Leviticus 19:18, commentary and pictures

It forbids taking revenge or holding a grudge against one's own people and commands loving one's neighbor as oneself as part of God's call to be holy as He is holy.
It sums up the last six commandments defining duty to fellow people, standing as the second great commandment like the command to love God, and together with that first command upholding the law and the prophets.
A neighbor is anyone one meets who is in need and to whom mercy can be shown, without limit of friendship, country, church, race, class, or prejudice, including even enemies, as the Samaritan showed by caring for the wounded stranger at his own cost.
That love means doing to others as one would wish to be done by in their place, entering into their feelings, difficulties, joys, and sorrows.
Merely knowing and reciting it does not keep it, for doing it unto eternal life requires a converted will made one with Christ and a transformed life of practical mercy rather than profession alone.

Wording Speaker and Setting

The command forbids settling scores or nursing resentment against one's own people and requires loving one's neighbor with the same regard as oneself. It belongs to God's instruction to be holy because He is holy, making unselfish love for others a principle of the law. The speaker of these words through Moses is Christ the Redeemer, the same Lord who spoke to Israel from the cloudy pillar.

Its setting joins this love to dealing justly and compassionately with others in practical rules of daily conduct. Love here includes fair and honest treatment and refusal of oppression, with sharing of harvest gifts and gleanings for the poor and stranger. Above all it requires confronting a neighbor's wrongdoing with faithful reproof rather than leaving the person in sin, since hatred in the heart, unjust rebuke, neglect of this duty, and sharing in guilt all violate love.

Though spoken through Moses to the Hebrew people, the command was not for them alone but as a sacred trust for the whole world, adapted to all mankind for instruction and government. It states with love to God the foundation of the law and the prophets, carried out in detail in the Ten Commandments and reiterated in the gospel. Its giving shows that God's work, claims, foundation of love, and principles of government are the same in all time and in both dispensations, unfolding without variableness in the plan of redemption.

It is the same truth taught by the prophets and by Christ, yet hardness of heart and love of sin had obscured it. The command to love one another had already been given in the Old Testament Scriptures but had been lost from practice. When Jesus commanded His disciples to love as He had loved, it was therefore old truth yet strangely new to them, giving the world unmistakable evidence of discipleship.

Place Within God's Law

The command to love one's neighbor as oneself sums up the last six commandments, which define duty to fellow people, while love to God with all heart and soul and might and mind and strength sums up the first four. Obeying the first four prepares a person to obey the last six, and setting them aside leads away from loving God supremely and neighbor as self. Loving God supremely is shown by obeying this neighbor love, making it part of character and visible in words and principles through helping one another after Christ's self-denying, self-sacrificing example, and profession to keep the commandments without it is cheap and superficial. Giving the neighbor the right place is possible only when God holds His rightful place and is loved supremely, for the law is a divine whole in which no commandment may be treated as unimportant, and breaking any commandment violates the principle of love and harmony with God.

It is the second great commandment, like the command to love God, and together the two uphold and form the foundation of the law and the prophets. Together they are the basis of creation and redemption, of true education, and the guide of life. The command calls for mercy rather than formal religion that forgets others, practiced in deeds of mercy, tender care, courtesy, words of courage and hope, good works, benevolence, and faithful performance of duties owed to others, not mere stated belief or outward practice.

Love for God must come first and leads to love for neighbor, for love to God bears fruit in love to people made in His image, and those tested and proved in this love are fit for an inheritance with the saints in light. Neither can be kept while the other is broken, and keeping one while breaking the other is impossible. Disregarding justice, mercy, and benevolence hardens the heart and can lead even professed followers of Christ to rob God without remorse. This law of love guards from evil paths, strife, and self-made standards.

The moral law reaches the intents and purposes of the mind, so this love extends even to enemies in blessing them, doing good to them, and praying for those who mistreat and persecute, reflecting the Father who gives sun and rain to evil and good. It serves as a mirror for examining actions, revealing duty and guilt and defects of character and failure to love, which should lead to repentance and earnest dependence on God for power to show kindness and forbearance. It cannot save from sin's penalty or cleanse defects; pardon, cleansing, and power to obey come through Jesus, who takes sin and gives His righteousness, received by repentance and faith, though the law contains the gospel in principle. This inward piety expressed in unselfish regard for others and righteous action is worth more than burnt offerings and sacrifices and outward ceremony.

Christ's command to love one another as He loved goes beyond this measure as oneself. His death on the cross revealed its high, unselfish, unchangeable character, understood by the disciples only after that demonstration. It is not selfish or changeable, nor dependent on praise, affection, or appreciation, and it forbids allowing harm to a neighbor when it can be prevented. People are to be loved because they belong to Christ, who purchased them, and that self-giving love is the standard of Christianity.

Meaning of Neighbor Love

A neighbor is anyone with whom one comes in contact and anyone in need to whom mercy can be shown, not limited to friends, countrymen, church, or faith. Loving the neighbor crosses distinctions of race, color, and class and reaches beyond prejudice, religious division, and national hostility, extending even to the despised, the unconverted, the uncourteous, the uncouth, the ungrateful, and enemies. This practical obedience belongs to keeping all of God's commandments and is essential to human happiness, requiring Christian character to combine every grace and reflect the perfect pattern, since one missing grace breaks the chain as surely as one broken link makes it worthless. Such love is fulfilled by helping sufferers without first asking about their beliefs, so that practical righteousness rather than talk or claims of piety reveals obedience and Christlike character in true missionary service.

The Samaritan fulfilled the command by treating the wounded stranger as a brother at risk to his own life and safety, binding his wounds, carrying him, housing him, and paying for his care. The priest and Levite violated its spirit by passing by and treating practical care as beneath them, showing that mere religious profession and prejudice fall short of the greater righteousness of tender kindness to those in need. Love of neighbor is therefore not a minor duty to follow only when convenient, but belongs alongside the weightiest religious duties in word and deed, and neglecting it for personal inclination distorts character and misrepresents true religion. The Samaritan also represents Christ, whose selfless life embodied this love by humbling himself to serve humanity, becoming poor that people might be made rich, helping and dying for enemies and praying for his murderers.

Loving one's neighbor means the golden rule of doing to others as one would wish to be done by in their place, entering into their feelings, difficulties, disappointments, joys, and sorrows. This principle expresses the law of love and the substance of the prophets' teaching, a principle of heaven developed in those fit for its companionship. Its practical test governs every dealing with believers and unbelievers alike, forbidding taking advantage for personal gain or wronging a neighbor in any matter, and judging conduct by God's standard rather than the world's. It requires kindly, courteous treatment rather than sharp, critical, or exacting dealing, willingly yielding advantage, showing patient practical kindness, kindly words, thoughtful acts, true politeness and hospitality, turning from self-indulgence, worldliness, and sharpness in trade, and living a godly life that opens hearts to truth.

This love comes from God rather than selfishness, received as a precious gift from Jesus and taught by the Holy Spirit as a principle rather than a passing feeling, accompanying supreme love for God. It is the same sympathy Christ felt for humanity ruined and helpless through Satan, which led him to redeem people even at the cost of his own blood, seeking their good and dealing justly and tenderly with them because they are redeemed. Looking to Christ's compassionate life and work shows how far people fall short of loving their neighbors as themselves. Such unselfish love does not harm one's own interests but brings purity, righteousness, justice, and happiness, fulfilling God's purpose for human life, giving a wide field for abilities and influence, placing believers where they can do real missionary work, and restoring God's image through unselfish service. Love for God with whole heart, soul, and mind leads naturally to this brotherly kindness, with charity as the crowning Christian grace and highest step in sanctification.

The command includes proper self-respect and self-love as duty, since each person belongs to the Lord by creation and redemption. No one has moral right to do as he pleases with his own body or to harm or neglect it, but must preserve life and health, understand the fearfully and wonderfully made living machinery, study carefully every part of its wonderful mechanism, and practice self-preservation. Caring for oneself is therefore part of moral obligation, because God is author of physical law as well as moral law, and violating the laws of life and health breaks his law.

