Back to the Heart of the Law

Mt. 22:34-40
Key Verse 37-38; Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment.

The Hebrew word for law is Torah. Torah basically means “teaching or instruction.” Including the Ten Commandments found in the Pentateuch (Ex. 20:1-17), there are some 613 laws in the Old Testament [1]. The law is framed within the covenant that God made with his people at Mt. Sinai (Ex. 19:1-6). God’s love and grace was poured out on his chosen people first before the law was given. Even the preamble to the Decalogue (the Ten Commandments) is a reminder of God’s saving grace: “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery” (Ex. 20:2). Sadly, the teachers of the law lost this foundation and became legalists who argued vigorously about the meaning of all the laws. In this passage we will see that Jesus summarized all 613 laws into just two: to love God and to love your neighbor.

In order to see the context, we find Jesus here in a debate with the religious leaders. He had already answered the Sadducees regarding marriage and the resurrection. He showed them that they were in error regarding the Scriptures and the power of God. With the Sadducees knocked out in one punch, the Pharisees decided to have a debate with Jesus. An expert in the law tested him with this question, “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” It was really a very good question, much better than the one put forward by the Sadducees. In order to answer them, Jesus takes us back to the commandments of the Old Testament.

Jesus summarizes the entire Torah into two simple commandments. Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ The first has to do with loving God and the second loving one’s neighbor. We notice that Jesus placed the greatest emphasis on love. We might call these two commandments relational. They concern our covenant-relationship with God and the attitude we should have toward our fellow human beings. Jesus’ answer cuts through legalism and gets to the heart of the issue. The Pharisees were lost in the forest of laws. They were so blinded by their legalism that they failed to see the spirit of the law, which is love.

According to the first commandment we are to love God with all our heart, with all our soul and with all our mind. (All our strength is included in the original verse. See Dt. 6:5). When we consider the meaning of this command, it will be helpful to examine some of the definitions of the terms used here in the Hebrew and Greek.

The Hebrews thought of the whole human being and personality with all its physical, intellectual, and psychological attributes when they used “heart” (Heb. leb; Gk. kardia). It was considered the governing center for all of these. It is the heart (the core) which makes and identifies the person. Character, personality, will and mind are modern terms that all reflect the Hebrew meaning of heart. (Eerdman, p. 563).

“Soul” (Heb. nepes) most often refers to the life force of a living creature. When God created Adam, God breathed into Adam’s nostrils the breath of life, and Adam became a living being (Ge 2:7). “Soul” often refers by extension to the whole person. In the NT “soul” (Gk. psyche) refers to the living being of the whole person. (Eerdman, p. 1245).

Finally, “mind” has various connotations in the OT. At times it is the translation of (Heb. leb) “heart” as the seat of one’s intellectual capacity (I Kgs. 3:9; Isa 65:17; cf Num. 16:28); nepes, “soul,” one’s internal intentions (1 Sam. 2:35); and ruah, “spirit,” the designation for one’s life as a perceiving, thinking being (Ezek. 11:5). In the NT “mind” (Grk. nous and phronema and their cognates) signifies the capacity of mental perception, the mind as the source of thinking and understanding. It also refers to one’s attitude, thought and opinion. In the passage we are now concerned with “mind” is translated from dianoia, “understanding” or “intelligence,” the seat of reason or insight (Eerdman, p. 901).

When we consider the meaning of heart, soul and mind, we find that they overlap and that the boundaries are not always clear. The ancients did not necessarily see the dualistic spirit-body dimensions as in later thought. Heart-soul-mind seems to converge into one single concept: the entire being of the whole person. So, in effect, the meaning here is to love God with all of your being, with all of your will, with all of your life force, with all of your understanding. We cannot compartmentalize our love relationship with God. We must love God holistically. We should be God-centered persons.

Then how can we love God whom we cannot see? Jesus gives us insight into this through John 4:24. God is Spirit and his worshipers are to worship in the Spirit and in truth. Since God is Spirit, we can never use idols or images in our worship of God. We worship by the Spirit of God. Also, we worship in truth. God’s truth is the Bible, God’s word. We need God’s word to instruct us in how to worship. The NT teaches us that we must come to God through Jesus the Son. Jesus is the way, the truth and the life (Jn 14:6).

In our postmodern world truth is considered relative. For many people spirituality doesn’t have to be based on a religion or any particular truth. But this is not biblical and a compromise with the devil who himself is the father of lies (Jn 8:44). As Christians we believe that the truth of God’s word is the foundation of faith. Hence, the cry of the Reformation: sola Scriptura [2].

