Saying 25: Love Your Brother as Your Soul
Love your brother as your own soul; protect him as you would the pupil of your eye.
Commentary
The nearest Thomas comes to the love command, and it is notably narrower than the canonical version — “your brother”, meaning a fellow member of the community, rather than “your neighbour”.
Parallels
Leviticus 19:18; Matthew 22:39
Sayings on the same themes
- Saying 13 Saying 13: Compare Me to Something Peter says Jesus is like a righteous messenger, Matthew like a wise philosopher; Thomas says his mouth cannot say what Jesus is…
- Saying 6 Saying 6: On Fasting, Prayer and Almsgiving The disciples ask how to fast, pray, give alms and eat; the answer is to stop lying and to stop doing what…
- Saying 58 Saying 58: Blessed Is the One Who Has Toiled Blessed is the person who has worked hard and found life.
- Saying 103 Saying 103: Knowing Where the Robbers Will Enter Blessed is the one who knows where the robbers are going to break in: he can get up, gather his forces and…
- Saying 73 Saying 73: The Harvest Is Large The harvest is large but the workers are few; beg the owner to send out more workers.
- Saying 23 Saying 23: One From a Thousand I will choose you, one from a thousand and two from ten thousand, and they will stand as a single one.