The greatest commandment

[Faithful Son]

Mark 12:27-40 (New International Version)

The Greatest Commandment
28One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, "Of all the commandments, which is the most important?"

29"The most important one," answered Jesus, "is this: 'Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. 30Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.' 31The second is this: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'There is no commandment greater than these."

32"Well said, teacher," the man replied. "You are right in saying that God is one and there is no other but him. 33To love him with all your heart, with all your understanding and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices."

34When Jesus saw that he had answered wisely, he said to him, "You are not far from the kingdom of God." And from then on no one dared ask him any more questions.

I would like to ask a question regarding this passage in the Bible. I was in a discussion recently and I had a radical change come about me. I'm not sure what triggered it. I was speaking with someone about Christians in general and what our role in life was, I started off by talking about salvation and what that means and then I moved onto this passage. That we have to love God and our Neighbours, but the second part is where I radically changed. I said to this person that we should love our Neighbours (who are our fellow Christians.)

I hope you understand what I'm trying to say, I'm using the wrong words again today. I said that our Neighbours are our fellow believers in Christ, I did not say that they are people in general. The person told me that he doesn't agree with my view point and that our neighbours specifically mean all people in general. I used to believe that, but I don't anymore. I just told him that we have different views about it then

So the main concern is am I correct in my belief? Please pray before answering me, I have prayed before starting this thread. I'm thinking about it this way. Does God love Satan? I doubt Jesus loved Satan when He was tempted in the desert. I doubt God loves Satan until this day, so if Satan is a rogue, an unbeliever and God doesn't love Him, why should I love my unchristian, lawless family members or so called friends?

Also this:

Psalm 97:9-11 (New International Version)

9 For you, O LORD, are the Most High over all the earth;
you are exalted far above all gods.

10 Let those who love the LORD hate evil,
for he guards the lives of his faithful ones
and delivers them from the hand of the wicked.

11 Light is shed upon the righteous
and joy on the upright in heart

Proverbs 8:12-14 (New International Version)

12 "I, wisdom, dwell together with prudence;
I possess knowledge and discretion.

13 To fear the LORD is to hate evil;
I hate pride and arrogance,
evil behavior and perverse speech.

14 Counsel and sound judgment are mine;
I have understanding and power.

Amos 5:14-16 (New International Version)

14 Seek good, not evil,
that you may live.
Then the LORD God Almighty will be with you,
just as you say he is.

15 Hate evil, love good;
maintain justice in the courts.
Perhaps the LORD God Almighty will have mercy
on the remnant of Joseph.

Thanks for any input or ideas.

Much
teraside

 

[Nigh]

God bless you teraside.

I would point out that their is a huge difference between Lucifer/Satan, and your unbelieving friends and family. That being "hope". Satan has no hope of being forgiven and becoming a believer, forgiven of his sin. "God so loved the WORLD that He gave His only begotten Son..." He loved me when I was a sinner, lost and without Jesus, and He loves your unsaved family now.

Even while hanging on the cross and being ridiculed, stabbed, spat upon, and insulted, Jesus asked for God to forgive them, displaying His love for them. Why do this out loud if not to show us (His followers) how we are to act toward them?

teraside, I believe you are a little off the mark on this one. The wonderful thing is, that the Spirit led you to ask this question here instead of letting it take root in your heart. Praise God! He is so good to us! Amen

Go in peace,
Nigh

 

[Faithful Son]

Thank you so much for the reply Nigh, you make a valid point. I don't hate people in general, I dislike what they do, extremely so, but I don't hate them.

Anyways, I am in a different world, my family professes to be saved, but a great part of them don't live according to what they should be, so it saddens me. It's good to hear your opinion.

Much love
teraside

 

[tqpix]

teraside,

I'm with you in your belief that your neighbor is your fellow Christians. I found way to many scriptural evidences to make me think this. I would like to explain why I think this, but I'm not very good at explaining; I would just like you to know you're not the only one with this belief.

 

[Chad]

tqpix...if you have many scriptural evidences to back up your belief, then post them please.

I disagree. GOD said loves your neighbor. He did not say Christians only.

Ask yourself this:

If GOD meant neighbors as Christians only, then why on earth are we wasting time preaching to unbeievers? Were we not unbelievers once? Yes we were. So if GOD meant neighbors as Christians only, then it must be a sin to love your neighbors who are not Christians, correct? Wrong.

Neighbors means all people of the human race. There is no middle ground when it comes to love or hate. Its either love or hate, no in between. There is no middle ground that exists whatsoever.

Do you honestly even think for a moment GOD does not want you to love all people? Are they not His creation? Are they not sinners like you and I? You can hate their ways, but what makes their ways any worst than ours? They need to be reached out to...in LOVE.

