Why is love crucial to the Greatest Commandments?
by Tim Chaffey, AiG-U.S
Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love
the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your
mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You
shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the
Law and the Prophets.” (Matthew
22:37–40)
Today’s big question: why is love crucial to the greatest
commandments?
When we hear the term “commandment,” we often think of the
Ten Commandments outlined in Exodus
20. However, the Jewish rabbis determined that the Law
consisted of 613 commandments, and they categorized them into greater and
lesser laws.
The Pharisees were a sect of Jews who devoted themselves to
following their own understanding of the Law, and they tried to strictly follow
every single one of the 613 laws. Consequently, during New Testament times,
great confusion existed among the people as to the purpose of the Law and which
laws were most important.
When Jesus was teaching in the temple one day, the Sadducees
attempted to trap Him in His words. After Jesus silenced them, one of the
Pharisees—who saw what Jesus did to the Sadducees—asked Him to identify the
greatest commandment. The Lord’s response shut the mouths of His critics, and
none of them dared to question Him anymore (Mark
12:34).
Jesus said the greatest commandment was to love God with all
your heart, soul, and mind. This response would likely have gone over well
since it came directly from Deuteronomy
6:4–5, a passage known as the Shema, which the Jews
repeated twice every day. However, it
was what the Lord said next that silenced His critics. He proclaimed, “The
second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two
commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets” (Matthew
22:39–40).
What a magnificent summary of the Law. Think about the Ten
Commandments. The first four deal with our relationship to God, which is why we
are to love Him with all our heart, soul, and mind. The final six deal with
loving our neighbor.
Notice He did not say we need to learn to love ourselves.
This modern false teaching is rife within the church, but it is flatly rejected
in Scripture (Luke 9:23; 2
Timothy 3:2). Jesus instructed us to love
others as we already love ourselves.
Finally, consider the group Jesus addressed. In the very
next chapter, Matthew 23, He called them hypocrites, blind
guides, fools, serpents, a brood of vipers, murderers, and whitewashed tombs.
They self-righteously kept the Law but failed to obey the two greatest
commandments because they loved themselves rather than God and others. No
wonder they could not answer Him. They were guilty, and their sin was laid bare
in the light of truth.
Today’s big idea: love must be directed to God and others.What
to pray: ask God to help you fulfill the two greatest commandments.
