Commentary on Harmony of the Law Volume 2 Complete John Calvin (continued)
Leviticus 19:18
Leviticus 19
Leviticus 19:18
18. Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.
18. Diliges proximum tuum sicut to ipsum.
18. Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. What every man's mind ought to be towards his neighbor, could not be better expressed in many pages that in this one sentence. We are all of us not only inclined to love ourselves more than we should, but all our powers hurry us away in this direction; nay, φιλαυτία (self-love) blinds us so much as to be the parent of all iniquities. Since, therefore, whilst we are too much given to love ourselves, we forget and neglect our brethren, God could only bring us back to charity by plucking from our hearts that vicious passion which is born with us and dwells deeply in us; nor, again, could this be done except by transferring elsewhere the love which exists within us. On this point no less has the dishonesty betrayed itself than the ignorance and folly of those 185 who would have the love of ourselves come first: "The rule (say they) is superior to the thing regulated by it; and according to God's commandment,
"Les docteurs Papistes." — Fr. See ante on Leviticus 19:18, p. 23.