The Most Important Commandment
When a scribe asked Jesus which commandment mattered most, Jesus answered from Israel's Scriptures. His answer brings together worship, loyalty, and ordinary relationships. Reading these passages in their original settings reveals why he placed these commands above every other.
One of the scribes came up and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he (Jesus) answered them well, asked him,
“Which commandment is the most important of all?”
Jesus answered, “The most important is:
The second is this:
You shall love your neighbor as yourself. — Leviticus 19:18
There is no other commandment greater than these.”
And the scribe said to him, “You are right, Teacher. You have truly said that He is one, and:
there is no other besides Him — Deuteronomy 4:35
And to love him with all the heart and with all the understanding and with all the strength, and to love one’s neighbor as oneself, is much more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.”
And when Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.”
And after that no one dared to ask him any more questions.
— Mark 12:28-34 (ESV); Matthew 22:34-40; Luke 10:25-28
The scribe's reply echoed an earlier declaration from Deuteronomy: there is no other God besides the LORD. Before Moses restated the Ten Commandments, he reminded Israel of the exodus and God's revelation at Mount Horeb, also called Sinai. Israel heard God's voice but saw no physical form. The people were therefore not to make idols (Deuteronomy 4:9-20,32-40). Verse 35 explains what those events revealed:
To you it was shown, that you might know that the LORD is God; there is no other besides Him. — Deuteronomy 4:35 (ESV)
This verse is not a separate law. It gives the reason for the laws that follow. Israel's covenant rested on what God had already revealed and done. The LORD's rescue of Israel showed that worship, trust, and obedience belonged to him alone.
The LORD was not merely one local deity among the gods claimed by surrounding nations. Israel's experience taught the people that he alone is God. They were therefore to reject idols, remain loyal to the covenant, and trust the God who had acted in their history.
Love the LORD with Your Whole Life
On this foundation, Moses prepared a new generation for life in a land filled with other gods and cultures. He addressed Israel on the plains of Moab before the people entered Canaan. Prosperity was not to make them forget the God who had rescued them from Egypt, and worship of the LORD was not to be mixed with idolatry.
Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one.
You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. — Deuteronomy 6:4-5 (ESV)
Deuteronomy 5 had repeated the Ten Commandments. Deuteronomy 6:4-5 summarises their purpose in the most important commandment: Israel was to give undivided loyalty to the one God.
This confession became known as the Shema, from the Hebrew word for “hear”. Hearing meant more than receiving words. It included responding with obedience. In this context, love is not merely an emotion. It is wholehearted devotion to God in every area of life.
Moses then showed how this devotion should become part of daily life:
And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart:
- You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.
- You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes.
- You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.
— Deuteronomy 6:6-9 (ESV)
Devotion to God was therefore not confined to worship gatherings. It was to shape the home, daily habits, and public life.
Love Your Neighbour as Yourself
Love for God also shaped ordinary community life. Leviticus 19 forbids theft, dishonesty, oppression, unjust judgement, slander, hatred, and revenge (Leviticus 19:11-18). These commands show how Israel's covenant with God was to guide the way people treated one another.
“You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the LORD.” — Leviticus 19:18 (ESV)
In the immediate context, “neighbour” referred to fellow members of Israel's covenant community. They were not to repay personal wrongs through vengeance or preserve hatred through grudges. This love was not merely an emotion. It required people to seek a neighbour's good with the same seriousness they gave to their own welfare.
The same chapter also commanded Israel to love resident foreigners as themselves (Leviticus 19:33-34). Concern for others was therefore not to end at ethnic boundaries. Jesus reaffirmed Leviticus 19:18 as the second great commandment (Matthew 22:39) and used the Good Samaritan to show that a neighbour can be someone outside one's own ethnic group (Luke 10:25-37).
Conclusion
Jesus' answer rests on the truth that the LORD alone is God. This calls for wholehearted devotion to God and active concern for one's neighbour. Together, these commands place loyalty to God and care for others at the centre of faithful life.