Matthew 22:39 Devotional

By Scott Amendt

Matthew 22:39: “And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.”

Matthew 22:39 presents us with a popular phrase that many people are familiar with but may not completely understand: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” This statement may go along with another popular phrase that Jesus spoke, “So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.”¹ This is the golden rule, right? So, is loving our neighbor simply achieved by treating others as we would like to be treated? If this is not the case, what does it mean, exactly, to love your neighbor as yourself?

First, we need some context. Jesus responded with these words—’Love your neighbor as yourself’—when the Pharisees (the religious leaders at the time of Jesus) asked Him what God’s greatest commandment was. But Jesus didn’t start his answer with love your neighbor as yourself. He began with the command to love God with all your heart, soul, and mind (Matt. 22:37; Mark 12:30, which adds “and strength”). This means to love God with every facet of your being, and the Pharisees would have certainly understood this.

But then Jesus presses further: “the second is like it—love your neighbor as yourself.” Don’t miss this: The greatest commandment is to love God. And the second, like the first, is to love your neighbor. (Whoa!) Loving God is foundational to loving one’s neighbor. That gives us a different perspective on loving your neighbor, doesn’t it? Especially with the gravity of this command, there seem to be two obvious questions when thinking about loving our neighbor:

First, who is our neighbor?

Are our neighbors the people who live next to us? Are our neighbors the people who live in our neighborhood? Are they our family? Are they our friend group? Do we stop there? No! Our neighbors are any human we cross paths with. Since we are to love God, the Creator of the universe, we should love those who were created in his image—human beings. This seems easy enough to carry out, right? Truthfully, loving our neighbor is easier said than done, and Christians have not always done this well. There are even times when unbelievers have done a better job of loving people who are in their proximity. While the reasons for this vary, Jesus’ command for believers remains clear, and there is a way forward!

Second, what does it mean to love?

This brings us to the second question, and it may be best to start by clarifying what love doesn’t mean, since our society often misunderstands this. Love doesn’t mean giving affirmation or approval of everything. As 1 Corinthians 13:6 tells us, love does not rejoice in wrongdoing. Consider this example: if your 16-year-old takes the car after you’ve said no, you wouldn’t simply say, “That’s okay, I love you.” You’d offer discipline because true love includes accountability. The same principle applies among Christians—we must hold each other accountable to God’s truth.

At the same time, holding each other accountable to God’s truth becomes a little more challenging when our neighbor is not a Christ follower. Particularly because, in our society, truth is viewed as subjective. And while Christians are commanded to uphold God’s truth in the way they live, this does not mean they are subsequently given the authority to condemn the world in how it lives. (1 Cor. 5:12). So, where does this leave us? Are we prohibited from calling out sin? Should we avoid using discernment? Absolutely not! We just call out sin in a loving manner and leave the final judgment to God.

Consequently, love does encompass joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control as the apostle Paul writes (Gal. 5:22-23). Ask yourself—does this describe how you love? Do you promote peace and build others up (Rom. 14:19)? Do you pray for your enemies (Matt. 5:44) and for fellow believers (2 Cor. 9:14)? Do you help when someone is in need (Matt. 5:42) and put others’ needs before your own (Matt. 20:28)?

Application

Loving our neighbor as Jesus does means keeping love for God—who made you in his image—at your core: every moment, 24/7, 365 days a year. It motivates us to forgive others who do us wrong, to learn the love language of our spouse and communicate through it, to sacrifice our interests for the benefit of our children, our friends, our co-workers, and yes, even strangers. We need to keep this point at the forefront of our thinking: Jesus is sovereign over his creation. We owe every aspect of our lives to Him. That includes loving our neighbors, his image bearers, as ourselves. When we truly love Him with all of our heart, soul, and mind, loving our neighbor as ourselves becomes a little easier.

What are some practices you can implement in your daily life to better love your neighbor?

Want to Go Deeper?

The Greek word in this passage, Αγαπησεις (agapēseis), means “you shall love.” It is
derived from the root ἀγαπάω (agapaō). We commonly call this agapé love. This
type of love is unselfish, intentional, and a deeply committed level of affection
that, at times, can be undeserving. This is the love that Jesus offers on the cross while serving as the payment for our sinful actions, so that we can be redeemed
and reconciled back to the Father. He provides us with undeserved mercy—grace!

