What does the second greatest commandment really say?

The second greatest commandment:
Matthew 22:39 KJV
39And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

According to Matthew 22:39, the second greatest commandment goes beyond simply loving your neighbor. Loving your neighbor is great and all, but that isn't enough. You have to love your neighbor as yourself.

How we love ourselves is subjective, meaning it's based on a person's experiences, understanding, and feelings.

The Bible doesn't talk about loving yourself much, which often leads Christians into a selfless mindset, even to their own self-harm at times. However, the Bible does talk about loving ourselves a little bit.

Proverbs 19:8
8He that getteth wisdom loveth his own soul: he that keepeth understanding shall find good.

Matthew 22:39

Ephesians 5:29
29For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church:

So all of that being said, we actually aren't fulfilling the second greatest commandment if we don't love our neighbor as we love ourself.

What does the second commandment not say?

It doesn't say any of the following things;

"Love your neighbor as John loves himself."

"Love your neighbor, forget about yourself."

"Love your neighbor the way I love my neighbor or you're sinning."

It's plain and simple, love your neighbor as you love yourself.

Bottom line:

There really is not an incorrect way to love your neighbor as yourself as long as you're trying. That's it.

Yes,we were GODs workmanship created In CHRIST unto good works.JESUS loved us and laid down HIS life for us so that Whosoever believes In HIM might have everlasting life ,so then we love because we were created In HIM and HE loves us so then we will love our neighbors as he loved us.

JESUS IS the vine,we are the branches receiving sustenance from the vine and displaying spiritual fruit establishing the law.

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• Matt 22:39 . .You shall love your neighbor as yourself.

The English word translated "love" in that passage is conjugated from the
Greek verb agapao (ag-ap-ah'-o) which is a very easy kind of love to
practice because it's more about conduct than affections. In other words,
agapao-- unlike phileo (fil-eh'-o) --doesn't require that we like people or be
fond of them.

Examples of agapao love are: kindness, courtesy, greetings, civility,
thoughtfulness, sympathy, loyalty, lenience, tolerance, patience, long
suffering, charity, deference, generosity, etc.

Incidentally, agapao is the kind of love spoken of in John 3:16-17, which
reads:

• John 3:16-17 . . God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten
son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.
For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the
world should be saved through him

It's not all that difficult to show that God dislikes the world and quite
passionately despises it. The world disgusts God; in his mind's eye the world
is thoroughly impossible fo Him to like. In point of fact, the world is basically
the kind of people with whom God prefers not to associate. However though
God isn't especially fond of the world, He pities the world enough to help it
escape the wrath of God, i.e. Christ's father is the ultimate good Samaritan.

NOTE: agapao is also spoken of by Matt 5:44-48 and Matt 22:37; and it's
also the kind of love required of husbands too (Eph 5:25-28) which is
fortunate because some wives are impossible to like. However, the
command to love one's enemies also applies to loving a wife that's just as
much a man's enemy as any other.
_

Wow that's very insightful. I feel like I had an eye-opening experience reading that

I think what I perceive there and it’s only a thought to consider is we are hungry so we feed ourselves , we are thirsty so we give ourself something to drink , we are naked so we clothe ourselves . When we have need we do all we can to meet that need .

“Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:

For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat:

I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink:

I was a stranger, and ye took me in:

Naked, and ye clothed me:

I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.

Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink? When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee? Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee? And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.”
‭‭Matthew‬ ‭25:34-40‬ ‭KJV‬‬

it’s this love we’re beckoned to , by the gospel

“Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us:

and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.

But whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?

My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth.

And hereby we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before him.”
‭‭1 John‬ ‭3:16-19‬ ‭KJV‬‬

the world has devalued the meaning of terms like love so we think of it as an emotion only do I like this person ? Are they nice to me ? If we love only the ones who love us we’re missing the point love is something that meets need wherever it is and whenever it is able just like Jesus did for all of us when we were lost and poor and destitute and cast aside and overlooked and weary and burdened

there are many in our worlds who are in that position and we’re called the children of God for a reason

when we love others Jesus way we’re actually loving Jesus, but we’re called to active true love like when Jesus saw us in peril and need so he stepped of his throne and jumped into our issues in the world and acted on his love for us .

