Love for God and Neighbor: Two Wings of One Commandment

An article about love, that supreme theological and existential concept, must begin where it is most clearly revealed: in Sacred Scripture. For a Christian, love is not merely an emotion or ethical ideal, but the foundation of God’s very identity: “God is love” (1 John 4:8). The New Testament reveals this love (agapē) not as longing (eros) or friendship (philia), but as an unmerited, sacrificial gift that establishes a new order of relationships — toward God and toward neighbor.

I. The First and Greatest Commandment: Foundation of the Theology of Love

The central theological cornerstone of Christian love is laid out in the synoptic gospels, where Jesus summarizes the entire Law and the Prophets for the Pharisees and scribes. To the question: “Which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” (Matt 22:36), Jesus gives not just one answer, but two, thereby permanently binding vertical love toward God with horizontal love toward neighbor.

1. The First Commandment: Love for God

Jesus’ first commandment is a direct quotation from the Shema (Deut 6:5) and demands total, undivided devotion:

Matthew 22:37-38:

Greek original: Ἀγαπήσεις κύριον τὸν θεόν σου ἐν ὅλῃ τῇ καρδίᾳ σου καὶ ἐν ὅλῃ τῇ ψυχῇ σου καὶ ἐν ὅλῃ τῇ διανοίᾳ σου· αὕτη ἐστὶν ἡ μεγάλη καὶ πρώτη.

English translation: You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and first commandment.

This commandment signifies amor Dei (Lat. the love of God) and establishes an absolute demand for the totality of love, encompassing three key human dimensions:

• Heart (kardia): The volitional, emotional, and moral dimension – the center of the entire being.
• Soul (psyche): The entire life, vital force, existence itself.
• Mind (dianoia): Reason, thought, intellectual knowledge.

Love for God is therefore not merely an act of will, but a complete orientation of character. It is conditio sine qua non (necessary condition) for authentic spiritual life.

2. The Second Commandment: Love for Neighbor

The second commandment, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Matt 22:39), is Jesus’ theological innovation because he immediately equated it with the first: “On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets” (Matt 22:40).

In the theological interpretation of the Church, these two commandments represent two wings of the same agapē. As St. John the Evangelist says: If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar… And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother (1 John 4:20-21). Love for neighbor therefore becomes the test of our sincerity in love for God.

Authenticity of Love: Love and Obedience (1 John 5:2)

Saint John the Apostle offers a precise theological key that inseparably connects love for neighbor with the primacy of God and His will:

1 John 5:2:

Greek original: ἐν τούτῳ γινώσκομεν ὅτι ἀγαπῶμεν τὰ τέκνα τοῦ θεοῦ, ὅταν τὸν θεὸν ἀγαπῶμεν καὶ τὰς ἐντολὰς αὐτοῦ τηρῶμεν.

English translation: By this we know that we love the children of God: when we love God and keep his commandments.

The Imperative of Obedience (Truth as the Mechanism of Love): This verse represents the existential criterion for Christian love. The Apostle John uses the verb γινώσκομεν (ginóskomen), which means not merely intellectual understanding, but certain, fundamental knowledge, almost experiential verification. This verification is twofold. Our love for tà tékna toû theoû (the children of God/neighbor) becomes knowable and true only if it is rooted in love for God and if it is accompanied by the fulfillment of His commandments. The key word is τηρῶμεν (tērômen), which means to actively guard, keep, and care for the commandments. This is not passive sentimentality, but enduring, volitional obedience to revealed Truth.

This passage strongly supports the teaching on Ordo Amoris (the Order of Love). John clearly defines that vertical love (toward God and His will/Truth) shapes and strengthens horizontal love (toward neighbor). Authentic agapē cannot separate the act of love from the objective moral demand. In other words, if someone claims to love his neighbor but actively violates God’s commandments (Truth), he denies himself certain knowledge that this love comes from God. True love for neighbor is therefore that which loves neighbor in God and according to God.

