Verse explainer
The second-greatest command isn't a feel-good motto — it's inseparable from loving God, and 'neighbor' is wider than you think.
And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
BSBAnd the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'
The plain meaning
Jesus is answering a legal expert who asked which commandment is greatest (v. 36). He gives two: love God with everything (v. 37-38), then this — love your neighbor as yourself. The word 'like unto it' (homoía) means the second is equal in kind and inseparable in practice, not a lesser footnote. Together, Jesus says, these two hang all the law and the prophets (v. 40). You cannot genuinely fulfill one while ignoring the other. The command itself comes from Leviticus 19:18, where 'neighbor' in its original context was already being stretched beyond kin to resident aliens (Lev. 19:34). By the time Jesus cites it, and especially in light of the Parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:29-37), 'neighbor' has no ethnic or social ceiling. The self-love in the verse is taken as a given — not commanded as a spiritual practice, but assumed as the natural baseline from which to measure how you treat others.
The common misreading
What the commentators say
Henry emphasizes that the two great commands are inseparably linked — love of God is the root, and love of neighbor is the fruit that proves it real. He notes that 'as thyself' sets a searching standard: we are naturally solicitous for our own welfare, quick to seek our own good and feel our own wrongs, and we are to bring that same energy and tenderness to the care of others.
Barnes stresses that 'as thyself' does not mean placing neighbors above yourself, but bringing to their welfare the same genuine concern you naturally have for your own. He also notes the breathtaking scope of the summary: that the entire moral content of the Old Testament law hangs on these two commands — love for God and love for others — which together are the animating spirit behind every specific rule.
Calvin observes that Christ's pairing of the two commands exposes self-deception: anyone who claims to love God while neglecting or despising their neighbor is lying to themselves. The second command functions as a test of the first. Calvin also underlines that 'neighbor' cannot be restricted to those we find agreeable — the Levitical context and Christ's own teaching demand that it extend to all people we encounter, even enemies.
The word behind it
'Like' or 'similar in kind.' Jesus says the second command is homoía — of the same nature and weight — as the first. This is not a ranking that subordinates neighbor-love to God-love as an afterthought; it means the two belong to a single, indivisible category. You cannot claim to be keeping the greater command while ignoring this one. The word rules out treating love-of-neighbor as optional or secondary in practice.
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