Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

Matthew 22:34-40 (NIV)

 

A legal expert tested Jesus by asking, "What is the greatest commandment in the Law?" Jesus responded by quoting Deuteronomy 6:4-5, also known as the "Shema" (the Hebrew word for "hear, listen, obey"), which all Jews knew. They were to love God exclusively and completely, from the core of their being to their outermost senses.

You may ask, “Why do we need a command to love God?”

The commandment to love essentially invites us to respond to God's love. We cannot love God on our own. The history of the children of Israel demonstrates that they were unable to love God as the Law required, resulting in condemnation and death. Thus, the Law remained "unfulfilled" until Jesus came to fulfil it. He lived a life that met the standards of the Law, and His death set us free from it.

We are no longer under the Law but under grace (Romans 6:14–15).

In the New Covenant, we were given a new heart and affections to love God without reservation and without limit. We love because God first loved us (1 John 4:19). We can love God because we have received and experienced God's love. Christ enables us to fulfil this commandment because His Spirit works within us to love God as He loves us.

Loving God goes beyond simply obeying the Law. Loving God is the fruit of a deep friendship and loving relationship with the Lord. Jesus revealed love as the basis of the law. This is why He linked the first commandment to love God as God loves us with the second commandment to love our neighbour as ourselves. Only with God's love working in and through us can we boldly love God and others.