Love God

28 And one of the scribes came up and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, asked him, “Which commandment is the most important of all?” 29 Jesus answered, “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 30 And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ 31 The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” 32 And the scribe said to him, “You are right, Teacher. You have truly said that he is one, and there is no other besides him. 33 And to love him with all the heart and with all the understanding and with all the strength, and to love one's neighbor as oneself, is much more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.” 34 And when Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” And after that no one dared to ask him any more questions. – Mark 12:28-34 ESV

When Jesus was confronted by a Jewish religious leader and asked to name the most important of God's 613 commandments, He replied quickly and succinctly, quoting from the Book of Deuteronomy.

“Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.” – Deuteronomy 6:4-5 ESV

When God originally dictated this commandment for Moses to record, he added the following directives to stress its importance:

“And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.” – Deuteronomy 6:6-9 ESV

Not only was the command to love God non-optional, but it was also to be all-encompassing, influencing every area of Israelite life. Love for God was to be taught, modeled, emphasized, and elevated to a place of highest priority. But love for God was to be far more than just an emotion or sentimental feeling of affection. God explained that this love was to be accompanied by reverential fear, a commitment to His ways, selfless service, and a life of humble obedience to His will.

“And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you, but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments and statutes of the LORD, which I am commanding you today for your good?” – Deuteronomy 10:12-13 ESV

Years later, when the people of Israel had conquered most of the land of Canaan and were enjoying the inheritance God had promised them, Joshua reminded them of this very command.

“But be very careful to obey all the commands and the instructions that Moses gave to you. Love the LORD your God, walk in all his ways, obey his commands, hold firmly to him, and serve him with all your heart and all your soul.” – Joshua 22:5 NLT

In the latter days of his life, Joshua delivered a lengthy and impassioned speech to his people, encouraging them to finish conquering and occupying all the land God had given them. He was passing the baton to the next generation and committing them to keeping the command to love God by carrying out His will for their lives. 

“For the Lord has driven out great and powerful nations for you, and no one has yet been able to defeat you. Each one of you will put to flight a thousand of the enemy, for the LORD your God fights for you, just as he has promised. So be very careful to love the LORD your God.” – Joshua 24:9-11

It would seem that love for God is inseparable from willing obedience to God. Jesus emphasized this symbiotic relationship between devotion and deference when He told His disciples, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments” (John 12:15 ESV). The words, “I love you” ring hollow if they are not accompanied by tangible demonstrations of dedicated devotion. That’s why Jesus provided an addendum to His response to the religious leader, adding a second command that was to be considered just as important as the first.

“You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” – Mark 12:31 ESV

Love for God and love for others were to be indistinguishable and inseparable. This distinction was meant to shock the distinguished gentleman who posed the question. He was a scribe, a member of a well-respected group of learned men who were experts in the Mosaic Law. They were sometimes called lawyers because of their encyclopedic knowledge of God’s commands and their ability to provide interpretation and adjudicate disputes concerning the application of the laws. But these men were judgmental and hypocritical. Jesus regularly exposed their false piety and thinly veiled hypocrisy.

“The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses' seat, so do and observe whatever they tell you, but not the works they do. For they preach, but do not practice. They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on people's shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to move them with their finger. They do all their deeds to be seen by others. For they make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long, and they love the place of honor at feasts and the best seats in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplaces and being called rabbi by others.” – Matthew 23:2-7 ESV

They claimed to love God but looked down their noses at anyone who failed to live up to their exacting standards. Jesus was unsparing in His disdain for these arrogant, self-absorbed “shepherds” of Israel. He boldly declared, “Outwardly you look like righteous people, but inwardly your hearts are filled with hypocrisy and lawlessness” (Matthew 23:28 NLT). In another confrontation between Jesus and the Jewish religious leaders, He accused them of lacking a love for God.

“You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life. I do not receive glory from people. But I know that you do not have the love of God within you.” – John 5:39-42 ESV

He would later expand on this accusation by stating, “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and I am here. I came not of my own accord, but he sent me” (John 8:42 ESV). Jesus would later clarify His point by stating, “Whoever hates me hates my Father also” (John 15:23 ESV).

The command to love God appears simple enough, but Jesus exposed how difficult it really is. Anyone can claim to love God, but their words will fall short if the evidence of that love is unapparent. That is why the apostle John exposed the blatant hypocrisy behind false expressions of love for God.

Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. – 1 John 4:8 ESV

If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother. – 1 John 4:20-21 ESV

The New Living Translation renders verse 21 this way: “If we don’t love people we can see, how can we love God, whom we cannot see?” The point seems to be that vocal expressions of love for God are not enough. Telling God you love Him means nothing if there are no demonstrable expressions of that love. We can’t see God or demonstrate our love for Him in personal ways. In other words, it’s impossible to wrap your arms around the Almighty and physically demonstrate your love for Him. You can’t buy Him gifts to prove your love. But you can love those who have been made in His likeness and bear His image. When we love others, we are loving God. When we selflessly sacrifice our well-being for the sake of others, we are speaking God’s love language.

Love is impossible without knowledge and awareness. Ignorance and distance render love ineffective. Familiarity fuels affection. The more we get to know God, the deeper our love for Him will grow.

“To love God we must know him. God would not be honored by groundless love. In fact, there is no such thing. If we do not know anything about God, there is nothing in our mind to awaken love. If love does not come from knowing God, there is no point in calling it love for God. There may be some vague attraction in our heart or some unfocused gratitude in our souls, but if they do not arise from knowing God, they are not love for God.” – John Piper, All That Jesus Commanded

Our ability to love God is directly tied to our understanding of His love for us. John put it this way: “We love because he first loved us” (1 John 4:19 ESV). When we understand His undeserved and unmerited love for us, we can begin to return that love by loving those around us. Our gratitude to God shows up in gracious acts of mercy, kindness, compassion, and love to all those who bear His image.

But it all begins with a growing knowledge of God and His indescribable, unfathomable love for us, as demonstrated in the selfless sacrifice of His sinless Son on our behalf.

But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. – Romans 5:8 NLT

This is how God’s love was revealed among us: God sent His one and only Son into the world, so that we might live through Him.  And love consists in this: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as the atoning sacrifice for our sins. – 1 John 4:9-10 BSB

Love for God must be tangible, not just vocal. God demonstrated His love for us by sending His Son to die for us. He didn’t just express His love, He proved it through His actions, which cost Him dearly. And the better we understand God’s love for us, the easier we will find it to return that love in ways that gratify and glorify Him. That is why the apostle prayed that Christ’s disciples would have the power to understand the love of God so they could return it in acts of selfless service to others.

…may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God. – Ephesians 3:18-19 ESV

English Standard Version (ESV)
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

New Living Translation (NLT)
Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Religious, But Not Righteous

28 And one of the scribes came up and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, asked him, “Which commandment is the most important of all?” 29 Jesus answered, “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 30 And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ 31 The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” 32 And the scribe said to him, “You are right, Teacher. You have truly said that he is one, and there is no other besides him. 33 And to love him with all the heart and with all the understanding and with all the strength, and to love one’s neighbor as oneself, is much more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.” 34 And when Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” And after that no one dared to ask him any more questions. – Mark 12:28-34 ESV

The Sadducees faired no better than the Pharisees and Herodians. Jesus had handled their carefully crafted question with ease, revealing that their misunderstanding of the doctrine of the resurrection was based on their ignorance of the Scriptures. These men were supposed to be the brightest and the best that Israel had to offer. They were considered the spiritual rock stars of their day. The people revered them for their knowledge, power, and influence. Yet, Jesus had exposed them as pretenders who were ignorant of God’s Word and unfamiliar with His power.

“Is this not the reason you are wrong, because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God?” – Mark 12:24 ESV

The Jewish high council had two strikes against them, but they were far from ready to concede defeat. Matthew records that they quickly assembled a third team made up of Pharisees, one of whom was a scribe, an expert in the Mosaic law.

But when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees with his reply, they met together to question him again. One of them, an expert in religious law, tried to trap him with this question: “Teacher, which is the most important commandment in the law of Moses?” – Matthew 22:34-36 NLT

According to the Rabbis, the Mosaic Law contained 613 commands, 365 positive and 248 negative. It was a common practice among Israel’s religious scholars to categorize these laws according to their weight, classifying them as either heavy or light. Some laws were considered more important than others, and these men enjoyed debating which of the 613 laws was the most important.

By posing this question to Jesus, the scribe was attempting to put Him on the spot by forcing Him to reveal what He considered to be the greatest of all the laws of God. But without a moment’s hesitation, Jesus responded by quoting from Deuteronomy 6:4-5.

“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.”

This was a very well-known passage among the Jews because they were expected to recite it two times a day. It was known as the Shema, which is the Hebrew word for “Hear,” the first word in the verse.

