Mark 12:28-34

THE THEOLOGIAN AND THE GREAT COMMANDMENTS

Matthew 22:34-40; Mark 12:28-34. “And one of the scribes coming to Him, and having them interrogating Him, knowing that He answered them beautifully, asks Him, What is the first commandment of all? And Jesus responded to him, The first commandment of all is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord. And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, with all thy mind, and with all thy strength. This is the first commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. There is no other commandment greater than these. [Deuteronomy 6:4; Leviticus 19:18.] And the scribes said to Him, Beautifully, Teacher, You spoke the truth, that He is one and no other beside Him; and to love Him with all the heart, with all the understanding, with all the mind, and with all the strength, and to love the neighbor as himself, is more than all whole burnt-offerings and sacrifices. Jesus seeing him, that he answered intelligently, said to him, Thou art not far from the kingdom of God. And no one dared to interrogate Him any more.” This theologian so meekly and intelligently corroborated and endorsed Jesus on the great plan of salvation, as He showed from the Scriptures the pre-eminence of love into God supreme, with all the heart, mind, and strength, and our neighbor as ourselves, that Jesus, reading his heart like a book, saw his sincerity and candor, and notified him that he was not far from the kingdom of God. You see, the attitude of this theologian, when he exalted Divine love to God supreme and to the neighbor as ourselves and so frankly confessed that this love was infinitely more important than all the sacrifices of the Levitical law, clearly demonstrated that he was on the fight line, recognizing the pure spirituality of the redemptive scheme, while sacrifices and oblations are merely subordinate and symbolic. This man clearly evinces that the light of the Holy Ghost was already shining in on his mind, and revealing to him the true way of salvation. What a beautiful exception to the hypocrites, legalists, and ritualists, who so constantly thronged about Jesus with their captious questions and occult intrigue!

Matthew 22:40. “On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” Hence you see that even the Old Testament teaches a religion of perfect love, its burdensome ritual constituting a symbolic school, in which the people were constantly and vividly reminded of the vicarious atonement of the Son and the Pentecostal baptism of the Spirit.