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Bible Dictionaries
Neighbour
Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament
or In the Hebrew of the OT the words rendered ‘neighbour’ have less reference to locality than the English word. In קָרוֹב, it is true, the etymological root is ‘near,’ but it occurs very rarely; in the slightly commoner עָמִית, with the much more usual רַעַ, the thought is rather that of one’s ‘fellows’ or ‘friends.’ The fairly frequent שָׁבַן means ‘inhabitant’ (sc. of the same or some adjacent district), and is thus akin to קָרוֹב, but on the whole, in the words translated ‘neighbour,’ the idea of fellowship is much stronger than that of proximity, and in a number of passages, as a rendering of רַעַ, ‘fellow’ or ‘fellows’ should perhaps be substituted. At the same time, ‘fellow-man’ would be an exaggeration, for it would imply not only humanitarianism, which many of these passages contain, but universalism, which is too much to postulate. This is especially clear in the one passage (Leviticus 19:18) which is of crucial importance as being the source of the main current of NT teaching on the subject. There the injunction ‘Thou shalt love thy neighbour (רֵעַ) as thyself’ is parallel with ‘Thou shalt not bear any grudge against the children of thy people.’ If this racial limitation is kept in view, its abrogation in the parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:27 ff.) becomes far more piquant, for it is precisely the interpretation of Leviticus 19:18 which is there the point at issue. True, רֵעַ is rendered by the Greek πλησίον (‘near’), which, if etymology were everything, would once more emphasize local limitations; but the whole trend of the passage clearly shows that πλησίον, in the mouth of Jesus, means any human being within reach of one’s help, while for the lawyer it is still a racial term. The same verse from Leviticus is also quoted in Matthew 19:19; Matthew 22:39, Mark 12:31, Romans 13:9, Galatians 5:14, James 2:8. In the first three of these, the quotation being made by Jesus, ‘neighbour’ is probably universalistic in accordance with Luke 10:27 ff. In Matthew 5:43 it is laid down that ‘enemies’ may not be hated in contrast with ‘neighbours.’ Further, the attitude here enjoined implies, like Luke 10:27 ff. and the Golden Rule (Matthew 7:12, Luke 6:31), an enthusiastic and active, as well as universal, benevolence, as far removed from neglect as from hatred.
In the Gospels occur also γείτων and περίοικος, both of which mean ‘neighbour’ in the local sense.
πλησίον is never literal, i.e. local, but always ethicized; it varies, however, in the width of its application. In Romans 15:2 and Ephesians 4:25 the context probably favours the interpretation ‘fellow-Christian,’ in Romans 13:9-10 ‘fellow-man’; Galatians 5:14 and James 2:8 are doubtful. Whether wider or less wide, it is always closely related to the thought of love.
The kind of conduct which a man is said to owe to his neighbour out of love comprises mainly the following: consideration for his scruples, tenderness for his weaknesses, the sacrifice of one’s own pleasure to his, but with the object of building up his character (Romans 15); abstinence from gratification of lust or of quarrelsomeness at his expense (Galatians 5); abstinence from ‘respect of persons’-because of the disrespect inflicted by it on other persons (James 2)-and from censoriousness (James 4:11-12); the speaking and doing of the simple truth (Ephesians 4:15; Ephesians 4:25); and generally, the rendering to every man of his due (Romans 13).
Literature.-J. R. Seeley, Ecce Homo11, 1873, chs. xvii.-xxiv. (cf. especially ch. xviii. with Romans 15:2 and parallels). For the reconciliation of Christian love to one’s neighbour with righteous and reasonable self-regard, see A. Plummer, St. Matthew, 1909, pp. 84-89, International Critical Commentary , ‘St. Luke 2,’ 1898. p. 185 f.
C. H. Watkins.
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Hastings, James. Entry for 'Neighbour'. Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/hdn/n/neighbour.html. 1906-1918.