 

[tqpix]

I disagree. GOD said loves your neighbor. He did not say Christians only.

Ask yourself this:

If GOD meant neighbors as Christians only, then why on earth are we wasting time preaching to unbeievers? Were we not unbelievers once? Yes we were. So if GOD meant neighbors as Christians only, then it must be a sin to love your neighbors who are not Christians, correct? Wrong.

Neighbors means all people of the human race. There is no middle ground when it comes to love or hate. Its either love or hate, no in between. There is no middle ground that exists whatsoever.

Do you honestly even think for a moment GOD does not want you to love all people? Are they not His creation? Are they not sinners like you and I? You can hate their ways, but what makes their ways any worst than ours? They need to be reached out to...in LOVE.

People who are covered under the blood of Christ are your neighbor.

People who are not covered under the blood of Christ are your enemies. Why? Because they are God's enemies. Once you have accepted Christ as your savior, God's friends become your friends, and God's enemies become your enemies. Remember, we are to submit to God and do his will: Some people are our enemies not because they make us angry, mistreat us, etc.; but because they don't do the righteous things that God wants them to do. No matter how nice a person has been to us, he is our enemy if he has not seen the light.

From studying the scriptures, I learned that neighbor = friends = brethren, while enemies/adversaries = fools = wicked = strangers.

Having said that, we are to love our neighbor (i.e., our fellow Christians) as ourselves, but we must also love our enemies (Matthew 5:44), because God wants us to love everyone. Contrary to a lot of people's beliefs, when Jesus said to love your enemies, he did not expand/change the definition of neighbor--he was simply telling you to love your enemies; he did not in any shape or form suggest or imply that your enemies are your neighbor.

In Greek, the word translated as neighbor in English Bibles literally means "near" or "close"; in Hebrew, the OT word literally means "close associate".

Therefore, your neighbor is anyone who is "near" or "close". "Near" or "close" to whom? To you? No. Your neighbor is anyone that is "near" or "close" to God--we always do things with God in mind; that's why our neighbor are not the ones that are close to us, but the ones that are close to God. There are many NT scriptures that talks about how Jesus/God dwells inside the people that believe in him. (I.e., God is near to those people's hearts--you can't get any closer than that.)

If your neighbor is anyone that is "near" or "close" to God, then it would only make sense that your enemies must be those people that are "far" from God:

Proverbs 15:29:
The Lord is far from the wicked: but he heareth the prayer of the righteous.

There you go. God is far from the people that go against his will, but he is near to those who does his will that he can hear their prayers.

Here is another one:

Psalm 119:155
Salvation is far from the wicked: for they seek not thy statutes.

There are more evidence to support my beliefs, but I can't fully explain them. Hopefully, the ones that I have mentioned in this post have clearly shown you why I believe what I believe.

 

[Chad]

That's a very interesting clarification you made brother. I like the way you outlined and explained it. I understand your belief now, your view and I can relate to that view in this way also.

Thank you for clarifying.

 

[trucker]

Romans 5: 8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. 10 For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.

II corth 5: 14 For the love of Christ compels us, because we judge thus: that if One died for all, then all died; 15 and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again. 16 Therefore, from now on, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him thus no longer. 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. 18 Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, 19 that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation. 20 Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ's behalf, be reconciled to God. 21 For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

Isaiah 54: 6 For the Lord has called you Like a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit, Like a youthful wife when you were refused," Says your God. 7 "For a mere moment I have forsaken you, But with great mercies I will gather you. 8 With a little wrath I hid My face from you for a moment; But with everlasting kindness I will have mercy on you," Says the Lord, your Redeemer. 9 "For this is like the waters of Noah to Me; For as I have sworn That the waters of Noah would no longer cover the earth, So have I sworn That I would not be angry with you, nor rebuke you. 10 For the mountains shall depart And the hills be removed, But My kindness shall not depart from you, Nor shall My covenant of peace be removed," Says the Lord, who has mercy on you.

Isaiah 53: 10 Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise Him; He has put Him to grief. When You make His soul an offering for sin, He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days, And the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand. 11 He shall see the labor of His soul, F66 and be satisfied. By His knowledge My righteous Servant shall justify many, For He shall bear their iniquities.

Jesus is our example and to love your neighbor means ALL people not just christians. You are to extend to your neighbor the love of God in hopes that your conduct will bring them to Christ. God, through Christ has made peace with all men under this dispensation of Grace. If not, how did you get born again if God could only answer the prayers of the saints? If God is so opposed to sinners, how come he was right there when cain killed able? How was he able to talk with Adam and Eve, Abraham and the whole rest of those before the law, under the law and now under Grace. The scriptures that say God is far from the sinner is because of the choices they made, not that God is ignoring them. He went to great lengths so anyone could come to him and receive Jesus as their Lord.

