Neighbor

The Hebrew Scriptures cast the duty owed to one's fellow man as the second great pillar of the Law, set immediately beside the duty owed to Yahweh. UPDV renders the underlying Hebrew rea` and Greek plesion as "fellow man," and the canon traces a single thread from Leviticus through the Prophets, the wisdom books, the Gospels, and the apostolic letters: do no harm to him, do good when you can, and love him as yourself.

The Second Great Commandment

The command stands at Leviticus 19:18: "You will not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the sons of your people; but you will love your fellow man as yourself: I am Yahweh." Jesus joins it to the Shema as a single Torah summary in Mark 12:31: "The second is this, You will love your fellow man as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these." Paul and James both treat this as the law's compression — a body of obligation gathered up in a single word.

Paul writes in Romans 13:9, "For this, You will not commit adultery, You will not kill, You will not steal, You will not covet, and if there be any other commandment, it is summed up in this word, namely, You will love your fellow man as yourself." Galatians 5:14 says the same: "For the whole law is fulfilled in one word, [even] in this: You will love your fellow man as yourself." James 2:8 calls it "the royal law": "Nevertheless if you⁺ fulfill the royal law, according to the Scripture, You will love your fellow man as yourself, you⁺ do well."

The summary clause is in Romans 13:10: "Love works no ill to his fellow man: love therefore is the fulfillment of the law."

What Love Will Not Do

Before the law tells you what love does, it tells you what love will not do. It will not bear false witness (Ex 20:16): "You will not bear false witness against your fellow man." It will not oppress or hold back wages (Le 19:13): "You will not oppress your fellow man, nor rob him: the wages of a hired worker will not remain with [you] all night until the morning." Jeremiah 22:13 turns the same charge against builders of unjust houses: "Woe to him who builds his house by unrighteousness, and his chambers by injustice; who uses his fellow man's service without wages, and gives him not his hire."

It will not retaliate. Leviticus 19:18 again: "You will not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge." Proverbs 20:22: "Don't say, I will recompense evil: Wait for Yahweh, and he will save you." Proverbs 24:29: "Don't say, I will do so to him as he has done to me; I will render to the man according to his work." Paul echoes the wisdom verbatim in Romans 12:17, "Render to no man evil for evil," and 1 Thessalonians 5:15, "See that none render to anyone evil for evil; but always follow after that which is good." Peter restates it in 1 Peter 3:9: "not rendering evil for evil, or reviling for reviling; but on the contrary blessing."

It will not envy. The Psalter and the Proverbs sound this same note repeatedly. Psalms 37:1: "Don't fret yourself because of evildoers, Neither be envious against those who work unrighteousness." Psalms 73:3 confesses the failure: "For I was envious at the arrogant, When I saw the prosperity of the wicked." Proverbs 3:31: "Don't envy the man of violence, And choose none of his ways." Proverbs 14:30: "A tranquil heart is the life of the flesh; But envy is the rottenness of the bones." Proverbs 23:17 and 24:1 say the same. Sirach 30:24 makes it medical: "Envy and anger shorten days, And anxiety makes gray before the time." Paul writes that love "does not envy" (1Co 13:4); Galatians 5:26 forbids "envying one another"; James 3:14 names jealousy as faction in the heart.

Withhold Not Good

The negative law has a positive shadow. Proverbs 3:27-29 ties open-handedness to the love-of-neighbor command directly: "Don't withhold good from them to whom it is due, When it is in the power of your hand to do it. Don't say to your fellow man, Go, and come again, And tomorrow I will give; When you have it by you. Don't devise evil against your fellow man Who dwells securely by you." Zechariah 8:16-17 sets the same demand on the city: "speak⁺ every man the truth with his fellow man; execute the judgment of truth and peace in your⁺ gates; and let none of you⁺ devise evil in your⁺ hearts against his fellow man; and love no false oath: for all these are things that I hate, says Yahweh."

Galatians 6:10 gives the apostolic frame: "So then, as we have opportunity, let us work that which is good toward all men, and especially toward those who are of the household of the faith." The strong are to bear the weak. Romans 15:1-2: "Now we who are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves. Let each of us please his fellow man for that which is good, to edifying."

