Right from the start, I want to stipulate that my mental vocal-tone is gentle and my purpose for commenting about that particular verse -- Love your neighbor as yourself -- is ... well, that comes toward the end...
A funny thing happens often these days if a Bible-believing person goes against the cultural norm of a person's I-did-it-my-way "Christianity" by bringing to their attention how "their way" may not be God's way, according to His Word: They often come back with, "You're not loving your neighbor as yourself, as you should, and that's also in the Bible."
True. Galatians 5:14, to be specific.
But as so often happens, too many forget that no verse is a stand-alone; every verse fits into the larger context. For example, what comes before and after Galatians 5:14? Let me assist by sharing an easier version to read from the Complete Jewish Bible, translated by David H. Stern. I used this version because it's closer to the original meaning of the language and cultural idioms of the time in which it was written--which matters, and Stern is a renowned Hebrew scholar and translator.
Starting with Galatians 5:13, we read:
13 For, brothers, you were called to be free. Only do not let that freedom become an excuse for allowing your old nature to have its way. Instead, serve one another in love. 14 For the whole of the Torah is summed up in this one sentence: “Love your neighbor as yourself”;[a] 15 but if you go on snapping at each other and tearing each other to pieces, watch out, or you will be destroyed by each other!
16 What I am saying is this: run your lives by the Spirit. Then you will not do what your old nature wants. 17 For the old nature wants what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit wants what is contrary to the old nature. These oppose each other, so that you find yourselves unable to carry out your good intentions. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, then you are not in subjection to the system that results from perverting the Torah into legalism.
19 And it is perfectly evident what the old nature does. It expresses itself in sexual immorality, impurity and indecency; 20 involvement with the occult and with drugs; in feuding, fighting, becoming jealous and getting angry; in selfish ambition, factionalism, intrigue 21 and envy; in drunkenness, orgies and things like these. I warn you now as I have warned you before: those who do such things will have no share in the Kingdom of God!
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 humility, self control. Nothing in the Torah stands against such things.
24 Moreover, those who belong to the Messiah Yeshua have put their old nature to death on the stake, along with its passions and desires. 25 Since it is through the Spirit that we have Life, let it also be through the Spirit that we order our lives day by day.
26 Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.
But don't stop there, continue with Galatians 6:1-10...
6 Brothers, suppose someone is caught doing something wrong. You who have the Spirit should set him right, but in a spirit of humility, keeping an eye on yourselves so that you won’t be tempted too. 2 Bear one another’s burdens — in this way you will be fulfilling the Torah’s true meaning, which the Messiah upholds. 3 For if anyone thinks he is something when he is really nothing, he is fooling himself. 4 So let each of you scrutinize his own actions. Then if you do find something to boast about, at least the boasting will be based on what you have actually done and not merely on a judgment that you are better than someone else; 5 for each person will carry his own load. 6 But whoever is being instructed in the Word should share all the good things he has with his instructor. 7 Don’t delude yourselves: no one makes a fool of God! A person reaps what he sows. 8 Those who keep sowing in the field of their old nature, in order to meet its demands, will eventually reap ruin; but those who keep sowing in the field of the Spirit will reap from the Spirit everlasting life. 9 So let us not grow weary of doing what is good; for if we don’t give up, we will in due time reap the harvest. 10 Therefore, as the opportunity arises, let us do what is good to everyone, and especially to the family of those who are trustingly faithful.
What -- and who -- does the apostle Paul mean by "those who are trustingly faithful," because we don't want to guess or leave anything out (again), do we? After all, look at ALL that's left out of the whole message of Chapter 5--it doesn't start and stop with verse 5:14. Vital information follows, information too many forget or fail to be aware of, information that completes what's being conveyed. The best way to identify this meaning ("trustingly faithful" and who it refers to) is to start at the beginning of Galatians and read all 6 chapters. Here's the link so you can do that:
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Galatians+1&version=CJB
It's been said: "It takes a whole Bible to make a whole Christian," though I don't readily recall who said it. People who freely use Galatians 5:14, ignore or don't know the rest of it, and usually recite it because they are defending their or the rights of a person to continue in his or her sin, called sin by God, though the world may have even made it legal. And their approval -- which they mean to be loving by -- is not an example of Christian/Messianic love. Jesus came here to save people from the prison of sin and the wages of sin, and from the Adversary's clutches and deceptions that lead to eternal death in Hell.
If you think my posting this is unkind or unloving or stern, I invite you to read 1 Corinthians 5:9-13 at
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+Corinthians+5&version=CJB
The only reason any of us believe that it's more loving to allow others to die in their sin is because we have believed a false Gospel and in a false Jesus. The God of the Old Testament is the same Jesus (God) of the New Testament -- and God does not change. [For intelligent, qualified, thoroughly researched understanding of Scripture, I invite you to check out Dr. Michael Lake's videos at https://www.youtube.com/user/biblicallife/videos ]
I remember while in college, I got out of a class on the first floor and went to the restroom on the third floor before my next class. My mirrored reflection showed ink on my face. Not one friend, acquaintance, or stranger had brought this to my attention. And that was just ink that washed off fairly easily. I ask you to ponder this: Is it more loving to let someone die in their sin by keeping silent or risk angering or losing them for a while in this life so a seed is planted that Holy Spirit nurtures within them to save them for God's Kingdom? If God commands us to speak His Truth to power, how much more so to those we love or know He does? However, this doesn't mean to nag them. Tell them once, then pray and trust God.
May the peace of the Lord our God be with you.
