Matthew 22:34 – 40

“What is the Greatest Commandment?”

34 But when the Pharisees heard that He had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together.

35 Then one of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him, and saying,

36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?”

37 Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’

38 This is the first and great commandment.

39 And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’

40 On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”

This passage seems to bring a genuine question to Jesus for Him to answer, however in verse 34 it states the Pharisees were conferring among themselves again, for the same purpose as in verse 15, they are plotting on ways to trap Jesus with the answers he gives.

One of the Pharisees was a lawyer, one who was knowledgeable about the law of Moses, he was an interpreter and teacher of the Mosaic law. Since this was his profession he could pretend to be interested in the law and ask Him an honest question. However the inspired writer, Matthew, said he was trying to test Jesus to get Him to give an answer they could bring charges against.

The question brought forth by the lawyer, “Which is the great commandment in the law?” Brings a question to us. Is any one of the commandments greater than any other commandment?

Let's look at (James 2:10 - 11[10 For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all. 11 For He who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not murder.” Now if you do not commit adultery, but you do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. ])

James' writings indicate all of the commandments are of equal nature. If you break any of them you are guilty of being a law breaker.

If Jesus said any one command was greater than another then the lawyer could accuse him of discrimination against things which were equal as to their divine origin.

Jesus answer is one which can have no objection, the required wholehearted love for God.

Even then Jesus did not say this was the greatest commandment, only that it was great. It is indeed a great command because it applied to our relationship with God, and all will agree God comes before everything in our lives.

If this answer gave the lawyer reason to believe he had caught Jesus in his trap, then Jesus with His next answer took the wind out of the lawyer's sails. He said this next command was like the great one of wholehearted love to God. And this command was the love for your neighbor, to love him as one's self.

Jesus points out the love for God, and the love for your neighbor are the basis for all of the commandments.

Speaking of the Ten Commandments, and all of the Law of Moses are based on these Ten, the first four commandments apply to man's relationship with God and the other six commandments deal with man's relationship with his fellow man.

(Exodus 20:1 - 17[ 1 And God spoke all these words, saying: 2 “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.

3 “You shall have no other gods before Me.

4 “You shall not make for yourself a carved image—any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; 5 you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, 6 but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.

7 “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain.

8 “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. 11 For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.

12 “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the Lord your God is giving you.

13 “You shall not murder.

14 “You shall not commit adultery.

15 “You shall not steal.

16 “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

17 “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor’s.”])

All of God's words, depend on those two commandments, Love of God, and care and concern for others.