Article February 11, 1950 Issue

LOVING OUR NEIGHBOR

NATHAN G. CHATTERTON

When a certain lawyer asked Christ Jesus the question, "Which is the great commandment in the law?" he probably expected the Master to name one of the Ten Commandments.

We may well imagine his amazement when Jesus replied, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind." The Master called this "the first and great commandment." Then he added, "And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." Thus our great Way-shower with direct simplicity indicated the law which should govern mankind in every age and throughout all time. This law of loving our neighbor as ourselves finds enduring support in Paul's declaration to the Romans that "love is the fulfilling of the law."

Who is this neighbor we are commanded to love as ourselves? Surely it is God's man, the image and likeness of Love. In Christian Science we learn that man, God's idea, exists at the standpoint of completeness and perfection and is always loved and loving, because he is eternally maintained, sustained, and governed by his creator.

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