Hello @Runningman, I have often wondered, has anyone, save the Lord Jesus, ever ~truly~ loved the Lord with ALL of their heart, ALL of their mind, ALL of their soul and/or ALL of their strength, and/or ~truly~ loved their neighbor as they love themselves .. Mark 12:30-31 .. even once

You broached the topic of mental illness/personality defect (cf "self-harm") which the Bible doesn't talk much about, except perhaps for our need to be delivered from it .. cf Mark 5:1-20.

Those whose minds are ill/overthrown, and/or who are demon possessed, who do not have a healthy love of self, cannot minister to others using 'love of self' as their guide (in fact, I do not believe that such people are capable of ministering to/loving others as the Lord intends, nor do I believe that the Lord expects them to). Rather, we who are healthy are called to minister to them instead.

Someone who does not "love themselves", which I believe (in this case) means someone who does not care for his/her own basic needs (by feeding themselves, bathing, seeing themselves back to health if they are injured or sick, etc. .. and certainly someone who intentionally causes themselves harm) is someone who is incapable of ministering to/loving others. This is not the kind of person that the Lord was referring to in Mark 12:31.

Question, do you believe that a "selfless mindset" is a bad thing, and if so, why .(perhaps I am misunderstanding your meaning?)

Finally, I believe that Matthew 7:12, the "Golden Rule" (see below), as the Lord's summation of all of the horizontal commandments from the OT/the Law and the Prophets, gives us a practical sense of what He means when He commands us to "love our neighbor as we love ourselves" (that we are to always choose to treat others like we expect .. or at least hope .. to be treated by them .. even if/when they are treating us horribly in the moment).


God bless you!

~Deut

Hi Deuteronomy,

I did not have mental illness in mind when I wrote this. What I had in mind is that by consequence of sacrificial love (like preferring the well-being of another person over oneself) one may be required to forgo their own self-interests in order to prioritize the benefit of other humans.

Some examples of this may be taking unnecessary risks in order to protect someone else from something, but, in process of taking this risk, the risk taker harms themselves as collateral damage.

People who love their neighbor as themselves wouldn't do anything thst results in their own harm because they don't want their neighbor to be harmed.

While sometimes harm is an unavoidable risk, I think this means we need to make the best of what we have, minimizing harm to ourselves and others, and Just trusting God.

The second greatest commandment, in my view, really does not boil down to sacrificial love. Rather, trusting God that all things will work out for the best even if it means not rescuing someone from trials, tribulations, hardships, and pain at one's own expense.

I posted this in another thread. It seemed appropriate here:

It is helpful for us to compare between the old commandment and the new. The reference to a “new” commandment by implication implies that there was an “old” commandment. So what is the “old” commandment?

The “old” commandment is found in Matthew, chapter 22:34-36, “Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: ‘Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?’”

Now, you’ll note that. Indeed, a lawyer, under the law could only ask Him a question about the law. He couldn’t ask Him about the new commandment; he was unaware of the new commandment. So the context of this question and the answer, both have to do with the law. What is the greatest commandment?

Matthew 22:37-40 “Jesus replied: ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.’” (Inserted-Matthew 22:37-40)

His answer, summarized the teachings of the Law and the Prophets and in this, His answer is solidly to be found in the Law. This is the very thing that is to be replaced. But today most people think if you keep the 10 commandments and if you love your neighbor as yourself then you have done everything that God could have required. Now if you look at these two commandments you will immediately observe that they are foundationally different. Why? Because the standard is different.