Think on these things!

 

[Faithful Son]

I am gradually learning more through each post that appears on this thread. I thank all of you for the contributions

I would just like to add this scripture that tqpix mentioned

Matthew 5:44-45 (New International Version)

44But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.

So to further this conversation, what is meant by love? I am reading an interesting book that I received from a friend on TalkJesus. The book mentions love, love for God and love for man, and a few other things. What I can gather is true love (AGAPE) is the love where a person sacrifices, or gives up himself for another who is undeserving.

So when Jesus says love your enemies, should I also love them with Agape, or should I only acknowledge their presense and show kindness to them? Is there a differentiation between the love, or is love love?

Thanks guys.

Much love (Agape)
teraside

 

[tqpix]

Jesus is our example and to love your neighbor means ALL people not just christians. You are to extend to your neighbor the love of God in hopes that your conduct will bring them to Christ.

The passages you quoted proves nothing to support your position that one's neighbor is everyone on God's green earth. It is true that we are to bring people to Christ, but it doesn't change the fact that our neighbor are our Christian brethren.

God, through Christ has made peace with all men under this dispensation of Grace. If not, how did you get born again if God could only answer the prayers of the saints?

Easy. He came to me. I was an enemy of God until he chose to come to me and make me one of his adopted children.

If God is so opposed to sinners, how come he was right there when cain killed able? How was he able to talk with Adam and Eve, Abraham and the whole rest of those before the law, under the law and now under Grace.

No where I did say that God is opposed to sinners. I said your enemies are ones that are not under the blood of Christ and have not received God's good graces. Those Biblical characters you mentioned--Adam, Eve, Abraham, etc.--were Jewish (i.e., they were God's people), and thus, by definition, they are neighbor, because God is close to them.

The scriptures that say God is far from the sinner is because of the choices they made, not that God is ignoring them. He went to great lengths so anyone could come to him and receive Jesus as their Lord.

Think on these things!

That is only speculation on your part; there is no proof for it. And no, the passages does not say God is far from the sinner; it says God is far from the wicked; big difference. A sinner is anyone--Christian and non-Christian alike, but a wicked individual is anyone that God chose not to reveal himself to.

This verse from Romans you quoted actually proves what I've been saying all along:

Romans 5: ... 10 For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.

Notice how verse ten says we were enemies before we were reconciled to God? That's because if one does not go to Christ and accept the reconciliation, then he is an enemy of God. One does not become a neighbor until after he accepts reconciliation by going to Christ.

 

[Faithful Son]

Wonderful tqpix, I am absolutely ecstatic at your response, I just think we need to keep in mind that we are discussing this matter maturely, I'm not saying anyone said anything wrong, or did anything wrong, but I'd like all of us to repect each others opinion, make our own minds up and talk openly like Christian brothers.

Thanks again for that clarification tqpix

Much love.
teraside

 

[beccasmom]

If you look up neighbor in the Strongs Word Study book it does state both sides of the discussion. It does say fellow man any other member of the human family and it also does say fellow christian. If you look at the story of the good samaritan in Luke 10 it talks about a man (it does not say if he is a christian or not, nor is the question asked) who is need of help. A good samaritan comes by and helps the man out of love! If you love God you love people. Love is the willing sacrifical giving of ones self with out the thought of return. It also means you give love to EVERYONE. God is love. "For God so loved the WORLD that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth on Him shall not perish but have everlasting life." John 3:16 KJV This says EVERYONE! Whosoever means anyone. This does not say that God only picked certain people to love. He loves everyone! He loved you while you were a sinner. How did you come to know Christ? Did someone share the Gospel with you? We share the Gospel with others not only because God tells us to but because we love others. If you share the Gospel to someone just because God tells you to then not only will God know that your heart is not in it but so will the other person. My parents aren't saved does that mean I am not to love them? No, we are to love everyone and share the Gospel with them. We are to be burdened for their salvation. I personally am thankful to all the love that christians showed to me when I was not one and then when I became one and years later turned away from the Lord and lived in rebellion. Love brought them to my hospital room to see me when it had been years since I had been to that church and even then only had been twice. I had no idea who these people were but they told me they loved me and were praying for me. That is the love that Jesus is talking about. Unconditional love.....pure love....love without thoughts of return......

