The Greatest Commandment

The greatest teacher of all time taught that the whole of the Law and Prophets could stem from one principle, to love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your might. Oh, and to love your neighbor as yourself. I want to look at what this means, not with an eye to correction or definition, but with the open freedom that comes by the life giving Spirit, the breath inside that sustains us.

First, when I read this passage recently, light dawned on me what the whole of the Law and Prophets could mean. These writings, and the associated oral embodiment before being written, are the record of God with a people. They are the interaction of eternal life with fallen man. Throughout the texts, as we read them today, there is one consistent theme, and that is God, as a living being who transcends time and place, choosing to interact with man. He has reached into this world, where a curse has fallen upon us, to bring hope, redemption, and eternal life to man.

The natural man perceives his own destiny, even the end of himself in death, and sees perhaps the judgment of God throughout the scriptures. The destruction of all those who have not turned their heart towards the living one. We, as those who have partaken of new life inside, understand that all the natural man can see is the eventual decay of all things. There is no other guaranteed future! Even among the bright hope of social humanism, the advancement of man towards a peaceful new world of prosperity, there is only death for the individual.

Granted, an extraordinary man may impact his generation and the generations to come with the works of his hands, be they for good or evil. But he still goes down to the grave. The judgment of God has taken place, this world is to perish. We can perceive that from all ends, from the driving out of Adam from the garden to the realm of science which predicts even the death of our own sun at some far off day. It matters not where we look in this world, nothing lasts forever.

I do not stray from the greatest commandment in that observation! It just emphasizes the contrast between the natural man and one with a regenerated spirit. Why? How can the natural man turn his heart? Turn his soul? Exercise all his might? Especially towards a God who, in the natural man's perception, has condemned him to death? Yes, some could for a season love God, for giving even this natural life to us. But His command is impossible to obey without seeing the new life beyond this realm.

It is not simply a contrast in the value of the natural life vs. eternal life. No, this comparison is far more fundamental. Think of it this way: if you could live out your days in this realm, loving God and putting everything into that love naturally, all your time, money, effort, but not have the renewed life in the Spirit that comes by Jesus ministry, you would still fail! Yes, death itself will prevent you from fulfilling the commandment, as the commandment never ends, but our life in the natural does.

I may not have the perfect words to bring out this contrast, but the core is pure spiritual reality. It is a stumbling block, and none can pass. I can not obey God with my natural life, but only through what He has caused to be formed in me, created of Christ and part of Him. That life, that spiritual reality, will fulfill the commandment, nothing else.

My center, my core, my source of love must be born of Jesus' ministry, created by His speaking into me. All other life has already been judged, condemned to destruction. It is pretty stark, and confusing at times. But He is faithful to present us with a path in the midst of confusion. A path of life leading to good works here which serve His purposes. So if you question what you are doing right now, or sense confusion in what I have written, ask the Lord of us all for renewal in your inner man, for the ability to turn towards Him and receive new life.

Now, lets return to the commandment. I want to look at this in three parts. It used to be my understanding that the commandment was towards the whole of a person, all that they are summed up in the three aspects (Deut 6:5): the heart (lebab - innermost organ), soul (nephesh - breathing creature, vitality), and might (m`od - vehemently, speedily). For my own thinking it used to translate to: feeling, thinking, and will. I still find life in looking at the commandment that way. However, as stated in the first part of my palaver, the greatest teacher quoted this verse and put it in context for us. Lets see if there is anything new.

The teaching in question occurs in Matthew, Mark, and Luke, and since I lightly fall in the camp of Markian sourcing, lets go there. The first part of us, commanded to love, is the heart. In fact it is "holos ho kardia sou", or 'whole the heart (of) you' which is quite interesting. Obviously not speaking about the organ itself, and it would be silly to think of 'one ventricle loving the Lord' and not the other. So this whole heart thing is a metaphor for the inner parts of a man, more than just the emotion. Sometimes interpreted as the thinking and feeling.

After the heart comes the "holos ho psuche sou", of which psuche is often translated as soul or life. But soul and life may not convey to us the same meaning as if we said "Love the Lord your God with all your vitality!" Or even 'with all the breathing within you' or some such metaphor. It conveys a sense of existence, of individuality, of the unique life that we are, both as a body of believers and as individual creations. With your whole life! That covers so much. And it wrenches my thinking away from the standard representation of the soul, i.e. the centers of thinking, feeling, and will.

Last we find the "holos ho dianoia sou" where dianoia is often translated mind. But mind is a deviation from the Hebrew perspective! This is not a contradiction of interpretation, simply the necessity for us to seek revelation of what the teachers perspective is. The term dianoia is pretty specific in the realm of philosophy, being one of Plato's levels of knowledge. Remember that Plato is four centuries before this statement. The idea that it represents the general understanding of man, of the world around him, of the descriptions of that world is pretty clear.

However, it is awkward 'to love the Lord your God with all your understanding', not wrong, just hard to equate that active love with understanding. So what do we see? How about incorporating the concept of imagination, creativity, technology, educational ability, mathematics, literature, medicine... In fact when we incorporate all that Plato's dianoia encompasses, the accessible knowledge man has access to, that repository of what we are socially, a new meaning comes forward. Could it be that the greatest teacher was directly presenting the commandment to more than just the individual? A corporate command, that as members we are to fulfill with our portion, but that can only be called 'holos' when expressed corporately?

I believe there is a spiritual reality to this. I can not fulfill the commandment alone, but only as a part of the whole. With His heart, one that is made complete in the saints. With His life and vitality, which resides in the people of God. With the mind of Christ, where the whole repository of man's knowledge is accessed through the saints. By this whole man, the one man who was complete, we are able to love the Lord our God. There is no other way to answer that commandment. I (and you) are not 'whole' while apart from the body.

You want to love the Lord your God? I do! And in that, do it completely! Apparently that means becoming one with the whole. Lord, make us one with You! Make us whole so we can love You completely!