In the first case the “new” commandment has this as the standard: “…as I have loved you, so you should love one another.” The “old” commandment has this: “With all of your capacity to love so you should love God and so you should love one another.” Well you will notice that the standard of the “old” commandment is, of course, appropriate for the Law because the Law can only require you to do as much as it is possible for you to do. Objectively and theoretically it is possible to keep the Law because it does not require any more than all that you are capable of doing. It doesn’t say, “All that you feel like doing,” nor does it say, “All that you want to do.” It says, “All that you are capable of doing.” So when the Law says, “Love the Lord your God with all of your heart...” all of your heart means all of the capacity that lies within you to do. All, in fact, means all. It doesn’t say, “All that you want to do, all that you feel like doing, all that on certain occasions you may be inclined to do.” No, it requires all. So in that sense, the Law and the standard of the Law is not haphazard but it does point out that it is all that is humanly possible. Furthermore, the Law was designed to keep the Jews alive. God could not ask a man to give up his own life under the Law. There was no promise of a new life in the Law. To ask a man to give up his life would be to make the Law unrighteous. A man cannot give up his own life and simultaneously keep his life.

The standard is appropriate for the Law because if the Law asks of anyone more than all then by the existence of the Law you’ve been made lawless. In other words: if it is all plus 10% then the Law makes you lawless because it has exceeded your capacity to respond. But the Law begins and ends with what you can do. And it has a lesser standard for loving your neighbor. Its objective standard regarding loving God is all that you are capable of doing. Its lesser standard in regards to loving your neighbor is, “…as you love yourself.” The presumption is that you love yourself pretty thoroughly. Now what if you didn’t love yourself? The Law simply requires you to love your neighbor in the same fashion, to the same extent.

What is the standard of the new and how is that different? The standard of the new is: “…as I have loved you.”Who is the “I” that is the measurement of this standard? The “I”, of course, is Christ, the one speaking. He is also the Living God. So the standard is: as Jesus has loved us so we are to love one another. Now what if you don’t love yourself? Well that is an irrelevant standard. He didn’t say, “as you love your neighbor, so you should love one another…” or “as I have occasionally loved you so you must love each other.” “As I have loved you” means “I, as God, have loved you perfectly; therefore I require you to love as God loves.” This is a fascinating standard because it’s the same standard for God as it is for man. The standard of love is the same for God as it is for man. That standard of the new commandment makes God and man equal on the matter of love. That’s an incredible observation. On the matter of love, God and man are equal.

Now don’t take my observation for that. Look at this: this is from Matthew5:48, Jesus is speaking. Now this verse of Scripture is very troubling. Matthew 5:48 says, “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” What we’ve done is we’ve read that verse out of its context and we have inferred meanings to it that it does not mean. For example we’ve inferred that it means “be perfect in power” and so people come up with thoughts like, “if you’re not healed it’s your fault; you don’t have enough faith, you do not exercise enough power.” So if things go badly it’s your fault. God has given you all power, God has given you all faith, and so on, and if you do these things less than perfectly then it is your fault. Well that’s garbage because God would not require us to be perfect in power, whatever power we have is His power given to us, and no one is made "all powerful". Therefore we could only operate in whatever measures of power He has given us. This Scripture is not about being perfect in power; it’s about being perfect in love.

Note the context: jump back to verse 43 “‘You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you: Love your enemies…” (so the context is love) “..and pray for those who persecute you…” Now why should you do that and how is this different? You must do that so that you can be sons of your Father in heaven, "..that you may be sons of your Father in heaven.” It means that just as natural children resemble their natural parents and the nature of natural children is like the nature of their natural parents, so the nature of the children of God is like the God Who is perfect in love. So it’s not surprising to us that the same standard would apply to God as would apply to us… in the matter of love. So that you will be as sons of your Father in heaven.

And then He gives us some examples of how he loves His enemies and does good for those who persecute Him. “He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous…”. Then He contrasts and He says, “If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even the pagans do that?” In short, to be like your Father in heaven it means that you do not simply love your enemies as you love yourselves or you love your neighbor as yourself; it is that you would love your enemy by preferring them over your own life and in that sense, and within that context it says, “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect."

The “old” commandment, under the Law, basically required you to love the extent of your capacity to love… love God as much as you are able and to love your neighbor as you are inclined to love yourself. That’s the “old” commandment. The “new” commandment says, “…as I have loved you.” And it establishes Christ as the standard for love. Christ being the Living God, the standard is the same for God as the standard is for man. Now the reason why the standard is the same is because, according to 2 Peter 1:4, the intent of God is that we be made to be partakers of the divine nature…"

“Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.” and "The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of His nature..."

