Chapter V — Duties Toward the Neighbour

Duties toward One’s Neighbor.

What are the duties toward one’s neighbor and from where do they flow?

The first of the duties toward one’s neighbor is love; it flows from both the natural and the moral law; the natural law draws us toward our neighbor; this law has inscribed in the heart of man love for one’s neighbor; Friendship, sympathy, and fellowship with others are testimonies of the innate disposition of love toward others. Likewise, the desire for the love of others is also a testimony of the innate love toward others. The human being seeks and wants to be loved. Therefore the human being must also love, because what one innately desires and seeks, every human being desires and seeks. Thus love is a dictate of the natural law, because through love the human being is both preserved and developed both materially, spiritually, and morally. Love is the innate fundamental law upon which existence and happiness are built. without innate love, creation on earth would be a purposeless work; before God breathed into Adam the breath of life, He inscribed on his heart the law of love, so that he might love Him and His creation, and live blessed in this love; love makes the earth paradise, because it establishes the kingdom of God on earth; without love, all creation is an earthly punishment; love is the light of the eyes of the soul, through which the soul beholds the image of the divine Creator inscribed by the divine finger upon the divine creation, and rejoices with ineffable joy; therefore the human being by nature loves his neighbor.

Love is imposed upon the human being as a duty by the moral law of revelation, because the human being, having been led astray and deceived, became deaf to the voice of the innate law of love and turned away from the love of God and the love of neighbor. the turning away from love, when magnified, led to hatred of God and of neighbor, and these things to true misery and punishment. The moral law is a reminder of the innate moral law, and it prescribes as a duty the innate virtue.

Duties Flowing from Love.

What duties toward our neighbor does love prescribe? First, the duty to love our neighbor as we love ourselves, and second, to care for the preservation, development, and advancement of both his bodily and spiritual nature, and for the proper development of his affections. because love moves a person to recognize in his neighbor one of the same high worth and to feel inward joy both at his existence and well-being, and to strive with all his might to promote this well-being of his neighbor; the foundational elements of love toward others are respect and benevolence; and their manifestation is action that aims at promoting the well-being of other human beings.

The New Covenant encourages love toward one’s neighbor (a) because of the high worth of human nature, as having been fashioned in the image of God, and redeemed by the Savior Christ (Acts 17:28–29; James 3:9, cf. Gen. 2:7; Matt. 18:11–14; John 3:16; Rom. 14:16–19)[1] and (b) because of the brotherly relation that all people have toward one another, and because of the even closer relation of those who have and confess the same faith in Christ (Luke 10:28; Rom. 12:4–10. 1 Corinthians 6:6 and 12:4. Ephesians 4:4–6).

Characteristics of Love for Neighbor.

What is love for one’s neighbor? Love for one’s neighbor according to the New Testament must be, first, a holy and pure love, and must flow from the pure spiritual life in God of the human person. (1 John 3:16, 17 and 4:12, 20, 21; John 13:6; 2 Pet. 1:17)

(2) it must be absolute and unlimited, that is, universal toward all people and toward our enemies. (Matthew 5:28); (3) completely selfless. (1 Corinthians 13:4–5); (4) continually active for the salvation and happiness of others. (Luke 10:29; 1 Corinthians 2:4–9; 1 John 3:8); (5) ready for every sacrifice. (1 John 3:16); and (6) it must be inspired by a religious spirit. (Gal. 5:14; Eph. 5:1; John 3:16, 4:7).

On what is love for neighbor founded?

Love for neighbor, being rational, is founded on the rational nature of man. Therefore, the more regularly and perfectly the spiritual nature of man is developed, the fuller and more perfect love for neighbor becomes.

How is love for neighbor manifested?

Love for neighbor is manifested as reverence and respect for his spiritual nature, and as kindness toward his person. Reverence and respect for one’s neighbor are the foundation of harmonious relations among people, while benevolence is the foundation of mutual assistance and sharing.

But since the imperfect development and formation of others contributes to the diminishing of respect for one’s neighbor and weakens benevolence toward him because of the hostility with which he sometimes approaches, the dictate of love from the natural law proves unprofitable; for this reason the dictate of love from the law of revelation is regarded as absolutely necessary. For the one who has submitted to the law of revelation and raised love for his neighbor to a reflective height both loves his neighbor as himself and does so for two reasons: first, because love for one’s neighbor is bound up with love for God, and second, because he regards him as a child of the heavenly God and Father.[2]

Only the one who has been developed in a canonical, spiritual manner and has rightly and perfectly developed his religious disposition possesses an unchanging love toward his neighbor. Without religious feeling and perfect love for God, it is impossible for there to be pure and true love for one’s neighbor.

