do, and thou shall live,”—thus instructing him to do that great thing which, according to
his own answer, was contained in the law,—the evangelist follows up what had passed with
the statement, “But he, willing to justify himself, said unto Jesus, And who is my neigh-
bour?”1172 Thereupon, too [according to Luke], the Lord told the story of the man who was
going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among robbers. Consequently, considering
that this individual is described at the outset as tempting Christ, and is represented to have
repeated the two commandments in his reply; and considering, further, that after the
counsel which was given by the Lord in the words, “This do, and thou shalt live,” he is not
commended as good, but, on the contrary, has this said of him, “But he, willing to justify
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himself,” etc., whereas the person who is mentioned in parallel order both by Mark and by
Luke received a commendation so marked, that the Lord spake to him in these terms, “Thou
art not far from the kingdom of God,”—the more probable view is that which takes the
person who appears on that occasion to be a different individual from the man who comes
before us here.
1172 Luke x. 29.
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Of the Person to Whom the Two Precepts Concerning the Love of God and the…