There is never a positive command in scripture to love oneself. I will argue that Matthew 22 is
not an endorsement of self-love. If anything it is an acknowledgment that self-love is a negative, indeed, sinful. In absence of any positive command to love self, what positive commands does scripture present regarding love? Here is one to consider:
Quote:
| 1 John 4:7-21 7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. 8 The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love. 9 By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him. 10 In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has seen God at any time; if we love one another, God abides in us, and His love is perfected in us. 13 By this we know that we abide in Him and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit. 14 We have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son to be the Savior of the world. 15 Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. 16 We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. 17 By this, love is perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment; because as He is, so also are we in this world. 18 There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love. 19 We love, because He first loved us. 20 If someone says, "I love God," and hates his brother, he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen. 21 And this commandment we have from Him, that the one who loves God should love his brother also.
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We are commanded to, “love one another.” Why? “…for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.” Nowhere in this passage does John try to borrow, as an example, the positive aspects of loving self. He doesn’t say, “In the same way that you love yourself, love others, just as Christ loves you.”
In this passage John writes, “God is love.” This is one of God’s holy, eternal and immutable attributes. It is ascribed only to God. Scripture never says, “Man is love” or, “Christians are love.” We love because He first loved us. Consider:
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| Ephesians 2:4-7 4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), 6 and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
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We were dead in sin. According to Ephesians 2:2 we were under the dominion of the “prince of the power of the air.” We were children of wrath (2:3). We did not possess love, for love is from God. We were dead and devoid of any “divine spark.” For me (and for you too my friend), the two greatest words in the bible declared the payment of our ransom, “But God!” It was at this point our justification was accomplished, through Christ, and we embarked on our journey of sanctification. For the first time we knew love. It was the first time that we were able to love. Again, this is so because love is from God. What passed for love prior to our salvation was a disposition to care, nurture or appreciate. What passed for love was an emotional response, part of our God-given image but corrupted and flawed; warped by the fall.
Back to Matthew 22:39 for a moment. I think a case can be made that Jesus was saying something to the effect of, “To the same degree that you care about yourself, care for others.” I believe Paul was in agreement on this point when he wrote:
Quote:
| Philippians 2:3-7 3 Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; 4 do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. 5 Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, 6 who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men.
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Verse 4 is where I want you to look. “do not
merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others.” Paul then introduces the
kenosis, or self-emptying, of Jesus.