Matthew 22:39

My Notes

What Does Matthew 22:39 Mean?

"And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." Jesus identifies the second-greatest commandment — and says it's "like" (homoia — similar, equivalent, of the same nature) the first (love God with all your heart). The two commandments aren't hierarchically distant. They're similar. The love you give God and the love you give your neighbor are the same kind of love. 1 John will make the connection explicit: "If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar" (4:20).

The phrase "as thyself" establishes the measuring standard: the instinctive, automatic, unquestioned care you give yourself is the minimum standard for how you treat everyone else.

Reflection Questions

• 1.Where is the gap between how you care for yourself and how you care for your neighbor?
• 2.What does 'like unto it' (similar to loving God) mean for how seriously you take neighbor-love?
• 3.If the entire law hangs on these two commandments, what changes about your priorities?
• 4.What would treating your neighbor with the same instinctive urgency you give yourself look like today?

Devotional

Love your neighbor as yourself. And this commandment is LIKE the first one. Not a distant second. Like it. The same kind. The same quality. The same substance. Jesus places neighbor-love on the same plane as God-love — because they're made of the same material.

As thyself. The standard isn't a feeling. It's a behavior pattern you already practice. You feed yourself without being told. You protect yourself instinctively. You advocate for yourself automatically. You ensure your own comfort, safety, and well-being without any external command. That instinctive self-care? Direct it at the person next to you. That's the standard.

The command doesn't say: love your neighbor more than yourself (that's unsustainable). Or: love your neighbor instead of yourself (that's self-destruction). AS yourself. The same way. With the same urgency. With the same instinctive immediacy. When your neighbor is hungry, respond with the same urgency you'd feel if you were hungry. When they're threatened, protect with the same instinct you'd use to protect yourself.

Like unto it. The first commandment is: love God with everything. The second commandment is: love your neighbor as yourself. And Jesus says they're similar. Not identical. Similar. They're made of the same substance. The person who truly loves God will find that the love flows naturally toward the neighbor — because the neighbor is God's image-bearer, and loving the image is an extension of loving the original.

You can't love God and ignore your neighbor. You can't love your neighbor and ignore God. The two commandments are a single love with two directions: vertical (toward God) and horizontal (toward neighbor). Both are essential. Both are similar. And both operate at the same standard: everything you have, directed at someone other than yourself.

On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets (v. 40). Every rule in the Bible is a footnote to these two sentences. Love God. Love people. Everything else is commentary.

Commentary

Trusted original commentary from respected historical Bible scholars and theologians.

Cross References

Related passages throughout Scripture