 

[tqpix]

If you look up neighbor in the Strongs Word Study book it does state both sides of the discussion. It does say fellow man any other member of the human family and it also does say fellow christian. If you look at the story of the good samaritan in Luke 10 it talks about a man (it does not say if he is a christian or not, nor is the question asked) who is need of help. A good samaritan comes by and helps the man out of love! If you love God you love people. Love is the willing sacrifical giving of ones self with out the thought of return. It also means you give love to EVERYONE. God is love. "For God so loved the WORLD that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth on Him shall not perish but have everlasting life." John 3:16 KJV This says EVERYONE! Whosoever means anyone. This does not say that God only picked certain people to love. He loves everyone! He loved you while you were a sinner. How did you come to know Christ? Did someone share the Gospel with you? We share the Gospel with others not only because God tells us to but because we love others. If you share the Gospel to someone just because God tells you to then not only will God know that your heart is not in it but so will the other person. My parents aren't saved does that mean I am not to love them? No, we are to love everyone and share the Gospel with them. We are to be burdened for their salvation. I personally am thankful to all the love that christians showed to me when I was not one and then when I became one and years later turned away from the Lord and lived in rebellion. Love brought them to my hospital room to see me when it had been years since I had been to that church and even then only had been twice. I had no idea who these people were but they told me they loved me and were praying for me. That is the love that Jesus is talking about. Unconditional love.....pure love....love without thoughts of return......

I agree that we are to love everyone--neighbor and enemies--, and God loves everyone. Just because I am saying that your neighbor are your fellow Christians only, I am not advocating the hatred of enemies (your post suggests this--especially because you capitalized the word "everyone" in your post; I apologize if you did not intend to suggest). However, we are to love our neighbor MORE than our enemies just like we are to love God/Jesus MORE than our neighbor, enemies, and ourselves.

Also, one last thing before I call it a night: In the parable of the good samaritan, notice how Jesus asked the person questioning him which ONE of the three men was neighbor to the man that was robbed and left for dead. Jesus himself made it clear that only one of these three men was a neighbor--this proves that our neighbor is NOT everyone; if everyone is our neighbor, then, in the parable, should not ALL three men be neighbor to the dying man:

Luke 10:36-37
36: Which now of these three, thinkest thou, was neighbour unto him that fell among the thieves?
37: And he said, He that shewed mercy on him. Then said Jesus unto him, Go, and do thou likewise.

.

 

[Faithful Son]

I'm sorry to be a thread crasher hear guys, but could someone please do me a favour and go back to page 1, I posed another question in my last post on page one, I'd love clarification on that. I apologize for not being online the past week, lightning struck my internet connection at home.

God bless you all.
teraside

 

[stephen]

"Who is my neighbour"? Luke 10 v 29.

Jesus then gave the parable of 'The Good Samaritan'.

A Jew, travelling through barren waste, as he made his way toward Jerusalem, was set upon by thieves and robbed. Not only so, this Jew was left in a battered, and half dead state bodily. Religeous folks,.... fellow Jews in fact, of that time and of that day, came by that way as he lay there in the road..

The first to pass, a Priest, did not even look toward the man bleeding in the road. The second a Levite, looked.......but that was all. The third was a Samaritan, .....a fellow with whom the Jew's had no dealings, no relationship whatsoever. But this Samaritan, this stranger, this foreigner etc. went to the broken Jew in the road v 34 'bound up his wounds' etc etc. Put him upon his donkey and took him to the hotel, and left money for his care.

Who was the neighbour here.........v36 - 37 His fellow Jewish brethren.....indeed not. The neighbour was the man who showed mercy.....Go and do likewise.......said the Master

 

[bash44]

Dust of your feet

Hello Teraside

I believe your original problem was centering around your family, who you said were supposed to be saved, but do not the things the father commands..correct? I too have this problem, with two brothers and a sister. And i believe it is clear in these two passages, concerning blood family. or a brother in Christ, or a fellow human being. Yes we are to love them,be kind to them, and above all.. pray for them. However.. look at these vs's
Luke 14:26 Mathew 10:14, and Mark 6:11

Iknow it is hard to be estranged from your family, or co-workers, or anyone that refuse's the word of God, and his love. But.. They do. And by continuing to try and fellowship with them is to condone there behaviour, and i.e. you send the message that no matter how you live God will always love you,and forgive you. and that is not true. Narrow is the way to salvation, and only a few will find it. And once the door is shut.. no one will open it, not even the Bridegroom.(Mathew 25 )
I believe when we are still kind to people we cannot fellowship with, but keep our distance; the message we send is.. this is what it will be like in eternity, only worse, cast into the Flames of Hell, or into outer darkness.
Do not be discouraged, but be compelled to intercede that God would egineer their circumstances, so they would repent. love covers a multitude of sin(1 Peter 4:8 )

