Understanding The First And Greatest Commandment

Feature 4 – July/August 2010 – Grace & Truth Magazine

Understanding The First And Greatest Commandment

When something is “the greatest” it may be the highest, biggest, longest, most important, significant, exceptional or powerful thing imaginable. “Greatest” is the superlative of “great.” The New Testament Greek word “megas” has slipped into modern English usage in words like the megabytes, referring to a million bytes of memory in a computer; megabucks, referring to a huge amount of money; and megaton bomb, referring to a nuclear bomb with the explosive power of a million tons of TNT.

Knowing these words helps us appreciate the words of Deuteronomy 6:4-5: “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength”; and Leviticus 19:18: “Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against one of your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the LORD.” In debate with the religious leaders of His time our Lord Jesus wove these words together, calling the result “the first and greatest commandment” (Mt. 22:38 NIV), and “the most important one” (Mk. 12:29), with “the second ... like it” (Mt. 22:39). He ended with these words: “There is no commandment greater than these” (Mk. 12:31). This is a mega message! We should do our best to understand and apply it.

Some Jews of Jesus’ day recited the Shema twice daily. It is a prayer named from the first Hebrew word of Deuteronomy 6:4, which means “hear this” or “get hold of this.” Together with Deuteronomy 6:4-5, Jews regarded Leviticus 19:18 as the fundamental principle of the Law. The teaching of the entire Old Testament opens up what it means to live our life loving God (Dt. 6:4-5) and loving our neighbor (Lev. 19:18). Jesus clearly stated this is true: “All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments” (Mt. 22:40). Not most of it, but all of it!

So it is of “mega” importance that we love God with everything we have and are. And one way we demonstrate this is when we live out this revolutionary “greatest” commandment in our everyday relationships. Our love for God breaks into view as we love the folks God has given us as neighbors. They should see Jesus in our lives.

When we love God and we love our neighbors we are simply doing what God wants us to do. Yet, as we do this, an incredible, irresistible wave of witness – a constructive tsunami of the Holy Spirit – breaks over the communities we influence and transforms all it touches. The invisible God is seen at work.

Understanding The “Greatest”
We can assume that Jesus conversed more than once with Jewish leaders about which commandment was the greatest, because of the differences in the gospel accounts (Lk. 10:25-37; Mk. 12:28-34; Mt. 22:34-40). Jesus knew there was a spiritual battle behind every encounter He experienced. Therefore, in every conversation, He tried to bring those He met closer to God.

At least one wise but not-yet-believing teacher was described by Jesus as “not far from the kingdom of God” (Mk. 12:34). He understood the core of the commandments, but was not yet born again. In reciting the shema, this teacher recognized that his life was to be moved by compelling love for God lived out in his everyday community. His answer was more valid in God’s sight than mere ritualistic observance of within-the-temple traditions.

Growing Christians spend most of their time developing their relationship with God. This is better than continually dotting the i’s and crossing the t’s of religious ritual. Surprisingly, they may be less visible in church than they are in the wider community, but God knows they are following Him. When Jesus called His followers to come with Him into the community of the lost, He called them “fishers of men.” As fishermen, they knew that if they didn’t go where the fish were they would quickly go out of business (Mt. 4:19-20; Lk. 19:1-10). Mature Christians realize that people are more important than church programs, music and services, and that loving people takes priority over performing such activities.

We need to understand the difference between being “in the kingdom” and being “in church.” God looks at where our hearts are, not where our bodies are! Just as some Jews lost their love for God amid concerns over the many temple laws, so some Christians substitute orthodoxy for love. Beware of putting church attendance in place of nurturing your personal relationship with God.

After a major evangelistic outreach where I live, some local pastors complained that they could not get the new converts to attend services in their churches. They wondered what we had done wrong. When I asked what the new believers were doing in their follow-up groups, I was told they were meeting weekly in homes or cafes, praying for one another, reading the Bible together, having baptisms, and occasionally breaking bread. I tried to help these pastors understand the difference between going to church and being the Church (Eph. 2:19-22; 1 Pet. 2:1-5,9; 1 Cor. 3:16).

Understanding The “First”
It is interesting to note that this “first” commandment says we must love. Can anyone love by command? It is often said that love cannot be forced, but must grow freely. And yet in these verses Jesus told His disciples that their first priority must be to love God. Surely, He cannot be wrong! He actually commanded them to love!

After Moses saw God face to face on Mount Sinai, the people of Israel were given the Ten Commandments, along with a commentary recorded in Deuteronomy 5-6. The fire of God produced a holy fear among His people (Dt. 5:5). They felt “the deep darkness” which left a continuing sense of mystery about God within themselves (5:22-23). God was certainly known, but much of God remained to be known. Love grows in the right conditions.

God’s own will was clearly stated: “Oh, that their hearts would be inclined to fear Me and keep all My commands always, so that it might go well with them and their children forever!” (5:29). God wanted His people to love Him so that He could bless them as much as He wanted to. I’m sure this is also true today. Love can be learned. Doing God’s will shows a developing love for God.

The “first” sense of this greatest commandment is that of its being before everything else (Mt. 22:38). It is foundational, or first (protos in Greek) to the superlative or foremost degree. To love God is the foremost obligation for Christians. When we genuinely love God and express that love to other people, we are living the Christian life. Mature disciples embrace this command because they want to, not merely because they are commanded to. It is not burdensome, but a privilege that gradually becomes automatic. We don’t have to think about pleasing God. We know what God wants, and we do it with joy!

Seeing What We believe
The entire Old Testament is an introduction to what it means to live a life of loving God and our neighbor (Lev. 19:18). Tangible expressions of love towards men and women mean more to God than many meticulous acts of temple worship, even though they are directed towards Him. “To love God with all your heart ... understanding and ... strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices” (Mk. 12:33).

Our theology is shown best by what we do, far better than by what we say. It’s easy to say anything, but it’s tougher to do it! Not that our “doing” earns our salvation. Salvation is only and always God’s gift to us. “Doing” Christian love is the genuine expression of a salvation already received. Believing and living the greatest commandment does not relegate other Scripture commands to secondary importance. Rather, such maturity is able to waft the fragrance of godly love everywhere and in everything. Neighbors close by cannot help but breathe it in and be uplifted by it.

It is easy to check a box on a printed statement of faith indicating what we believe. It is harder to write from memory, on a blank sheet of paper, what we believe about God. It is hardest to let our love of God shine forth in our good works done for our neighbors. If someone videotaped our lives for a few days, would viewers see our Christianity in the things we do (Jn. 13:34-35)?

Jesus’ Two-Part Answer
Some things are meant to go together so well that they don’t function well on their own. This is so true of the two-part “greatest commandment” – loving God and loving your neighbor as yourself. I ministered for over 30 years with a mission group that had this slogan: “The supreme task of the Church is the evangelization of the world.” But today I don’t think that slogan is quite right! I believe it would better say this: “The supreme task of the Church is to love God with heart, soul, mind and strength, and to express this in the evangelization of the world.”

You cannot show God’s love to sinners in any greater way than to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with them. But evangelism, though a good thing, is not the main thing. The main thing is loving God. Evangelism is the overflow from this. God wants us to focus first on our relationship with Him, not on our service for Him. The second grows out of the first, quite supernaturally.

The personal concern we have for ourselves we must also have for other people. The greatest commandment is about keeping our focus where it always ought to be. If we love God right, we will love our neighbor right as well. I think God watches our lives and says something like this: “Christian, you look really great to Me as you live by the greatest standard of My Word – really loving Me, and then letting that love overflow to your neighbors. Together we’ll make a world of difference.”

By Colin Salter