"Love thy neighbor" - what conditions are implied in this statement??

[texan1]

When the Bible says "Love thy neighbor as thyself" what are the implied conditions to this statement?

 

[Sunstone]

I think that among other things it implies a lack of prejudice and bigotry.

 

[Mister Emu]

None.

Love them, no conditions...

I may have misunderstood what you are asking...

 

[texan1]

Thank you Mister Emu! You did understand what I was asking...which is impressive since it was worded so poorly!

This is the second most important commandment in the Bible, second only to loving God. It also seems to be one of the greatest challenges of Christianity - to love your neighbor unconditionally. Yet, many Christians seem to place conditions on this statement. For example "Love thy neighbor....unless they are not Christian"; "Love thy neighbor.....unless they are more sinful than you"; "Love thy neighbor....unless you are uncomfortable with their sexual orientation", etc....

So I was trying to ask what, if any, conditions are implied in this statement from the Bible.

 

[methylatedghosts]

I think it implies the condition that you should love your self first...

One cannot love another if one doesn't love one's self.

EDIT: perhaps not really a condition as such, but I don't think you can be expected to love another if you can't love your self.

 

[One Truth]

When the Bible says "Love thy neighbor as thyself" what are the implied conditions to this statement?

Well its as simiple as treating your fellow human as your wished to be treated.
Love ya brother.:super:

 

[Oberon]

You have to understand that the words for "neighbor" in Hebrew and Greek had different connotations. Both in ancient and in Hellenistic times, the Jews lived in very cohesive communities that revolved around networks of kin (they were far from alone in this). So neighbors were almost inevitably related in some way, and even when they were not, the ties of the community were binding in a way that is difficult for many in post-industrial times to understand. Therefore, to love ones neighbor as oneself meant to extend the care one has for oneself to all members of ones community

 

[lilithu]

You have to understand that the words for "neighbor" in Hebrew and Greek had different connotations. Both in ancient and in Hellenistic times, the Jews lived in very cohesive communities that revolved around networks of kin (they were far from alone in this). So neighbors were almost inevitably related in some way, and even when they were not, the ties of the community were binding in a way that is difficult for many in post-industrial times to understand. Therefore, to love ones neighbor as oneself meant to extend the care one has for oneself to all members of ones community

That may have been what it originally meant but Jesus clearly expanded the meaning with the parable of the Good Samaritan. He told that story in response to the question, "Who is my neighbor?" And given that the Samaritans and the Jews/Judeans were at odds with each other at that time, by telling a story to a Jewish audience where the Samaritan is the hero who goes out of this way to help a Jew/Judean in need, Jesus was clearly saying that everyone is your neighbor, even those whom you view as your enemy.

He states that same message explicitly elsewhere, saying that anyone can love their friends. He's calling on us to love our enemies.

Quite clearly there are no conditions on "love thy neighbor."

 

[Dunemeister]

That may have been what it originally meant but Jesus clearly expanded the meaning with the parable of the Good Samaritan. He told that story in response to the question, "Who is my neighbor?" And given that the Samaritans and the Jews/Judeans were at odds with each other at that time, by telling a story to a Jewish audience where the Samaritan is the hero who goes out of this way to help a Jew/Judean in need, Jesus was clearly saying that everyone is your neighbor, even those whom you view as your enemy.

He states that same message explicitly elsewhere, saying that anyone can love their friends. He's calling on us to love our enemies.

Quite clearly there are no conditions on "love thy neighbor."

I tried to give you frubals but couldn't. So, FRUBALS!!

 

[Heneni]

'Neighbour' is somebody in distress. Physically hurt, starving, alone, dejected, pennyless, homeless....

And since we will generally not hurt ourselves, starve ourselves, reject ourselves, make ourselves poor or homeless unless we can help it...in the same way you should help somebody else who is in that situation.

You cannot pretend you didnt meet them.:cover: and walk by.

It has nothing to do, with loving homosexuals. It has nothing to do with loving people who are in sin. It has nothing to do with loving the murderer, the rapist....etc. It has to do with helping someone who for some or another reason cannot help themselves out of their current situation no matter if they tried. Its helping your neigbour back on their feet. Its not turning a blind eye. It meens being willing to sacrifice some of what you have to help somebody else.

