All Men Will Know – The Second Great Commandment

All Men Will Know

The Second Great Commandment

Matthew 22.38, 39

“This is the great and the first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

John 13.35

“By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

It begins with the people of God.

Neighbor-love begins in the household of faith. Here is the best place to develop our skills of loving others as we love ourselves, first, because we spend a good deal of time with our fellow believers, and, second, because they understand the priority of love and will receive it graciously (we hope). We are to do good to all, Paul tells us, but especially those who are of the household of faith (Gal. 6.10). The harder we work at loving our fellow believers, the easier it will be to love those beyond the pale of faith, including our enemies. This love for one another is a crucial apologetic for our faith. People will know that we are following Jesus when they see the love we have for one another, and as they experience our love for them. This will prepare them for the explanation of why we love this way, and how they can, too.

Pray

Teach me to be more consistent in loving my neighbor, O Lord. As I meditate in Your Law each day, help me to see the ways it guides and directs me to an active practice of loving others as I love myself. And may You be glorified in all my love for others.

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“In the Gates” is a devotional series on the Law of God by Rev. T.M. Moore

T. M. Moore is editor of the Worldview Church. He serves as dean of the Centurions Program of the Wilberforce Forum and principal of The Fellowship of Ailbe, a spiritual fellowship in the Celtic Christian tradition. He is the author or editor of twenty books, and has contributed chapters to four others. His essays, reviews, articles, papers, and poetry have appeared in dozens of national and international journals, and on a wide range of websites. His most recent books are The Ailbe Psalter and The Ground for Christian Ethics (Waxed Tablet).

Scripture quotations in this article are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, (c) copyright 2001,2007 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Editor’s note: The use of a translation other than the Authorised Version in an article does not constitute an endorsement in whole or in part by The Christian Observer.