The “Great” Commands are Not the “Only” Ones
But when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together. And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” 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. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets” (Matt. 22:34-40).
Some have tried to defend a softened approach to certain doctrinal issues based on a misunderstanding of Jesus’ words in Matthew 22:40 (coupled with a misunderstanding of Romans 13:8-10 and James 2:8). Many times in twenty-one years of preaching I have heard it said that we should not be so meticulous with the specifics of worship because all that really matters is whether or not we love God and love our neighbor. It is averred that whether or not a person sings with mechanical accompaniment is irrelevant as long as that person loves God and loves his neighbor. The same is true, we are told, for the frequency of the Lord’s Supper observance, and other matters of worship and Christian living. If we just love God and love our neighbor, then everything else will fall into place.
First of all, Jesus said that the Law and the prophets “depend” (ESV) on those two commands. The word derives from the Greek kremetai, which means “to be in a relation of dependency on something” (Louw and Nida 89.2). These are the “great” commands because if a person truly loved God and his neighbor, then he would obey all the other obligations of the Law. The great commands are not being put in contrast to all the other ones, they are broad principles under which all the other commands can be placed.
Second, contending that “everything will just work itself out” if we simply encourage people to love God and love their neighbor fails to account for the fact that many people do not understand what it means to love God and love their neighbor. True love for God and neighbor is more than just feeling like you love them or claiming you love them. To love God is to obey Him (John 14:15; Luke 6:46; 1 John 2:3-6; 5:2-3). To have a proper relationship with Christ is to abide within the parameters of His doctrine (2 John 9; John 15:14). So when Jesus told His listeners that loving God and loving the neighbor were the two greatest commandments, He didn’t say they were the two “only” commandments. He meant that if one does those two things, he will naturally do all of the other things required by the Law and the prophets. The same is true under the New Testament. If we truly love God and love our neighbors, we will be determined to do all that the New Testament requires of us to the best of our abilities.
Third, if it is sufficient just to encourage people to love God and neighbor (without an understanding of what that means):
- Why was the Old Testament law comprised of more than just Deuteronomy 6:5 and Leviticus 19:18?
- Why were all of the questions that Paul answered in 1 Corinthians not answered with admonitions to just love God and love your neighbor, coupled with the assurance that everything would work itself out?
- In responding to the issue of Gentile circumcision in Acts 15, why didn’t the apostles just tell everyone to love God and love their neighbors and let everything work itself out?
What would I tell the exotic dancer who says that she loves God with all her heart and wants to honor Him by using her God-given talent in the worship assembly? Do I tell her just to keep loving God with all her heart and love her neighbors as she does herself and everything will just work itself out for her? Or do I try to help her see that loving God involves obeying God (1 John 5:2-3), and that stripping in front of the assembled church (or anywhere else) would be a violation of the Biblical obligation to be modest (1 Tim. 2:9)?
If one loves God with all of his being, he is going to be determined to obey God to the best of his ability and conduct himself toward his neighbor in the proper way. But the specifics of HOW one conducts himself toward God and neighbor can only be determined by what God has revealed ELSEWHERE in Scripture.
Those who desire to be free from the loving confines of New Testament law find no refuge in the great commands.
REFERENCE
