The Truth Behind This Meme

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I have seen this message or something along the lines of it, usually much more vulgar, posted on Facebook, Twitter and blogs. Enough friends have posted it where I feel the need to address it. To be honest I don't remember who specifically so I am not addressing any one person. I also pray that this may inform you, and open your heart to the Law and Gospel.

I want to concentrate on the verses included on these. John 13:34-15 does indeed state, “₃₄"A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. ₃₅By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."” It's a beautiful verse Jesus gives to His disciples moments before His crucifixion. Really meaningful knowing that all of Jerusalem would be calling for His death in a few hours.

The next I'd like to concentrate on is Mark 12:31 as quoted above, “'Love your neighbor as yourself.” I'd personally like to go all the way back to Mark 12:28 as I think it may change the context a little.

“₂₈One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, "Of all the commandments, which is the most important?" ₂₉"The most important one," answered Jesus, "is this: 'Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. ₃₀Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.' ₃₁The second is this: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no commandment greater than these." ₃₂"Well said, teacher," the man replied. "You are right in saying that God is one and there is no other but him. ₃₃To love him with all your heart, with all your understanding and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices." ₃₄When Jesus saw that he had answered wisely, he said to him, "You are not far from the kingdom of God." And from then on no one dared ask him any more questions.”

What's strange to me is that they start verse halfway through. A practice, admittedly, fairly common amoung Bible studies and even this blog. Before I continue, there's another point in which this occurs in the Bible, in Matthew 22, starting a verse 34. Some background real quick, Jesus was speaking amoung a crowd when Pharisees had set about to trip Jesus up in His words and hopefully have Him contradict Himself. Of course Jesus knows the law perfectly as He lives the law perfectly. Point after point Jesus corrects the Pharisees in regards to the law, then we come to these verses.

“₃₄Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. ₃₅One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: ₃₆"Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?" ₃₇Jesus replied: "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' ₃₈This is the first and greatest commandment. ₃₉And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' ₄₀All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."”

It reads a lot like the Mark verses I included above. Notice they both say the same thing about loving your neighbor. It is the second greatest command. The greatest commandment is to Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul and mind. This is also the first commandment of the ten commandments, and we know that if you break even one command you have broken them all. In James 2:10 we read, “Whoever keeps the whole law, and yet stumbles at just one point, is guilty of breaking all of it.” God demands that we are perfect. Leviticus 19:2 says, “Be holy because I, the Lord your God, am holy.”

Unfortunately, we are not holy, Romans 2:23 says, “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” You may be wondering where I am going with this. But there's something I feel may have been brushed over in the beginning of the verse in John. “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.” Well how does God love us? Let's go back earlier to John chapter 3, “₁₆"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” God sent His Son into the world to be sin for us, so that through Him, we have life in Heaven. Therefore as Christians we should lead Christ-like lives. That means we try to live by example, preach the law and gospel and love perfectly.

What I find interesting is the irony of posts like these. They set out to take God's words and twist them, much like the Pharisees in Matthew. They leave out long chunks of scripture that doesn't match what they believe. However, perhaps it comes from a place of misunderstanding. The original Greek reads like this, “deutera hautē Agapēseis ton plēsion sou hōs seauton meizōn toutōn allē entolē ouk estin” The word to concentrate on here is Agapēseis, or Agápe which is the Greek word for love. I'm afraid it doesn't mean what people think it does. The Greek have a few words for love which don't translate well into English as we don't really have words for these feelings. The love people are probably thinking of is Philia. The love between friends or family namely. In the way you should be proud of a child, or sentimental of a friend, so people say that's the way we should feel of our neighbors. Agápe means love in a spiritual sense. A perfect love making the decision to act in the best interest of someone for nothing in return. Therefore to spiritually love someone, we need to act in the best interest of their soul.

That all said, this is the most recent one I've seen, the ones in the past have namely addressed homosexuality and I truly believe that's what this is all about. This one has a few other examples in it though, so let's get to those first. If someone has different skin color or is from a different country, also those of a different religion, gladly share the message of Christ with them, in fact, this goes for anyone listed above. In Matthew 28 Jesus says, “₁₉Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ₂₀and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” I also encourage Christian love among the homeless and less fortunate. John the Baptist says in Luke chapter 3, “₁₀"What should we do then?" the crowd asked. ₁₁John answered, "The man with two tunics should share with him who has none, and the one who has food should do the same.”

Now for the rest, and this doesn't just go for homosexuals. Paul, inspired by the Holy Spirit, gives instructions on how to judge in 1 Corinthians chapter 5, “₁₂What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside? ₁₃God will judge those outside.” If someone has no interest in being Christian, leave them for God's judgement. Around them live a Christ-like life doing good deeds out of love and respect for God. However, if someone among you calls themselves a Christian, but lives openly in sin, it is our responsibility to pull them aside and tell them we are worried about their soul. In Matthew 18, Jesus says, “₁₅"If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault, just between the two of you. If he listens to you, you have won your brother over. ₁₆But if he will not listen, take one or two others along, so that 'every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.' ₁₇If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, treat him as you would a pagan or a tax collector” Therefore, if someone is living in sin, be it homosexuality, cohabitation, or alcoholism or any of the many sins we may be against, no matter how modern or accepted, we should pull them aside personally, or a small group and let them know our concerns. If unsuccessful, then it is our responsibility to report it to our church so that they may repent and come back to a life of faith.

These are the way to love your neighbor, pointing them to Christ. In fact, Romans 13 has this to say about loving your neighbor, "₈Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for he who loves his fellowman has fulfilled the law. ₉The commandments, "Do not commit adultery," "Do not murder," "Do not steal," "Do not covet," and whatever other commandment there may be, are summed up in this one rule: "Love your neighbor as yourself." ₁₀Love does no harm to its neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law." God is love! 1 John 4 says “₇Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. ₈Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.” So to answer Jesus' pseudepigraphical question to did He stutter, I suppose not, but I don't think He stuttered when He said, “₃₀Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.”