I hope this clears things up for you.
Blessings
Brian

 

[Faithful Son]

Hi Brian, I'm really starting to irritate myself, because I know what is the right thing in my heart, I know the way to live is to live like God wants me to. And I also want other brothers and sisters to have their unique say, so I apoligize for basically replying to each post. Thank you for those Bible verses, it confirms the way I'm living. My family, with whom I'm staying with is far from God, but when they feel the need they speak about 3 sentences about God, which normally ends up in an argument between them. I distance myself completely from my family and their ways, I don't drink, I do smoke, but that is something God has convicted me with to stop, and I'll be making an effort to stop it when I go to a Christian based retreat in November.

I haven't read those scriptures yet, but be assured I will. Thank you for the understanding and for the truth.

teraside

 

[tqpix]

"Who is my neighbour"? Luke 10 v 29.

Jesus then gave the parable of 'The Good Samaritan'.

A Jew, travelling through barren waste, as he made his way toward Jerusalem, was set upon by thieves and robbed. Not only so, this Jew was left in a battered, and half dead state bodily. Religeous folks,.... fellow Jews in fact, of that time and of that day, came by that way as he lay there in the road..

The first to pass, a Priest, did not even look toward the man bleeding in the road. The second a Levite, looked.......but that was all. The third was a Samaritan, .....a fellow with whom the Jew's had no dealings, no relationship whatsoever. But this Samaritan, this stranger, this foreigner etc. went to the broken Jew in the road v 34 'bound up his wounds' etc etc. Put him upon his donkey and took him to the hotel, and left money for his care.

Who was the neighbour here.........v36 - 37 His fellow Jewish brethren.....indeed not.

Yes, the parable was teaching us that a neighbor is not restricted to Jews only; a Gentile can be a neighbor too, if he does the will of God. Neighbor = children of God = anyone who does the will of God.

Not only that, but the parable also teaches us that people who claim to be our brethren are not our neighbor if they don't do the will of God (i.e., those people are false Christians). In the parable, the dying man's fellow Jews were not his neighbor, because they did not do the will of God.

(I'd like to point out that in the scriptures, it doesn't give the identity of the dying man--i.e., we don't know if he's a Jew or Gentile--, but it is most likely that he was a Jew.)

The neighbour was the man who showed mercy.....Go and do likewise.......said the Master

Yes, mercy (the Greek word that "mercy" was translated from literally means "compassion") is one of the qualities of a neighbor:

James 2:13
For he shall have judgment without mercy, that hath showeth no mercy; and mercy rejoiceth over judgment.

 

[trucker]

tpqix,

You missed the whole point of my post. Do not mix dispensations or covenants. God through Christ has made a way for all men to come to him by accepting Jesus Christ. God is not mad at any man in this dispensation. In Romans it was saying, if God loved you when you were an enemy,(enemy in this sense just means seperated from God. Why? Because all men born into this world are Born into Adam. We are enemies by default. Men die and go to hell not because of their, sins, Jesus paid the price for all mankinds sins. They go to hell because they have not made Jesus their Lord and Savior. See John 16: 9.) how much more now that you are saved. God is not mad at the world. He sent his son Jesus to bear the sin for ALL mankind so that he could receive all men. Your neighbor means that you should live with all men with this thought. What can I do to introduce this person to Jesus Christ? I know and you know there will be those who reject Jesus, but we should always be doing our best to be at peace with our neighbors and walk in AGAPE love toward them.

The biggest mistakes Christians make are they treat the people of the world like trash and tell them God is mad at them and hates them. Remember, God hates the sin, not the person. He hates sin because he knows it destroys us. Quite the contrary, God so loved the WORLD that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever should believe in him would not perish, but have everlasting life. For God did not send his son into the world to condemn it, but to save it through Christ. Yes, we will disagree with people. Yes, we will stand by our faith and at times we will speak the truth in Love, but we must have the heart of God for people and that means being a good neighbor. I corth 13 is the chapter on AGAPE love. It also means that is how God deals with you and me and people of the world. The biggest problem is many people of the world do not know God loves them and the other is, they know about God, but they willfully reject him after having the knowledge of him. See Romans chapter 1.

 

[stephen]

Not only that, but the parable also teaches us that people who claim to be our brethren are not our neighbor if they don't do the will of God (i.e., those people are false Christians). In the parable, the dying man's fellow Jews were not his neighbor, because they did not do the will of God.

In the light of scripture here......I agree

Yes, mercy (the Greek word that "mercy" was translated from literally means "compassion") is one of the qualities of a neighbor:

Yes......without doubt