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ALL
MEN ARE NEIGHBORS
"...And who is my neighbor?"
The true answer to that question is a matter of life and death for
all Christians because Jesus said that to have eternal life we must
love our neighbor as ourselves. How can we possibly obey Jesus if we
do not know who our neighbor is? The scriptural answer to that
question may surprise you...
In the book of Luke, we find a man who asked Jesus this question:
"Master what shall I do to inherit
eternal life?". Jesus responded by
asking the man what had been written in the law about receiving
eternal life. The man then quoted the following verses from the books
of Deuteronomy and Leviticus:
"Thou shalt
love the Lord thy God with all thy heart,
and with all thy soul, and with all thy
strength, and all thy mind;
AND THY NEIGHBOR AS THYSELF".
Jesus
told the man that he had answered correctly and that if he
would do those things he would inherit eternal life. The man then
asked "And who is my neighbor?"....
There are three general answers to that question. To determine
the legitimate answer we need to compare the words brother and
neighbor because they are often used as synonyms in the scriptures.
In order to simplify this study I have expressed the three opinions in the
form of equations:
Opinion # 1. NEIGHBOR =
BROTHER = MANKIND
In
this view neighbor and brother are equal terms and may be
applied to all human beings; thus all men are my neighbors.
Opinion # 2. NEIGHBOR =
SOMEONE NEAR
and
BROTHER = CHRISTIAN
Here,
neighbor and brother are different. The neighbor is anyone
who is geographically near, while the word brother applies only to
one who is a fellow Christian.
Opinion # 3. NEIGHBOR =
BROTHER = CHRISTIAN
Finally,
neighbor and brother are synonymous terms that apply only
to fellow believers. Thus my neighbor is my brother in Christ and
no one else.
In order to determine which of these views is correct we must let the
scriptures define and explain themselves. One of the first rules of
biblical interpretation is to examine the verse in context and determine what
it meant to the people it was spoken to. When Jesus said "love thy
neighbor as thyself" he was quoting from Leviticus 19:18. Here is that
verse in context:
:16 Thou shalt
not go up and down as a talebearer among
THY PEOPLE:
neither shall thou stand against the blood of
THY
NEIGHBOR. I am the Lord.
:17 Thou shalt not hate
THY BROTHER in thine heart: thou
shalt
in any wise rebuke THY NEIGHBOR, and not suffer
sin upon him.
:18 Thou shalt not avenge,
nor bear any grudge against
the CHILDREN OF THY PEOPLE, but thou shalt love
THY NEIGHBOR as thyself.
It is easy to see that the terms
"neighbor", "brother" and "thy
people" were used as synonyms. That usage is especially clear in
verse:18, where "children of thy people"
is used in parallel with
"thy neighbor". The command was not to bear any grudge against
fellow
Israelites but to love them "as thyself".
This command, in its
original context, applied only to the people of God; that is, those who lived
in the land and obeyed the laws of
God.
The following articles from standard reference works emphatically
point out that the words neighbor and brother referred specifically
to fellow Israelites:
BROTHERLY
LOVE Gk. philadelphia, means, not figurative
brother-like love, but the love of those united in Christian
brotherhood...In the OT 'brother' like neighbor, means fellow Israelite
(Lv 19:17f.) New Bible Dictionary, Tyndale Press
NEIGHBOR.
Five Hebrew words are rendered "neighbor" in the AV
of the OT, the principal one being rea'....In the
OT one's neighbor is clearly a fellow Israelite as indicated by the
statement: "You shall not take vengeance or bear any grudge against the
sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself"
(Lev 19:18 RSV). The parallelism of this verse identifies
“neighbor" with sons of your people." A different code of
conduct was prescribed towards the foreigner in contrast to ones fellow
countrymen. (Deut 23:19, 20)
Baker's Dictionary Of Theology, Baker Press
The article from Baker's Dictionary of
Theology above points out that there was indeed a different code of conduct
towards those who were not of the Israelites. That distinction can be
clearly seen in these verses from Deuteronomy 23:19&20
"Thou shalt
not lend upon usury to THY BROTHER;...
