Love the Lord Your God

Jesus said that the greatest commandment is to love the Lord your God with your whole heart, soul, strength, and mind, and the second like it is to love your neighbor as yourself.   Lk 10:27; Mt 22:37-39

But, what is this love Jesus was talking about?  He used exactly the same word for loving God and people.  The Greek rendering of that word is αγαπησειϛ (agapeseis,) and the objective of love is to provide long-term benefit to the loved one.  According to Vines Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words, “Love can only be known by the action that it prompts…  Christian love… is not an impulse from the feelings, it does not always run with the natural inclinations nor does it spend itself upon those for whom some affinity is discovered.  Love seeks the welfare of all (Ro 15:2,) and works no ill to any, (1 Co 13:8-10) love seeks opportunity to do good to all men… “ Gal 6:10.

Jesus said that if we will obey His commandments, we will remain in His love, just as He obeys His Father’s commandments, and remains in His love.  (Jn 15:10) To better understand this, we can look back at the Mosaic Law.  Its approximately 600 commandments, rule, regulations, etc. had, as their primary objective, teaching the Israelites how to take care of one another.  In a word – how to love themselves and others.

God provided them an example by showing them His love.  He rescued them from captivity in Egypt, gave them the laws that would enable them to live and work harmoniously together, and then gave them a national homeland.  This last action would accomplish three things:

1. It would provide them with a safe environment in which they could learn to love one another, in His love.
2. It would show the world the benefit of living under God’s rulership, in His love.
3. It would foreshadow mankind’s ultimate worldwide destiny under Jesus’ rulership, in His love.

As God’s children obeyed the Mosaic Law, they would benefit from doing so; they would benefit from their Father’s love.  They would “remain in His love.”

We can conclude from this that our primary way of loving God with our whole heart, soul, strength, and mind is to grow better and better at loving our neighbors and ourselves more and more consistently, more wisely, and more powerfully.

This is why Jesus said, right after identifying the two greatest commandments, “On these two commandments hang the Law and the Prophets.”  (Mt 22:40)  Paul further clarified this at Ro 13:8-10, “Do not owe anyone anything, except to love one another, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.  The commandments: Do not commit adultery, do not murder, do not steal, do not covet, and whatever other commandment – all are summed up by this: love your neighbor as yourself.  Love does no wrong to a neighbor.  Love, therefore is the fulfillment of the Law”.  Hence Johns’ comment at Jn 4:12, “If we love one another, God lives in us, and His love is made complete in us.”

It has been said that the best argument for God’s existence is a godly person.  This explains why Jesus, whose consistent desire was to hallow His Father’s name, (Jn 17:6, 26) said, “I’m giving you a new commandment.  You must love one another as I have loved you.  By this, all will know that you are my disciples.  Jn 13:34-35

This, more than any other way, is how we hallow God’s name.