This passage was to be a reminder of the covenant relationship between Yahweh and His chosen people. He was to be their only God and they were expected to give Him their full and unwavering allegiance. Every aspect of their lives was to reflect their faithful commitment to Him. It’s fair to assume that this scribe considered himself to be in full compliance with this command. And Jesus seems to know that the scribe and the rest of the Pharisees who sent him, all shared an overinflated sense of their own adherence to this particular law. So, He added a second part to His answer. This time, Jesus quoted from another part from the Pentateuch, the five books of Moses that they so greatly revered.

“You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.” – Leviticus 19:18 ESV

Not only were they to love God, but they were to show love to their neighbor as well. And this second part of Jesus’ answer was intended to expose a flaw in the thinking of these self-righteous religious leaders. They could easily proclaim their love for God, but it was far more difficult to prove their love for others. And Luke records an earlier encounter Jesus had with another scribe. This man had come to Jesus wanting to know what he needed to do to inherit eternal life. Jesus had responded to his question by asking him what the Mosaic law said. And the man had responded by quoting Deuteronomy 6 and Leviticus 19.

“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.” – Luke 10:27 ESV

Jesus commended the man for his answer, telling him to “do this, and you will live” (Luke 10:28 ESV). But this led the man to seek clarification. He wanted to know what the law meant by “neighbor.” In essence, he was asking Jesus to narrow the definition so that it made compliance to the law feasible and doable. But Jesus had answered him with the parable of the Good Samaritan. In that parable Jesus described a man who had been attacked by thieves and left for dead. A priest and a Levite both encountered the man lying on the side of the road, but chose to ignore his plight. But when a Samaritan saw the man, he stopped and administered aid, even covering the cost of his convalescence at a nearby inn. And when Jesus asked the scribe which of these three men “proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?” (Luke 10:36 ESV), the scribe answered, “The one who showed him mercy” (Luke 10:37 ESV). And Jesus said to him, “You go, and do likewise” (Luke 10:37 ESV).

The Leviticus 19 passage required that the Jews love their neighbor in the same way they loved themselves. And God had provided no room for them to determine who their neighbor might be. This wasn’t about loving the lovely or showing affection to those who loved you in return. Jesus had earlier told His disciples, “Do to others as you would like them to do to you. If you love only those who love you, why should you get credit for that? Even sinners love those who love them! And if you do good only to those who do good to you, why should you get credit? Even sinners do that much!” (Luke 6:32-33 NLT).

And the apostle John would later expand on this idea, declaring that the failure to love others was evidence of a lack of love for God.

If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. – 1 John 4:20 ESV

So, when Jesus combined these two commandments together, He was indicating that it was impossible to love God without expressing selfless love for others. That is why He told the scribe, “There is no other commandment greater than these” (Mark 12:31 ESV). These two laws went hand-in-hand. They were inseparable. But the scribes and Pharisees were guilty of expressing their deep love and affection for God while treating their “neighbors” as second-class citizens. They  looked down on the lower classes, viewing them as ignorant and incapable of living up to God’s holy standards as revealed his His law. These very same men had regularly attacked Jesus for associating with tax collectors and prostitutes. They viewed His love for these people as sin. And yet, Jesus was telling them that a failure to love the unlovely was evidence of a hatred for God.

The answer Jesus gave left the scribe with no other choice than to agree with Him.

“Well said, Teacher. You have spoken the truth by saying that there is only one God and no other. And I know it is important to love him with all my heart and all my understanding and all my strength, and to love my neighbor as myself. This is more important than to offer all of the burnt offerings and sacrifices required in the law.” – Mark 12:32-33 NLT

But Jesus sensed that the man was beginning to see the light. He had heard what Jesus said and it had made sense to him. So, Jesus responded, “You are not far from the Kingdom of God” (Mark 12:34 NLT). Jesus was commending the scribe for his willingness to listen and learn. He had shown an openness to the truth, which was a critical first step in coming to an understanding of who Jesus was and what He had come to offer.

For the third time, the religious leaders had swung and missed. They had failed to trap Jesus with their cleverly worded questions. Instead, He had exposed them for their hypocrisy. By using the Scriptures against them, Jesus had revealed their ignorance of God’s Word which explained their inability to comprehend God’s power. The Son of God stood in their midst, but they failed to recognize Him. The Old Testament Scriptures they studied so diligently had predicted the Messiah’s coming, but because of their hardness of heart, their eyes were blind to His presence among them. The Kingdom of Heaven was near, but they couldn’t see it or enter into it.

With their latest setback, the religious leaders called off their attack. They no longer posed any more questions to Jesus. But their hatred for Him did not dissipate, so they were forced to come up with another strategy to plot His demise.

English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

The Message (MSG)Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson