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Loving Your Neighbor as Yourself.
If we were to examine the central issue of Christianity, we would invariably
come to the subject of love. Perhaps more has been written of this than any
other subject, and I find that I am hard-pressed to find a starting point. Bear
with me as various Scripture verses are examined so that we may try to uncover
the intentions of God as He deals with the rebellious man in Adam as well as the
new man in Christ.
Finding a beginning.
All of mankind must eventually deal with God’s Law. Notice that I did not say
that man must obey all of God’s Law. Each of us, as we are pursued by God,
finally comes to the point of having to face the Law and its requirements. Jesus
Christ summarized the Law when He answered a certain lawyer’s question about the
obtaining of eternal life:
“What is written in the Law? How does it read to you?” And he answered and said;
“You shall love the lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul,
and with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as
yourself.” And He said to him, “You have answered correctly; do this, and you
will live.” Luke 10:26-28.
The Gospel according to Matthew has Jesus answering a man’s inquiry about
eternal life as follows,
You shall not commit adultery; you shall not steal; you shall not bear false
witness; honor your father and mother; and you shall love your neighbor as
yourself.” Matthew 19:18-19.
Finally, in Paul’s inspired writing, he condenses all of the Law into one
requirement:
For the whole Law is fulfilled in one word, in the statement, “You shall love
your neighbor as yourself.” Galatians 5:14.
We can find a God-given key in this final declaration; for if we were truly to
love our neighbor as ourselves all of the other requirements of the Law would
fall into place. There would be no adultery, theft, or falsehood. Our love would
extend to the honoring of father and mother. And we would certainly love God.
Further examination.
All well and good we say, but there is a catch to all of this. The word for love
in all of the above passages is agape, God’s highest form of love. We need to
understand that man, left to his own resources, can at best show phileo love, or
brotherly love. So how can we truly express God’s love to our neighbor?
Consider these two kinds of love.
Agape: A love given freely without expectation of return. It is given for the
sole benefit of the person receiving the love—it is not based upon what that
person desires but upon what the giver knows is best for the person loved. It is
a sacrificial love, wherein the giver places himself in a servant role to the
receiver. It has no self-seeking motive or conditional nature—it is not given to
place any obligation upon the receiver.
Phileo. A love based upon common interests with the receiver. Often called
brotherly love. It may have varying degrees of expression; even with intentions
of receiving the same love in return. It bonds family and friends, and when
properly expressed allows for harmonious relationships with all men. It can not
attain the perfection of agape.
Agape love is used to express God’s love toward man and vice versa. Man is to
show agape love to his enemies (Matthew 5:44). There is one verse where the
Father shows phileo love to the Son (John 5:20), but man is not to show more
phileo love to his father and mother than to God (Matthew 10:37). Although the
husband is to show agape love to his wife, the wife is asked to show phileo love
to her husband. (Ephesians 5:25 and Titus 2:4). We all are to fervently love
(agape) our brothers and sisters in Christ (1 John 3:23), but we are never to
show agape love for the world system; i.e., the cosmos (1 John 2:12). Jesus asks
Peter twice, “Do you love (agape) me?” and he receives the answer “You know that
I love (phileo) you.” Jesus finally asks “Do you love (phileo) me?” and Peter
answers with a phileo love (John 21:15-17). Jesus must have been satisfied for
He tells Peter to “tend My sheep.”
Our dilemma.
It is doubtful that anyone would try to think this through in advance of
tackling the requirements of the Law. It is clear that Jesus is saying “if you
want to fulfill the Law, then love your neighbor as yourself.” But at the same
time, however indirectly, He is saying that we can not love with an agape love.
In our own manner, with all the baggage we carry from the inherited life of
Adam, we can only show phileo love. So, it would seem that Jesus is taking us to
“school.” If it is our intention to fulfill the Law, then that same Law will
either change us or break us. Jesus knows this, and I can only conclude that the
journey that leads to the highest form of love involves some steps that are
defined very clearly in His word. God knows what we need in spite of the fact
that we do not know what we need. We might call it tough love, but it will guide
us to an end result that only God can foresee, and He knows that it is best for
us and that it is the only way for our salvation. If we even vaguely think that
the Law is our way to God, then we have another think coming.
The solution.
There is purpose to God’s Law that is often not understood. Rather than
providing power to accomplish its goals, it is designed to work with our flesh
(our old nature in Adam) and to lead us into utter failure. The intended result
is that we find another way of fulfillment-God’s way --the way of faith placed
in Christ. We can try to summarize God’s purpose in the following verses:
All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23)
For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the Law
(Romans 3:28).
Do we then nullify the Law through faith? May it never be! On the contrary, we
establish the Law (Romans 3:31).
And the Law came in that the transgression might increase (my emphasis); but
where sin increased, grace abounded all the more (Romans 5:20).
For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law, but under grace
(Romans 6:14).
Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death? Thanks
be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! (Romans 7:24-25).
For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did:
sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin,
He condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the requirement of the Law might be
fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the
Spirit (Romans 8:2-4).
Therefore the Law has become our tutor (schoolmaster, or child conductor) to
lead us to Christ, that we may be justified by faith (Galatians 3:24).
I can only attempt to reveal how honestly all of the above verses work their
result on a person that is being sought by God. When I attempted to love others,
I would often see their shortcomings. I would wonder why they could not see
things my way. I was frustrated over lack of patience—on their part or on my
part. My love was conditional—if only I could achieve some desired response from
them then I could love them. Or so I thought. In my most honest moments I would
admit that I did not even want to be around them at all. There might be
something between us that had made me angry, usually because they did not act
the way I thought they should.
My attempts to live the Christian life only led to more failure. The ways of man
are selfish indeed, and they fall far short of God’s love. There was no merit to
be found from my “performance”. There had to be another way. And then one day a
neighbor, who loved me, told of Jesus’ love. He died for me, and He was God!
God has provided the way of faith, that faith placed in the accomplished work of
Christ on the cross, so that we become a new creation that fulfills His desire
for us.
Therefore if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed
away; behold, new things have come (2 Corinthians 5:17).
This new creation is designed to show God’s agape love. It is designed and
permitted to enter into the presence of God, or rather to allow God to live
within the new creature, in the form of the Holy Spirit. It is designed to enjoy
the most intimate fellowship with Christ, for we read:
--but if we walk in the light as He himself is in the light, we have fellowship
with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin. If we
say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and
to cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:7-9).
The result of this cleansing confession, offered freely to Jesus, is that we
have bold access to God. We can approach Him with the confidence of a clean
heart (Hebrews 10:19-22). We know there is no condemnation for those in
Christ—we know that by faith we can speak the Word of God and we can show God’s
agape love to our neighbor and to our enemies.
We have a new position in Christ and a new nature that shows us to agape. We are
seated in heaven with Christ (Ephesians 2:6). All that belongs to Christ is also
ours--His glory, the mystery of His will, His inheritance, His holiness, and we
are sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 1:3-14).
None of this is true by any worthiness on our part—it is only true by the work
of the Holy Spirit and the new nature He imparts to us. We can show a true love
to our brothers and sisters in Christ and to all our neighbors as well. The key
is to follow the Holy Spirit within.
All thanks and praise are given to God for making all of this possible
M. R. Seiler, 1-2-06.
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