Jesus was asked this very question by a Pharisee who was considered to be “an expert in the law” (Matthew 22:34–36). Jesus answered by saying, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and most important commandment.
Full Answer
I believe that in this test, as in all of the others, the Pharisees had schemed that no matter which commandment which Jesus picked as the most important commandment that they could use His answer as a reason to bring charges of blasphemy against Him. 3.2.
When carefully considered, Jesus’ answer was really a perfect response not only to the Pharisee of His day, but also to all modern-day “Pharisees” who try measure a person’s righteousness by how well he conforms outwardly to a series of laws or commandments.
Jesus was asked this very question by a Pharisee who was considered to be “an expert in the law” ( Matthew 22:34–36 ). Jesus answered by saying, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.
- Jesus answered the Pharisaic Lawyer that the greatest commandment was the first of the 10, to love the Lord with all of your heart, mind, and soul 4.1. In Jesus’ answer to this lawyer we discover that there are really two dimensions of commandments that God has given us:
Gospel of Matthew ... and one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. "Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?" 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 greatest and first commandment.
Scripture Mastery—Matthew 22:36–39 In Matthew 22:36–39, the context is Jesus Christ's response to a Pharisee who asked which commandment was the greatest. One doctrine or principle taught in that passage is that the two greatest commandments are to love God and to love our neighbor.
NicodemusHe came to Jesus at night, sneaking off to see the man behind the miracles. He was a powerful Pharisee, a member of the Sanhedrin, the Jewish ruling council.
Then Paul, knowing that some of them were Sadducees and the others Pharisees, called out in the Sanhedrin, "My brothers, I am a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee. I stand on trial because of my hope in the resurrection of the dead."
According to Manson, Matthew probably intended this character to represent either Judas (cf. 26:50) or perhaps even Paul! 4 Manson's argument, however, has not met with much support. The great majority of scholars correctly opt for the alternative view that the man of 22:ll-13 is a representative figure.
The parable of the wedding feast is a parable about universalism . Jesus teaches that the Kingdom of God is open to everyone, not only Jews. This parable is told using the familiar setting of a wedding feast, however there are a few surprising events included.
Simon was a Pharisee mentioned in the Gospel of Luke (Luke 7:36-50) as the host of a meal, who invited Jesus to eat in his house but failed to show him the usual marks of hospitality offered to visitors - a greeting kiss (v. 45), water to wash his feet (v. 44), or oil for his head (v.
PaulPaul was a Pharisee, and claims that when it came to “the Law,” he was more zealous and knew more about the law than anyone else. For the most part in his letters, the Law at issue was the Law of Moses.
Simon the Leper is sometimes identified with Simon the Pharisee (see Shimon ben Gamliel), who is mentioned in the Gospel of Luke as the host of a meal during which the feet of Jesus are anointed by a penitent woman.
In the Christian tradition, Gamaliel is recognized as a Pharisee doctor of Jewish Law. Acts of the Apostles, 5 speaks of Gamaliel as a man held in great esteem by all Jews and as the Jewish law teacher of Paul the Apostle in Acts 22:3.
Before his conversion, Paul was known as Saul and was "a Pharisee of Pharisees", who "intensely persecuted" the followers of Jesus.
Gamaliel tells the council to reconsider its desire to have the apostles executed (5:35) and to let them go (5:38). If their movement is of purely human origin, it will fail, said Gamaliel. But if it came from a divine source, he said, “You will only find yourselves fighting against God” (5:39).
Now, Jesus turns the tide with a question they cannot answer. Taking a verse from the Psalms He asked, how can the son of David also be his Lord?
One supposes that by this time someone had gone through the temple’s library of genealogical information and discovered that this man was indeed a son of David on both sides. Someone has discovered Messiah is a son of David.
Both the Pharisees of Christ’s day and today’s many versions create a whole system of rules and regulations for people to live by and yet are guilty of breaking the most important commandments of all because they “cleanse the outside of the cup and dish, but not the inside” ( Matthew 23:25–26 ).
All of man’s best efforts toward world peace will fail as long as men are living in rebellion against God. When asked by another Pharisee how one could “inherit eternal life,” Jesus answered that it is by keeping these two commandments ( Luke 10:25–37 ).
After all, the gospel of Christ “is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes,” for “the just shall live by faith” ( Romans 1:16–17 ). Because Jesus answered this very question and His answer is recorded in Scripture, we don’t have to wonder or search for the answer ourselves.
That is why “if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation” ( Romans 10:9–10 ).
Jesus answered by saying, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and most important commandment. The second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets depend on these two commandments” ( Matthew 22:37–40 ).
We see in verse 34 that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, so this lawyer now makes an attempt to trap Jesus by asking Him which is the most important Commandment. Jesus cleverly responds by quoting the Old Testament as He quite frequently does. Here is the full passage in contention.
Jesus' Great Commandment. Jesus said that to love God supremely is the first and greatest Commandment. (Matthew 22:38) It is first and greatest in that it represents the heartbeat of every one of the Commandments. But while it is the first Commandment, it is not the only one as Jesus quoting from the second of the Ten Commandments also said, ...
Some Christians try to do the right thing because they think God will punish them if they don't. While the Word does say God chastens every child he loves, ( Hebrews 12:5-7) this is the wrong motive for obeying our Heavenly Father. This is the type of obedience a slave gives.
This is the type of obedience a slave gives. Other Christians make the effort to do what is right because they believe they will be blessed for doing so. This is effectively like obeying God because He is paying them to do so. Their relationship with God resembles more that of a servant than a member of His family.
This does not mean that this so called lawyer practiced law but was one who was learned or skilled in the law of Moses. Mark calls him one of the scribes, which means the same thing.
It is loaded because in those days the Pharisees had counted 613 separate laws. They had divided those laws into affirmative laws (247) and negative laws (365) and into heavy laws (like present-day felonies) and light laws (misdemeanors).
There were three specific groups of the religious elite that particularly targeted Him: the Pharisees, the Sadducees, and the Herodians. One of the things these groups were always trying to do was to trap Jesus by asking Him trick questions. They questioned Him on everything from taxes, to heaven, to marriage.
The Pharisees, on the other hand, tended to be interested in politics only when it affected their religious practices. The term Pharisee itself seems to stem from the idea of separation. This concept fits well with the Pharisaic practice of separating themselves from other people.
In Luke 10 the lawyer is an individual “learned in the law.”. However, he is learned in holy law. The Torah, or Five Books of Moses, is the core of that Law. Here’s where it gets tricky, though. A lawyer who was also a Pharisee – as many of them were – would regard the oral law as equally binding. (This oral law eventually became ...
As noted above, the Pharisees separated themselves from any potential source of defilement. They refused to associate with anyone who did not observe the law as scrupulously as they did. Fellow Pharisees were their principal associates, and they viewed their group as a community, calling themselves neighbors.
Adherence to the law, both the Torah and the oral law, was foremost in importance to this party. The Pharisees did not seem to object to the name Pharisee. This is somewhat surprising since the word was probably a term of derision.
The Sadducees were primarily aristocrats . Most were priests, but not all priests were Sadducees. (Emil Schürer points this out in his five-volume History of the Jewish People in the Time of Jesus Christ .) It was the “aristocratic priests: those who by their possessions and offices also occupied influential civil positions” (Second Division, Volume 2, p. 30) who were the substance of the Sadducee party. This group was highly political, generally more interested in retaining power than in providing spiritual leadership.