The one word that sums up the Bible is, “LOVE!” What is the most important law in the Bible? Jesus tells us that there is one thing that we need to know above all other things the Bible teaches concerning the law. That is to love. It is as plain, pure, and simple as love.
Jesus sums it all up for us
A lawyer came and asked Jesus what is the most important commandment in Matthew 22:36. In verses 37-40, Jesus answered them,“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. ‘This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself. ‘All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
Background to the story
Pharisees
Now, let me give a little background on this. All of this commenced with the Pharisees. Pharisees were the most religious people in the Jewish community. Concerning the Mosaic Law, nobody followed it more closely than the Pharisees did. These Pharisees believed that they were better than other people because they were strict and disciplined followers of the law. They took pride that they did all the right things. Jesus comes along, and the Pharisees get upset with Him because Jesus didn't obey the same set of rules the Pharisees did. You see, the Pharisees developed their own set of rules, regulations, procedures, and traditions. Pharisees wanted to keep themselves as far away from other people as they could for fear that they might become defiled from touching, dining, or being in the company of others such as the gentiles. They were religious weirdos. Since their attempts at attacking Jesus always backfired, they decided to convince a Herodian to come and question Jesus.
Herodians
Herodians were of a political party in the day belonging to King Herod. Herodians believed engaging in politics was doing the work of God and so their allegiance was to Rome. In the time of Jesus, there was a lot of controversy over the fact that some claimed we should worship God, and others who claimed we should supremely worship the Emperor. So the Pharisees thought it would be a great way to trap Jesus by having a Herodian come to question Jesus asking the question of who should we pay our taxes to – Ceasar or God? If Jesus said, "yeah, you should pay your taxes," then people would have claimed Him to be a Herodian rather than a king. People were claiming Jesus to be a King in a sense, and so to sound like a Herodian would have destroyed his reputation. This is what the Pharisees anticipated and hoped would be the outcome from having this Herodian question Jesus. But, if Jesus said, “You don’t need to pay your taxes,” He would be in big trouble with Rome. So, this Herodian thought he set the perfect trap for Jesus. They were certain this question was the perfect trapping question with no good answer. But Jesus asked for a coin of their money. Jesus asked them whose image was on the coin, and they replied that it was Caesar. So Jesus told them to give to Caesar what was Caesar’s and to God what was God’s (Matthew 22:21). This was a brilliant answer. Give to the government what belongs to the government, but then everything else belongs to God.
Sadducees
Next up, the Sadducees entered the ring to attack and trap Jesus. The Sadducees were sad you see. Their God is kind of like the Deists God. They didn't believe in heaven or miracles, etc. They were the liberals of the day. They were enemies of the Pharisees and Herodians, but, it is interesting that they all came together to mount an attack on Jesus. That was a cause that united them. So, here come the Sadducees. Again, the Sadducees pose a question regarding marriage. Basically, they were asking if a woman ended up marrying more than one man in her life, who she would end up being married to in Heaven. Jesus again answered them telling them they didn't know the scriptures. We are going to be like the angels. Everyone is going to be close to everyone. He basically told them their idea was ridiculous and they did not know or understand the things of God. So, the Pharisees have struck out many times in their attempts to outwit Jesus and turn away His followers. They had a Herodian attempt, and he struck out. Then they partnered with their enemies (the Sadducees) and they also failed to trap Jesus.
The Lawyer
Now, they bring a lawyer in to the picture. This is where we pick up in Matthew 22:36, which says, “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” So this lawyer was more like a scholar of the law. They were rigid traditionalists. The lawyers – also called, "scribes" wanted to just get back to what the bible said. They didn't go along with all the man-made traditions the Pharisees adopted. Scribes were not influenced by anyone, any Rabbi, or any idea of the day. They strictly based their traditions and ideas of God on the Bible. So the scribe asked Jesus what was the most important law. Now, whenever you interpret the Bible, you have to be very cautious that you do not err. Especially if you are someone multitudes are following such as those following our Lord, Jesus. The question this Scribe posed to Jesus was intended to get him to interpret the Bible incorrectly. This was another attempt to trip Jesus up. There was a great debate back in this time as to what was the greatest commandment. Many claimed it was circumcision or some other such law.
