Matthew 22:37–40
Bible verses · Also called: Matthew 22:37-40, The Great Commandment, Greatest Commandment, Two Great Commandments, Love thy neighbor as thyself, With all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind
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37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
38 This is the first and great commandment.
39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.
The text is the New Korean Revised Version (1998), shown under a licence from the Korean Bible Society. Wording may differ slightly from the Korean Revised Version and the Revised New Korean Standard Version. Read in the Korean Revised Version
In this passage Jesus, asked which is the greatest commandment, names love for God and love for neighbor and declares that all the law and the prophets hang on these two commandments. It is accepted across denominational lines as a summary of biblical ethics.
Context
After the dispute with the Sadducees over the resurrection, a lawyer from among the Pharisees tests Jesus by asking which is the great commandment in the law. Rabbis of the time debated the commandments of the law, counting them and distinguishing the greater from the lesser. Jesus answers by joining Deuteronomy 6:5, a verse from the Shema that Jews recited daily, with the command to love one's neighbor in Leviticus 19:18. Mark adds "with all thy strength" (Mark 12:30), and Luke follows the exchange with the parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25–37).
Interpretation
- As a summary of the law: Love for God is seen as summarizing the first table of the Ten Commandments (Commandments 1–4), and love for neighbor the second table (Commandments 5–10). The Heidelberg Catechism answers the question of what God's law requires of us with this passage.
- As an order of love: Noting that the second commandment is "like unto" the first, this reading holds that the two loves cannot be separated but that love for God comes first. Augustine spoke of an "order of love" (ordo amoris), in which all other loves are rightly ordered when God is loved above all.
- "As thyself": Some interpret self-love as a third commandment, while others take the phrase as a standard: one should care for one's neighbor as much as one already cares for oneself.
Questions of Application
A point of discussion is whether these two commandments replace the law or serve as a principle for interpreting it. Mainstream Protestantism holds that love is the fulfilling of the law (Romans 13:10) but that it does not abolish the law's specific commandments. By contrast, some twentieth-century proposals, such as "situation ethics," retained only the principle of love and relativized specific norms; these were criticized by conservative theologians.
Within the church, some observe that the character of a congregation is determined by whether it places greater emphasis on love for God (worship and piety) or on love for neighbor (charity and social engagement). This passage is often cited as a call to hold both together.
Related Passages
- Deuteronomy 6:4–5
- Leviticus 19:18
- Romans 13:8–10
- 1 John 4:20–21
See also 5
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