Matthew 22:36-40 New International Version (NIV)
36 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”
37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’[a] 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’[b] 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
Those new greatest commandments to me encompass the old ones. If you do those two things, you’re already following the ten.
Right, and how can you love God with all your heart mind strength and soul, and your neighbor, if you do not obey the Ten Commandments? Can you love God when you take his name in vain? Can you love your neighbor if you commit adultery with his wife? Or steal from him?
Jesus’ quote can be construed as to mean live these two commandments and don’t worry about the other eight. I’ve always wondered why HE said that.
Looks to me like when he referred to this, he didn’t have the Book/Verse in mind and just flung it out there...Kind of like when Hillary was asked years ago what her favorite Bible verse was - she mumbled something along this same line or it was “do unto others”....convenient when you don’t know your Books of the Bible.
I just recently heard of this guy and can’t say I’ll seek out anything else he’s written or spoken.
The first, and the most difficult.
“All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
There were two tablets. The first one had four commandments - on how we were to relate to God (so Jesus’ “first” commandment).
The second tablet had six commandments on how to relate to other people.
We had a sermon series on the commandments. It was REALLY eye-opening that our pastor presented them not as “rules” - but as an operating manual.
God created the world and other people. And it was made for a certain purpose, and in a certain way. The Ten Commandments are sort of an operating manual so that we can follow the instructions of the world that God created so that we can operate in the best possible way.