Mark 12:31

And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.

And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these. Since every word here is of the deepest and most precious import, we must take it in all its details.

In Mark 12:30, "And thou shalt" shows here the language of law, expressive of God's claims. What then are we here bound down to do? One word is made to express it. And what a word! Had the essence of the divine law consisted in deeds, it could not possibly have been expressed in a single word; because no one deed is comprehensive of all others embraced in the law. But as it consists in an affection of the soul, one word suffices to express it-but only one. Fear, though due to God and enjoined by Him, is limited in its sphere and distant in character. Trust, Hope, and the like, though essential features of a right state of heart toward God, are called into action only by personal necessity, and so are-in a good sense, it is true, but still are properly-selfish, affections; that is to say, they have respect to our own well-being. But LOVE is an all-inclusive affection, embracing not only every other affection proper to its Object, but all that is proper to be done to its Object; for as love spontaneously seeks to please its Object, so, in the case of men to God, it is the native well-spring of a voluntary obedience. It is, besides, the most personal of all affections. One may fear an event, one may hope for an event, one may rejoice in an event; but one can love only a Person. It is the tenderest, the most unselfish, the most divine of all affections. Such, then, is the affection in which the essence of the divine law is declared to consist.

Thou shalt love the Lord, thy God. We now come to the glorious Object of that demanded affection. Thou shalt love "the Lord, thy God" - that is, Yahweh (H3068), the Self-Existent One, who has revealed Himself as the "I AM," and there is "none else;" who, though by his name Yahweh apparently at an unapproachable distance from His finite creatures, yet bears to Thee a real and definite relationship, out of which arises His claim and Thy duty-of LOVE. But with what are we to love Him? Four things are here specified.

With thy heart. First, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy heart." This sometimes means 'the whole inner man' (as Proverbs 4:23): but that cannot be meant here; for then the other three particulars would be superfluous. Very often it means 'our emotional nature'-the seat of feeling as distinguished from our intellectual nature or the seat of thought, commonly cared the "mind" (as in Philippians 4:7). But neither can this be the sense of it here; because here the heart is distinguished both from the "mind" and the "soul." The "heart," then, must here mean the sincerity of both the thoughts and the feelings; in other words, 'uprightness' or 'true-heartedness,' as opposed to a hypocritical or divided affection. [So the word - leeb (H3820) and kardia (G2588) - is used in Genesis 20:6; Hebrews 10:22; and see particularly Jeremiah 3:10.]

With thy soul. But next, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God" "with thy soul." This is designed to command our emotional nature: 'Thou shalt put feeling or warmth into thine affection.'

With thy mind. Further, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God" "with thy mind." This commands our intellectual nature: 'Thou shalt put intelligence into thine affection'-in opposition to a blind devotion, or mere devoteeism.

With thy strength. Lastly, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God" with thy strength. This commands our energies: 'Thou shalt put intensity into thine affection' - "Do it with thy might" (Ecclesiastes 9:10). Taking these four things together, the command of the Law is, 'Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy powers-with a sincere, a fervid, an intelligent, an energetic love.' But this is not all that the Law demands. God will have all these qualities in their most perfect exercise. "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God," says the Law, "with all thy heart," or, with perfect sincerity; "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy soul," or, with the utmost fervour; "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy mind," or, in the fullest exercise of an enlightened reason; and "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy strength," or, with the whole energy of our being! So much for the First Commandment.

And the second is like - "unto it" (Matthew 22:39); as demanding the same affection, and only the extension of it, in its proper measure, to the creatures of Him whom we thus love-our brethren in the participation of the same nature, and neighbours, as connected with us by ties that render each dependent upon and necessary to the other.

Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. Now, as we are not to love ourselves supremely, this is virtually a command, in the first place, not to love our neighbour with all our heart and soul and mind and strength. And thus it is a condemnation of the idolatry of the creature. Our supreme and uttermost affection is to be reserved for God. But as sincerely as ourselves we are to love all mankind, and with the same readiness to do and suffer for them as we should reasonably desire them to show to us. The golden rule (Matthew 7:12) is here our best interpreter of the nature and extent of these claims.

There is none other commandment greater than these - or, as in Matthew 22:40, "On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets" (see the note at Matthew 5:17). It is as if He had said, 'This is all Scripture in a nutshell; the whole law of human duty in a portable, pocket form.' Indeed, it is so simple that a child may understand it, so brief that all may remember it, so comprehensive as to embrace all possible cases. And from its very nature it is unchangeable. It is inconceivable that God should require from his rational creatures anything less, or in substance anything else, under any dispensation, in any world, at any period throughout eternal duration. He cannot but claim this-all this-alike in heaven, in earth, and in hell! And this incomparable summary of the divine law belonged to the Jewish religion! As it shines in its own self-evidencing splendour, so it reveals its own true source. The religion from which the world has received it could be none other than a God-given religion.