.' But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment. And whoever says to his brother, 'Raca!' shall be in danger of the council. But whoever says, 'You fool!' shall be in danger of hell fire…You have heard that it was said to those of old, 'You shall not commit adultery.' But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart…But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust" (Matt 5:21-22, 27-28, 44-45). It is not sufficient to acknowledge the law or even to seek to obey it, for who can fully live up to its demands? When the scribe said to Jesus, "there is one God, and there is no other but He. And to love Him with all the heart, with all the understanding, with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love one's neighbor as oneself, is more than all the whole burnt offerings and sacrifices" (Mark 12:32-33), Jesus said to Him, "You are not far from the kingdom of God" (Mark 12:34). In this statement, Jesus acknowledged that God's law is not the means of salvation: the scribe was not far from the Kingdom of God, but he was not in the Kingdom of God. We must let the law lead us to the One who is perfectly righteous; the One in whom we can find the perfection that we lack; the One in whom we can find a perfect salvation from our sins. We must let it lead us to the Lord Jesus Christ, the Savior, who will forgive all who come to Him by faith. "For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes" (Rom 10:4).

This same Jesus is also the supreme example to us of the love required by God's law. "Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross" (Phil 2:5-8) He suffered at the hands of those who should have worshipped Him. He died to save those who were at enmity with Him. Why? Because He loved them, even when they were enemies. "For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us" (Rom 5:6-8). Let us, then, press on to know Him, for to know Him is to know true love. And knowing that love, let us seek to imitate it. "By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren" (1John 3:16). "A new commandment I give you, that you love one another; even as I have loved you, that you also love one another" (John 13:34).

If you would like to receive further information concerning these matters, please contact Joseph Montalto.