--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: But this lawyer, he can’t even answer…" description: "\"“But this lawyer, he can’t even answer Jesus’s question by saying the name. He simply replies the one . . . That’s your neighbor. That’s who you’re cal..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d2e/rob-bell-1025_eternal-life_but-this-lawyer-he-can-t-even-answer-jes_1544490.jpg" --- # But this lawyer, he can’t even answer Jesus’s question by… ![“But this lawyer, he can’t even answer Jesus’s question by saying the name. He simply replies the one . . . That’s your neighbor. That’s who you’re called to love. That’s where the eternal life is found. In showing kindness to the one you hate, the one you despise, the one you wish didn’t exist…” quote by Rob Bell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d2e/rob-bell-1025_eternal-life_but-this-lawyer-he-can-t-even-answer-jes_1544490.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d2e/rob-bell-1025_eternal-life_but-this-lawyer-he-can-t-even-answer-jes_1544490.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d2e/rob-bell-1025_eternal-life_but-this-lawyer-he-can-t-even-answer-jes_1544490.jpg) > ““But this lawyer, he can’t even answer Jesus’s question by saying the name. He simply replies the one . . . That’s your neighbor. That’s who you’re called to love. That’s where the eternal life is found. In showing kindness to the one you hate, the one you despise, the one you wish didn’t exist, the one whose name you can’t even say.”” [Rob Bell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rob-bell/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. True love extends beyond comfort, calling us to care for even those we despise, revealing divine life in acts of radical kindness. **In simple terms:** Love everyone, even enemies. Key Takeaway Show kindness to those you hate. Themes compassion forgiveness spirituality Mood reflective inspirational Type philosophical spiritual When to use this quote - personal relationships - community service - conflict resolution - faith practice Key Concepts agape love unconditional love ethical duty Questions to Reflect On - Who do you find hardest to love? - What would change if you loved your enemy? 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Martin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-r-martin/) > [“What about your funeral, eh?” She asks. “You mean the one that is never going to happen ever because I am going to gather…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sara-wolf/what-about-your-funeral-eh-she-asks-you-mean-the-one-that-is-never/) [Sara Wolf](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sara-wolf/) > [Our thoughts are either focused on what's eternal, life-changing, and true, or lost in the details of our temporary, selfish, false beliefs.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/craig-groeschel/our-thoughts-are-either-focused-on-what-s-eternal-life-changing-and/) [Craig Groeschel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/craig-groeschel/) > [The Baseball Hall of Fame is something every player dreams about, but being a member of God's Hall of Fame is the greatest achievement…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gary-carter/the-baseball-hall-of-fame-is-something-every-player-dreams-about-but/) [Gary Carter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gary-carter/) ## More by Rob Bell > [If the gospel isn't good news for everybody, then it isn't good news for anybody.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rob-bell/if-the-gospel-isn-t-good-news-for-everybody-then-it-isn-t-good-news/) [Rob Bell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rob-bell/) > [Why blame the dark for being dark? It is far more helpful to ask why the light isn’t as bright as it could be.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rob-bell/why-blame-the-dark-for-being-dark-it-is-far-more-helpful-to-ask-why/) [Rob Bell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rob-bell/) > [“This story... blasts to pieces our biases and labels with a declaration that God is on everyone's side, extending grace and compassion to everyone,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rob-bell/this-story-blasts-to-pieces-our-biases-and-labels-with-a-declaration/) [Rob Bell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rob-bell/) > [One truth is that suffering raises profound questions with the universe. The other truth is that grace, gift and generosity also raise profound questions.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rob-bell/one-truth-is-that-suffering-raises-profound-questions-with-the/) [Rob Bell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rob-bell/) > [For Jesus, heaven and hell were present realities. Ways of living we can enter into here and now. 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And this is because the most powerful things happen…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rob-bell/if-the-gospel-isn-t-good-news-for-everybody-then-it-isn-t-good-news-2/) [Rob Bell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rob-bell/) > [“I don’t read the Bible like a flat line. I don’t see all of the passages in the Bible sitting equally side by side…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rob-bell/i-don-t-read-the-bible-like-a-flat-line-i-don-t-see-all-of-the/) [Rob Bell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rob-bell/) > [To elevate abstract doctrines and dogmas over living, breathing, embodied experiences of God's love and grace, then, is going the wrong direction. It's taking…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rob-bell/to-elevate-abstract-doctrines-and-dogmas-over-living-breathing/) [Rob Bell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rob-bell/) > [The modern world has created airports and hospitals and put 10,000 songs in our pocket. It has built gleaming buildings and computers and advances…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rob-bell/the-modern-world-has-created-airports-and-hospitals-and-put-10-000/) [Rob Bell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rob-bell/) > [God is bigger than the Christian faith.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rob-bell/god-is-bigger-than-the-christian-faith/) [Rob Bell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rob-bell/) > [What you believe about the future shapes, informs, and determines how you live now.