Matthew 22:37
How Are We To Love YHWH According To HIS Word?
Upon speaking with professing believers, and discussing the necessity of Biblical obedience, all too often we hear, “Jesus said (in Matthew 22:37) that we are just to love God and our neighbor. That has nothing to do with us having to keep HIS Commandments.”
However, upon further investigation, we find that the Bible does not support this premise. In fact, the Bible says quite the opposite! Lets look at the Scriptures that were in existence when JESUS gave HIS answer to the question asked by “a lawyer” and see what those Scriptures actually have to say;
Lets begin with what was given to Moses and written by “the finger of GOD”, known as “The Ten Commandments”;
Exodus 20:4-6
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; 5you 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, 6but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.
Deuteronomy 5:10 At the second giving of The Commandments, says the same thing.
“…but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.”
Deuteronomy 7:9
“Therefore know that the LORD your God, He is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and mercy for a thousand generations with those who love Him and keep His commandments;
Deuteronomy 11:1
“Therefore you shall love the LORD your God, and keep His charge, His statutes, His judgments, and His commandments always.
Deuteronomy 11:13
‘And it shall be that if you earnestly obey My commandments which I command you today, to love the LORD your God and serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul… (Notice; very similar wording used in Mat 22:37)
Deuteronomy 11:22-23
“For if you carefully keep all these commandments which I command you to do—to love the LORD your God, to walk in all His ways, and to hold fast to Him—23then the LORD will drive out all these nations from before you, and you will dispossess greater and mightier nations than yourselves.
Deuteronomy 19:9
and if you keep all these commandments and do them, which I command you today, to love the LORD your God and to walk always in His ways,
Deuteronomy 30:16
See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil, 16in that I command you today to love the LORD your God, to walk in His ways, and to keep His commandments, His statutes, and His judgments…
Joshua 22:5
But take careful heed to do the commandment and the law which Moses the servant of the LORD commanded you, to love the LORD your God, to walk in all His ways, to keep His commandments, to hold fast to Him, and to serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul.” (Notice: similar wording to Mat 22:37)
Nehemiah 1:5
And I said: “I pray, LORD God of heaven, O great and awesome God, You who keep Your covenant and mercy with those who love YOU and observe YOUR Commandments…”
Daniel 9:4
And I prayed to the LORD my God, and made confession, and said, “O Lord, great and awesome God, who keeps His covenant and mercy with those who love Him, and with those who keep His commandments…”
So, when JESUS stated in Matthew 22:37-39
Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment. 39And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’
Is HE changing the Law that GOD had set previously? Or is HE simply re-emphasizing it, knowing what “the lawyer” who asked the question, would be well aware of? That loving GOD is always spoken of in The Scriptures, as synonymous with keeping HIS Commandments?
We must also keep in mind who JESUS is according to what John the apostle says, in John 1:
Verse 1
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
If JESUS is The Word, and The Word IS GOD, then JESUS is GOD!
Verse 14
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.
John is obviously stating that this YESHUA IS THE Word of GOD, who has come in human form. Now, ask yourself; “What Word is John referring to, as coming in human form?” The answer: The only Word of GOD written and recognized as The Word of God at the time of John’s writing; The Hebrew Scriptures which included The Torah(5 books of Moses), The Writings and the Prophets, or what is referred to today as The Old Testament.
So, JESUS in coming as The Word(GOD), Who does NOT change, (Malachi 3:6) cannot negate, do away with, set aside or break ANY of The Word that HE epitomizes, or else HE would prove HIMSELF a false teacher/prophet, according to that very word in:
Deut 13:1-5 (and elsewhere in The Scriptures)
“If there arises among you a prophet or a dreamer of dreams, and he gives you a sign or a wonder, 2and the sign or the wonder comes to pass, of which he spoke to you, saying, ‘Let us go after other gods’—which you have not known—‘and let us serve them,’ 3you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams, for the LORD your God is testing you to know whether you love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul. 4You shall walk after the LORD your God and fear Him, and keep His commandments and obey His voice; you shall serve Him and hold fast to Him. 5But that prophet or that dreamer of dreams shall be put to death, because he has spoken in order to turn you away from the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt and redeemed you from the house of bondage, to entice you from the way in which the LORD your God commanded you to walk. So you shall put away the evil from your midst.”
So, when JESUS states in John’s gospel:
John 14:15
““If you love Me, keep My commandments”
John 14:21
He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.”
John 15:10
If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love.
We know that HE is not introducing a new set of commandments or negating those given in Old Testament. But in fact, HE is confirming them!
John also confirms The Commandments in his epistles.
1 John 5:2-3
By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and keep His commandments. 3For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome.
2 John 6
This is love, that we walk according to His commandments. This is the commandment, that as you have heard from the beginning, you should walk in it.
So, I hope by now that you are beginning to realize that what is being taught by so many today, regarding The Commandments of GOD not being relevant to today’s followers of MESSIAH, is simply NOT in accordance with The Word of GOD! I hope that you are beginning to realize that to love GOD “with all of your heart, soul and mind” IS to walk according to The Commandments of GOD!