How Matthew phrases the second commandment is interesting: "like unto it."Thanks Giuliano.
The point I'm trying to make is that many on this thread seem to be dangerously close to breaking the First Commandment...
Mark 12:30
"And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment"
In other words, they love the things of this World more than God.
Matthew 22:39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
How is the second commandment like the first? Our fellow man is made in the image and likeness of God -- even if that is hard to see at times. It is easier to see when we see someone expressing love for others. For me, that is a person behaving in a godlike way -- it can even be said God acting in that person.
The more godlike someone else is, the easier it is to love him or her more fully. Thus romantic love that becomes marital love can lead to both people becoming more godlike. Marriage is an opportunity to become more like God and to let the Spirit manifest.
The two commandments are very much alike. Sometimes they are so much alike, I don't know where one leaves off and the other begins. If we love God, we have to love other people; and if we love other people, it means we are loving God to the extent we are loving others.
1 John 4:20 If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?