Let’s talk about the great commandment from Matthew 22:34-39. (Thread.)

But when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together. 35 And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. 36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment

in the Law?” 37 And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.

40 On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”

In Matthew 22:36, the lawyer asks Jesus which is the great commandment (ἐντολὴ μεγάλη, singular) in the law. He does not ask Jesus for a summary of the law.

He does not ask Jesus what the great commandments (plural) are in the law. He asks Jesus which is the singular greatest commandment.

Some have falsely thought, based on what Jesus says in verses 39-40, that Jesus gives a plural response to the question in the singular.

He does not. Again, the lawyer asks which is the great commandment (ἐντολὴ μεγάλη, singular).

Jesus replies, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” This is a single command from the Shema found in Deuteronomy 6.

Jesus makes it clear that he is answering the lawyer’s question. In verse 38 he says, “This is the great and first commandment” in the singular (αὕτη ἐστὶν ἡ μεγάλη καὶ πρώτη ἐντολή).

Even if you don’t know Greek, you can see the same words used in the lawyer’s question (ἐντολὴ μεγάλη, “great commandment”) and the reply from Jesus (μεγάλη…ἐντολή).

However, Jesus goes even further to specifically highlight this commandment in response to the lawyer’s question. Not only does Jesus answer *with a single commandment,* and not only does he indicate this is *the* great commandment (singular),

he adds to his answer the words “and first” (καὶ πρώτη).

The *first* and *great* commandment, according to Jesus, is to love the Lord your God.

Having sufficiently answered the lawyer’s question, Jesus mentions a different commandment in verse 39, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” This commandment is distinct from the first. Jesus is referencing Leviticus 19.18, not Deuteronomy 6.

They are two different commandments. This commandment, Jesus says, is a “second” commandment, not to be confused or conflated with the “first.” Jesus says, this second commandment is *like* the first (δευτέρα δὲ ὁμοία αὐτῇ, “but a second is like it”).

Once again, the αὐτῇ there is singular, referring to the first and great commandment Jesus mentioned in verse 37 in response to the lawyer’s question. When Jesus says the second is “like” it (ὁμοία, from ὅμοιος, meaning “like,” “similar,” “resembling,” “corresponding to”),

he is not saying that the second commandment is the *same* as or *equal to* or *greater than* the first commandment. Not only would such a statement undermine everything Jesus stated above, but no reason exists for reading ὁμοία in that way,

a word Jesus uses repeatedly throughout the gospels to denote similarity, rather than singularity or sameness.

Jesus further adds to his reply in verse 40, “On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”

Jesus is going above and beyond here, supplying a summary of the law that’s *in addition to* his answer about which is the great commandment. Contextually, he seems to be emphasizing, for the sake of the lawyer, the importance of the commandment to love neighbor.

We see this theme elsewhere in Scripture. 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)

Why is it important to recognize love for God as the first and great commandment?

First, because Jesus says so. We may not always immediately see why Jesus says some things, but his words are no less important.

Second, love for God is that commandment upon which all other commandments hang. (See Exodus 20:3.) Anything else is idolatry. This commandment both precedes and motivates obedience to all other commands.

We should love God more than we love men. (Matthew 10.34-37, 16.24-27, 19.21, "follow me," that is, Jesus)

Thus, Calvin:

"He assigns the second place to mutual kindness among men, for the worship of God is first in order.

The commandment to love our neighbors, he tells us, is like the first, because it depends upon it. For, since every man is devoted to himself, there will never be true charity towards neighbors, unless where the love of God reigns;

for it is a mercenary love which the children of the world entertain for each other, because every one of them has regard to his own advantage. On the other hand, it is impossible for the love of God to reign without producing brotherly kindness among men."

The sin of leaving off the second commandment in supposed obedience to the first is a serious problem. Jesus is plain about that. But the dividing line between Christians and atheists, Christians and theological liberals, Christians and any other world religion,

is that they take the second commandment to be the first. In doing so, they redefine love outside God's law, they lose their motivation for obedience, and they fail to love God and neighbor, who is created in God's image. When we undermine love for God we lose love for neighbor.

The idea that love for God is the first and great commandment, even above love for neighbor, did not come from white evangelicals or Trump voters, it came from Jesus Christ. Nor does this idea mean that we shouldn't love our neighbor, for that's the second great commandment.