And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.
Spoken by Christ Himself through Moses to Israel, the command calls for loving the one Lord with everything a person is, heart and soul and strength and mind engaged together. It is complete love without division or reserve, taking the whole heart and affections and will into covenant devotion rather than a part. With love to neighbor as self it forms one of the two great principles on which hang all the law and the prophets, summing the first four commandments toward God while the second sums the last six toward fellow men. Doing this is the stated condition of entering life, for obedience from the heart means life and refusal means death. That inward love is first to be kept in the parents' own hearts and then taught diligently to children continually, and it proves itself in keeping all His commandments, relieving the needs of others, and using every mental and physical power in faithful service.
Words and Original Setting
The command was given through Moses to the children of Israel before the incarnation by Christ himself, their visible Leader enshrouded in the cloudy pillar in the wilderness wanderings. He who spoke it is the same who proclaimed the law from Sinai and delivered the ritual precepts, who later spoke the Sermon on the Mount, and who repeated the same requirement when the Word was made flesh and dwelt among men to teach them how to be saved. It is His direction and His own requirement spoken to Moses from the pillar of cloud, and His setting forth of love to God in the gospel is only a reiteration of what He had already spoken through Moses.
It belongs to the commandments and statutes and judgments Moses was commanded to teach Israel to do in the land they were to possess, heard and observed that it might be well with them and that they might increase mightily in the land flowing with milk and honey as promised to the fathers. It was given to a people brought out of Egypt that they might be a holy people unto Himself and loyal subjects of His kingdom, in covenant calling and faithful response to the Lord who had delivered them. The words commanded were to be kept in the heart and taught diligently continually to children, talked of when sitting in the house and walking by the way and lying down and rising up, bound for a sign upon the hand and as frontlets between the eyes and written upon the posts of the house and on the gates, with parents given the sacred duty and special work with ordinances to keep Him in remembrance so that children would know, fear, honor, and obey Him as Leader. The instruction in Deuteronomy 4-8 is to be read with profit and studied and obeyed now, because the world is nearing God's great final review when all must stand before the Judge and every character will have been investigated and every case decided for eternity, with its special lesson to do what it teaches.
Because the LORD is one LORD, the command calls for love with all the heart and with all the soul and with all the might, taking in all that a person is in covenant relation with Him. It engages the whole person — heart, soul, strength and mind — in complete devotion expressed in consecrated service, with reverence, walking in His ways, and keeping His commandments and statutes for good. The affections of the heart and the thoughts of the mind must not be given to created things in place of the Creator, and hanging the helpless soul upon the Lord is the way this wholehearted devotion is expressed, with prosperity assured. This love belongs in the heart to shape daily life and household education, kept continually before the home and woven into everyday instruction of children to obey.
The love required is complete, not with two-thirds or half or a quarter of the heart, but by a person and his son and his son's son all the days of life, with obedience linked to prolonged life and well-being in the promised land. It is joined to fearing and serving the Lord alone without going after other gods or tempting Him, and to diligently keeping His commandments and testimonies and statutes and doing what is right and good. That fear is not servile fear but godly fear, and observing to do all the commandments before the Lord is righteousness given for good always to preserve alive. These words are to be read to believers so the church will give the message in wisdom and in righteousness, with parents honoring God by keeping His commandments and passing them on to their children.
Foundation of God's Law
Supreme love to God with all heart and soul and might and mind and strength is one of the two great principles of the law, joined with love to neighbor as self, and upon these two hang all the law and the prophets, and doing them brings life. It is the first of all the commandments and the commandment of greatest importance, with none other greater than these two, the second being like the first and flowing out of it. It is repeated from age to age to keep those in danger of formalism from forgetting to show mercy. This wholehearted devotion means depending on God rather than making people into gods.
This love sums the first four commandments and expresses the principle governing duty to the Creator, while love to neighbor covers the last six and flows out of love to God. When God has His rightful place on the throne of the heart the right place will be given to neighbor, and only as God is loved supremely is it possible to love neighbor impartially. Neither love can be kept while the other is broken. Since all the commandments are summed up in love to God and man, not one precept can be broken without violating this divine whole, for the law is not separate greater and lesser precepts that may be ignored. Keeping the first four through grace removes every fiber of selfishness, so that no one who truly does duty to God can practice oppression toward fellow men, but the divine attributes are expressed in character and the very love circulating in God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering and abundant in goodness and truth, is imparted and reproduced to the world. Losing this whole-hearted love is falling and leaving first love, requiring repentance and doing the first works, or the candlestick will be removed. It belongs to the laws of righteousness which give life to the one who does them.
