Who Is My Neighbor? -- By: Spencer Perkins

Journal: Priscilla Papers
Volume: PP 14:1 (Winter 2000)
Article: Who Is My Neighbor?
Author: Spencer Perkins


Who Is My Neighbor?

Spencer Perkins

Spencer Perkins (1954-1998), along with ministry partner Chris Rice, directed Reconcilers Fellowship and edited Reconcilers magazine. This article is reprinted from their book More Than Equals: Racial Healing for the Sake of the Gospel with permission of InterVarsity Press.

Stripped of all the theological debates and boiled down to its raw essence, Christianity and Christians will be judged by two actions: how much we love God and how well we demonstrate that by loving our neighbor. This is Christianity in a nutshell. But pushing these two great commands to the back pages of our practical theology has allowed Christians to join in with the world in separating along racial lines.

A clearer understanding of the priority these two commandments deserve should have us scrambling to figure out creative ways to demonstrate our love for one another. Understanding Jesus’ definition of “neighbor” should motivate us to show special love to those who don’t love us. Growing up in Mississippi made the “neighbor” application very simple for me: I needed to accept the fact that God intended me to love even “white folks.” Until Christians can admit to the importance Jesus put on loving our neighbor—until we can admit that not to do so weakens our gospel— it’s unlikely that we will go out of our way to “prove neighbor. “Instead, we will continue to pass by on the other side.

One of the oldest strategies of warfare is to divide and conquer. Once you have isolated your enemy, you have robbed him of his strength. Then you can do just about whatever you please with him.

Christians have used a strategy similar to this in our attempts to deal with the hard teachings of Jesus. We have separated basic principles of Scripture that God never intended to be separated, consequently robbing them of their intended power.

The Bible is divided into two broad categories: people and their relationship to God, and people and their relationships to other people. Everything in Scripture falls under one or the other of these broad categories. In the third chapter of Genesis, man and woman broke their relationship with God by disobeying him and eating the fruit. In Genesis 4 we broke with each other when Cain killed his brother Abel. The rest of the Bible is a record of God’s attempts to reconcile the human race back to himself and to reconcile us to each other.

If you had to sum up in one word the point God has been trying to communicate to the human race throughout history, that word could very easily be reconciliation. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5:1...

You must have a subscription and be logged in to read the entire article.
Click here to subscribe
visitor : : uid: ()