Eternal Life Requirement

The law answers the question how to inherit eternal life by joining wholehearted love for God — with all heart and soul and strength and mind — to love for neighbor as self. The lawyer's own summary stated those two requirements correctly, and Jesus affirmed it with the promise that doing this brings life. The same love for neighbor was included among the commandments Jesus named to the rich ruler as the conduct required in keeping God's commandments.

The lawyer could recite the requirement but had not kept it, and he knew he had not obeyed it. His question, who is my neighbor, was a needless attempt at self-justification to excuse selfishness and failure, defending himself by implying the command was difficult to fulfill. Christ's words exposed his sin and his condemnation under the righteous law, leaving criticism and belittling of others condemned rather than allowing self-vindication. The answer is that the neighbor is the needy person at hand, to be treated with mercy and practical help as in the case of the Samaritan, a principle to be cultivated in the home by educating children to live rightly and by faithfully doing family duty as Abraham did.

Doing this is keeping the way of the Lord with a converted will made one with Christ, belonging to a life changed by His love and devoted to God's service. It requires undivided affections and thorough conversion and transformation of character, with Christ accepting no divided heart. It is met not by saying belief, nor by mere profession, position, or feeling, but only by practicing the truth and doing the Father's will, with love shown in conduct and refusal to exploit ministry for selfish advantage or dishonest gain as Paul demonstrated. True godliness is measured by work done, and keeping the command bears fruit that testifies to character as a good tree is known by its fruit, making believers witnesses with an indwelling Saviour working mind and heart through faith that acts in love to purify the soul. When every act shows this love alongside supreme love for God, the church gains power to influence the world, while those who profess Christ yet do not act as He would in their place injure His cause, misrepresent Him, and stand under false colors, with a Christlike character being the evidence that God sent His Son.

Mercy to Those in Need

Love for neighbor treats a neighbor's needs as claims that cannot be ignored while obeying God. It is shown by using one's means to bless others, even when means are limited, by using them wisely, and by valuing the salvation of souls above gold and silver and above treating wealth as one's own possession. For workers for God this love makes the salvation of souls the highest concern, giving power to truth and opening the way for unlimited plans to save, expressed in good works, mercy, benevolence and tender pity for all. It requires practical care in ordinary small acts as well as great matters, including relieving oppression and distress, feeding the hungry, housing the poor, clothing the naked, loosing burdens and letting the oppressed go free, and making an unfortunate person's condition one's own in practice and not in preaching. Neglect of this duty for the sake of riches puts wealth above love of neighbor and God, misrepresents Christ's religion and harms those affected, while the young ruler's lack was precisely failure to love his neighbor in practice by giving to the poor, loosening hold on wealth and turning affections toward heavenly treasure.

This love forgives money debts that are justly due when brethren are poor, troubled and unable to pay, releasing them rather than exacting payment or urging payment they cannot possibly command. God tests love for neighbor in this matter and will deal with a person precisely as that person deals with brethren, so that exacting dealing brings exacting dealing from God. Compassion and mercy to the needy and distressed keep any account from standing against a person in the books of heaven, and such mercy is owed because the Lord gives all that is possessed and because Jesus paid the debt of His own life.

Help must be given with sound wisdom to both those brought into hardship for the truth's sake and those whose own conduct and continued wrongdoing have led them into need, treating each rightly according to what will truly benefit them. The Lord's poor are to be helped in ways that enable them to help themselves, by providing work and support rather than aid that rewards continued harmful conduct. God brings people who need help before His children to test their love for Him and for His children, and helping the poor brings blessings to those who help.

The command forbids selfish plans in God's service that concentrate the treasury's shared resources in a few places while depriving others of what they need to serve and of facilities to represent the truth. It requires regard for the needs of the whole field, supporting the work across the whole field and not supplying one place at the expense of others. Giving money to sustain God's work puts this love into practical action, including transferring surplus funds to meet fellow believers' urgent needs, as in helping Nashville secure a church building.

