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Matthew 22:34-40 (The greatest commandment)

INTRODUCTION: Our message series is called Jesus in Jerusalem, and we are looking at the final week of Jesus’ life in Jerusalem before he went to the cross. This was a time of increasing conflict between Jesus and the religious leaders, and the last few weeks we have been looking at a number of trick questions that the religious leaders keep posing to Jesus in hopes of trapping Jesus and using his words against him.

Jesus answers each of their questions, and in the process, he clarifies a number of relationships for us. In his answer to the first question, he clarified the relationship between God and government. In his answer to the second question, he clarified the relationship between marriage and the resurrection. And in his answer to today’s question, he clarifies the relationship between God and neighbor. (Read Matthew 22:34-40 and pray.)

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Today’s message is about loving God and loving your neighbor. There is nothing more important than love. Even the world knows the importance of love. Think of the various song titles or catch phrases we are all familiar with – all you need is love; love makes the world go around; love is the greatest thing. The Bible itself tells us love is the greatest in 1 Corinthians 13, and Jesus highlights the importance of love here in his answer to the Pharisees’ question.

I. Testing Jesus: Attempt #3 (34-36)

The religious leaders have been testing Jesus with questions in this section, and so, we begin with the testing of Jesus yet again. Look at verses 34-36 for attempt number three:

Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. 35 One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: 36 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” (Matthew 22:34-36)

   A. The Pharisees get together again

The Pharisees and Sadducees have been taking turns ganging up on Jesus. First up were the Pharisees. Then the Sadducees took a turn. Now it’s the Pharisees’ turn again. The Pharisees get together as a group to discuss and come up with their best question. And then they get their best person, an expert in the law, to ask their best question.

   B. They test Jesus with a question: “Which is the greatest commandment in the law?”

And so they ask Jesus, “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” It is a test, and it is a trap once again. There are a whole lot of commands in the law, and if Jesus elevates one commandment over the others, he is at risk of minimizing the other commands in the process.

Of course, as we have seen throughout this section, you can’t outsmart Jesus, although the religious leaders keep trying. In fact, when Jesus answers their question, not only does he not minimize any of God’s commands, he actually elevates all of God’s commands in the process. The Pharisees had wrong motives in approaching Jesus, but as one person said: “It is well for us that such a question was asked him, that we might have his answer.” (Matthew Henry)

II. The two great commandments (37-39)
   – cf. the Ten Commandments in Exodus 20:3-17

Jesus answers their question clearly, directly and with authority. Look at verses 37-39:

Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” (Matthew 22:37-39)

And so, according to Jesus, love for God and neighbor are the two most important commandments. We see this even in the Ten Commandments where the first four commandments have to do with loving God, and the last six commandments have to do with loving people.

Now it may seem like Jesus is cheating here because he gives two commandments instead of just one. But he clearly makes the first commandment the most important of the two, and he presents the second commandment as part of the first. As we shall see in a moment, the two commands go together and cannot be separated. But first let’s look at each of the commandments separately.

   A. Love the Lord your God (Deuteronomy 6:4-5)

The first commandment comes from the Old Testament book of Deuteronomy: “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 5 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.” (Deuteronomy 6:4-5) This was one of the most important Scripture passages for the Jewish people. This is part of what is called the Shema, a prayer that devout Jews continue to recite every morning and every evening even today. Jesus says this is the greatest commandment.

Notice whom you are commanded to love in this commandment. Jesus says, “You are to love the Lord your God.” The command is to love the Lord, not a god of your own choosing, but the Lord – that is, the God who revealed himself to Israel and through the Scriptures, the God who eventually revealed himself through Jesus his Son.

Notice the three qualifiers Jesus adds to the command. Jesus says, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” (Matthew 22:37) It’s interesting, the Bible often varies the terms in this expression. Deuteronomy 6 has heart soul and strength (Deuteronomy 6:5). Mark 12 has heart, soul, mind and strength (Mark 12:30). Luke 10 has heart, soul, strength and mind (Luke 10:27). Deuteronomy 10 and 30 just have heart and soul, sort of as a shorthand for the whole expression (Deuteronomy 10:12, 30:6).

