Some people say we shouldn’t bog down the simple love of Christ with theology. But such people fail to appreciate that they refute themselves because even the lovely childhood sing-along, “Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so” is a theological statement. It is actually a profound theological statement. We are all theologians if we spend any time thinking about God.
It is also good and praiseworthy when our national leaders employ good theology in their public work.
Vice President J.D. Vance did exactly this yesterday in an evening news interview. In addressing the politics of immigration, he referred to “a very Christian concept” of love where first “you love your family, then you love your neighbor, and then you love your community, and then you love your fellow citizens in your own country … and then, after that, you can focus and prioritize the rest of the world.”
Here’s his explanation of this very big and foundational idea:
Vance is correct. He is speaking of an ancient Christian teaching stretching all the way back to St. Augustine in the early 400s, and far beyond that in scripture.
In Augustine’s massive City of God, a book that explains how humanity lives in one of two cities, the City of God or the City of Man as in our “race we have distributed into two parts, the one consisting of those who live according to man, the other of those who live according to God” (Book 15:1).
Specifically, Vance was referring to the Augustinian tenet of Ordo Amoris, which is Latin for the proper ordering of the loves. To love is essential for all Christians, but to have our loves properly ordered is even more important.
In fact, Augustine says “it is a brief but true definition of virtue to say it is the order of love” that guides our ethics best (Book 15:22). C.S. Lewis in The Abolition of Man tells us, “St. Augustine defines virtue as ordo amoris, the ordinate condition of the affections in which every object is accorded that kind and degree of love which is appropriate to it.”
This beautiful truth is simply building on what Christ taught us all the Law and Prophets depend upon.
When our Lord was asked which was the greatest commandment in the Law, He answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” He added, “This is the great and first commandment.”
Jesus then orders that love superior to the next important: “And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
Love God first. Love others as you love yourself, second. Sin is rooted in our failure to keep this ordo amoris, is it not?
We cannot miss that there is a God-ordained order to these human loves.
We are to love our family first, before all others. Then, from that love, and God’s divine love within us, we are to love our neighbors closest to us, the ones we see every day and share a life with. We are then to love our community and city. Then our nation. For these are the people that we can love most effectively because we share a common life with them. From there, we are to love to the ends of the earth. These ordered loves exist in concentric circles based on our closest and most meaningful relationships and radiate out.
This is how love is most effectual and this truth is understood in the Principle of Subsidiarity. This is a Christian theory of public policy that those closest to a community problem have the greatest interest in those affected and are thus, more likely to answer that need better and more efficiently.
The Acton Institute says this of Subsidiarity, “This principle is a bulwark of limited government and personal freedom. It conflicts with the passion for centralization and bureaucracy characteristic of the Welfare State.”
This aligns with God’s ordering of creation. The family was the first institution God established to provide for the growth and provision of humanity and the proper ordering of the larger society. It is in family that we first learn to love God and then love our first neighbors, who are our parents, siblings and extended family. Out of that love, we learn to love our most immediate neighbors and be concerned for their well-being. From there, we extend our love to the larger village, and then that of our fellow countrymen. Beyond that, we care for those of the world.
Love indeed has a proper starting place and love and compassion which does not first consider those closest to us is a disordered love. That is what Vance was telling us we must all keep in mind in practicing legal immigration and protecting the borders of our nation. These are love of neighbor issues and it is refreshing to see a national leader speak intelligently from orthodox Christian theology.
Additional Articles and Resources
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