Saying 25 - Love Your Sibling

Nag Hammadi Coptic Text

BLATZ (25) Jesus said: Love your brother as your soul; watch over him like the apple of your eye.

LAYTON (25) Jesus said, "Love your (sing.) sibling like your own soul; look out for that person like the apple of you eye."

DORESSE 30 [25]. Jesus says: "Love thy brother like thy soul; watch over him like the apple of thine eye."

 

Funk's Parallels

Lev 19:18
Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am the LORD.

Deut 6:5
And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.

Luke 10:25-29
And, behold, a certain lawyer stood up, and tempted him, saying, Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? He said unto him, What is written in the law? how readest thou? And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself. And he said unto him, Thou hast answered right: this do, and thou shalt live. But he, willing to justify himself, said unto Jesus, And who is my neighbour?

Matt 22:34-40
But when the Pharisees had heard that he had put the Sadducees to silence, they were gathered together. Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying, Master, which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

Mark 12:28-34
And one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, and perceiving that he had answered them well, asked him, Which is the first commandment of all? And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord: And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these. And the scribe said unto him, Well, Master, thou hast said the truth: for there is one God; and there is none other but he: And to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love his neighbour as himself, is more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices. And when Jesus saw that he answered discreetly, he said unto him, Thou art not far from the kingdom of God. And no man after that durst ask him any question.

Rom 13:8-10
Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law. For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.

Gal 5:13-15
For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another. For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. But if ye bite and devour one another, take heed that ye be not consumed one of another.

Did 1:2
The way of life is this.

Barn 19:5
Thou shalt not doubt whether a thing shall be or not be. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord in vain. Thou shalt love thy neighbor more than thine own soul. Thou shalt not murder a child by abortion, nor again shalt thou kill it when it is born. Thou shalt not withhold thy hand from thy son or daughter, but from their youth thou shalt teach them the fear of God.

 

Scholarly Quotes

Gerd Ludemann writes:

"This verse [2] does not occur in the New Testament. However, the mode of expression does have parallels in the Old Testament: Deut. 32.10; Ps. 17.8; Prov. 7.2."

(Jesus After 2000 Years, p. 603)

Marvin Meyer writes:

"Gospel of the Hebrews 5 has the savior say, 'And never rejoice except when you look upon your brother with love,' and Didache 2:7 commands that 'some you shall love more than your soul.'"

(The Gospel of Thomas: The Hidden Sayings of Jesus, p. 81)

R. McL. Wilson writes:

"As Grant and Freedman say, this is 'purely jewish,' and Leipoldt and Guillaumont had already drawn attention to the Semitism involved in the use of 'as thy soul' for 'as thyself.' Quispel finds a parallel in the Person Diatessaron. All the biblical passages have 'they neighbor,' but 'brother' occurs in Leviticus xix. 17; the one ground for hesitation over ascribing this saying to early and good tradition is that for Thomas 'thy brother,' in the words of Grand and Freedman, 'means not an Israelite or another human being, but another Gnostic.' It is difficult to avoid the suspicion that the scope of the saying has been deliberately narrowed. By an orthodox Christian it would, of course, be understood in the New Testament sense, but if Jesus were known to have quoted Leviticus it is difficult to account for the change. This may serve to remind us that the same words might be very differently interpreted in orthodox and in Gnostic circles."

(Studies in the Gospel of Thomas, pp. 113-114)

 

Visitor Comments

Each one of us is an energy/sense/probe by God into the Universe of Being, a part of the Perception of the Infinite Field of God's Will. "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you" is in fact already a literal, absolute and inescapable truth. Whatever you do to anyone, you have done to yourself and to God! We are all clones, mirrors of each other. Each different but each the same. There is only One of us.
- active-mystic

Love your brother like the soul of the image in the mirror before you. For the brother whom you meet in the real world is another image of your own soul. The reader who isn't staggered by the implications of this interpretation hasn't thought about them enough. But I see that active-mystic above has thought about them.
- Simon Magus

Without friends one cannot know onesself.
- Rodney

The human is not born as a complete being. This is to hopefully be achieved during one's life. The many parts of you, manifest so prominently in the nafs of the Commanding Self --- nurture them, do NOT try [vainly] to kill them off. One's "bad" characteristics have a role to play. When transcended one has started to manufacture the tool to rise higher. The blindfolded handcuffed rider on a runaway horse needs to release himself, not kill the horse. The horse is a means of transport and thus useful
- Thief37