Heneni

 

[Oberon]

That may have been what it originally meant but Jesus clearly expanded the meaning with the parable of the Good Samaritan. He told that story in response to the question, "Who is my neighbor?"

Except that at the end of the parable, Jesus asks the "lawyer" (nomikos), "Which of these three seems (or appears - greek dokei) to you to have become a neighbor (plesion) to the man who well among the robbers?" In other words, the Samaritan went beyond the normal bounds of community and accepted the robbed man into his community. By acting the way he did, the Samaritan "became" a neighbor to the other man. He extended his community.

My point was not that Jesus intended for his followers to treat only those in their close-knit communities as neighbors. Rather, that in order to understand what "neighbor" was, we have to look at in a 1st century context. Jesus did indeed expand the "community" from the close knit networks of kin. In fact, at times he is directly hostile to this sacred bond of family and community. A central aspect of his message was redefining what the "community" ought to be. The good samaritan is a parable intended exactly for this.

Therefore, as I said, to love ones neighbor as oneself looks to treating those in ones close knit community as oneself. Jesus, however, redefined the traditional boundaries of Israel and community (whether he ever intended to include pagans is open to debate).

 

[lilithu]

Therefore, as I said, to love ones neighbor as oneself looks to treating those in ones close knit community as oneself. Jesus, however, redefined the traditional boundaries of Israel and community

And therefore even your enemy is part of your community. ie - there are no conditions, which is the answer to the OP.

 

[starlite]

When the Bible says "Love thy neighbor as thyself" what are the implied conditions to this statement?

[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]The Scriptures speak of different kinds of love. Agape love is guided by principle, as love of righteousness or even love for one’s enemies, for whom a person may not have affection. This facet or expression of love is an unselfish devotion to righteousness and a sincere concern for the lasting welfare of others, along with an active expression of this for their good. Agape[/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman, serif],[/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman, serif] therefore, carries the meaning of love guided, or governed, by principle. It may or may not include affection and fondness. [/FONT]​

[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]Jesus commanded: “Love [[/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman, serif]a·ga·pa´te[/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman, serif]] your enemies.” “God recommends his own love [[/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman, serif]a·ga´pen[/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman, serif]] to us in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. . . . For if, when we were God's enemies, we became reconciled to God through the death of his Son, much more, now that we have become reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.” Loving our enemies, therefore, should be governed by the principle established by God and should be exercised in obedience to his commandments, whether or not such love is accompanied by any warmth or affection.[/FONT]​

[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]Love of neighbor, like love of God, is not merely a feeling; it involves action. It is helpful to consider further the context of the command recorded in Leviticus 19 that exhorts God’s people to love their neighbor as themselves. There we read that the Israelites were to allow afflicted ones and alien residents to share in the harvest. There was no room for stealing, deceiving, or dealing falsely. In judicial matters the Israelites should show no partiality. Though they were to give reproof when needed, they were specifically told: “You must not hate your brother in your heart.” These and many other commands were summed up in the words: “You must love your fellow as yourself.”[/FONT]​

[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]To love others as we love ourselves means that we view others as we want to be viewed and treat others as we would like to be treated. Jesus said: “All things, therefore, that you want men to do to you, you also must likewise do to them.” Loving our neighbor will protect us from doing what is bad. The apostle Paul wrote: ‘You must not commit adultery, You must not murder, You must not steal, You must not covet,’ and whatever other commandment there is, is summed up in this word, namely, ‘You must love your neighbor as yourself.’ Love will move us to look for ways to work what is good toward others.[/FONT]​

 

[Oberon]

And therefore even your enemy is part of your community. ie - there are no conditions, which is the answer to the OP

The enemy is not part of the community. Although Jesus said to love ones enemies, that fact that he called them enemies means they were not community members. The two exhortations are quite seperate. Love your neighbor as yourself was Jesus' guiding principle (and the Jewish one as well) for how to treat community members. Jesus' cast a wider net then most, and advocated including people like beggars and tax-collecters (and probably not pagans). The exhortation to love ones enemy was how Jesus (unlike just about anyone else) asked his followers to treat those outside the community.

 

[Sunstone]

Agape love is guided by principle, as love of righteousness

Are you sure you understand what agape is?

