94. The Lord's union with us and our mutual union with the Lord are accomplished through our loving our neighbor as ourselves and loving the Lord above all.
Loving our neighbor as ourselves is simply not dealing dishonestly or unfairly with people, not harboring hatred or burning with revenge against them, not speaking ill of them or slandering them, not committing adultery with their spouses, and not doing anything of that nature to them. Can anyone fail to see that people who do do things like this are not loving their neighbor as themselves? However, people who do not do such things because they are both bad for their neighbor and sins against God treat their neighbor honestly, fairly, cordially, and faithfully. Since the Lord acts in the same way, a mutual union results.
When there is a mutual union, then whatever we do for our neighbor we do from the Lord, and whatever we do from the Lord is good. Then our neighbor is not the visible individual but the goodness within that individual.
Loving the Lord above all is simply not doing violence to the Word because the Lord is in the Word, not doing violence to the holy practices of the church because the Lord is in the holy practices of the church, and not doing violence to any soul whatever, because everyone's soul is in the hand of the Lord. When we abstain from these evils as appalling sins, we are loving the Lord above all; but only people who love their neighbor as themselves can do so, because the two kinds of love are essentially one.
