Loving God and Others

Loving God is one of the most basic and well-known principles of the Christian faith. The Christians who are considered most “godly” are those who seem to love God most. This has become so much a part of Christian culture that instead of referring to someone as a “good Christian”, we would say that he “loves the Lord”.

We Must Love God First and Fully

It is certainly true that we should love God, since Jesus himself said so. Jesus was once asked about which commandment in the biblical law was most important:

Mark 12:28 ESV And one of the scribes came up and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, asked him, “Which commandment is the most important of all?”

Out of all the many commandments which God gave, which is the most important commandment? Jesus’ answer does not surprise us:

Mark 12:29–30 ESV Jesus answered, “The most important 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 and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’

Jesus was quoting from Deuteronomy 6:4–5:

“Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. ₅ You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. (ESV)

This Bible passage is called the Shema because it begins with the Hebrew word šəmaʿ, meaning, “Hear!” During the time of Jesus, Jews considered the Shema as the central declaration of their faith: that YHWH alone is the one true God, and that he alone should be loved first and fully.

But We Should Not Neglect Loving Others

So, Jesus answered correctly that the most important commandment in the Bible is to love God first and fully. However, he did not stop there. Instead, he went on to say,

The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” (v. 31 ESV)

Jesus was quoting another commandment from the Jewish Scriptures, this time from Leviticus 19:18. However, the scribe had only asked Jesus for one commandment—the most important one. Why did Jesus answer with two commandments?

Perhaps people were using the commandment to “love God first” as an excuse to neglect loving others. This is why, when Jesus was asked for the one most important commandment in the Law, he did not just answer with “love God first”—even though that is absolutely true. Rather, he also mentioned a second commandment.

In the parallel passage in the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus’ answer is expressed slightly differently:

Matthew 22:39 ESV The second is like it: You shall love your neighbour as yourself.

According to Mark, Jesus introduced the second commandment with the expression, “The second is this.” However, according to Matthew, he said, “The second is like it.” The Greek word for “like” is the adjective homoios, which means “similar to; of equal importance to”.

According to Jesus, the commandment to love one’s neighbour is equally as important as loving God first and fully! In other words, a person cannot honestly say that he loves God more than anyone else, or that he puts God first above anything else, if he does not also love his neighbour as himself.

The Apostle John put it this way:

1 John 4:20–21 ESV If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. ₂₁ And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.

John was not talking about unbelievers who do not even pretend to love God. Rather, he was talking about people who seem to love God, but were not also loving their fellow believers. John warned that these people are lying; they do not really love God.

Conclusion

Of course, we should love God first—more than anything or anyone else, whether friends, family, or even our own spouses (Matt. 10:37). Jesus himself said that our love for him should be so great such that our love for our closest relatives seems like hate in comparison (Luke 14:26). However, if our love for God does not involve loving others, then our love for God is neither true nor total.