The Old Testament contains many directions for righteous living. Jesus and the apostles made practical application of these directions, exemplifying and augmenting them in word and deed, as may be found in the New Testament. These words and deeds were always self-forgetful, humane, and gracious in nature, designed to glorify God. The works—the healing of the sick, the raising of the dead, and the reforming of the sinner—were the "signs following," the proof or evidence that God's law, the law of Love, was being understood, accepted, and obeyed. Christian Science is enabling mankind to verify the efficacy of God's law today as in Jesus' time. We and our neighbor are learning to love, and are being loved, elevated, regenerated, healed as the Master taught and demonstrated.
On one occasion when Jesus was asked what was requisite to inherit eternal life, the questioner was led to answer his own question with a statement of his knowledge of the law in the words, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself." Jesus clinched this correct answer with the succinct admonition, "This do, and thou shalt live," making it clear that loving God and loving our neighbor are equivalent to living.
"Neighbor," broadly speaking, includes all mankind. In the following words from Webster's dictionary we find a helpful and illuminating definition of "neighbor": "One regarded as a fellow being, and hence entitled to receive, and expected to render, kindness." Upon reflection we find that the conclusion reached by the questioner to whom Jesus related the parable of the good Samaritan coincides with this definition, in that he indicated mercy as a quality necessary in a neighbor.