Christ's later setting forth of love to God as the foundation of the law and the prophets is only a reiteration of what He had already spoken through Moses, proving the Saviour typified in the rites of the Jewish law is the same Redeemer revealed in the gospel. It was spoken through Moses by Christ Himself, the same who proclaimed the law from Sinai and delivered the ritual precepts and later spoke the Sermon on the Mount, the same visible Leader in the wilderness wanderings, and repeated when He came among men. God's work, claims, teacher, and principles of government are the same in both dispensations and in all time, with a gradual unfolding of His purposes in the plan of redemption from the first gospel promise through the patriarchal and Jewish ages to the present to meet human need, proceeding from one with no variableness nor shadow of turning. It is the same standard given at Sinai and required in the gospel, involving heart and soul and strength and mind, with the heart's affections and thoughts not given to created things in place of the Creator, belonging with fearing God, walking in His ways, serving Him, keeping His commandments, and continual cleaving to the Lord.
The command was not spoken for the Hebrews alone but entrusted to them as guardians and keepers as a sacred trust for the whole world, adapted to all mankind and given for the instruction and government of all. The ten brief, comprehensive, authoritative precepts carry out in detail and make applicable to the condition and circumstances of man the whole duty to God and to fellow man based on love for God and love for neighbor. It is God's holy, everlasting, immutable law, the standard of righteousness and rule of life to be complied with in heart and soul and strength, and the standard by which people are judged. Together with love for neighbor as self it is the law of love that binds to obedience that would guard from evil paths. It must be stamped upon the soul and woven into daily life and practice, for only hearing without recognizing its claims and carrying out its principles brings no sanctifying effect upon character. Jesus joined it with love for neighbor as the answer to what leads to life.
God intends this love to be inward spiritual work inwrought on mind and character and woven into life, not outward exhibition of piety, ceremony, long prayers, holy office, or display. Such love shown in humble obedience to God and unselfish regard for others is a living, active principle of willing obedience to all requirements, worth more than all whole burnt-offerings and sacrifices, and outward religious ceremonies have no value apart from inward piety and living faith. The commandments displayed on a blue ribbon on garments were meant to keep that duty with love for neighbor continually in mind, but outward signs contradicted it when lives opposed God's law and did not take the place of living according to it. The Jewish leaders failed to keep it while insisting on the law, breaking the law and replacing God's commandments with human traditions and maxims. Supreme love to God as evidence that truth is an abiding principle in mind and heart, with love to neighbor flowing out of it and founded upon it, condemns mere tradition and example, and speaking and holding this truth with moral courage in opposition brings one not far from the kingdom of God.
Condition of Eternal Life
What is written in the law about inheriting eternal life is loving the Lord God with all the heart and soul and strength and mind, joined with loving the neighbor as oneself. The answer was given by a lawyer when the burden of answering his own question was laid upon him before a large number of listening people, after prompting by the Pharisees who hoped to secure material for condemnation. Christ confirmed the answer as right and said this do and thou shalt live, putting the question of salvation on that obedience and entering into no controversy over it. Loving God in this complete way, engaging heart, soul, strength and mind, is keeping His commandments given from Sinai, and doing it brings life. The lawyer knew he had not obeyed and asked who counts as neighbor in order to justify himself.
The verse states a decided condition of salvation and eternal life, identical to the answers given to the lawyer asking what to do to inherit eternal life and to the young ruler asking the same question. If one will enter into life, keep the commandments, meaning the ten holy precepts, which prove love for God supremely and for neighbor as self. It is the sum and substance of the law and outlines the terms of salvation: loving God means keeping His commandments, and doing this love is the condition of life, not dependence on a good state of feeling. It must be stamped upon the soul and woven into practice, for belief alone without obedience is not enough. Parents must listen to the Word rather than to men and ministers who say the commandments are not obligatory, and teach children to obey and reverence the law, with the words in the heart and taught diligently at all times when sitting in the house and walking by the way and lying down and rising up, bound for a sign upon the hands and as frontlets between the eyes and written upon the posts of the house and on the gates, for obedience means life and disobedience means death.
The verse means supreme love for God in place of supreme self-love, and exposes deficiency in fulfilling the law of God. Nothing — not wealth, status, possessions, fellow men, or any worldly attachment — may claim the affections in a way that pushes God from the mind, for loving possessions or fellow men above God and His service breaks the command. Such self-love, love of the world, or excessive affection for anything created is idolatry because it draws the affections away from God, and it is not enough merely to acknowledge His power or offer formal worship while the heart delights in idols. God requires the heart's best and holiest affections and must reign supreme in mind and heart, and supreme love for Him sanctifies the affections and bears fruit in love for other people. Making riches an idol by loving them above God belongs to breaking it, while selling, giving to the poor, and following belongs to keeping it, and acquisitive self-interest, dishonest dealings and unjust gain show a person does not love God wholly or treat others with love, bring a curse, are marked whether toward believers or unbelievers, and cannot withstand the Judgment.