      1) with all your heart
But whatever the order of the qualifiers listed, notice the heart always comes first. That’s because your heart in Scripture refers to the very center of your being. All your thoughts, words and deeds originate in the heart. And so, loving God with all your heart means loving God not only with your affections but from the very depths and center of your being. Jesus says love the Lord your God with all your heart.

      2) with all your soul
Your soul refers to who you are – your life and person, your emotions and disposition, all those things which mark you off as a unique person made in God’s image. There is no one quite like you in all the world, which means no one else can love God in the exact same way as you can. Jesus says love the Lord your God with all your soul.

      3) with all your mind
Your mind refers to your thoughts, your attitudes and your intellect. You are born as a unique individual with various personality traits, but you have also been given a mind that can learn and grow and develop. God gave you your mind, and you should use it to bring glory to him. Jesus says love the Lord your God with all your mind.

      4) with all your strength
And then, finally, your strength refers to those areas of life where you exert effort – whether physically, emotionally or mentally. Jesus says love the Lord your God with all your strength.

Notice the repeated word “all” in front of each term. You are to love the Lord with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, all your strength. All these categories work together and even overlap with each other. And so, what Jesus is really saying is you are to love God with every part of your being. Love him with all you are and all you’ve got!

What a beautiful and wonderful command! Think about it. Jesus says your main responsibility in life is simply to love God. Loving God comes before anything else. Loving God is your number one priority, and anything that takes away from it or interferes with it must be removed or discarded from your life.

   B. Love your neighbor as yourself (Leviticus 19:18)

And then Jesus says the second command is like it: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” (Matthew 22:39) Here Jesus is quoting from Leviticus 19:18 which says: “Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against one of your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord.” (Leviticus 19:18)

This command is similar to the golden rule in Scripture which says you should treat others the way you wish they would treat you. (Matthew 7:12) It means you will put aside any selfishness and you will stop putting yourself and your needs before others. When you love your neighbor as yourself, their needs and concerns become just as important as your own.

   C. Note: the two commands go together

Notice how these two commands go together. You can’t love your neighbor if you don’t love God. And you can’t love God if you don’t love your neighbor. That’s what Jesus means when he says the second command is like the first. Let’s examine both of these statements a little more closely.

      1) You can’t love your neighbor if you don’t love God
         – 1 John 4:7, 5:2

First, you can’t love your neighbor if you don’t love God. Now, I’m sure all of us know people who aren’t Christians and yet they are still very loving towards other people. But you cannot love your neighbor the way Jesus tells you to love your neighbor unless you first love God.

We read these words in the book of 1 John: “Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God…. This is how we know that we love the children of God: by loving God and carrying out his commands.” (1 John 4:7, 5:2)

Notice John says, “Love comes from God.” (1 John 4:7) And so whether you acknowledge God in your life or not, any love you show to others comes from God, because God is the source of all love.

But until you acknowledge God as the source of all love, until you come to love God first in your own life, you can’t really love your neighbor. That’s what John says in the second part of that passage quoted above: “This is how we know that we love the children of God: by loving God and carrying out his commands.” (1 John 5:2)

How do you know that you love other people? By loving God and carrying out God’s commands. Once again, the two commands go together. You can’t truly love your neighbor unless you first love God and carry out God’s commands. You can’t love your neighbor if you don’t love God.

      2) You can’t love God if you don’t love your neighbor
         – 1 John 4:20

The reverse is also true. You can’t love God if you don’t love your neighbor. We read in 1 John 4:20: “If anyone says, ‘I love God,’ yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen.” (1 John 4:20)

When you truly love God, you will also love your neighbor. God loves your neighbor. So, if you love God, how can you not love your neighbor, too?

