Love Your Neighbor

Let’s pick up our study in Galatians 5:14, “For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.” This is a quote from Leviticus 19:18 and from the Lord Jesus himself. Jesus quoted it as part of the great commandment in Matthew 22:37-39.

Notice v.15, “But if ye bite and devour one another, take heed that ye be not consumed one of another.” This is what will happen if we don’t love each other. It is the comparison of two wild beasts that wound each other in a fight. How many times do we see this happening inside and outside of the church? It is sad that we can use that little member called the tongue to inflict so much damage on each other. When James spoke of the tongue in James 3:8-12 he said, “…the tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison. Therewith bless we God, even the Father; and therewith curse we men, which are made after the similitude of God. Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be.”

Notice vv.16-17, “This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.” Ah, here is the answer that we have been looking for. If we would just walk in the Spirit, we wouldn’t have so many problems with our flesh. You mark it down, when a brother is biting and devouring another, he is not walking in the Spirit, but the flesh. Sometimes they need a little reminding.

Listen, the Bible tells us that we have an obligation to correct fellow brothers when we see them “in the flesh.” The Apostle Paul admonished young Timothy in 1 Timothy 5:20, “Them that sin rebuke before all, that others also may fear.” Yes, we have an obligation to hold each other accountable even when it’s not very convenient. Sometimes the most loving thing one can do is bring a fault to his brother’s attention. This “live and let live” mentality in the church today did not come out of the Bible.