The Stranger and the Enemy

The neighbor is not only the kinsman. Deuteronomy 10:19 binds the law to memory: "Love⁺ therefore the sojourner; for you⁺ were sojourners in the land of Egypt." Even the enemy's beast lies inside the duty. Exodus 23:5: "If you see the donkey of him who hates you lying under his burden, you will forbear to leave him, you will surely release [it] with him."

The Good Samaritan

Jesus answers the question "Who is my fellow man?" by changing the question. Luke 10:30-37:

Jesus replying said, A certain man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho; and he fell among robbers, who both stripped him and beat him, and departed, leaving him half dead. And by chance a certain priest was going down that way: and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. And in like manner a Levite also, when he came to the place, and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was: and when he saw him, he was moved with compassion, and came to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring on [them] oil and wine; and he set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him. And on the next day he took out two denarii, and gave them to the host, and said, Take care of him; and whatever you spend more, I, when I come back again, will repay you. Which of these three, do you think, had been the fellow man of him who fell among the robbers? And he said, He who showed mercy on him. And Jesus said to him, Go, and you do likewise.

The priest and the Levite are the figures of selfishness — passed by on the other side (Lu 10:31-32). The Samaritan, against the temple-class foils, becomes the figure of compassion. Sympathy moves him; kindness binds the wounds (Lu 10:34); beneficence pays the bill (Lu 10:34-35). The story strips out the question of who qualifies and substitutes a question about the neighbor's conduct: which of the three was the fellow man? The answer reframes the whole inquiry — the neighbor is the one who acts as one.

Sirach on the Neighbor

The wisdom of Ben Sira fills out the same teaching at length. Sirach 7:12: "Do not plow violence against a brother; And so, against a fellow man and friend together." Sirach 19:17: "Reprove your neighbor, before you threaten, And give place to the law of the Most High." Sirach 22:23: "Support your neighbor in poverty, That in his prosperity you may rejoice; Remain steadfast to him in time of [his] affliction, That you may be heir with him in his inheritance." Sirach 27:18-19 warns that a betrayal cannot be undone: "For as a man who has destroyed his enemy, So have you destroyed the friendship of your neighbor. And as a bird which you have released out of your hand, So have you let your neighbor go, and you will not catch him again." Sirach 28:2 binds forgiveness to prayer: "Forgive an injury [done to you] by your neighbor, And then, when you pray, your sins will be forgiven."

The lending sayings come at Sirach 29:1-2: "He who lends to his neighbor shows kindness, And he who strengthened him with his hand keeps the commandments. Lend to your neighbor in time of his need, And repay your neighbor at the appointed time." And the help saying at Sirach 29:20: "Help your neighbor according to your power, And take heed to yourself that you do not fall." The summary statement is Sirach 31:14: "Honor your neighbor as yourself, And think over whatever may be distasteful to you" — the negative-form of the golden rule, with the neighbor named.

The Golden Rule

Jesus states the principle in Luke 6:31: "And as you⁺ would that men should do to you⁺, do⁺ to them likewise." Sirach had stated its negative twin centuries earlier; the two together set the rule from both sides.

Love As the Mark

The apostolic writers make love of fellow man the visible mark of the disciple. John 13:35: "By this will all men know that you⁺ are my disciples, if you⁺ have love one to another." John 15:12: "This is my commandment, that you⁺ love one another, even as I have loved you⁺." 1 John 4:7: "Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and everyone who loves is begotten of God, and knows God." Hebrews 13:1: "Let the love for the brothers stay." Romans 12:9: "Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor that which is evil; stick to that which is good."

The Christian as Imitator

The Epistle to Diognetus reads the neighbor-command as imitation of God himself. Diognetus 10:5: "For to be happy, is not to lord it over neighbors, or to wish to have more than the weaker, or to be rich and use violence to the needy; nor can any one in such things be an imitator of God. For these things are outside of his majesty." Diognetus 10:6: "But he who takes his neighbor's burden on himself; he who, where he is superior, wishes to benefit another who is inferior; he who supplies to others in need those things which he has received from God, becomes as a god to those who receive. This man is the imitator of God." Diognetus 5:11 names the cost: "They love all, and are persecuted by all." Diognetus 6:6 names the principle: "Christians love those who hate them."

The arc from Leviticus to Diognetus runs as a coherent line. The neighbor is the second commandment's subject; love of neighbor is named as the law's fulfillment; mercy shown is what makes the neighbor a neighbor.