AE 768 - To Love One's Neighbor As Oneself

 AE 768 [2]

. . .  in the Word the neighbor must be loved
as one loves himself,
but in the spiritual sense this does not mean
that the neighbor is thus to be loved
in respect to person,
but those things are to be loved
which are from the Lord with the person;
for a person is not actually loved
because of his being a person or a man,
but because of his being such as he is;
thus the person is loved because of his quality,
consequently that quality is meant by "neighbor,"
and that is the spiritual neighbor
or the neighbor in the spiritual sense
that must be loved;
and this with those who are of the Lord's church
is everything that proceeds from the Lord;
and this in general refers to
all good, spiritual, moral, and civil;
therefore those who are in these goods
love those who are in the same goods;
and this therefore is
to love one's neighbor as oneself.