The Most Holy
The idea was, the Scribes, like the Pharisees, wanted to be the most Holy by following the law. The Pharisees had so many loopholes in the law that they were in their own eyes very holy people. It’s the same thing with the Scribes, without all the loopholes. They felt like if they followed the law to the T, they were the most holy. There are churches today that do similar things with legalism or baptism. They’ll say the most important thing is to be baptized or whatever. Circumcision was a big thing back then. Others said it was one of the 10 commandments. The Scribes were hoping to trap Jesus here by turning away some of His followers. Certainly, some of Jesus followers would have felt like having no other gods or idols before God would be more important than circumcision, and others would believe you had to be circumcised to even come into a relationship with God.
Jesus Stunned Them With A Convicting Truth
Jesus stunned all of them yet again with his answer in Matthew 22:37-40, which reads, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. ‘This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself. ‘All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” So, Jesus proclaims here that all the laws in the Bible are related to these two commandments. Jesus is actually quoting 2 verses in the Old Testament here as well. This was such a profound and convicting answer that Jesus gave them. All of the Pharisees, Herodians, Sadducees, and Scribes were trying to do the things they thought they should do. But Jesus tells them all that they are missing the bigger picture. Everything does not hinge on how well we obey the law, but rather how well we love God and others. If we love God and others, we will naturally follow the law. The idea of having a relationship with God was foreign to these people. Religion has never been able to produce a relationship with God.
Saved by Grace, Through Faith in Jesus Christ!
Thankfully, we have grace! Because of God’s grace, we can enter into a relationship with Him. Grace simply means unmerited favor. God gives us His favor even though we could never earn it. If we were dependent upon the law to have a relationship with Jesus, we would all fall short. Romans 3:23 tells us that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Religion and legalism produces failure, resentment, and hate for God. Grace produces love for God. None of these religious types are going to argue with the response Jesus game them. Who would say, “No, love is not important?” Nobody of course! So, really, the entire Bible is about loving God. Everything in the Bible teaches us who God is and how to love Him.
How Then Do We Love Him?
So, if the Bible is all about loving God, we must stop and ask ourselves, how are we supposed to love Him? How do you love God with all your heart, soul, and mind? I think of this in human terms because I am a human and the physical things of this world are all I know. So, myself, I think about a wife. When you decide to marry someone, you are essentially saying that you want to spend all your time with this person for the rest of your life. You want to know them more; you want to do things for them and experience everything with them. Love is a connection, affection, and an attachment. God wants us to love Him as deeply as we can. The Bible was written in part to help us connect with God so that we can love God more deeply. We love God by spending time getting to know Him. Our thoughts, everything within us, we put God into everything we are. What God wants us to know the most is that He loves us. We love him because He first loved us. He loves us no matter what. We have been washed by the blood of Jesus and we are perfect to Him. He wants us to love him back because that shows that we understand how much God loves us.
Loving "Others"
Jesus identified with others. Not only does God want us to love him, He wants us to love others. I think it is much easier to love a perfect God than an imperfect neighbor. In Matthew 5:44, Jesus goes so far as to say that we have to also love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us. So, God is easy to love, but why does He want me to love my neighbors? Well, I think probably everyone knows the obvious answer. Jesus laid his life down for others because Jesus loved everyone. Have you ever had two friends that hated each other? You couldn't get together with both of those friends at the same time and do anything together. You couldn't have experiences together, laughter together, joy together, tears together, or anything together. Many of us have family members that won’t talk to each other or that openly declare their hatred for one another. If you’re the person stuck between two friends or family members that hate each other, you suffer. Jesus died for every living person because He loves everyone. We are all his family. He wants us to treat each other with love and respect. It makes perfect sense. We are all connected with each other because Jesus died for all of us. John 3:16 – perhaps one of the most known verses in the entire world - For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son! God so loved us all he gave His only Son! That’s amazing love. God loves us unconditionally. He loves everyone so much that he doesn't condemn us, He forgives us. When we sin, God is not repulsed by us for sinning. God hates sin, but loves the sinner. In John 3:17, Jesus said, “I didn't come in to the world to condemn the world; I came to save the world.” In Romans 8:1, Paul said, “There is therefore now no condemnation for those in Jesus Christ.” No matter what we do, His response is still, “I LOVE YOU!”
Conclusion
Jesus didn't care if you were a prostitute, a thief, or anything else. He loved everyone. I wonder if we don’t see as great a work today in the lives of sinners because too often we find ourselves acting more like Herodians, Pharisees, Sadducees, and Scribes. We need to be mindful that we are acting like Jesus. Jesus loved everyone. 1 John 4:8 says, “Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.” God is love, and we need to model our hearts after the heart of Jesus, which is clearly in one single word, “LOVE.” From Genesis to Revelation, we learn things that help us love God and others. Our Lord, Jesus, said that it is the most important thing and that all of the law is summed up in love.
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