The Greatest Commandment
“Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” 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.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” Matthew 22:36-40
The context of the passage above is that the religious leaders of his day were peppering Jesus with questions to see if they could trip him up, and one of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”
Jesus actually gives him both the first and second greatest commandments. But why does Jesus say these are the greatest commandments? These are the greatest commandments because they put us in right relationship, first with God, and then with our fellow man.
Jesus, quoting from Deuteronomy 6:5, tells them the greatest commandment is to “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” We are to love God above all else and with all that we have because God is supreme. All power and authority are his. He “made the world and everything in it” (Acts 17:24) and “he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else.” (Acts 17:25). Loving God must be our highest priority
If we love God, Jesus said we should also love our fellow man. “Love does no harm to a neighbor. Therefore, love is the fulfillment of the law.” (Romans 13:10). As God loves us so we should love our fellow man. “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 2:3-5).
As Jesus said, everything else flows from keeping these two greatest commandments.
Is loving God your top priority? Do you love your neighbor as yourself?
Having begun as a guest speaker in 2005, Dan was appointed Interim Pastor in 2008 and has been serving Maple Root Baptist ever since. As a small group leader and Chaplin for the Connecticut Tigers, Dan has a heart for the lost and the God that saves them.