While we do live under the New Covenant and the doctrine of grace, to get a robust understanding of this passage (and others), we should also study where these passages are drawn from to give complete context.

Jesus made reference to the Old Testament many times during his earthly ministry. This passage is no different. When Jesus answered the Pharisees, he was quoting two passages from the Old Testament:

The first passage comes from Deuteronomy 6:5, which presents the command to love God with all your heart, soul, and mind. In part, this is the most fundamental expression/creed in the Jewish faith system, known as the Shema. It is repeated two times daily by pious Jews—morning and evening.
The second passage comes from Leviticus 19:18. This passage comes near the end of a long list of “do not’s” the Lord spoke to Moses as directives to pass along to the Israelites. Do not act unjustly, deceive, slander, harbor hatred, take revenge, or bear a grudge against your neighbor. These are just some of the words the Lord instructed Moses. Instead, you are to “love your neighbor as yourself.” Note, these actions are in direct opposition to loving your neighbor as yourself. You must ask: would you treat yourself in any of these manners? The clear answer is no. Sure, some may suggest that they don’t have great love for themselves. But that seems to be a different area of concern. Even if one has some degree of self-confidence or self-esteem challenges, they still wouldn’t carry out these aforementioned actions on themselves.

The Pharisees would have been very familiar with these two passages. However, in this context, the Pharisees (and Sadducees) were attempting to test and trap Jesus in his teachings. So, Jesus brought these two passages together, likely to highlight their misunderstanding of Scripture on this topic. Furthermore, he did this to highlight the self-righteousness some of these religious leaders held.

In doing so, Jesus was also pointing to two things. First, he was pointing to a vertical love (God). And second, to a horizontal love (neighbor). For Jesus to say the second is like the first tells us that we had better pay attention because He is comparing something to the matter of utmost importance for any human: to love God!

Matthew 22:39 is not the only passage that urges Christians to love our neighbor. We must turn to the perspective of other passages that are found in the New Testament and can help us better understand what it means to love one’s neighbor.

For instance, the apostle John writes, “And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them” (1 John 4:16). The apostle is saying that if we are loving properly, we are following the commands that Jesus spoke. And if so, we are united in love with the Creator of the universe. How wonderful is that! Another important item to remember is that we can love God and our neighbor properly because God first loved us (1 John 4:19). Being made in his image carries the attribute to love. Again, how wonderful is that!

Additionally, Jesus exemplifies agapé in the upper room the night before his execution. In this scene, Jesus tells his disciples, “No one has greater love than this: to lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13). This is unselfish, intentional, and a deeply committed level of affection. And Jesus clearly told his disciples that this is the greatest form of love; you cannot exceed this type of commitment. Jesus did this for us by going to the cross because He loves his image bearers that much.

Ultimately, we have to understand this type of agapé love that Jesus referred to by a
statement he made just before the moment in the upper room. This is a statement that every follower of Jesus must consider seriously, and it demonstrates how God wants us to love one another: “This is my command: Love one another as I have loved you” (John 15:12). Note how Jesus used the words, This is my command. This isn’t optional. Followers of Jesus are commanded to love like Him. This means we are to sacrifice our wants, desires, preferences, and pleasures for the sake of God and our neighbor. Yes, this even means, in its extreme, if a time presents itself that calls for us to lay down our lives for the sake of the Gospel, brother, or sister, we are to do so. How many of us would follow through with this ultimate display of sacrificial love? I believe many of us would absolutely follow through for our spouse or children. But for a neighbor? For a brother or sister? For the Gospel? Answer honestly. Jesus says whoever humbles himself will be exalted (Luke 14:11).

As Jesus noted, when we love God with our whole being, we will naturally love our neighbor. When we truly recognize that every person bears God’s image—and that He loved humanity enough to send his Son as a propitiation (Rom. 3:25)—loving our neighbor follows organically. As Jesus expressed to the Pharisees and all who were listening, loving God and loving your neighbor are intensely connected. Perhaps even inseparable. David Turner writes this: “If one truly loves God, one will love those created in his image (cf. Jas 3:9–10). When one loves human beings, one indirectly expresses love to their Creator.”²