With every doctrine (or teaching), there are often one or more corresponding Biblical Images. Biblical Imagery helps make abstract ideas more concrete and understandable. The images come from things like everyday living, historical events, or circumstances. The images often create pictures in one’s mind with associated emotions or feelings. The images help us remember Biblical truths and shape action and imagination.[1]
“Loving God” is an abstract proposition. However, Scripture offers Biblical Images to help us understand. In the Old Testament, Yahweh was described as Israel’s husband. At Isaiah 54:5, we read:
For your husband is your Maker, whose name is the Lord of armies; and your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel, who is called the God of all the earth.
At Hosea 2:19, we read:
I will betroth you to Me forever; Yes, I will betroth you to Me in righteousness and in justice, in favor and in compassion.
In the New Testament, Jesus describes Himself as the groom to His followers (Matt. 9:15). At Ephesians 5:25-33, we read:
Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her, so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless. So, husbands also ought to love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his own wife loves himself; for no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ also does the church, because we are parts of His body. For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. This mystery is great; but I am speaking with reference to Christ and the church. Nevertheless, as for you individually, each husband is to love his own wife the same as himself, and the wife must see to it that she respects her husband. (Emphasis added.)
Noting the metaphorical uses of marriage as described in the Dictionary of Biblical Imagery we read, “Throughout the Bible, God’s relationship to His people is pictured as a marriage. In the metaphor, God is the husband and the people are His wife.”[2] The relationship is based on mutual love. “When Israel breaks its covenant with God, it is likened to the breaking of the marriage bond.”[3] In a similar way, an unfaithful Church is breaking its marriage vow. The Church is required to have devotion to her Lord.
The most intimate of human relationships between a husband and wife is a Biblical Image, which God uses to describe the relationship between the Lord and His church. The Biblical Image of the husband and wife teaches us about the Lord’s sacrificial devotion for His bride, the Church. In response to the Husband’s sacrificial devotion, the bride must have a respect and devotion to her husband. The two are to function as one flesh. The Lord and His bride are to walk in continuous fellowship, functioning in oneness. The Lord sacrifices Himself for the Church. The Church sanctifies herself by the Spirit and Word. In their relationship, both the Lord and His Church are motivated by love.
At Revelation 19:17-18, we read:
Let’s rejoice and be glad and give the glory to Him, because the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His bride has prepared herself. It was given to her to clothe herself in fine linen, bright and clean; for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints.
The Church performs righteous acts only by living in fellowship with her Lord. We must continue in our walk of faith, walking by the Sprit and Word. We live righteously by living in fellowship with our Lord. If we sin, we should acknowledge our sins according to 1 John 1:9, and get back in fellowship with God. We, the Church, have a new way of being in fellowship with God. We are required to walk by His Spirit and Word. By following His spirit and Word, we demonstrate our love of God.
Likewise, loving our neighbor is an abstract proposition. Again, Scripture offers us Biblical Images to help us understand. The story of “The Good Samaritan” was recorded only by Luke at Luke 10:25-37. A lawyer (nomikos) approached Jesus to test Jesus. A nomikos was an expert in the Law of Moses.[4] The lawyer first asked Jesus, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus confirmed that we inherit eternal life by loving God with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength, together with loving our neighbor (Luke 10:25-28). As we have discussed before, eternal life is much more than a never-ending existence. We take possession of eternal life by loving God and our neighbor. It is a type, kind, and quality of life wherein God uniquely shares His life with us. We receive eternal life at the moment of first believing, but then we must lay hold of eternal life (1 Tim. 6:12) by, more and more, loving God and our neighbor.
At Luke 10:29, we read that the lawyer seemed most interested in justifying himself. In response to Jesus’s command that we love our neighbor, the lawyer asked Jesus, “[W]ho is my neighbor?” To teach the idea of “loving your neighbor,” Jesus told the story of “The Good Samaritan.” This story is an excellent example of Biblical Imagery. Most likely, the story of the Good Samaritan was a parable. Maybe, it was an actual historical event. Either way, it is an example of Biblical Imagery used by Jesus to teach us what it means to “love your neighbor.”
In the story of The Good Samaritan, a man was traveling from Jerusalem to Jericho. The trip was almost 20 miles with a significant drop in elevation of over 3000 feet. Historically, the route had a bad reputation for being dangerous because of bandits and robbers. In the story, the man was assaulted by robbers, who beat him, stripped him, and left the man half dead beside the road. Coincidentally, first a priest and then a Levite passed by on the other side of the road, ignoring the injured man. These two (the priest and the Levite) represented the religious class of First Century Israel.
However, in contrast to the priest and the Levite, a Samaritan man, who was considered as being outside the covenant of faith and blessings, had compassion on the half-dead man lying on the side of the road. The Samaritan bandaged the wounds of the injured man, pouring oil and wine on his wounds. He put the injured man on the Samaritan’s own animal and then took the injured man to an inn and took care of him. On the following day, the Samaritan paid the innkeeper and said to the innkeeper, “Take care of him; and whatever more you spend, when I return, I will repay you.” Please note that the Samaritan was a person of compassion and action. The Samaritan’s love was expressed in more than words. He expressed his love in compassionate action.
Then Jesus asked the lawyer, “Which of these three do you think proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell into the robber’s hands?” The lawyer responded, “The one who showed compassion to him.” Jesus responded to him (the lawyer) and said, “Go and do the same” (Luke 10:37).
Using a Samaritan as the example of a good neighbor would have been shocking to both the lawyer and the crowd listening to the story. Samaritans were generally hated by the Jews. Historically, there were some acts of violence between the Samaritans and Jews. Many Samaritans were of mixed blood, which resulted from intermarriage with the Assyrians who were settled in the area of the Northern Kingdom after the Northern Kingdom’s destruction by the Assyrians in 722 BC. The Samaritans generally accepted only the first five books of Moses as Scripture. Many First Century Jews regarded the Samaritans as outsiders and heretics.
Therefore, the use of a Samaritan as the image of a neighbor in the story of the Good Samaritan was a perfect illustration used by Jesus to explain God’s command for us Christians to love our neighbor, which many may have found abstract and difficult to understand. The story of the Good Samaritan illustrated the commandment in that our requirement to love our neighbor was more than a mental attitude. The commandment to love requires both love and action as directed by God’s Spirit and Word. As Christians, we must walk by God’s Spirit and Word as we seek to love God and neighbor.
[1] “Explain How Biblical Images Help Make Abstraction Ideas More Concrete and Understandable” prompt. ChatGPT, GPT-4, Open AI, 31 Aug. 2025, chat.openai.com/chat.
[2] “Marriage” Dictionary of Biblical Imagery, edited by Leland Ryken, et al, InterVarsity Press, 1998, p. 538.
[3] “Marriage,” p. 539
[4] “G3544 – nomikos – Strong’s Greek Lexicon (nasb20).” Blue Letter Bible. Web. 1 Sep, 2025. <https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/g3544/nasb20/mgnt/0-1/>.
