Love Your Neighbor As Yourself

Leviticus 19:16-18 – “‘Do not go about spreading slander among your people. “‘Do not do anything that endangers your neighbor’s life. I am the Lord. “‘Do not hate a fellow Israelite in your heart. Rebuke your neighbor frankly so you will not share in their guilt. “‘Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against anyone among your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord.

Genesis 4:23 – Lamech said to his wives, “Adah and Zillah, listen to me; wives of Lamech, hear my words. I have killed a man for wounding me, a young man for injuring me.

Exodus 12:48 – “A foreigner residing among you who wants to celebrate the Lord’s Passover must have all the males in his household circumcised; then he may take part like one born in the land. No uncircumcised male may eat it.

Mark 12:31 – The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.”

Luke 10:27 – He 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’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”

John 13:34 – “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.

James 2:8 – If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing right.

Application:

• ·         Rabbi Nahmanides wrote: “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.”
• ·         Lamech proudly claimed to be master of his own destiny, thinking that he and his sons, by their own achievements, would redeem themselves from the curse on the line of Cain.
• ·         Only those consecrated to the Lord in covenant commitment could partake of Passover; only for them could it have its full meaning.
• ·         Jesus joined the commandment to show that love for neighbor is a natural and logical outgrowth of love for God.
• ·         Total devotion is demanded.
• ·         Our standard is Christ’s love for us.
• ·         Love your neighbor as yourself is called royal because it is the supreme law that is the source of all other laws governing human relationships.

All Scripture verses taken from ESV