Love for others means regarding the claims of justice and humanity with a noble unselfish disposition that rebukes a self-seeking mercenary spirit and refuses to take gain or advantage from the unfortunate even when rich spoil is offered and the usage of war would allow it. Abraham illustrates it when, after rescuing Lot and gaining victory with the Lord's aid, he refuses to take even a thread or shoe-latchet of the spoils of Sodom lest the king of Sodom should say he made Abram rich, an example worthy of imitation. Applied to all dealings with the Edomites, the same care forbids ever revenging the affront of refused passage, forbids doing them injustice, and forbids seeking to obtain anything belonging to them by force or fraud. It requires brotherly kindness and courtesy because the ancestors of Edom and Israel were brothers, merciful dealing because the Edomites were still probationers under mercy, fair trading by buying needed supplies and promptly paying for all received, and recognition that even as the chosen people with a promised inheritance Israel did not alone have rights in the earth and must not crowd out others, an obedience made possible because God had blessed Israel so they lacked nothing and were not dependent on the Edomites.

Making wine and cider for money breaks the requirement to love one's neighbor as oneself, for love of money leads men to violate conscience by this trade and money so gained is obtained by transgression even if brought to the Lord's treasury, which God will not accept but counts an offense. Saying that if one man had not made the drink someone else would have, and the neighbor would have become a drunkard just the same, is no excuse. Christians who put the bottle to their neighbor's lips stain their garments with the blood of souls and bring on themselves the curse pronounced on those who put this temptation in the way of erring men, while Jesus instead calls His followers to stand under His banner and help destroy the works of the devil. Loving a neighbor requires being his brother's keeper and not his destroyer, leading him to God and not away from God, so licensing the sale of liquor violates this love because officials pledged to work for the good of the people thereby knowingly authorize a deadly evil that destroys reason, produces cruelty, murder and crime, sends men to prison, and leaves wives and children in poverty and hardship. Those who by this traffic cause such ruin have the blood of their fellow men on their hands and will have to answer for those deeds before a higher tribunal than earthly courts.

Honesty in Daily Dealings

Love for neighbor must govern every dealing and every business transaction with believers and unbelievers alike. It forbids taking advantage of anyone for personal gain, wronging a neighbor in any matter, overreaching, robbery in business, dishonesty, false representations, lies, sharp practice, and cheating through bargains that benefit self to another's disadvantage. Buying and selling are to be judged by God's standard and not the world's, by dealing with others as one would want them to deal with oneself, regarding a neighbor's rights as carefully as one's own. Selfishly pursuing one's interests at another's expense, including taking unfair advantage of a fellow worker and indulging one's own wants while withholding from workmen the pay they are entitled to, gives the commandment no weight and fails to show its wisdom and love. Such conduct is counted as transgression and dishonor before God even when handling sacred things, and He will judge and expose it, while living by this command preserves His law through merciful kindness binding heart to heart and through justice, fairness, and truth shaping life.

Fair and impartial payment for labor is required, without taking large wages for self and favorites while cutting the wages of poor ministers and workers without learning their circumstances and needs. Decision-makers must consider whether families can live on what is decided, feeling for those with large families or parents to support, and doing to them as one would be done by. No burden is to be laid on another that one could better bear oneself, and no gain is to be sought at his loss, with regard for family burdens, care, anxiety, and strength. Pressing a faithful servant beyond strength to free oneself from perplexity and provide for one's family, bringing long sickness to the brink of the grave and depriving God's cause of weeks of labor, breaks this command and the rule of doing to others as one would be done by. Such a wrong is seen by a heart-searching God and is done to Jesus Himself in the person of His disciple, with a spread of harm whose full extent would wring cries of anguish and fear from the wrongdoer, for avarice and unequal dealings violate God's law of love, equity, and justice.

