According to Jesus and Torah, what is the second most important commandment?

According to Jesus and Torah, what is the second most important commandment?

• A. Love God
• B. Love yourself
• C. Honor your father
• D. Love your neighbor

Answer: (D)

Love your neighbor is the second commandment, illustrated clearly in both Torah and Jesus’ teaching. In the Torah, the command to love your neighbor as yourself sits alongside the command to love God, showing that ethical conduct toward others flows from wholehearted love for God. Jesus reinforces this in the Gospels by saying that the first and greatest commandment is to love the Lord with all your heart, soul, and mind, and the second is like it: love your neighbor as yourself. Together these two summarize how to live out the law and prophets. The idea of “neighbor” broadens beyond family or friends to include others in the community and even those who might be difficult to love, calling for mercy, fairness, and self-giving action. “Love yourself” isn’t the command here; the phrase “as yourself” points to healthy self-regard as a baseline for loving others, not to prioritize self-love as the primary duty. So the second commandment is about embodying love in how we treat others, reflecting the love we owe to God. The other options don’t fit because loving God is the first commandment, honoring your father is a separate instruction within the Decalogue, and there isn’t a separate command to “love yourself” as the second.

Love your neighbor is the second commandment, illustrated clearly in both Torah and Jesus’ teaching. In the Torah, the command to love your neighbor as yourself sits alongside the command to love God, showing that ethical conduct toward others flows from wholehearted love for God. Jesus reinforces this in the Gospels by saying that the first and greatest commandment is to love the Lord with all your heart, soul, and mind, and the second is like it: love your neighbor as yourself. Together these two summarize how to live out the law and prophets.

The idea of “neighbor” broadens beyond family or friends to include others in the community and even those who might be difficult to love, calling for mercy, fairness, and self-giving action. “Love yourself” isn’t the command here; the phrase “as yourself” points to healthy self-regard as a baseline for loving others, not to prioritize self-love as the primary duty.

So the second commandment is about embodying love in how we treat others, reflecting the love we owe to God. The other options don’t fit because loving God is the first commandment, honoring your father is a separate instruction within the Decalogue, and there isn’t a separate command to “love yourself” as the second.