During the Savior’s mortal ministry, a Pharisee (who was also a lawyer) posed a question to Him, seeking to catch Him or trick Him. We find this exchange in Matthew 22:34-40:
“Master, which is the great commandment in the law?”
The law, as this lawyer knew, had many commandments. A prominent Jewish philosopher, Maimonides, cataloged 613 such commandments in the law given to Moses. I can imagine this lawyer hoping to argue with the Savior based on whatever commandment He picked, and trying to find fault with whichever commandment He identified as the greatest.
In response to this attempted trap, Jesus identified two commandments instead:
“Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all they mind. This is the first and great commandment.”
This was indeed a reference to one of the 613 commandments, and the King James rendering of Matthew 22:37 is nearly identical to the rendering of Deuteronomy 6:5, with the only difference is Matthew quoting Jesus as saying “mind” instead of “might.”
Then, Jesus continued:
“And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love they neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”
Again, Jesus picked another of the 613 commandments, where the King James translators rendered the relevant portion Matthew 22:39 identically with the relevant portion of Leviticus 19:18.
So, in response to what the unnamed Pharisee/lawyer probably thought was a trick question, the Christ provided a citation to two of the 613 commandments recognized under the law, gave His reason for choosing them and so convincingly answered the question that “neither durst any man from that day forth ask him any more questions.” But, it seems that we don’t quite understand this passage as clearly as we think we do. If you will indulge me, let me make a few observations.
First, many in our times reduce this to the Savior simply saying “love God, love everyone else” without ranking the two at all. One needs to completely ignore what was actually said to come to such a simplistic conclusion. The commandment to love God is clearly superior to the commandment to love your neighbor, not only in the ranking Christ gave them, but also in the wording of the commandments themselves. By commanding that we love God with ALL of our heart, ALL of our soul, and ALL of our mind, there leaves no space for anything that would compete with or take precedence of that love, if we are to keep that commandment properly. Love for self, and love for others surely cannot take precedence over this.
Likewise, in the command to love our neighbor, we are told to do so “as thyself.” This isn’t simply a command to just love, it is a command to put your neighbor on par with yourself. It implies the golden rule, and it implies the need to warn your neighbor once you have been warned. It also doesn’t imply a selfish or destructive love, which I will address below.
Second, there is an irony in the way in which these verses are treated today. Jesus clearly came to fulfill the law, and taught a higher law than that which was practiced by the Jews during His mortal ministry. Nephi understood this clearly, and pointed to the “deadness of the law” in 2 Nephi 25; seeing it as merely pointing to the eventual coming of the Savior. Many today read Christ’s fulfillment of the law as making the entire Old Testament moot, and removing any propriety in looking at anything written therein as providing guidance for our lives today. And yet, when Jesus was asked about the great commandment, he quoted from Deuteronomy and Leviticus.
Of course these two great commandments remain until this day, despite the deadness of the law of Moses, and are reaffirmed throughout the New Testament and in the 59th Section of the Doctrine and Covenants. In fact, verse 5 of the Doctrine and Covenants expands the first great commandment to say:
“Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all they might, mind, and strength; and in the name of Jesus Christ thou shalt serve him.”
Which brings us to the third point: how do we love God with all our “heart, … might, mind and strength?” Jesus answers this quite simply, when He said “If ye love me, keep my commandments.” (John 14:15) He put a finer point on this during the Sermon on the Mount, by saying, “whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.” (Matt. 5:19) It is obvious that we cannot truly love God without being obedient to the commandments we have received through the scriptures and the words of modern prophets and apostles.
And, if we love ourselves sufficient to avail ourselves of the privileges and blessings that come from living according to the commandments and dictates of the Gospel, the second great commandment to love our neighbors as ourselves surely requires us to do all we can to help those we encounter to avail themselves of the same privileges and blessings.
Finally, I often hear from others that the only commandment we have today is to love others. A rather contentious person tried to convince me of this just this last week. They interpret the injunction to love our neighbor as obviating the need to do anything else with respect for to them, even when it comes to inviting those we supposedly love to come unto Christ by keeping His commandments. If you are loving God, and keeping His commandments, you cannot claim to love your neighbor while simultaneously wishing them well in engaging in grievous sin. You cannot affirm them in actions that will damn them. It is the opposite of love to hold someone’s hand while they walk to destruction.
Ultimately, if the command is to warn your neighbor, and you do not raise that warning, you are not keeping the commandment, and cannot be properly said to be loving God.
This is part of a series in which I explore aspects of the Plan of Redemption. Please click here in order to see an index of the posts so far published in this series.