In professional work love for neighbor forbids benefiting oneself unjustly at the expense of another, taking advantage in any respect of a brother or of any soul for whom Christ died, doing evil while excusing Satan's sharp contrivances for gain, acting on the world's customs and maxims, betraying the truth of God, and giving place to the devil. It requires watching with greatest vigilance to preserve the purity of religion when brought into contact and association with the world, and renewing day by day the decision to be a Christian, to love neighbor as self, and to do unto others as one wishes them to do to oneself. Faithfulness is required even in apparently small matters of unfaithfulness or injustice, since sin does not lose its offensive character by commonness or smallness, as shown when a seemingly small transgression by the first parents opened the floodgates of woe. Violation by those in responsible positions with light and sacred trust is a far greater sin, with uprightness measured by singleness of purpose to honor God rather than seeking to be honored by the world. Physicians who follow this command will not exploit patients by charging exorbitant prices, demanding payment for services not provided, or using other practitioners' fees to justify unfair charges, but will show honest, fair treatment and righteous judgment in medical practice.

Love for neighbor is a duty in every part of life, not merely in matters considered important, and belongs alongside the weightiest religious duties. The priest and Levite ignored this command when they refused to help an unknown sufferer although they claimed to respect God's law, treating practical care for another as beneath them, while the Samaritan's care for the wounded man fulfills it. Governing both major duties and small, everyday acts, including relieving oppression and distress, it must not be left to inclination, impulse, or changing feelings. Treating practical acts of mercy as optional violates the law and mars character, misrepresents Christ's religion, and harms those affected. Obeying it means showing true benevolence in daily life, not merely professing loyalty to the law, for those who neglect this holy command cannot correctly represent the principles of the Ten Commandments. The command is disobeyed when selfishness shuts out awareness of neighbors' needs and cares only for personal interests, harming others and damaging the church.

Keeping God's law means showing this love in words and deeds, not merely claiming to obey, as the Samaritan's compassion and practical care for the wounded man demonstrate. It is fruit of a Christian life, visible to the watching world, showing that those who bear it have been with Jesus and learned from Him, and their experience is genuine. Unbelievers watch and criticize professed followers with keenness and severity, weighing conduct in temporal matters, in the home circle and among neighbors, more than words spoken in church. Obedience is therefore to give unmistakable evidence through kindly words, thoughtful acts, true politeness, hospitality, Christian courtesy, social kindness, and genuine concern for others' spiritual well-being, turning from self-indulgence, worldliness, and sharpness in trade. Such love recognizes the claims and needs of suffering people and lives out God's law in daily actions as practical fruit of piety rather than mere profession or respect for law, constantly exerting influence in favor of Christianity, influencing others toward holiness and supporting their service to God and fellow human beings, while disobedience scatters from Christ and places obstacles before those who might otherwise be won. When every act shows this love alongside supreme love for God, the church gains power to influence the world.

Character Speech and Health

Loving one's neighbor as oneself forbids hatred, revenge, and grudges toward fellow people and requires tender, unselfish concern with kindness and courtesy toward fellow workers. It condemns envy, jealousy, fault-finding, discourtesy, unkindness, cruelty, unforgiveness, harshness, and hatred of a brother, along with loving self instead of neighbor. Breaking it includes lifting up self in pride as if faultless, magnifying the faults of others, thinking thoughts of self-esteem, speaking unkind criticism, and trying to correct with sharp, rasping, wicked words instead of patience, kindness, respect, unselfish spirit, tenderness and love. Loving a neighbor as oneself means not disparaging another's individuality through criticism, fault-finding, or condemnation, and not forcing others into one's own mold. This love is measured by the love Christ has given to practice, willing to suffer insult, reproach, contempt, abuse, and even death if needed for His sake, and transgressing it while claiming to keep the commandments brings guilt requiring repentance, sorrow, humble confession before God, and righting wrongs as far as possible before pardon comes.

Love includes faithful, humble correction aimed at saving a neighbor from sin rather than leaving the person in sin, with fair and honest treatment of others. Neglecting that duty makes servants unfaithful and can make a person share in the other's guilt. Such rebuke must not be hatred, vengeance, or unjust rebuke, and correcting with a sharp rasping spirit instead of meek restoration breaks the law. Confronting wrongdoing belongs with forbidding revenge and grudges as practical rules for dealing justly and compassionately.