Finally, we must ask the question why we should love God with all our being. We love God because he first loved us (1 Jn 4:10, 19). God has called us into a new covenant relationship with him through the blood of Jesus (Mk 14:24). Ultimately, we will be joined with God and Christ in his kingdom (Mk 14:25; Rev. 22:14). The most important characteristic of his kingdom is not its beauty or riches but the riches of his love and grace (1 Cor. 13:1-8; Eph. 1:7, 8; 1 Jn 4:18; Rev. 21:4). We look forward to spending an eternity in loving fellowship with God and Christ.

The second commandment has to do with our neighbors. “And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” (See Lev. 19:18). Here, the standard for loving our neighbor is significant: as yourself. Here as yourself means “as a child of God.” It is because I am a child of God in covenant relationship with God that I am called to love my neighbor. I wish for my neighbor to have the same covenant relationship with God that I enjoy as a child of God. I want my neighbor to have all the same blessings that I have. Then what does this love for neighbor mean practically?

Of course, I should respect my neighbor’s right to privacy, freedom of speech, and all basic human rights. But it goes beyond respect. Love is an active verb. Just as we should love God actively using our heart, soul, mind and strength, we should love our neighbors by doing things for them that will result in their well-being. We should be genuinely interested in our neighbor and find out what he really needs. The Good Samaritan took notice of the man lying by the roadside, bandaged his wounds and brought him to an inn where he paid the innkeeper an advance sum for his troubles. As we learn from the parable of the Good Samaritan, my neighbor is whoever needs me at the moment. To love my neighbor as myself is to take notice of my neighbor and serve his needs. And those needs are physical, emotional and spiritual.

However, as Christians we must also consider Jesus’ new standard for love from the perspective of the new covenant. In John 13:34 Jesus says, “A new commandment I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.” We are to love as he loved us. The standard of the NT is higher. This is why it is called a new commandment. It is a sacrificial love that lays down one’s life with which we are to love our neighbor. It is the same love that Jesus has shown us. “They will know we are Christians by our love.” This is the higher love that ultimately will lead my neighbor to Christ by my humble example. Then the promise will be fulfilled that Jesus gave to his disciples: “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another” (Jn 13:35).

In closing, Jesus said, “All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” To obey these two commandments is the point of all the Law and the prophets. One might even say that as we practice the spirit of the law, which is love, we end up putting into effect all the other commandments as well. Love for God will lead us to worship God alone, to honor God’s name, and to keep the Sabbath as holy. Love for neighbor will lead us to honor our parents who loved us, not to murder, not to commit adultery, not to steal, to be truthful to our neighbor, and so on. Love will also lead us to be patient, kind, and humble, and to serve others patiently in love. In saying that all the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments Jesus shows us that love fulfills all the law and that love ultimately triumphs over legalism.

Conclusion: Loving God with all our being and loving our neighbors as ourselves (loving one another as Christ loved us) is actually impossible at the motivational level. As we try to obey these two commandments we come face to face with our utter depravity and inability to love. I cannot even love my wife (whom I love). I fall short every day of loving God with all my heart, mind, soul and strength and loving my fellow human beings. The question then becomes: How can we obey these two commandments when faced with our human limitations? This is where the gospel faith is crucial. We need God’s grace of forgiveness through Jesus’ grace on the cross. Then we need to be co-crucified and co-resurrected with Christ in his death and resurrection (Rom. 6:4, 5). In a word, it is impossible without being regenerated by the power of the new birth. J. I. Packer says it this way: “In one who has not been united to Christ in his dying and rising, motivational holiness is so unnatural as to be impossible, because at the motivational level sin has the dominion all the time. “The mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, indeed it cannot” (Rom. 8:7). Loving God with heart, mind, soul and strength is altogether beyond the unregenerate man’s capacity. But in one who has been united to Christ, by faith from the human side and by the Spirit from the divine side, motivational holiness is spontaneous and natural…” [3]

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1. For a more detailed list of the Old Testament laws see the site
2. The Reformation principle of sola Scriptura has to do with the sufficiency of Scripture as our supreme authority in all spiritual matters. Sola Scriptura simply means that all truth necessary for our salvation and spiritual life is taught either explicitly or implicitly in Scripture. (Adapted from John MacArthur’s contribution to Sola Scriptura: The Protestant Position on the Bible.)
3. J. I. Packer, Keep in Step with the Spirit, p. 89.