"Unto a STRANGER
thou mayest lend upon usury; but unto
thy brother thou shalt
not lend upon usury,"
The
formula for defining neighbor and brother in the verses we have
looked at would be:
NEIGHBOR = BROTHER = ISRAELITE
STRANGER = ALL OTHERS
The
sharp eyed Bible student will quickly say "Stop! there
is another
class of people. What about the stranger who dwells in the land?"
He
(or she) would point to Leviticus 19:33- 34
which says:
"And if a stranger sojourn with
thee in your land,
ye shall not vex him. But the stranger
that dwelleth with you
shall be unto you as one born among you, and
THOU SHALT
LOVE HIM AS THYSELF;"
To
that vigilant student I would say thank you - for proving my point
that the people whom Israelites were to love as themselves were the
people who followed the law of God. Although the stranger who
sojourned in the land was not a fellow Israelite, he was to be treated as a
brother ("as one born among you") because God said the sojourner
was required to obey the laws of God just as the Israelite:
"ye shall therefore
keep my statutes and my judgements,
and shall not commit any of these
abominations; neither any
of your own nation, NOR ANY STRANGER THAT
SOJOURNETH AMONG YOU: (Lev 18:26)
"The
sojourner could be circumcised (Exod 12:48) and enjoy all the
privileges of true religion: the Passover (Exod 12:49) the Atonement
feast (Lev 16:29)
presenting offerings (Lev 17:8) all the feasts (Deut16:11) and share in the sabbath rest (Lev 25:6)"
Vine's Dictionary of Biblical Words
It
is obvious that if the sojourner was to be treated the same as "one who
is born among you", then there was a distinct difference between those
who were born among the Israelites and all others who were not "born
among you". In the Old Testament, the neighbor was not
just someone who was near, he was a brother by birth
or by choice.
The
question we must now ask is:
Did the meaning of the word "neighbor"
change in the New Testament?
In
reference to the book of Luke, where Jesus told the man to "love
thy neighbor as thyself" the word neighbor must retain the same
meaning as the original text from which it was quoted (Lev 19:18)
unless we find biblical evidence to the contrary. If this Old Testament
definition of neighbor is brought forth into the New Testament it would mean
that the neighbors we are commanded to love as we love ourselves would apply
only to the brethren in Christ, that is, those who are born of God. If
that is true we can expect to find
unquestionable proof in the New Testament epistles that the term neighbor is
used as a synonym for brethren in Christ.
The
word "neighbor" as used by Christ comes from the Greek word:
plesion. It is used eight times by Luke, Paul
and James. As you will see, in six of those verses the word neighbor
and brother or brethren were parallel in meaning. Here are those six
verses:
1. Acts 7:26-27
"And the next day he
[Moses] showed himself unto them as they
strove, and would have set them at one again, saying Sirs,
ye are
BRETHREN; why do ye wrong to one another?
But he that did his NEIGHBOR wrong thrust him away,
saying,
Who made thee a ruler and a judge over us?"
2.
Galatians 5:13-15
"For, BRETHREN, ye have
been called unto liberty; only use not
liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by LOVE
serve ONE
ANOTHER. [not the world] For all the law is
fulfilled in one
word, even this; thou shalt
love thy NEIGHBOR as thyself.
But if ye bite and devour ONE ANOTHER, take heed
that ye
be not consumed one of
another".
3. Ephesians 4:25
"Wherefore putting
away lying, speak every man truth with his
NEIGHBOR: for we are members ONE OF ANOTHER".
4. James 2:1-15 (For brevity's sake I
will quote only the verses in this passage which are directly relevant to the
question in order to provide context.)
2:1 "My BRETHREN, have not the faith
of our Lord Jesus
Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of
persons.