 

[Dunemeister]

It has nothing to do, with loving homosexuals. It has nothing to do with loving people who are in sin. It has nothing to do with loving the murderer, the rapist....etc. It has to do with helping someone who for some or another reason cannot help themselves out of their current situation no matter if they tried. Its helping your neigbour back on their feet. Its not turning a blind eye. It meens being willing to sacrifice some of what you have to help somebody else.

The parable of the prodigal son contradicts you here. For in that parable, the son said "give me my inheritance" which is the equivalent of saying to his father, "I wish you were dead." In a peasant village culture, this is the highest insult. (It's perhaps so even in ours.) Wishing death on someone is also equivalent to murder, so there's a sense in which the son in the parable is guilty of spiritual patricide. Yet, the father did not stand on ceremony or insist on his rights. He loved his wayward son and did as he requested. Indeed, after the wayward son returns, the righteous son, who did no wrong and was consistently loyal to the father, came in for rough treatment from the father, but even then, he was gentle. "Why shouldn't we celebrate the return of the wayward son?"

So the father loved the wayward son, even in his sin. Of course, this is a parable to explain Jesus' ministry and defend it against his enemies' criticism. Nevertheless, part of the point seems to be to correct his hearers' misunderstandings about the extent and prodigality (wastefulness) of God's love. In the parable, it's not really the son who is prodigal, but the father. He seems to waste his love on the unlovely and the socially outcast (even deviant, in the son's case).

Thus God loves sinners. This doesn't mean that he approves what they do, nor that those who continue in sin can expect not to be held to account. But it means that he wishes the best for them. As Jesus said elsewhere, God causes the rain to fall on the just and the unjust. And we are to be perfect (indiscriminate in our love) just as God is perfect. So yes, we are to love the murderer and the rapist. This doesn't mean we excuse what they did. But we do minister to their needs. If we don't we may find ourselves on the wrong end of judgment. For remember the parable of the sheep and the goats where God says to the "righteous", "I was in prison but you didn't minister to me" and so these self-appointed righteous are subject to judgment.

 

[lilithu]

The enemy is not part of the community. Although Jesus said to love ones enemies, that fact that he called them enemies means they were not community members. The two exhortations are quite seperate. Love your neighbor as yourself was Jesus' guiding principle (and the Jewish one as well) for how to treat community members. Jesus' cast a wider net then most, and advocated including people like beggars and tax-collecters (and probably not pagans). The exhortation to love ones enemy was how Jesus (unlike just about anyone else) asked his followers to treat those outside the community.

I have no idea why you are picking this nit. Jesus gave us the parable as an answer to the question, "Who is my neighbor?" He is therefore quite clearly saying that our enemies ARE our neighbors. We are to love our enemies as we love ourselves. No conditions.

 

[methylatedghosts]

The enemy is not part of the community. Although Jesus said to love ones enemies, that fact that he called them enemies means they were not community members. The two exhortations are quite seperate. Love your neighbor as yourself was Jesus' guiding principle (and the Jewish one as well) for how to treat community members. Jesus' cast a wider net then most, and advocated including people like beggars and tax-collecters (and probably not pagans). The exhortation to love ones enemy was how Jesus (unlike just about anyone else) asked his followers to treat those outside the community.

It is this "us and them" view that keeps enemies as enemies.
If you love your "enemy", your "enemy" becomes part of your community (using your words here - a community is generally the people in your nearby area, but hey). If you continue loving every person you come across, even your "enemies", all you'll be left with is one big enormous world-wide community, no enemies...

I think the point is not to treat "enemies" as any different, but to make it so that they are no longer your enemy.

 

[zenzero]

Friend texan1,

"Love thy neighbor" - what conditions are implied in this statement??

Obviously, one must know WHO their neighbors are? to love or hate them!
hahahahahaha!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Love & rgds

 

[blackout]

I think it implies the condition that you should love your self first...

One cannot love another if one doesn't love one's self.

EDIT: perhaps not really a condition as such, but I don't think you can be expected to love another if you can't love your self.

I absolutely agree with Luke.

Your love for your neighbor is never gunna be any better
than your love for your own Self.

You cannot give what you do not your SElf know.