Journal: Masters Seminary Journal
Volume: TMSJ 08:2 (Fall 1997)
Article: The Second Greatest Commandment And Self-Esteem
Author: John Makujina

MSJ 8:2 (Fall 97) p. 211

The Second Greatest Commandment And Self-Esteem

John Makujina1

The current practice of using the second greatest commandment—“You shall love your neighbor as yourself”—as a biblical justification for self-esteem is widespread enough to deserve closer investigation. The study of relevant biblical material reveals that scriptural data does not support modern formulations of self-esteem. Selfishness rather than self-esteem more accurately represents the forms of self-love in the passages, where self-love refers to a type of self-interest necessary for survival, one that is easily prone to overindulgence. The evangelical treatments of self-esteem, however, capitalize on the imago Dei and God’s redeeming love as motivations for loving and valuing self. Methodological weaknesses in the psychological approach to the second greatest commandment are evident in several areas. An a priori commitment to modern concepts of self-love, which tends to impair careful biblical exposition, usually leads to errors in exegesis.

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Introduction

The effort to integrate psychology and Christianity encounters one of its greatest challenges when attempting to harmonize secular humanistic teachings on self-love with the biblical witness. Those in search of such an integration have for some time been compiling a modest list of Scriptures with which they intend to corroborate clinical research on self-esteem.2 Among the texts quoted in support of this teaching, the second greatest commandment, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Lev 19:18),3 is perhaps the most popular and important. The following study will articulate a leading interpretation and application of this passage by the evangelical psychological community, and then examine it in the light of sound hermeneutical principles. The discussion will take into account historical, literary, grammatical, and lexical phenomena of these texts that are so frequently neglected.

MSJ 8:2 (Fall 97) p. 212

Biblical arguments for self-esteem that do not appeal to the second greatest commandment in some form or another are uncommon. Many prominent names in Christian psychology as well as several well-known evangelical teachers have employed this Scripture in books, articles, lectures, and broadcasts as the biblical underpinning of the self-love concept.4 Because of this, two recognizable divisions have emerged in the psychological interpretation of the text. The first intrepidly asserts that the sec...