The commandments represent the concrete expression of God’s will, and keeping these commandments is necessary for achieving the salvation of the soul (Salus Animarum). If Salus Animarum (salvation of souls) is the supreme law of the Church, then love for neighbor that does not include truth and obedience – that which does not strive for the spiritual and eternal good of neighbor – is deficient in its most important purpose, which can certainly be said of the document Fiducia Supplicans (blessing of same-sex couples). Obedience to revealed divine Truth (the commandments) is therefore not an obstacle to love, but a precondition that this love serves the ultimate, salvific goal of neighbor. Violation of God’s commandment can never be an act of true agapē, because it would mean separating salvation (Truth) from love (Can 1752).

II. The Order of Love: Primacy of God’s Will (Ordo Amoris)

In order to correctly understand the relationship between amor Dei and caritas (love for neighbor), Catholic theology, following St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas, uses the concept of Ordo Amoris (Order of Love).

Ordo Amoris is the principle of hierarchy in our affections and obligations that teaches us to correctly direct and apply our love. Its essence lies in the following:

Love for God must be in first place.

St. Thomas Aquinas explains that although Christian love encompasses everyone – including enemies – in practice and application, an order of responsibility is necessary:

• God is first – loved for His greater goodness.
• Neighbor – loved in God.

Aquinas concludes that, although God is more lovable because of His goodness, neighbor “first requires our love” in the sense of action. This is not a competition of love, but a practical ordering. We are called to do good to all, but we have special responsibility toward family and “those who are of the household of faith” (Gal 6:10).

This principle confirms the fundamental requirement from Matthew 22: we cannot love our neighbor with authentic agapē if God is not in first place and if He is not the source of that love.

III. Love and Truth: Inseparable Connection

Emphasis on the importance of truth in love. The biblical understanding of love is that it is inseparable from truth. This is especially clear in the Apostle Paul’s Hymn to Love:

1 Corinthians 13:6:

Greek original: οὐ χαίρει ἐπὶ τῇ ἀδικίᾳ, συγχαίρει δὲ τῇ ἀληθείᾳ.

English translation: Love does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth.

Love (agapē) is here defined not only as patient and kind, but as that which has a moral and cognitive compass: it rejoices with the truth (alētheia). True Christian love does not tolerate evil, does not sweep injustice under the rug, nor does it approve of lies. Instead, it is an ally of truth and justice.

Practically, this means that to love one’s neighbor includes speaking the truth in love (Eph 4:15). Christian love is expressed not only in words, but in deed and in truth, as 1 John 3:18 testifies: “Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.”

IV. The Supreme Act of Love: Martyrdom and Canonical Summit

The question of love for God “at the cost of life” introduces us to the theology of martyrdom. Martyrdom (martyrion – witness) is the supreme act of worship and perfect imitation of Christ.

Jesus revealed: Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends (John 15:13). Since Christ laid down his life out of love, the martyr, giving his life for the truth of faith, perfectly participates in that supreme act of love and obedience. This is the purest expression of agape love for God, in which the inviolability of the moral order and God’s will is heroically manifested.

Canonical-Legal Summit: Salus Animarum

Finally, the highest law of the Church in Canon Law summarizes the primacy of love and truth in practice. The last canon of the Code of Canon Law (CIC 1983) expresses the fundamental principle that transcends all regulations:

Code of Canon Law (CIC), Canon 1752:

Latin original: …servata aequitate canonica et prae oculis habita salute animarum, quae in Ecclesia suprema semper lex esse debet.

English translation: …always observing canonical equity and having before one’s eyes the salvation of souls, which must always be the supreme law in the Church.

The principle Salus animarum suprema lex (The salvation of souls is the supreme law) is the canonical manifestation of agapē. Every church law, dogma, and discipline is directed toward that ultimate goal, ensuring that love for neighbor, which leads to his eternal salvation, is never sacrificed for the sake of rigid form. This canon emphasizes that the entire operation of the Church (institution, theology, law) must be permeated with love that strives for the highest good of neighbor: his salvation.

Conclusion

Christian love is a twofold commandment: to love God with all one’s being and to love one’s neighbor as oneself. Amor Dei establishes the foundation and correct Ordo Amoris for caritas, while Truth defines and directs that love, preventing it from becoming mere sentimentality. Martyrdom is the supreme witness of that order, and Salus Animarum is its canonical guarantee. Without the primacy of God (Truth and Love) in our heart, our love for neighbor will always be imperfect and deficient.