In Luke 10, a certain lawyer (expert of the Jewish laws) asked the Lord: “Whois my neighbour?” (v. 29), as in the commandment “Love thy neighbour asthyself” (Lev 19:18; Mt 19:19, etc.). The Lord responded by relating theparable of the Good Samaritan. But contrary to popular exposition, the Lord didnot answer the question, “who is my neighbour?” Instead, after He had presentedthe parable, He asked the lawyer: “Which now of these three, thinkest thou, wasneighbour unto him that fell among the thieves?” (Lk 10:36). If the Lord wereanswering the lawyer’s question, he would want to point out that the man whofell among the thieves is the neighbour of the Priest, Levites and Samaritan.Instead, the Lord asks: “Who… was neighbour unto him that fell among thethieves?” (v. 36).

When the lawyer answered: “He that shewed mercy to him,” the Lord replied: “Go,and do thou likewise!” The Lord did not answer the lawyer’s question: “Who ismy neighbour?” Instead He told him to be the neighbour! Anyone whom you comeacross who needs help, you be the neighbour! In this way, the Lord was teachingthe lawyer that he was asking the wrong question. He should be asking how he canbe a neighbour, rather than who are his neighbours.

In some ways that should suffice us. We should be content with being aneighbour to anyone in need rather than seeking an exact definition of who areour neighbours. In fact, it may partly be because it is not only unprofitable,but nearly impossible to come out with a precise answer to the question, thatthe Lord answered in the way that He did to the lawyer.

So if that suffice you, then in my judgment there is no need to read further onthis article. But if you have had thought about this issue and have struggledwith cases of conscience and intellectual knots with regards to your question,then let us explore the question a little to see the difficulties and perhapsto answer some questions which you may have in your minds.

Firstly, we should realise that when the Lord teaches us that we should be aneighbour to anyone who is in need, who comes into our contact, He is also in away affirming that technically not everyone in the world is our neighbour. Asyou pointed out, if our neighbour is everyone, then it becomes impossible tokeep the second great commandment, for then it will require us to seek outeveryone in the world who needs help in one way or another and to provide help.The Lord does not teach this absurdity. He teaches that we should render helpwhen we come into contact with anyone needing help when it is within ourcapacity to do so (Gal 6:10a).

Secondly, we should note that in the Scriptures, a neighbour is distinguishedfrom an enemy. The word translated “neighbour” in the Old Testament is a Hebrewword (rea) which means “friend,” “companion” or “fellow.”In the New Testament, the word (plêsion)is a little more ambiguous and means “the one who is near or close by” (BAGD).The Lord does not teach us to love our enemies asourselves. He says, “love thy neighbour as thyself”; never “love thy enemy asthyself.” Yes, the Lord does teach us: “love your enemies” (Mt 5:44), but neverdoes He require us to love our enemies asourselves. We have not answered the question of whether, as Christians, weshould have any enemies, but it remains a fact there will be people who willregard us as enemies corporately or individually, whether we like it or not. Ifyou are to love your enemies as yourself, then you must love a stranger who isseeking to murder you, in the same way that you love your spouse and children.I find this to be practically and honestly impossible even if we speak ofdifferent degrees of love. So again it cannot be that everyone is ourneighbour.

Now, thirdly, consider how we should love our enemies. The Lord teaches us:

Yehave heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hatethine enemy. But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you,do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you,and persecute you; That ye may be the children of your Father which is inheaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendethrain on the just and on the unjust (Mt 5:43–45).

Notice the Lord’s specific instruction on what we should do for our enemies.Notice also the rationale that the Lord gives us, namely that we are to imitateour heavenly Father. He makes the sun to rise on all, and the rain to fall oneveryone without distinction. This does not mean that God loves everyoneequally and desires all to be saved, as Arminians and Amyraldians will have usbelieve. Rather, it refers to His benevolence towards all His creatures, whichinclude the reprobates. God has a complacent love for His elect, which He doesnot have for the reprobate. While God’s benevolence is based on His goodwillwithout regards to the recipients, God’s complacent love is a love which isbased on some qualities in the recipients. Now, the elect have nothing lovablein themselves. They are beloved complacently because of their union withChrist. This is why the Lord Jesus, in His high priestly prayer, speaks of theFather loving us with the same love with which He loves His Son (see John 17:26).

In other words, the Lord is teaching us that we ought to be benevolent to allwithout distinction. We should have a loving and benevolent disposition, whichis not dependent on our outward circumstances. It is this disposition thatmakes us like the Good Samaritan, ready to do good or to be a neighbour toanyone we meet, who is in need of help.

Now, the command “Love thy neighbour as thyself” appear to speak of complacentlove (cf. Eph 5:28), rather than merely benevolence. So it appears that theterm “neighbour” may more closely approximate our friends, family members,relatives and fellow believers, or, in other words, those whom we have at leastsome acquaintance or connection with in one way or another. How do we squarethis idea with what the Lord was teaching in the Parable of the Good Samaritan,where He is clearly expounding on loving our neighbours as ourselves. Well, inthe first place, He is teaching us that we must not think that ourresponsibility to be helpful ends with those whom we may regard as ourneighbours. In the second place, I believe the Lord is also showing us thatwhen providence leads us into contact with someone who is in need, then thatperson, in some ways, becomes our neighbour and therefore we ought to love andhelp the person as a friend. In other words, whether a person is our neighbouror not, in regards to the second great commandment, is dynamic rather thanstatic. During a situation of war, it would be quite impossible to love yourenemy with whom you are exchanging fire, but if your enemy is wounded and fallsinto your hand, then in some sense he becomes your neighbour and you mustrender help.

Having said all these, however, we must admit that the question is still notanswered completely. Think of the Ninth and Tenth Commandments. The NinthCommandment is a little easier, for the Scripture does appear to sanction theuse of deception in wartime situations. But what about the Tenth Commandment.Is not coveting always sin? Think about it. Unless we are prepared to say thatthe Tenth Commandment does not forbid coveting our enemy’s wife and property(which is at least to me unthinkable), then we must say that the word“neighbour” does not exclude our enemies, at least not in the TenthCommandment. But what about the summary of the second table of the Law: “lovethy neighbour as thyself”? Could it be that the word “neighbour” is used in anon-technical sense in the Tenth Commandment, whereas it is used technically inthe other cases? It may be. I have no answer.

We are back to square one. All we can say definitively is that although it isclear in Scriptures that it is not our duty to love our enemies as ourselves,it is also clear that we have to do good to all when we have the opportunity todo so, regardless of what our definition of “neighbour” is. Think about this for a moment: What implication does this doctrine have on our responsibility to be witnesses for Christ?