The 2nd is like unto it...

Luke 10:

25 And behold, a lawyer stood up to put him (Jesus) to the test, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” 26 He (Jesus) said to him, “What is written in the Law? How do you read it?”

27 And he (the lawyer) answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength

and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.”

You have likely heard this passage often. Maybe even memorized it. However, it is worth pointing out this is not exactly how it was originally presented in the OT.

Deut 6:4 “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.

6 And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. 8 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 9 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

Notice what is missing? I added the context of verses 6 - 9 so it's more obvious. What is not mentioned in this OT passage? There is no mention of loving your neighbor in the immediate context, the chapter, or even the entire book.

In all three gospel accounts loving our neighbor is *added as if they are quoted together. In Luke, the lawyer talking with Christ adds it and Christ agrees. Did this lawyer get it wrong? No, Christ agreed that this commandment is the second greatest. In fact, in the other two accounts Christ lists them together himself. 

But all these accounts also say the second is like, though not equal to the first. If you look around more in the OT there is definite mention of loving our neighbor but not neatly together and in the immediate context with the greatest commandment as we see it in the gospel accounts. In fact, it is mentioned in Leviticus,  an entirely different book.

My point? The second is *only the second. It is like the first, but not equal to it. It comes after, for a reason i.e. the second will not and can not happen as God intends unless the first happens... first.

Why do I raise this? Often we hear an equal emphasis on the second or it is brought up without ever mentioning the 1st as if it isn't tied to and dependent on it (Christ clearly ties these together in the order he does for good reason. Loving God 1st is vital. It must come 1st!). As a result, we can lose sight of the first; of the necessity of it being first. And when we do we can turn this into a performance-based activity, as if we must love our neighbor to be loved and accepted by God... as we - in our rebellious state - are inclined to do with every other commandment of God.

Why do we do this? Because we are prone to do it. In our fallen and rebellious state, we tend to turn every commandment into a way we can be our own god, savior, deliverer, and provider i.e. we seek to be independent of God, operating in our own power. So it is when we come to God's commandments also. We treat them as some kind of hoop we must jump through to make ourselves acceptable to God and our fellow man. We are prone to use any and all of God's commandments to earn God's acceptance (and each other) - and sadly think we can - instead of obedience being the fruit and expression of God's acceptance of us in Christ. We are naturally inclined to read scripture through a performance-based lens, even as his redeemed children and more so if we are not his. This is our natural orientation since the rebellion in Eden, which we should always be on our guard against. It is also an affront to Christ and the very gospel of grace that God has provided for us in Him.

So if loving our neighbor is second, not 1st, how is it like the first? 

It is an expression of love. Both are about love, but love in its proper order. As scripture clearly states, we love God because he first loved us. The second is tied to the 1st by flowing out of it. We are not the source of love, God is. This is received love that is vertical and comes from above. That is why the first command is the first - and must always be the 1st - and the second is the second and only like the first. The 2nd is the horizontal love that flows out of us to our fellow man due to our connection vertically with God himself, the only source of love, life, and all things. To him alone be all the glory for he alone deserves it - is worth it.

Related discussions:

Love is power

Empowered by what?

It all depends on God and you.

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*If the 2nd commandment is not in the original context, why would Christ add it? I think the point Christ is making is loving our neighbor is evidence that we truly love God as the greatest commandment tells us to. It is the natural outflow of loving him with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. And because God is a relationship as Father, Son, and Spirit, so are we. 

**Even though it is the 2nd, Christ ties it to the 1st for a good reason. It is the natural outflow of and progression from the 1st. As Christ said, in these two commandments all the others are summed up. In fact in the letter of 1st John it is evidence we are engaged in the 1st and the fruit of it i.e. If the 2nd is not happening it is because the 1st is not either. The 2nd cannot occur as God intends unless it flows out of the 1st.

How can all the commandments be summed up in these two?  Everything God calls (commands) us to be and do involves our love of God and our love for man and, in this order.