Matthew 22:39
in Matthew 22And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And a second like unto it is this, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.
KJV
And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
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This verse in Matthew 22
Commentary
20 notes on this verseNor did He only teach the first and great commandment, but added that there was a second like unto the first, Thou shall love thy neighbour as thyself. But if Whoso loveth iniquity hath hated his own soul, (Ps. 11:5.) it is manifest that he does not love his neighbour as himself, when he does not love himself.
This site's exposition
love the Lord thy God with all thy heart
on Matthew 22:37-40
Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind quotes Deuteronomy 6:5, the Shema Israel recited daily by every observant Jew, and Jesus names it first and great without qualification. The second is like unto it, thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, joins Leviticus 19:18 to the first as its inseparable partner rather than a lesser add-on, and on these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets states plainly that every other command is an application of these two, not a third body of separate rules. The bench reads Jesus here summarizing rather than replacing the law, the same righteousness thread that runs from the Sermon's fulfil all righteousness through the whole book.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers5 voices
(De Doctr. Christ. i. 30. et 26.) But since the Divine substance is more excellent and higher than our nature, the command to love God is distinct from that to love our neighbour. But if by yourself, you understand your whole self, that is both your soul and your body, and in like manner of your neighbour, there is no sort of things to be loved omitted in these commands. The love of God goes first, and the rule thereof is so set out to us as to make all other loves center in that, so that nothing seems said of loving yourself. But then follows, Thou shall love thy neighbour as thyself, so that love of yourself is not omitted.
(de Doctr. Christ. i. 30.) It is clear that every man is to be regarded as a neighbour, because evil is to be done to no man. Further, if every one to whom we are bound to show service of mercy, (vid. Rom. 13:10.) or who is bound to show it to us, be rightly called our neighbour, it is manifest that in this precept are comprehended the holy Angels who perform for us those services of which we may read in Scripture. Whence also our Lord Himself would be called our neighbour; for it was Himself whom He represents as the good Samaritan, who gave succour to the man who was left half-dead by the way.
(de Trin. viii. 6.) He that loves men ought to love them either because they are righteous, or that they may be righteous; and so also ought he to love himself either for that he is, or that he may be righteous. And thus without peril he may love his neighbour as himself.
(de Doctr. Christ, i. 22.) But if even yourself you ought not to love for your own sake, but because of Him in whom is the rightful end of your love, let not another man be displeased that you love even him for God's sake. Whoso then rightly loves his neighbour, ought to endeavour with him that he also with his whole heart love God.
This he adds since the Pharisees have asked truly "What is the greatest commandment in the law?" The Lord himself responds to them and teaches us. Not only is the greatest commandment to love the Lord, but as well it is the first commandment. It is first, however, not in the order of the Scriptures but in the order of virtue. And as this comes from such a source, it must be adhered to, since as with many established commands, Christ says that it is the first and greatest command that "you love the Lord your God with your whole heart and your whole mind and your whole soul," and the second, however, "is like unto" the first; and accordingly, this similitude is also great, "that you love your neighbor as you love yourself." This is how we understand the second one, while another may be third in magnitude and order, or a fourth, and so in order we number the commands of the law, accepting this as wisdom from God, who orders them even to the least. Such is the task of no one else but Christ alone, since he is "the power of God and the wisdom of God."
13 more voices on this verse
The Church Fathers4 voices
Or otherwise; That the second command is like the first signifies that the obligation and merit of both are alike; for no love of God without Christ, or of Christ without God, can profit to salvation. It follows, On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.
Are we to paint ourselves out that our neighbours may perish? Where, then, is (the command), "Thou shall love thy neighbour as thyself? " "Care not merely about your own (things), but (about your) neighbour's? " No enunciation of the Holy Spirit ought to be (confined) to the subject immediately in hand merely, and not applied and carried out with a view to every occasion to which its application is useful.
But who loves man is as who loves God; for man is God's image, wherein God is loved, as a King is honoured in his statue. For this cause this commandment is said to be like the first.
