John Calvin Commentary Leviticus 19:18

"Thou shalt not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people; but thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself: I am Jehovah." — Leviticus 19:18 (ASV)

You shall love your neighbor as yourself. What every person’s attitude towards their neighbor should be could not be better expressed in many pages than in this one sentence. We are all not only inclined to love ourselves more than we should, but all our powers hurry us in this direction. Indeed, φιλαυτία (self-love) blinds us so much that it becomes the parent of all iniquities.

Therefore, while we are too much given to loving ourselves, we forget and neglect our brothers. God could only bring us back to charity by plucking from our hearts that vicious passion which is born with us and dwells deeply in us. Nor, again, could this be done except by transferring elsewhere the love that exists within us.

On this point, the dishonesty, no less than the ignorance and folly, of those¹⁸⁵ who would have the love of ourselves come first has betrayed itself. "The rule," they say, "is superior to the thing regulated by it; and according to God’s commandment, the charity which we should exercise towards others is formed upon the love of ourselves as its rule." As if it were God’s purpose to stir up the fire that already burns too fiercely!

Naturally, as I have said, we are blinded by our immoderate self-love. God, in order to turn us away from this, has substituted our neighbors, whom we are to love no less than ourselves. Nor will anyone ever perform what Paul teaches us to be a part of charity—namely, that she seeks not her own (1 Corinthians 13:5)—until he has renounced himself.

Not only those with whom we have some connection are called our neighbors, but all people without exception. For the whole human race forms one body, of which all are members, and consequently should be bound together by mutual ties. We must bear in mind that even those who are most alienated from us should be cherished and aided just as our own flesh. We have¹⁸⁶ seen elsewhere that sojourners and strangers are placed in the same category (with our relatives¹⁸⁷); and Christ sufficiently confirms this in the case of the Samaritan (Luke 10:30).

¹⁸⁵ “Les docteurs Papistes.” — Fr. . See ante on on Leviticus 19:18, , p. 23..

¹⁸⁶ On Leviticus 19:33, , ante p. 118..

¹⁸⁷ Added from Fr..

Therefore, it clearly appears that God had a further object than that people should not kill each other, for He not only restrains their hands but also requires their hearts to be pure from all hatred. Since the desire for vengeance is the source and cause of hostilities, it follows that under the word kill is condensed everything that is opposed to brotherly love. This is confirmed by the antithesis: that no one should hate his brother, but rather love him as himself.

We need, then, to seek no other expositor of the Commandment than God Himself. He declares those to be guilty of murder who are affected by any malevolence. This applies not only to those who, when offended, desire to return evil for evil, but also to those who do not sincerely love their neighbors, even when they justly consider them to be their enemies.

Therefore, so that God may absolve us from spiritual murder, let us learn to purify our hearts from all desire for vengeance and, laying aside hatred, to cultivate brotherly affection with all people.

Although the latter part of the verse encompasses the sum of the whole Second Table, yet because love is contrasted with vengeance, I have not seen fit to separate these things, which are so properly connected, especially when one depends on the other. This precept is indeed given with reference only to the children of Abraham, because the crime of vengeance would be more atrocious between those bound together by fraternal rights; yet, it is not to be doubted that God generally condemns this vice.

In the schools,¹⁶ this teaching was grossly corrupted. For, since the rule (as they say) is superior to what is regulated by it, they have invented a preposterous precept: that everyone should love himself first, and then his neighbors. I will treat this subject more fully elsewhere.

The word נטר, natar, meaning “to guard,” when used without any addition, is equivalent to bearing an injury in mind, as we also say in French: “garder une injure.”¹⁷

¹⁶ Fr., “Les Theologiens de la Papaute.” ., “Les Theologiens de la Papaute.” C. refers elsewhere to this scholastic maxim: “Nor is the argument worth a straw, . refers elsewhere to this scholastic maxim: “Nor is the argument worth a straw, That the thing regulated must always be inferior to the rule. The Lord did not make self-love the rule, as if love towards others was subordinate to it; but whereas, through natural pravity, the feeling of love usually rests on ourselves, He shows that it ought to diffuse itself in another direction — that is, should be prepared to do good to our neighbor with no less alacrity, ardor, and solicitude, than to ourselves.” — Inst., book 2, 8, Section 54. “Again, when Moses commanded us to love our neighbors as ourselves, he did not intend to put the love of ourselves in the first place, so that a man may first love himself and then love his neighbors: as the sophists of the . The Lord did not make self-love the rule, as if love towards others was subordinate to it; but whereas, through natural pravity, the feeling of love usually rests on ourselves, He shows that it ought to diffuse itself in another direction — that is, should be prepared to do good to our neighbor with no less alacrity, ardor, and solicitude, than to ourselves.” — Inst., book 2, 8, Section 54. “Again, when Moses commanded us to love our neighbors as ourselves, he did not intend to put the love of ourselves in the first place, so that a man may first love himself and then love his neighbors: as the sophists of the Sorbonne are wont to cavil, that are wont to cavil, that the rule must always go before what it regulates.” — Harm. of the Evangelists, (C. Society’s Trans.,) .” — Harm. of the Evangelists, (C. Society’s Trans.,) vol. 3, p. 59..

¹⁷ Addition in Fr., “Et pourtant il faut suppleer ou injure ou rancune; and, therefore, injury or grudge must be supplied.., “Et pourtant il faut suppleer ou injure ou rancune; and, therefore, injury or grudge must be supplied.