Once again, the two commands go together. Your love for God flows out into your love for your neighbor. Your love for your neighbor demonstrates your love for God. The second command is like the first. You can’t love your neighbor if you don’t love God. And you can’t love God if you don’t love your neighbor.

III. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two (40)

Finally, look at Matthew 22:40 where Jesus says:

“All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” (Matthew 22:40)

Jesus has just told the Pharisees what the two greatest commands are. Now he tells them why these two commands are the greatest. They are the greatest because all the Law and the Prophets hang on them. The Law and the Prophets are like garments hanging on a peg. If you remove the peg, all the garments fall down. If you take away the greatest commandment to love God and neighbor, the rest of God’s commands fall down with it.

You might wonder, why do all the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments? We find three reasons in God’s Word: 1) because love is the fulfillment of the law; 2) because love can never be used as an excuse for sin; and 3) because the law is one piece – when you break one part of the law, you are guilty of breaking all of it. Let’s look briefly at each of these in closing.

   A. Love is the fulfillment of the law
      – Romans 13:8-10

Why do all the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments? First of all, because love is the fulfillment of the law. We read in Romans 13:8-10: “Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for he who loves his fellowman has fulfilled the law. 9 The commandments, ‘Do not commit adultery,’ ‘Do not murder,’ ‘Do not steal,’ ‘Do not covet,’ and whatever other commandment there may be, are summed up in this one rule: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 10 Love does no harm to its neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.” (Romans 13:8-10)

Here God tells us that all the commandments can be summed up by the single command to love your neighbor as yourself. Now that doesn’t mean you can just get rid of the rest of the commandments. We need the rest of God’s commands to tell us how we should love God and others. The commandments are all summed up by the command to love, but the command to love is fleshed out by the various commandments.

So, that’s the first reason why all the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments. Love is the fulfillment of the law.

   B. Love can never be used as an excuse for sin
      – Galatians 5:13-14; 1 John 5:3

The second reason is this: love can never be used as an excuse for sin. We read in Galatians 5:13-14: “You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love. 14 The entire law is summed up in a single command: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” (Galatians 5:13-14) 1 John 5:3 says: “This is love for God: to obey his commands.” (1 John 5:3)

In other words, you can’t say, “It’s okay to break God’s commands as long as I’m being loving.” No, it’s not okay! It’s never loving to break God’s commands.

This is especially true with sexual sins. People often try and excuse sexual relations outside of marriage by saying, “We love each other! It’s an expression of love, and what can be wrong with love?” But God makes it clear in his word that the only right place for a sexual relationship is between a man and a woman in the covenant of marriage. It is never loving to break God’s commands. And it is never loving to lead someone else into sin.

The Bible says you are called to freedom, but do not use your freedom to indulge in sin. Rather serve one another in love. That’s the second reason why all the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments. Love can never be used as an excuse for sin.

   C. The law is one piece; when you break one part of the law, you are guilty of breaking all of it.
      – James 2:8-10

And then the third reason is this: The law is one piece; when you break one part of the law, you are guilty of breaking all of it. We read in James 2:8-10: “If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself,’ you are doing right. 9 But if you show favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as lawbreakers. 10 For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it.” (James 2:8-10)

The law is one piece. It all has to do with loving God and neighbor. So, when you break even one part of it, you are guilty of breaking all of it, because you have failed in your duty to love God and neighbor.

CONCLUSION: The Pharisees tested Jesus by asking him what is the greatest commandment of all? Jesus gave them two for the price of one: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind…. And love your neighbor as yourself.”

Of course, who of us has ever fulfilled these love commands? Can you say that you have loved God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength? I know I can’t. Can you say that you have loved your neighbor as yourself? None of us can.

There is only one who has perfectly fulfilled these commands. His name is Jesus, and so we need to come to Christ, confessing our sin, receiving his forgiveness and asking his help. God is love and all love comes from God. The greatest command is to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself. Trust in Christ and ask him to help you grow in your love for God and others.

© Ray Fowler

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