OUR FATHER WHO SO LOVED THE WORLD THAT HE GAVE HIS ONLY SON

Matthew chapter 22 verses 34 - 40 contains the authoritative summation of the entire book of the law and the prophets by the Lord Jesus. 

Having heard that Jesus had publically discredited the false doctrine of the Saddusees, the Pharisees approached Jesus again to test Him by asking which of the commandments of God was the greatest or the most important or the most crucial. 

34 But when the Pharisees heard that He had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together. 35 Then one of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him, and saying, 36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?”

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.”

The Lord answered that the Shema (the first commanment) out of Deutronomy chapter 6 verse 4 - 5 as the great commandment which reads as follows;

4 Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 5 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.

To this, Jesus added that the second most important commandment was the command in Leviticus 19 verse 19 which reads;

18 “‘Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against anyone among your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord.

Jesus then explained that all the writings of Moses and the prophets were founded on these two commandments.  

The ministry of our Lord Jesus was the culmination of these two commandments where the reconciliation between God and man would be accomplished by Jesus' sacrificial life and death.

Amen.

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