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Jesus said:
Mark 12:29 Jesus answered him, “The first of all the commandments is: ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. 30 And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ [b]This is the first commandment. 31 And the second, like it, is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”
Mat22: 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.”
Jesus made two very important statements about these two commandments. That all the Law and Prophets (Scriptures) hangs on these two commandments- loving God and loving neighbor and there are no other commandments greater than these.
What did Jesus say about the Scriptures.
John 5:39 You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me.
So lets put these two things together- the greatest commandments, which there is no greater commandments, hangs on the entire Bible love to God love to man and these Scriptures testify of Jesus.
The whole Bible is about love and the testimony of Jesus through the prophets and apostles, but what about God’s own Testimony- how does this fit in with these principles.
Exo 31: 18 And when He had made an end of speaking with him on Mount Sinai, He gave Moses two tablets of the Testimony, tablets of stone, written with the finger of God.
The Testimony of God is the Ten Commandments
Deut 4:13 So He declared to you His covenant which He commanded you to perform, the Ten Commandments; and He wrote them on two tablets of stone.
So how does God’s Testimony, the Ten Commandments relates to the greatest commandments, love to God, love to man.
Paul speaks of this verbatim with the second greatest commandment
Romans 13:9 For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not murder,” “You shall not steal,” [b]“You shall not bear false witness,” “You shall not covet,” and if there is any other commandment, are all summed up in this saying, namely, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
So if the Second Greatest commandment is from the Testimony of God on the second tablet on how to love thy neighbor, its only reasonable that the greatest commandment is summed up by God’s Testimony on the commandments how to love God. We also see this principle when Jesus quoted Deut6:5 which was said after the Ten Commandments were repeated 40 years after God gave them and told to keep and teach their children to keep before entering their Promise Land (just as we are Rev22:14)
The first 4 commandments show how to love God and the last 6 how we love our neighbor. They cover so much more than people realize Psa 119:96 just as Jesus taught from this same unit Mat 5:19-30
Exo 20:1 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 [a]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 [b]serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting[c] 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.
Jesus teaches that loving God and loving your neighbor are the two hinges on which “all the Law and the Prophets hang.” The first four commandments (Exodus 20:1–11) show how to love God — no other gods, no idols, honoring His name, keeping His Sabbath. The last six (Exodus 20:12–17) show how to love others — honoring parents, valuing life, faithfulness, honesty, contentment.
Love is codified in the Ten Commandments — one tablet about devotion to God, the other about compassion toward humanity.
John 5:39, shows that Jesus is the ultimate fulfillment and living expression of both love and law. He didn’t come to abolish the law but to fulfill it (Matthew 5:17), meaning He demonstrated what perfect love — and therefore perfect obedience — looks like. Through Him, the law is no longer just words on stone but written on our hearts Jeremiah 31:33 Heb8:10 2 Cor3:3
The Testimony of God is His revelation of love in moral form, and the Testimony of Jesus is that same love embodied in human form. Together they complete the picture — the written Word and the Living Word bearing the same message: love expressed through obedience.
So how do these two principles, the Testimony of God show how to love God and how to love neighbor and plays out since the entire Bible hangs on these principles I will provide examples of this in the next post.
Mark 12:29 Jesus answered him, “The first of all the commandments is: ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. 30 And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ [b]This is the first commandment. 31 And the second, like it, is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”
Mat22: 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.”
Jesus made two very important statements about these two commandments. That all the Law and Prophets (Scriptures) hangs on these two commandments- loving God and loving neighbor and there are no other commandments greater than these.
What did Jesus say about the Scriptures.
John 5:39 You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me.
So lets put these two things together- the greatest commandments, which there is no greater commandments, hangs on the entire Bible love to God love to man and these Scriptures testify of Jesus.
The whole Bible is about love and the testimony of Jesus through the prophets and apostles, but what about God’s own Testimony- how does this fit in with these principles.
Exo 31: 18 And when He had made an end of speaking with him on Mount Sinai, He gave Moses two tablets of the Testimony, tablets of stone, written with the finger of God.
The Testimony of God is the Ten Commandments
Deut 4:13 So He declared to you His covenant which He commanded you to perform, the Ten Commandments; and He wrote them on two tablets of stone.
So how does God’s Testimony, the Ten Commandments relates to the greatest commandments, love to God, love to man.
Paul speaks of this verbatim with the second greatest commandment
Romans 13:9 For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not murder,” “You shall not steal,” [b]“You shall not bear false witness,” “You shall not covet,” and if there is any other commandment, are all summed up in this saying, namely, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
So if the Second Greatest commandment is from the Testimony of God on the second tablet on how to love thy neighbor, its only reasonable that the greatest commandment is summed up by God’s Testimony on the commandments how to love God. We also see this principle when Jesus quoted Deut6:5 which was said after the Ten Commandments were repeated 40 years after God gave them and told to keep and teach their children to keep before entering their Promise Land (just as we are Rev22:14)
The first 4 commandments show how to love God and the last 6 how we love our neighbor. They cover so much more than people realize Psa 119:96 just as Jesus taught from this same unit Mat 5:19-30
Exo 20:1 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 [a]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 [b]serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting[c] 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.
Jesus teaches that loving God and loving your neighbor are the two hinges on which “all the Law and the Prophets hang.” The first four commandments (Exodus 20:1–11) show how to love God — no other gods, no idols, honoring His name, keeping His Sabbath. The last six (Exodus 20:12–17) show how to love others — honoring parents, valuing life, faithfulness, honesty, contentment.
Love is codified in the Ten Commandments — one tablet about devotion to God, the other about compassion toward humanity.
John 5:39, shows that Jesus is the ultimate fulfillment and living expression of both love and law. He didn’t come to abolish the law but to fulfill it (Matthew 5:17), meaning He demonstrated what perfect love — and therefore perfect obedience — looks like. Through Him, the law is no longer just words on stone but written on our hearts Jeremiah 31:33 Heb8:10 2 Cor3:3
The Testimony of God is His revelation of love in moral form, and the Testimony of Jesus is that same love embodied in human form. Together they complete the picture — the written Word and the Living Word bearing the same message: love expressed through obedience.
So how do these two principles, the Testimony of God show how to love God and how to love neighbor and plays out since the entire Bible hangs on these principles I will provide examples of this in the next post.
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