15. JESUS PREACHED OBEDIENCE TO GOD’S COMMANDMENTS
After he was baptized, everything Jesus said and did pointed to God. He never drew attention to himself. He did this knowing that the only thing of value he had to give was his words.
Among his many words are the following in which Jesus said that all of God’s commandments are summarized in two quotations from the Old Testament:
Matthew 22:35-40 35 One of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him, 36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” 37 And He said to him, ” ‘YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND.’38 “This is the great and foremost commandment. 39 “The second is like it, ‘YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.’40 “On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.”
COMMENTARY: Christians do not often read or preach from Old Testament scripture. Here, in verses 37 and 39, Jesus quotes directly from Old Testament scripture. He says that these verses are the ultimate standards of obedience to God’s laws. If he thought that obedience to himself was the ultimate way to please God, he would have said so here.
Verse 40 says that these commandments summarize all of God’s spiritual laws and all of the teachings of true prophets. The importance of Jesus mentioning these verses cannot be overstated. There are four main points to take from Jesus’ response:
First, the “whole law” is a reference to God’s spiritual laws. Jesus is saying that obedience to these commandments is evidence that the New Covenant has been fulfilled in a disciple.
Second, he is saying in effect that these laws exceed all religious laws. This was an important thing for the lawyer (i.e. religious leader) to know. In scripture, a lawyer is not an attorney who practices law. A lawyer in the Bible is like a pharisee whose focus is on creating and enforcing religious laws for religious people to follow. These lawyers may be equated to theologians, pastors, priests, rabbis, and other religious leaders who study the fine points of literal scripture and write or preach what they learn to religious people who believe that God wants obedience to religious rules.
Bible lawyers are Old/First Covenant religion leaders who earn incomes and reputations for understanding the fine points of the literal Bible. Because they do not understand Bible Symbols, Signs, Types, Parables, Copies, and Shadows , they always study the literal Bible and never listen to God’s voice.
Jesus’ statement to the lawyer was a crushing rebuke. Basically, Jesus said that the laws the lawyer studied and preached count for nothing. He said that the only laws that matter are God’s spiritual laws written on the hearts of New Covenant disciples. This message was hurtful to the lawyer because Jesus basically said that lawyers like him were not necessary in God’s kingdom because, according to the terms of the New Covenant, God teaches his people directly and does not need religious leaders to teach people.
Third, this little story is important because Jesus subtly directs all religious people to give up their efforts to love God by obeying religious laws in favor of listening to God’s voice. God’s laws are written on hearts when people listen to his voice.
Fourth, this story is important because Jesus says nothing about himself. If he thought that it was important that people should worship him, this was the time for him to say so. Instead, Jesus says clearly that loving God and loving others are the most important things to do.
STUDY TIP: See this link for understanding of what it means to love our neighbor as we love ourselves. Also see Godly Love is Not Human Love.