The divine nature, the nature of God, is to love and to love perfectly; to love by preferring the life of another over your own life, to give up your life to God so that God would live through you. Now what’s left unanswered for us is: why? And furthermore, how does this prepare us to overcome the evil one?

Revelation 12:11 “They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death.”) In this respect we are meant to be exactly as God—perfect in love—the same standard that applies to God applies to us and this is the measure that displays the reality that we are partakers of the divine nature.

By this it is abundantly clear that the “new” commandment is not simply the “old” commandment rehashed. It has the elements of a totally different standard, the same standard for God and man.

Very interesting and enjoyable-to-read commentary. Thank you for sharing that. That's a lot to reflect on and digest. Possibly I will have a longer reply later.

These seem like some rather low-risk endeavors to show love to our neighbor:

"For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat:

I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink:

I was a stranger, and ye took me in:

Naked, and ye clothed me:

I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me."

But what about loving our neighbor as ourselves when the stakes are higher and we stand to lose something valuable, irreplaceable, or end up in a worser mental or physical state than before?

Does the scope of love that God expects us to have for our neighbor just involve making sure their basic necessities are met: food, clothing, shelter, medical assistance, company, sympathy?

Agree hreat point . only to someone who is maturing but there are lot of seedlings around and we can’t demand a harvest until the lord established thoer faith in him


gotta be born before we can walk upright and stable

"as you love your self"

Is that a command to love yourself, or just an acknowledgement that most indulge in self love?

Jesus sacrificed self for the sake of His "neighbors". He constantly taught us to put others before ourselves.

So to focus on "as you love yourself" as an excuse to elevate oneself sounds specious to me.

Yet that seems to be what is going on in Christendom these days.

I like to add the Scripture where Jesus taught us how to pray to this Scripture above:

Matthew 6:12) 12And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.

They do seem to go together, well, IMO.........

I think it helps to understand what love really is and means to God. We love God above all else...that is the first and greatest commandment.

God doesn't actually want us to hate ourselves. He doesn't hate us; he loves us. He wants us to hate our fleshly desires that go against his will or anything or any wants that we might put above Him and His perfect will. He does not actually want us to hate ourselves. He simply wants us to put Him first above anyone else even our own selves.

He loves us, but that does not mean he gives us everything we want or lets us do whatever we want. He works all things out for our good through his will. He knows what's best for all of us (not just doing any and everything that we want/ask). He works all things together for our good out of his love for us.

I think the same principle could apply to loving our neighbors...we love them, but that doesn't mean we do anything and everything they want. The Lord doesn't want us to just appease men in any and everything they want. That is not real love.

Paul even instructed the Corinthians to turn a man over to Satan so his flesh might be destroyed and his spirit might be saved (1 Corinthians 5:5). Now that doesn't sound like love and I'm sure the world would say that wasn't loving, but we know that it actually was out of love for the man's soul.

So I guess, what I'm saying is we should love others, try to treat others the way we would like to be treated, but always according to the will of God. We always put God first. He knows how we all should be dealt with.

Sometimes others might ask us to do something that goes against our own convictions from God...So we have to take a hard pass on some requests from others. Sometimes we may also have to put up boundaries and separate from others or as Paul put it not to keep company with them.

I believe Jesus did not waste any words. Yes I do believe He commanded people to love themselves. What does it look like when someone who hates themselves tries to love their neighbor as themselves? They won't love their neighbor at all. I believe that Jesus promoted self-love in order to maximize the love we're capable of giving to our neighbor.

Alternatively, did Jesus mean for us to hate ourselves? If so, then why should we hate ourselves if we're created in the image of God? That sounds specious to me. Hating ourselves, devaluing ourselves, is like doing the same to God.

Good Day!

The love spoken of here is the love of God, agape love, unconditional love, actions.
Which can only be done in and by His Spirit.