A commentator
John ChrysostomHomily on the Gospel of Matthew 71 · Written in the 5th century.
proposed
What then saith Christ? Indicating from what they were led to this; from having no charity, from pining with envy, from being seized by jealousy, He saith, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto this, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." But wherefore "like unto this?" Because this makes the way for that, and by it is again established; "For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light;" and again, "The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God." And what in consequence of this? "They are corrupt, and become abominable in their ways." And again, "The love of money is the root of all evils; which while some coveted after they have erred from the faith;" and, "He that loveth me, will keep my commandment."
The Medieval Church5 voices
Out of immeasurable spite this man comes forward to put the Lord to the test. For when they saw the Sadducees put to shame and the Lord praised for His wisdom, they came forward to test Him to see if He would add something to …
A commentator
BonaventureCollationes de Decem Praeceptis, Collation 1 · Written in the 13th century.
proposed
"Which is the first and great commandment in the Law?" The Lord responds: "You shall love the Lord your God with your whole heart and with your whole soul and with your whole mind. This is the greatest and first commandment. And the second is …
A commentator
Bernard of ClairvauxSermons on the Song of Songs, Sermon 50 · Written before 1153.
proposed
So it is necessary that you also receive in this way the command that you love your neighbor as yourself (Mt 22:39), even if it is not so openly expressed. Or do you not finally judge it sufficient for fulfilling this commandment concerning love of …
Secondly, he presents the second commandment: and the second is like to this: thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. He wished to signify that there is an order among the commandments. And what is the reason? It is certain that the commandments concern acts …
When Christ was asked which is the greatest commandment, he gave two answers to the one question. The first was "You shall love the Lord your God," which we have talked about. The second was "and your neighbor as yourself." At this point we should …
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
And the second is like unto it,.... For there is but a second, not a third: this is suggested in opposition to the numerous commandments in the law, according to the opinion of the Jews, who reckon them in all to be "six hundred and thirteen": of which there are "three hundred and sixty five" negative ones, according to the number of the days of the year; and "two hundred and forty eight" affirmative ones, according to the members of a man's body (z).
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
Thou shalt love thy neighbor - The love of our neighbor springs from the love of God as its source; is found in the love of God as its principle, pattern, and end; and the love of God is found in the love of our neighbor, as its effect, representation, and infallible mark. This love of our neighbor is a love of equity, charity, succor, and benevolence.
Modern Voices2 voices
A commentator
GK ChestertonHeretics, Ch. 14: On Certain Modern Writers and the Institution of the Family (1905) (1905)
proposed
We make our friends; we make our enemies; but God makes our next-door neighbour. Hence he comes to us clad in all the careless terrors of nature; he is as strange as the stars, as reckless and indifferent as the rain. He is Man, the …
In the feverish summer of this fanaticism there arose the phrase that this or that part of England is being "built over." Now, there is not the slightest objection, in itself, to England being built over by men, any more than there is to its …
How the passage was read
On Matthew 22:23-46On Matthew 22:23-46
The Sadducees' riddle, the greatest commandment, and David's son
The Sadducees, the priestly party that denied the resurrection of the dead (Acts 23:8), build their riddle on levirate marriage: the Torah's command that a man marry his brother's childless widow (Deuteronomy 25:5-10, the law behind Ruth; the Mishnah's tractate Yevamot regulates its cases). Seven brothers, one widow: “in the resurrection whose wife shall she be?” Jesus answers them from the Torah alone, the canon they granted: “I AM the God of Abraham” (Exodus 3:6), the living God of living men. Note where the parties stand: the Pharisees affirmed the resurrection so strongly that the Mishnah excludes from the world to come anyone who says the resurrection is not from the Torah (Sanhedrin 10:1). On this doctrine the Pharisaic tradition and Christian confession stand together against the Sadducees.