2:5
Hearken, my beloved BRETHREN, hath not God chosen the
poor in this world
2:8 If
ye fulfil the royal law according to the scripture,
thou shalt love thy
NEIGHBOR as thyself, ye do well:
2:9 But
if ye have RESPECT to persons, [in your assembly] ye
commit sin,
2:14 What doth
it profit, my BRETHREN, though a man say he
hath faith, and have
not works...
2:15 If a
BROTHER OR SISTER be naked and destitute of daily
food. [brethren, not the
world]
2:16 And...ye give THEM not those things which are needful
to the body; what doth it
profit?"
"Do not speak against one another, BRETHREN. He who
speaks against a brother, or judges his
brother, speaks
against the law...
There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the One who is able to
save and to destroy; but who are you to judge
your
NEIGHBOR".
James 4:11-12 (New American Standard)
It
is abundantly clear that the Old Testament concept of neighbor = brother was
carried over into the thinking of the apostles in the New Testament.
Jesus carefully defined who our brothers in Christ are. He said:
"My mother and my BRETHREN are these which hear the word
of God and do it." Luke 8:21
Therefore,
the New Testament formula for neighbor would be:
NEIGHBOR = BROTHER = THOSE WHO HEAR
THE
WORD OF GOD AND DO IT.
Just
as in the Old Testament, the neighbor is one who obeys the law
of God. Why then did the Jewish lawyer who certainly understood
that principal ask Jesus: "Who is
my neighbor?". And why did Jesus
answer the lawyer by telling him the parable of the good Samaritan?
In order to understand both the question
and the answer, we must
consider the historical background:
"The Jews hated them [the Samaritans] and would have nothing
to do with them. Over the
centuries the Assyrians intermarried
with Jews to form the hybrid group
known as the Samaritans.
The Jews did not accept them as
their neighbors and it was
with this in view that Jesus spoke
to the Jews the parable of the
good Samaritan".
The
Jewish lawyer knew that Jesus had made converts among the
Samaritans (Luke 9:52) and
wanted to justify himself in his hatred of
them, even though they were related by race and religion. (The
Samaritans kept the Torah) Jesus responded to the lawyer by telling
the parable and then asking him which of the three who passed by the
hurt man proved to be neighbor unto him. The lawyer said: "He
that showed mercy on him".
Jesus proved to the lawyer that the Levite and the priest did not prove to be neighbor to the
victim because they did not really obey God's law. On the other hand,
the Samaritan whom the lawyer hated, proved to be
his neighbor because he did obey God's command to "love thy neighbor as
thyself".
Again
we see the principle that our neighbor in the biblical sense is not simply
someone who is near, but one who is a believer in God and keeps His
commandments.
When one stops to think about it, the expression "love thy neighbor as
thyself" is telling us "how much" we are to love. In
other words,"as thyself"
is the measure of service to our brethren that God expects. If my brother or
sister needs something and I am not as generous to him as I would be to
myself, then I am a "respecter of
persons".
To
say that we are to love anyone who "is near" in this same manner
would place a terrible burden upon the believer. If that were true,
then we would be required to share our homes,our clothes, and our food with any wretched person
we happened to come across. That was never the intent of God.
I challenge anyone who says differently to prove from the history
of the church in the book of Acts or the epistles that the church EVER
was told to use its assets for anyone who was not a member of the
body of Christ!
Having said these things let me also say that we are to "love our
enemies" and to do good to all men as we have opportunity. But we
are not required to love them as "ye love yourself". With the
people
of the world we are to follow the rules of love set forth by Paul in
1st Corinthians 13, "Love is patient and kind" etc. And yes,
we are to do unto all men as we would that men would do unto us. Those are
the everyday standards that God expects of us in our dealings with those
outside the church. But to love another as I love myself is a privilege
reserved for those who are my brethren in Christ - the children of God.
"In this the children of God are
manifest...whosoever doeth not
righteousness, is not of God."
1 John 3:10
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