12/05/2026
22:35-37 - βThen one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying, Master, which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.β The ultimate desire of God, as of any father, is that His children love Him from the depths of their hearts. This, however, takes a sovereign work of Godβs grace in our lives, even as Deuteronomy 30:6 says: βAnd the LORD thy God will circumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, that thou mayest live.β Hardness, selfishness, jealousy, and all the other works of the flesh, which we as sons of Adam have inherited at birth, have to be cut away from our spiritual hearts. This alone can be done by the work of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, we must cooperate with the Holy Spiritβs working in our lives if we are going to be able to love God with all our hearts.
22:38-39 - βThis is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.β This is a direct quotation from Leviticus 19:18: βThou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am the LORD.β
Our treatment of others has been stressed continuously by the Lord in His teaching. We will now quote the golden rule of Matthew 7:12: βTherefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets.β
I want to emphasize this truth by using the words of Paul in 1 Corinthians 13:1-3: βThough I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.β Paul stresses this also in Galatians 5:14: βFor all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.β (cf. Rom. 12:8-10).
--Dr. Brian J. Bailey (An excerpt from his book, βThe Gospel of Matthewβ)