Jesus' Use Of The Two Great Commandments

The Pharisees and teachers of the Law desired to gain eternal life (eternal life in the Kingdom of God) through obedience to the Law of Moses, specifically The Two Great Commandments:

Love the Lord your God with all you heart, mind, soul, and strength.

Love your neighbor as you love yourself.

They understood all of the Law of Moses, including The Ten Commandments, were fulfilled through obedience to The Two Great Commandments.

The Pharisees and the teachers of the Law also understood that righteousness was required to enter God's Kingdom of eternal life and that the standard of righteousness was the Law.

Therefore, they reasoned that righteousness was achieved through obedience to The Two Great Commandments, since love for God and others was the fulfillment of the law.

They were right in their reasoning.

However, they were wrong in their belief that they had obeyed The Two Great Commandments to love God and love others.

In reality, they disobeyed The Two Great Commandments - they did not love God with ALL their heart, mind, soul, and strength, not did they love others as they loved themselves.

When Jesus used The Two Great Commandments, he used them to reveal the sinfulness in the hearts of the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law, showing them their need for grace.

The truth is that all of us are like the Pharisees.

We do not love God with all of our heart, mind, soul, and strength.

We do not love others as we love ourselves.

This is what sin is: failure to love God with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength, and failure to love others as we love ourselves.

Consequently, we have all broken the law.

We have all sinned.

We all need grace.

Because of God's grace and love for us, while we were yet sinners (lawbreakers), Jesus died for us.

In love, he took our sin debt upon himself.

Through faith in Jesus, we receive complete and eternal forgiveness and righteousness.

As we experience God's love for us displayed in the cross, we will grow in love for God and toward others - apart from The Two Great Commandments.

For an example of how Jesus used the Two Great Commandments, check out Brad’s blog on The Story of the Good Samaritan In Context on this website and his video on Brad’s YouTube Channel.

To read more on the Two Great Commandments, click here.

Want to know about God’s love for you? Click here!