Contempt for people and hardness of heart stand opposed to pure love for them. Contempt removes the respect owed to others by disregarding their moral worth, while hardness removes the goodwill that is owed, transforming it into ill will and hatred. (Matt. 11–14, 18, 29, 25, 27). From the lack of respect and goodwill, the most abominable schemes against one’s neighbor are conceived in the human heart, and the most terrible passions develop, undermining the life, honor, and freedom of other people.

Duties Toward the Physical and Spiritual Life of Other People

Love for other people is manifested in the care we take for their physical and spiritual life. The twofold nature of man imposes twofold duties as well: that is, duties toward the bodily life of others and duties toward their spiritual and moral life.

These duties are duties not only of love, but also of righteousness; for whoever transgresses them wrongs his neighbor. But Christian ethics does not ground these duties in legal right, but in love; for justice seeks recompense, but love freely gives all things; This difference also distinguishes the Mosaic law from the law of Christ the Savior. Therefore the former was a law of righteousness and retribution, while the latter is a law of grace.

Why was Christian ethics founded on love?

Because love alone is able to bring about the realization of the rational and purposeful end of creation, and to establish the kingdom of God on earth. Through love the human being cooperates with God on earth. Through love, by an unbreakable bond, all humanity is united. through love humanity is advanced and perfected; through love humanity is united to God; through love humanity reaches the good; through love human beings are made like the angels and as angels of God live on earth;

through love the earth is joined to the heavens, and its inhabitants become citizens of heaven; Through love the earth is transformed into paradise, and the human being receives back what he lost. Through love in Christ the human being inherits the heavenly kingdom and is brought into the heavenly paradise. Because this was the work of the mission of the Savior Christ, he founded it upon love. This is the reason why Christian ethics is founded upon love.

How Can the Duties toward One’s Neighbor Be Formulated?

The duties toward one’s neighbor can be formulated as follows:

Out of pure respect and heartfelt goodwill toward others, do everything that preserves, develops, and advances their sensory and rational nature. And since in this way the kingdom of God on earth, established by Christ the Savior, is advanced, this canon can be formulated as follows:

Strive to advance the kingdom of God among people through faith working through love.

Duties toward the Sensory Life of Others.

Sensory nature is the necessary condition for the activity and manifestation of the spiritual nature of man in the sensory world, and for the beginning of its development in earthly life; as such, sensory life is the highest of all sensory goods. Therefore, just as we ought to preserve our own physical life, so we ought to respect the physical life of others. This respect is innate, because love for our neighbor is also innate. Only the one who has lost this innate love through hardness of heart can plot against the life of others.

The New Covenant condemns with abhorrence every action that aims to disturb or destroy life or to bring some harm to it.

(1) We place duties toward physical life before duties toward our spiritual nature as being more necessary, because without care for our physical nature, care for our spiritual nature becomes impossible.

From the duty of respecting the life of others there also arises the duty to defend their life against the dangers that threaten it, and to cooperate in everything that contributes to the preservation of the life and health of others through the establishment of philanthropic institutions.

After bodily life, the highest good is external freedom, which consists in that condition in which a human being is able to use freely his natural and spiritual powers for the development, advancement, and moral perfection of himself and others.

External freedom is the first condition of the well-being and development of the human being. Whoever deprives someone of this deprives him of the highest good after life, takes away his well-being, and condemns him to ignorance and stagnation. The restriction of the freedom of the human beings who constitute societies by mutual agreement is voluntary and indeed becomes a necessary condition for development and progress. Involuntary deprivation of freedom is imposed on someone when he makes use of it to the detriment of society and its development, so that freedom may not bring any harm.

Likewise it is morally permissible to restrict the freedom of immature young people, of the morally corrupt, or of the non-spiritual, or of those held captive by certain passions and darkened in their understanding, and on account of this unable to make proper use of their external freedom. Parents and the state are justified in restricting their freedom for the benefit of both themselves and society. Directly opposed to the duty of respecting the external freedom of others is slavery, which is a degradation of the human person, since it strips away his personhood and reduces him to the position of an irrational animal, placed at the disposal of his master.