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rob-bell/what-you-believe-about-the-future-shapes-informs-and-determines-how/) [Rob Bell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rob-bell/) > [The life you want begins by embracing the life you have.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rob-bell/the-life-you-want-begins-by-embracing-the-life-you-have/) [Rob Bell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rob-bell/) > [It takes quite a spine to turn the other cheek. It takes phenomenal fortitude to love your enemy. It takes firm resolve to pray…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rob-bell/it-takes-quite-a-spine-to-turn-the-other-cheek-it-takes-phenomenal/) [Rob Bell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rob-bell/) [Explore all 305 Rob Bell quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rob-bell/) ## More Eternal life quotes > [Our thoughts are either focused on what's eternal, life-changing, and true, or lost in the details of our temporary, selfish, false beliefs.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/craig-groeschel/our-thoughts-are-either-focused-on-what-s-eternal-life-changing-and/) [Craig Groeschel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/craig-groeschel/) > [“What about your funeral, eh?” She asks. “You mean the one that is never going to happen ever because I am going to gather…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sara-wolf/what-about-your-funeral-eh-she-asks-you-mean-the-one-that-is-never/) [Sara Wolf](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sara-wolf/) > [The Baseball Hall of Fame is something every player dreams about, but being a member of God's Hall of Fame is the greatest achievement…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gary-carter/the-baseball-hall-of-fame-is-something-every-player-dreams-about-but/) [Gary Carter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gary-carter/) > [Intellectual methods-study and reason-are essential to our progress toward eternal life, but they are not sufficient. They can prepare the way. They can get…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dallin-h-oaks/intellectual-methods-study-and-reason-are-essential-to-our-progress/) [Dallin H. Oaks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dallin-h-oaks/) > [“This life is just a bootcamp, to test and toughen us, to prepare us for the next life of service in some great adventure.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dean-koontz/this-life-is-just-a-bootcamp-to-test-and-toughen-us-to-prepare-us-for/) [Dean Koontz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dean-koontz/) > [Suppose that we are wise enough to learn and know-and yet not wise enough to control our learning and knowledge, so that we use…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isaac-asimov/suppose-that-we-are-wise-enough-to-learn-and-know-and-yet-not-wise/) [Isaac Asimov](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isaac-asimov/) > [My plea therefore is this: Let us get our instruments tightly strung and our melodies sweetly sung. Let us not die with our music…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/spencer-w-kimball/my-plea-therefore-is-this-let-us-get-our-instruments-tightly-strung/) [Spencer W. Kimball](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/spencer-w-kimball/) > [Masonry inculcates faith in immortality as indispensable to moral living and urges its members to qualify for eternal life by the practice of those…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-e-hammond/masonry-inculcates-faith-in-immortality-as-indispensable-to-moral/) [William E Hammond](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-e-hammond/) > [The fear of an eternal life compared to an inevitable death is that of a wise man.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/derek-queen/the-fear-of-an-eternal-life-compared-to-an-inevitable-death-is-that/) [Derek Queen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/derek-queen/) > [“Our true reality is not a limited phenomenon, existing only between birth and death. It is eternal life that exists alone, self-existent and self-sufficient,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ilchi-lee/our-true-reality-is-not-a-limited-phenomenon-existing-only-between/) [Ilchi Lee](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ilchi-lee/) > [“We live a short period of time in this world, but we live it according to the laws of eternal life.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-david-thoreau/we-live-a-short-period-of-time-in-this-world-but-we-live-it-according/) [Henry David Thoreau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-david-thoreau/) > [“ Programs has a temporary results leading to nothingness, and the Gospel the brings the result of Eternal life.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tommie-scott/programs-has-a-temporary-results-leading-to-nothingness-and-the/) [Tommie Scott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tommie-scott/) > [“Silently a flower blooms, In silence if falls away; Yet here now, at this moment, at this place, The world of the flower, the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lilli-jolgren-day/silently-a-flower-blooms-in-silence-if-falls-away-yet-here-now-at/) [Lilli Jolgren Day](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lilli-jolgren-day/) > [If we never leave our house except to drive to work, do we need to be even remotely aware of this powerful, humbling, extraordinary…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-gilbert/if-we-never-leave-our-house-except-to-drive-to-work-do-we-need-to-be/) [Elizabeth Gilbert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-gilbert/) > [We have a commitment to serve our Lord. We have an assurance that the cause is just and worthy. But, above all, we have…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/spencer-w-kimball/we-have-a-commitment-to-serve-our-lord-we-have-an-assurance-that-the/) [Spencer W. Kimball](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/spencer-w-kimball/) [Browse all 750 Eternal life quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/eternal-life/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“But this lawyer, he can’t even answer Jesus’s question by saying the name. He simply replies the one . . . That’s your neighbor. That’s who you’re called to love. That’s where the eternal life is found. 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