What Shall I Do To Inherit Eternal Life?

"A certain lawyer stood up and tested Him, saying, 'Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?' " (1)

Jesus answered and "said to him, 'What is written in the law? What is your reading of it?' So he answered and said, 'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind' and 'your neighbor as yourself'. And [Jesus] said to him, 'You have answered rightly; do this and you will live.' " (2)

Then the lawyer said to Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?" Jesus answered by telling the story of a man who was traveling from Jerusalem to Jericho On the journey, thieves robbed him, striped him of his clothing, beat him and left him wounded and almost dead. A priest was traveling that road and when he saw the wounded man, he passed by on the other side of the road. A Levite [from the family of priests] passed that way. When he saw the man, he stopped and looked, and then continued on his journey. Then a Samaritan came that way. Samaritans were despised by the Jews. When the Samaritan saw the wounded man, he had compassion on him. He dressed and bandaged the travelers wounds, put him on his own animal, took him to an inn, and took care of him.

The nest day as the Samaritan was preparing to leave, he gave money to the innkeeper and said, "Take care of him; and whatever more you spend, when I come again, I will repay you." Jesus then said to the Lawyer, "So which of these three do you think was neighbor to him who fell among the thieves?" And the Lawyer said, "He who showed mercy on him." Then Jesus said to him, "Go and do likewise." (3)

1. Luke 10:25.
2. Luke 10:26-28.
3. Luke 10:35-37.