Chopper
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7/12/17 MATTHEW 22:34 - 40 THE GREATEST COMMANDMENT.
34But when the Pharisees had heard that he had put the Sadducees to silence, they were gathered together. 35Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying, 36Master, which is the great commandment in the law? 37Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. 38This is the first and great commandment. 39And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. 40On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.
Who are the Sadducees?....
1. A body or number of persons united in tenets, chiefly in philosophy or religion, but constituting a distinct party by holding sentiments different from those of other men. Most sects have originated in a particular perlon, who taught and propagated some peculiar notions in philosophy or religion, and who is considered to have been its founder. Among the Jews, the principal sects were the Pharisees, Sadducees, and Essenes.
What could they do to stop Jesus?
John Gill has this explanation....
"they gathered together at some certain house, where they consulted what to do, what methods to take, to put a stop to his growing interest with the people, and how they might bring him into disgrace with them; and they seemed to have fixed on this method, that one among them, who was the ablest doctor, and best skilled in the law, should put a question to him relating to the law, which was then agitated among them, the solution of which was very difficult; and they the rather chose to take this course by setting a single person upon him, that should he succeed, the victory would be the greater, and the whole sect would share in the honour of it; and should he be silenced, the public disgrace and confusion would only fall on himself, and not the whole body, as in the former instances. This being agreed to, they went unto him."
Now, the question that they asked, 36"Master, which is the great commandment in the law?" It's interesting to me because the Jews preferred the oral expression of the Law, as handed down from their fore Fathers over the written Law of Moses. No wonder that confusion could set in at times. (my opinion). In this case, they meant the Law of Moses.
Deuteronomy 6:4 "Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD:
6:5 And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might."
Lets think about that Command. Love this one God (El) with ALL our heart's, with ALL our soul's, and with ALL our might....Just what do these terms mean?
HEART:
kardia
kar-dee'-ah
Prolonged from a primary κάρ kar (Latin cor, “heart”); the heart, that is, (figuratively) the thoughts or feelings (mind); also (by analogy) the middle: - (+ broken-) heart (-ed).
Total KJV occurrences: 160
SOUL:
psuchē
psoo-khay'
From G5594; breath, that is, (by implication) spirit, abstractly or concretely (the animal sentient principle only; thus distinguished on the one hand from G4151, which is the rational and immortal soul and life, mind ; and on the other from G2222, which is mere vitality, even of plants: these terms thus exactly correspond respectively to the Hebrew [H5315], [H7307] and [H2416]: - heart (+ -ily), life, mind, soul, + us, + you.
Total KJV occurrences: 104
MIND:
ianoia
dee-an'-oy-ah
From G1223 and G3563; deep thought, properly the faculty (mind or its disposition), by implication its exercise: - imagination, mind, understanding.
Total KJV occurrences: 13
Again, I like what John Gill has to say about this verse....
"Jesus said unto him,.... Directly, without taking time to think of it; and though he knew with what design it was put to him, yet, as an answer to it might be useful and instructive to the people, as well as silence and confound his adversaries, he thought fit to give one; and is as follows, being what is expressed in Deuteronomy_6:5.
thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind; that is, with all the powers and faculties of the soul, the will, the understanding, and the affections; in the most sincere, upright, and perfect manner, without any dissimulation and hypocrisy, and above all objects whatever, for this the law requires; and which man, in his state of innocence, was capable of, though now fallen, he is utterly unable to perform; so far from it, that without the grace of God, he has no true love at all to God, in his heart, soul and mind, but all the reverse; his carnal mind is enmity against God, and everything that is divine and good, or that belongs unto him: and though this is now the case of man, yet his obligation to love the Lord in this manner is still the same; and when the Spirit of God does produce the grace and fruit of love in his soul, he does love the Lord sincerely; because of the perfections of his nature, and the works of his hands, and because of the blessings of grace bestowed, and especially for Christ, the unspeakable gift of his love; and most affectionately does he love him, when he is most sensible of his everlasting and unchangeable love to him, and when that is shed abroad by the Spirit; "for we love him, because he first loved us", 1Jo_4:19 instead of, "with all thy mind", as here, in Deu_6:5 it is read, "with all thy might"; and which clause is here added by the Syriac, Persic, and Ethiopic versions, as it is in."
39And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. 40On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.
Who is our neighbor? A correct interpretation would be whoever is NEAR us. Our next door neighbor, fellow Christian, and those in our sphere of witness.
One of my favorite verses concerning these thoughts is....
1John 4:20 "If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?
4:21 And this commandment have we from him, That he who loveth God love his brother also."
This would be a goo two verses for everyone in CF.net to remember when tempted to snark etc etc.
There was a time, when I was fresh out of Bible College, that I was a legalist. Some of my Professors were from Bob Jones University which used to be extremely legalistic. It took an act of Almighty God to deliver me from that form of theology.
I had attended several conferences led by Bob Jones & Rodney Bell who filled our heads with hatred of anyone who didn't believe as they believed.
The verse that my Lord used as a primary release from my legalistic background was...."Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. 40On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets."
Now, I was taught that the Law & Prophets and Bob Jones' doctrines were the foundations of love. If you didn't agree with Bob Jones, "secondary separation" was to happen. In other words, I was to separate from all people who did not follow Bob Jones and his teachings.
The Lord indicated to me that to interpret the Law and prophets, they all were established in LOVE. The outcome of the Law & Prophets had to lead a Believer to love, not hate and separate.