Scripture teaches respect for the freedom of one’s neighbor by teaching love. Christianity abolished slavery through love. It did not declare war and abolish slavery by denouncing it, but through the regeneration of love for one’s neighbor. It sought to abolish slavery not through the revolt of the slave, but through the emancipation granted by the masters.

Another important duty toward other people, dictated by love for one’s neighbor, is respect for their lawful property. (Luke 16:1, Romans 13:7) not only because the secure possession of the goods of property is one of the most necessary conditions of external prosperity, but also because without such respect there cannot exist a social coexistence of people, toward which—as the first foundation of the development of some spiritual kingdom of God on earth—love for people imposes a sacred respect; therefore the Christian religious observance forbids not only robbery, that is, the violent seizure of property lawfully belonging to other people (Exodus 20:15 and 6:10) and theft, that is, the secret seizure of the property of others (Matthew 19:18, Luke 18:20, Ephesians 4:28, James 5:4), but also every kind of deceit by which, under the pretense of justice, another’s property is embezzled (1 Thessalonians 5:6).

The spirit of Christianity demands that not only every action disturbing the property of others be considered unlawful, but also every greedy intention and desire for another’s possessions; this is also strictly forbidden by the Old Testament as the root of every action against the property of others. (Exodus 20:17, Leviticus 19:21, Romans 7:7). Theft should also be considered any reproduction of books without the permission of the author or the original publisher.

Because of the importance that honor and reputation have for the human being, we ought not only to spare the honor and reputation of others, but also to take care to preserve and increase them. Therefore the New Testament forbids all reckless and unjust condemnation, blasphemy, and slander as defamation against others. (Matt. 7:1; Luke 6:37; Matt. 15:19).

As for the effort to preserve the reputation of others, the New Testament it requires that, insofar as we are not convinced of the contrary, we hold a good opinion of others. (1 Cor. 13), let us readily acknowledge the worth of others. (Phil. 2:3), let us show to others the honor due to their station. (Rom. 13:7), let us keep silent about faults insofar as higher duties do not require their disclosure, (1 Cor. 13:6), and let us defend the innocence of those unjustly condemned.

Duties toward the spiritual nature of our neighbor.

The moral law imposes upon us duties toward the spiritual nature of our neighbor; by commanding us to love our neighbor as ourselves, it commands us to care for the spiritual nature of our neighbor just as we care for the development and advancement of our own spiritual nature; the Christian religious observance, striving to perfect humanity, assigns the greatest importance to the development of the spirit for its elevation and its liberation from ignorance, delusion, superstition, and prejudices. Christianity, setting as its goal to enlighten the human spirit with the light of divine truth and to establish on earth the heavenly kingdom, that is, the kingdom of love and freedom, requires an enlightened mind for its understanding because of the close connection between knowledge and practice—for virtue without knowledge is action without worth; it is something deficient. (John 1:4–8, 9:12, 12:36, 17:31). Jesus Christ severely condemned all those who hinder the spiritual freedom of others for free thought and inquiry, and who keep them in ignorance and delusion. (Matthew 23:13, Luke 11:52), and he urged his disciples to proclaim freely the revealed truth. (Matthew 5:18, 11:25), and not to avoid any danger for the sake of spreading it. (Matthew 11:16, John 16:31). And his disciples were obliged to respect the moral freedom of others and not to force them into accepting the proclaimed truth, nor to employ evil schemes, but always to proceed with appropriate understanding and prudence, so that they might not cause even one of the lowliest to stumble.

Be wise and innocent. (Matthew 6:6–11). The disciples of the Savior, having labored in this way in the work of their apostleship, distributed the light of truth and illuminated the ends of the earth. Following their example, we too ought to labor selflessly with courage, perseverance, and endurance for the advancement of the illumination of humanity.

General Conduct toward One’s Neighbor

Our relations with our neighbor and our entire conduct toward him must be governed by the moral law founded on love and righteousness; and we must always examine what is good and acceptable and perfect before God. (Romans 12:3), giving no offense in anything. (2 Corinthians 6:3), to contribute to the development of their spirit and to the formation of their heart, and to strengthen their zeal for the truth; all our conduct toward others should be unfeigned, sincere, and an expression and reflection of our inward disposition. Falsehood, apart from the vice in it, is a moral assault against the human being made in the image of God, because it attacks his personhood, which the liar seeks to humiliate and degrade through the lie.