Loving one's neighbor as oneself means regarding a neighbor's rights as carefully as one's own, ruling out selfishly pursuing one's interests at another's expense, including taking unfair advantage of a fellow worker. It requires treating every worker with equal regard rather than favoring the rich or a select few and neglecting the poor, and harm done by such partiality will be charged to those who treated others unfairly. It rules out harsh, cruel, and domineering treatment, including in the work of the church. It requires justice and right in dealings, doing no harm to a neighbor's property, feelings, health, or good name, with compassion for the afflicted, and cold indifference and injustice are disobedience. This love is practiced through Christian courtesy, social kindness, and genuine concern for others' spiritual well-being, influencing others toward holiness and supporting their service, shown by treating a neighbor kindly and courteously, not sharply, critically, or exactingly, willingly giving the neighbor any advantage that could be gained, with patient practical kindness and a godly life opening the heart to truth.

This love begins at home first as a blessing to members of one's own family and extends outward to all who need mercy and relief, not only toward members of one's own sect or church. It means a child of God cannot live for self and seek own enjoyment and happiness with disregard to the present and future happiness of others. Where self-love is strong there is no true neighbor love, only love for those who praise and flatter, dislike of being with others, and desire to be highly thought of, appreciated, petted and adored, which injures associates, misleads them, and keeps them from judging character correctly. It requires not living for self but for the good of others, not being controlled by feelings but treating personal influence as a power for good or evil and directing it toward good, with every power and action of the mind aimed at doing the greatest amount of good, working intelligently and not overdoing to weariness and disability, holding the royal gifts of the soul so they tell with power upon others. Lived out through daily striving against selfishness and self-centeredness and cultivating the attributes of Jesus, which are the attributes of God, through individual union with Christ and growth to His full stature, this love is the connecting link between God and man, belongs to the holiness God requires, and marks the work of few real missionaries who live as the Redeemer lived, not to please self but to do others good, with undivided affection, determining the daily record going up to heaven and winning the eternal weight of glory.

This love reaches the intents and purposes of the mind and so extends even to enemies, meaning blessing them, doing good to them, and praying for those who mistreat and persecute. It answers hatred and persecution with kindness, mercy, and benevolence rather than retaliation or cursing, exceeding ordinary self-interested affection. Such love reflects the Father who gives sun and rain and sunshine to both the evil and the good and to the just and the unjust, and calls for goodness and perfection like His. Treating others with mercy, kindness, and love fulfills the principle of God's law, as the good Samaritan's example and Jesus' life make clear, while failing to show it breaks the law claimed to be revered, for the way people treat brothers reveals their spirit toward God, because love for God is the only source of love for neighbor. It requires tender compassion and practical help for people in need, so refusing kindness, encouragement, and mercy to a suffering fellow person fails to live it out.

Indulging intemperate appetite is selfish and conflicts with loving one's neighbor as oneself because it harms body and mind, weakening the intellect and impairing reason and conscience. It dulls the brain, weakens the intellect, fills the body with disease, and violates God's law with suffering and harm accumulating across generations. Giving affections over to selfish appetite, including indulgence in strong drink or tobacco, engrosses the affections and prevents loving the neighbor.

Love for neighbor belongs to practical religion calling for energetic use of all mental and physical powers in faithful duties rather than idle contemplation. It is incompatible with coldness toward others and calls for affection and truthful, loving words, fostered and nourished to bring happiness to families and uplift those within its influence. The commandments, briefly represented on the blue ribbon worn on garments, were meant to keep love to God supremely and to neighbor continually in mind. Outward displays of devotion contradict the law when daily conduct opposes it, as shown when stress on visible piety went with lack of mercy and love.

Obeying this law of love, which also commands wholehearted love for God, would guard people from entering evil paths, while selfish disobedience and self-made standards oppose it and lead to strife. It binds people to fellow human beings and is expressed through service reflecting the life of Jesus Christ. Those who serve God and love Him supremely also love neighbors this way, keeping the last six commandments, and this love is a test of those to be saints, standing against planning and acting only for one's own interests.