Two Great Commands/Two Great Loves

Remember, these are not things I do to get God to love me. They are things I do because I am loved by Him and because I love Him. I love Him because He first loved me (1 John 4:10).

Mark 12:31-34

As is so often the case, Jesus gives us more than we ask for! The religious lawyer asks which command is the most important. Jesus tells him there are two that go together. How you respond to the first (loving God) will determine how you respond to the second (loving your neighbor). When you obey the second, it shows that you have embraced the first.

Jesus adds Leviticus 19:18 to complement Deuteronomy 6:4-5. Growing out of my love for God, I love those who have been created by God in His image. “Neighbor” is not used here in a restrictive sense. All of humanity, even my enemies, are in view (see Luke 10:25-29).

Some wrongly think Jesus, the unselfish One, actually tells me to selfishly love myself. How do we make sense of this? (1) There is a healthy kind of self-love that recognizes we are the objects of both the “creating” and the “redeeming” love of our God. To hate myself is an offense to God and calls into question His wisdom and goodness. (2) The love a person naturally has for himself is now “turned out” toward others (cf. Phil 2:3-5). (3) The fact that this is a command makes clear that the primary focus is on our actions and not our feelings. (4) There is certainly a mysterious paradox, for the same Jesus who tells us to love ourselves also tells us to deny ourselves and die to ourselves (Mark 8:34). The more I rightly love myself, the more I will deny myself and love others. I will serve the needs of others with all the energy, passion, and zeal with which I attempt to meet my own290 needs. However, only by loving my God supremely will I be able to love others—all others—genuinely. And as I do so, I demonstrate that I love my God supremely. No wonder Jesus said, “There is no other command greater than these.”

In a sermon preached at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in February 2012, Don Carson helped us see what it means to love others genuinely. He encouraged us to examine the context surrounding Leviticus 19:18, showing that loving your neighbor as yourself means that you will

Wow! God does not leave it to our imaginations as to what He means when He tells us to love our neighbors as ourselves.

The scribe responds with delight. He affirms Jesus’ creedal confession of the exclusive monotheism of the one true God, affirms the comprehensive love, devotion, and worship our God is worthy to receive, and adds an insight that drew the praise and applause of Jesus.

To love God supremely and our neighbor genuinely “is far more important than all the burnt offerings and sacrifices.” Real religion ultimately is a matter of the heart. Religious rituals always must give way to the superiority of a right relationship with God and others. Indeed rituals have no real meaning unless they are expressions of our love for Jesus and others. Such spiritual insight finds its echo in the Old Testament at numerous points.

Jesus was pleased with the scribe’s answer. He told the man, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” What did Jesus mean by this? It is not, “You are close, so try harder!” Rather, the man has come to see that entering the kingdom of God is a matter of heart devotion not hard duty. Obeying rules and regulations will never get me into the kingdom because I can never measure up to God’s perfect standard. No, I need a new me. I need a new heart (Ezek 36:26). I need the grace and mercy of my God who can make me a new creation in Christ (2 Cor 5:17). I need to draw near to Jesus, who has brought the kingdom of God near (Mark 1:15). One draws near and enters the kingdom not by religion but by a relationship with Jesus, a relationship that results in loving God supremely and others genuinely.

The cross tells us that Jesus loves God supremely. It tells us He loves us genuinely. This is why the Holy Spirit moved John to write,

To love God is to love others. To love others is to love God. Two great commands. Two great loves.