In the recent past I’ve addressed sphere sovereignty on the issue of the masks and vaccines. The government does not have the authority to mandate vaccines, as this authority belongs to the jurisdictions of self and family. However, Christians are being inundated, by those who hate the church, like a David French or Russell Moore type with the message that getting vaccinated is “loving your neighbor.” Obviously this ignores several key details surrounding the context of the situation. If a vaccine is effective, the vaccinated person does not need his neighbor to be vaccinated. But in operating on this logical fallacy, wolves are seeking to divide the church where division is wholly unnecessary. The sphere of the church has no business pushing vaccinations, as previously stated, this authority belongs to the family and self jurisdictions.
But our bastardized hermeneutic of Matthew 22:22:39 must be addressed, because, frankly, too many sheep are being fooled by wolves.
36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” 37 And He said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the great and foremost commandment. 39 The second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.” (NASB1995)
Those saying getting the vaccine is loving your neighbor have cut short the verse in which they are misquoting. Leviticus 19:18, “You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the sons of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself; I am the Lord.”
From an elementary reading of the text, not diving into Greek, commentaries, or the context of the passage, the verse says lover your neighbor as yourself. “As yourself” is the threshold of this commandment. There is objectivity in this passage. Jesus goes on to say in verse 40 that this law in conjunction with the greatest commandment is a summary of God’s law. Therefore, obedience to love your neighbor is congruent with obedience to God’s law. The Ten Commandments are a specific example of this, whereby the last six address how we are to love our neighbor, by not murdering him, stealing his property, his wife, or even desiring these things. We are not to perjure or slander our neighbor.
There is also some subjectivity in this passage. Loving your neighbor as yourself gives you some judgement calls on how to faithfully obey God’s law. This also means that how one Christian loves his neighbor may have different outcomes than another. If a Christian believes that getting the vaccine is loving their neighbor as they love themselves, albeit a flawed premise, but since we have a God who judges our motivations, we should not deny that they are operating faithfully in line with this verse. Yet if a Christian does not care to get the vaccine, they are not somehow unloving, as they are also loving their neighbors as they love themselves. The argument Big Eva’s Big Pharma shills are making is that they determine how you should love your neighbor as yourself.
But that premise is not based in Christ’s words. It is based on their carnal desires to lord over you and abuse their ecclesiastical authority or influence. The conclusion from their argument is that you refusing a vaccine (that’s not really a vaccine) is a sin. This is legalism. It must therefore be rebuked back to hell where it came from.
It is not our prerogative to add vaccinations, masks, or lockdowns to the law of God. Yet Christians are being fed to wolves by derelict churches who are not equipping their congregants to critically think to understand and navigate the times. God’s law permits liberty, but the wolves want you to live as slaves to their agenda.
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If they bribe b-stars and mid-level current and retiredsports players, I’m sure they’re paying off other personalities with any decent following. The love of money…