34But when the Pharisees had heard that he had put the Sadducees to silence, they were gathered together. 35Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying, 36Master, which is the great commandment in the law? 37Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. 38This is the first and great commandment. 39And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. 40On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.
Who are the Sadducees?....
1. A body or number of persons united in tenets, chiefly in philosophy or religion, but constituting a distinct party by holding sentiments different from those of other men. Most sects have originated in a particular perlon, who taught and propagated some peculiar notions in philosophy or religion, and who is considered to have been its founder. Among the Jews, the principal sects were the Pharisees, Sadducees, and Essenes.
What could they do to stop Jesus?
John Gill has this explanation....
"they gathered together at some certain house, where they consulted what to do, what methods to take, to put a stop to his growing interest with the people, and how they might bring him into disgrace with them; and they seemed to have fixed on this method, that one among them, who was the ablest doctor, and best skilled in the law, should put a question to him relating to the law, which was then agitated among them, the solution of which was very difficult; and they the rather chose to take this course by setting a single person upon him, that should he succeed, the victory would be the greater, and the whole sect would share in the honour of it; and should he be silenced, the public disgrace and confusion would only fall on himself, and not the whole body, as in the former instances. This being agreed to, they went unto him."
Now, the question that they asked, 36"Master, which is the great commandment in the law?" It's interesting to me because the Jews preferred the oral expression of the Law, as handed down from their fore Fathers over the written Law of Moses. No wonder that confusion could set in at times. (my opinion). In this case, they meant the Law of Moses.
Deuteronomy 6:4 "Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD:
6:5 And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might."
Lets think about that Command. Love this one God (El) with ALL our heart's, with ALL our soul's, and with ALL our might....Just what do these terms mean?
HEART:
kardia
kar-dee'-ah
Prolonged from a primary κάρ kar (Latin cor, “heart”); the heart, that is, (figuratively) the thoughts or feelings (mind); also (by analogy) the middle: - (+ broken-) heart (-ed).
Total KJV occurrences: 160
SOUL:
psuchē
psoo-khay'
From G5594; breath, that is, (by implication) spirit, abstractly or concretely (the animal sentient principle only; thus distinguished on the one hand from G4151, which is the rational and immortal soul and life, mind ; and on the other from G2222, which is mere vitality, even of plants: these terms thus exactly correspond respectively to the Hebrew [H5315], [H7307] and [H2416]: - heart (+ -ily), life, mind, soul, + us, + you.
Total KJV occurrences: 104
MIND:
ianoia
dee-an'-oy-ah
From G1223 and G3563; deep thought, properly the faculty (mind or its disposition), by implication its exercise: - imagination, mind, understanding.
Total KJV occurrences: 13
Again, I like what John Gill has to say about this verse....
"Jesus said unto him,.... Directly, without taking time to think of it; and though he knew with what design it was put to him, yet, as an answer to it might be useful and instructive to the people, as well as silence and confound his adversaries, he thought fit to give one; and is as follows, being what is expressed in Deuteronomy_6:5.
thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind; that is, with all the powers and faculties of the soul, the will, the understanding, and the affections; in the most sincere, upright, and perfect manner, without any dissimulation and hypocrisy, and above all objects whatever, for this the law requires; and which man, in his state of innocence, was capable of, though now fallen, he is utterly unable to perform; so far from it, that without the grace of God, he has no true love at all to God, in his heart, soul and mind, but all the reverse; his carnal mind is enmity against God, and everything that is divine and good, or that belongs unto him: and though this is now the case of man, yet his obligation to love the Lord in this manner is still the same; and when the Spirit of God does produce the grace and fruit of love in his soul, he does love the Lord sincerely; because of the perfections of his nature, and the works of his hands, and because of the blessings of grace bestowed, and especially for Christ, the unspeakable gift of his love; and most affectionately does he love him, when he is most sensible of his everlasting and unchangeable love to him, and when that is shed abroad by the Spirit; "for we love him, because he first loved us", 1Jo_4:19 instead of, "with all thy mind", as here, in Deu_6:5 it is read, "with all thy might"; and which clause is here added by the Syriac, Persic, and Ethiopic versions, as it is in."
39And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. 40On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.
Who is our neighbor? A correct interpretation would be whoever is NEAR us. Our next door neighbor, fellow Christian, and those in our sphere of witness.
One of my favorite verses concerning these thoughts is....
1John 4:20 "If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?
4:21 And this commandment have we from him, That he who loveth God love his brother also."
This would be a goo two verses for everyone in CF.net to remember when tempted to snark etc etc.
There was a time, when I was fresh out of Bible College, that I was a legalist. Some of my Professors were from Bob Jones University which used to be extremely legalistic. It took an act of Almighty God to deliver me from that form of theology.
I had attended several conferences led by Bob Jones & Rodney Bell who filled our heads with hatred of anyone who didn't believe as they believed.
The verse that my Lord used as a primary release from my legalistic background was...."Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. 40On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets."
Now, I was taught that the Law & Prophets and Bob Jones' doctrines were the foundations of love. If you didn't agree with Bob Jones, "secondary separation" was to happen. In other words, I was to separate from all people who did not follow Bob Jones and his teachings.
The Lord indicated to me that to interpret the Law and prophets, they all were established in LOVE. The outcome of the Law & Prophets had to lead a Believer to love, not hate and separate.