The lawyer's question that follows, “which is the great commandment?”, belongs to a genuine rabbinic genre: the search for a kelal gadol, a great governing principle. Hillel, asked to teach the whole Torah while a challenger stood on one foot, answered “what is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow; that is the whole Torah, the rest is commentary; go and learn” (Shabbat 31a); Rabbi Akiva later called “love your neighbor as yourself” the all-embracing principle of the Torah (Sifra on Leviticus 19:18). Jesus' first answer IS the Shema, the confession every observant Jew prays morning and evening (Deuteronomy 6:4-5), joined to Leviticus 19:18. The materials are the tradition's own; what is His alone is the authority with which He joins and ranks them, and the counter-question He then asks from Psalm 110: whose son is the Messiah?
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Sources: Mishnah Sanhedrin 10:1 (the resurrection as core doctrine) · Shabbat 31a (Babylonian Talmud, Hillel on one foot) · Sifra, Kedoshim 4:12 (Akiva's great principle) · Mishnah Yevamot 1:1 (the levirate tractate)
The words behind it
10 Greek wordsEvery Greek word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Greek | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| δευτέρα | deutera | [The] second | G1208 → | 43 times |
| δὲ | de | also | G1161 → | 2765 times |
| ὁμοία | homoia | [is] like | G3664 → | 45 times |
| αὐτῇ· | autea | to it: | G846 → | 5565 times |
| ἀγαπήσεις | agapeseis | You will love | G25 → | 143 times |
| τὸν | ton | the | G3588 → | 19766 times |
| πλησίον | plesion | neighbour | G4139 → | 17 times |
| σου | sou | of you | G4771 → | 2973 times |
| ὡς | hos | as | G5613 → | 500 times |
| σεαυτόν. | seauton | yourself.’ | G4771 → | 2973 times |
δευτέρα[The] second
deuteraG1208 →43 times
δὲalso
deG1161 →2765 times
ὁμοία[is] like
homoiaG3664 →45 times
αὐτῇ·to it:
auteaG846 →5565 times
ἀγαπήσειςYou will love
agapeseisG25 →143 times
τὸνthe
tonG3588 →19766 times
πλησίονneighbour
plesionG4139 →17 times
σουof you
souG4771 →2973 times
ὡςas
hosG5613 →500 times
σεαυτόν.yourself.’
seautonG4771 →2973 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Mark 12:31The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ No other commandment is greater than these.”
it leads to
- Leviticus 19:18
Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against any of your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the LORD.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Romans 13:8–9
Be indebted to no one, except to one another in love. For he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law.
- Luke 10:27
He answered, “‘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 ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”
- Leviticus 19:18
Through
Galatians 5:14The entire law is fulfilled in a single decree: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”
it leads to
- Matthew 7:12
In everything, then, do to others as you would have them do to you. For this is the essence of the Law and the Prophets.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Matthew 7:12
Through
Leviticus 19:18Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against any of your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the LORD.
it leads to
- Matthew 22:39–40
And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’
- Romans 13:9
The commandments “Do not commit adultery,” “Do not murder,” “Do not steal,” “Do not covet,” and any other commandments, are summed up in this one decree: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”
- Mark 12:31–34
The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ No other commandment is greater than these.”
- Luke 10:27–37
He answered, “‘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 ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”
- Matthew 22:39–40
Where this verse is studied
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About Matthew
This page draws on 18 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Augustine of Hippo, Catena Aurea by Aquinas; Bernard of Clairvaux, Sermons on the Song of Songs, Sermon 50; Bonaventure, Collationes de Decem Praeceptis, Collation 1; GK Chesterton, Heretics, Ch. 14: On Certain Modern Writers and the Institution of the Family (1905); GK Chesterton, Alarms and Discursions, The New House (1910); Hilary of Poitiers, Catena Aurea by Aquinas; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Chrysostom, Homily on the Gospel of Matthew 71; John Gill, Exposition of the New Testament (1746-1748); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible; Origen of Alexandria, Catena Aurea by Aquinas; Origen of Alexandria, COMMENTARY ON MATTHEW 2; Pseudo-Chrysostom, Catena Aurea by Aquinas; Tertullian, On the Apparel of Women Book II; Theophylact of Ohrid, Commentary on Matthew; Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Matthew and Thomas Aquinas, Explanation of the Ten Commandments.