Where does the Bible say 'love your neighbor as yourself'?
The command "love your neighbor as yourself" first appears in the Old Testament, in Leviticus chapter 19 — contrary to common assumption, the saying was not born in the New Testament. The context in Leviticus is concrete: it stands among everyday commands such as leaving part of…
The command "love your neighbor as yourself" first appears in the Old Testament, in Leviticus chapter 19 — contrary to common assumption, the saying was not born in the New Testament. The context in Leviticus is concrete: it stands among everyday commands such as leaving part of the harvest for the poor, not withholding a worker's wages, not bending justice in court and not bearing a grudge; love here is a standard of behavior more than a feeling. The New Testament moves this sentence to the center. In Matthew's Gospel, asked which commandment is greatest, Jesus joins two: love God with all your heart (Deuteronomy 6:5) and love your neighbor as yourself (Leviticus 19:18) — "The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments." In Mark's parallel account, a scribe warmly affirms the answer. In Luke, the question goes a step further: "Who is my neighbor?" Jesus answers with the parable of the Good Samaritan — the man robbed and wounded on the road is helped not by his own countrymen but by a despised foreigner. At the end, the question is reversed: "Now which of these three do you think seemed to be a neighbor to him who fell among the robbers?" Neighborliness is not a category to be fenced but a posture to be shown. Paul likewise writes in Romans and Galatians that the whole law is summed up in this single saying. All the related chapters can be read on this site; the Good Samaritan is in Luke 10.