To those who so obey from the heart, keeping all statutes and commandments in the path of obedience by a person and his son and his son's son all the days of life, not with two-thirds or half or a quarter of the heart, God promises that it shall be well with them, that they shall increase mightily in the land flowing with milk and honey as promised to the fathers, and that their days shall be prolonged. He will give blessing and protecting care and guardianship with the cooperation of heavenly intelligences, with abundant blessing in basket and in store and removal of sickness from the midst. Without such obedience He cannot let blessing and protection rest upon them, because the enemy claims power over transgressors of the commandments. Turning away from serving the living God brings His curse, and the same blessing or curse stands now, blessing if there is coming out from the world and walking in humble obedience and a curse if there is uniting with the idolatrous and departing from God. The sacred claim for the whole heart, soul and affections with devotion and cheerful obedience and unconditional surrender rests on all alike, young men and women, whether professing or not, and refusing to profess does not lessen it or excuse neglect and rebellion, while vanity in dress and love of amusement violate it, and every day the claim is disregarded and every offered mercy slighted is charged to the account and swells the list of sins for the day when the accounts of every soul will be investigated, so the present short time of probation is the opportunity to yield the affections fully and to be guarded against forgetting God and being led into idolatry.
Teaching Children at Home
The love commanded must first be in the parents' own hearts by entire surrender, and then parents are to make training their children from very infancy their first work, letting nothing else take its place. The words commanded are to be kept in the heart and taught diligently continually, talked of when sitting in the house and walking by the way and lying down and rising up. They are to be bound for a sign upon the hand and as frontlets between the eyes, picturing the mind dwelling continually on the will revealed, and written upon the posts of the house and on the gates. The command engages the whole person with heart and soul and might, and its principles are to guide children's conduct and be woven into all their experience, including learning to love with the whole heart.
This preparation of parents and children is required before admission into the heavenly family and the city of God. Unless the root is holy there can be no acceptable fruit, and even the most splendid service is not accepted without personal consecration first. That consecration means the soul-temple cleansed, the inner lamp trimmed, self controlled, and piety and virtue and godliness revealed in the home life, which prevents objectionable traits of character and fits the family for the present life and the future life. Such wholehearted love with heart and mind and soul invites God's unseen angels to be present in the home and to cooperate with parents and children. Fathers and mothers receiving converting power upon their minds and a tender loving heart are to bring children up in nurture and admonition so they may have a place in the kingdom when the gates are opened, for only those who have kept the truth will enter.
The teaching starts when children are young by giving them the privilege of reading the Word of life and by educating them in patience and kindness and goodness with no scolding or fretting. It is carried on through family worship where unruly children are taken aside and instructed not to dishonor God, and where prayer at the altar is heard as praise and thanksgiving, including thanks for keeping from impatience and fretfulness and wickedness, so they learn obedience is worship. Parents teach also by words and example and by the way they live, impressing sacred principles on minds and teaching what true salvation means, shaping conduct and responsibilities at home so children are prepared for school and guarded when away. Ordinances were instituted as a special safeguard and blessing to keep Him in remembrance for the younger members, that they might gain knowledge of Him and fear and honor Him as Leader and depend on Him to carry them safely through. So taught, children can become loyal subjects of the kingdom, and this simplicity of godliness brings thousands converted where only a hundred are seen.
Neglect of this work is sinful and forfeits the peace and happiness that faithful duty brings by putting what should come first last. Failure to teach the requirements diligently leads to separation from wisdom, exalting human tradition and inventions above the commandments, regarding divine truth as of small worth, rejecting light, and finally rejecting Christ. That same spirit is still manifested in aversion to investigating truth lest tradition be disturbed. Neglect by parents to train children to respect and honor the holy commandments, joined with failure by religious teachers to respect every precept and present the holy standard while erecting their own standard and dishonoring the law, produces sins and crimes by adults and by youth and children and widespread iniquity making the days like the days of Noah and Lot.
The surrounding instruction joins this love to fearing and serving the Lord alone without going after other gods or tempting Him, and to diligently keeping His commandments and testimonies and statutes and doing what is right and good, with godly fear rather than servile fear, and observing to do all the commandments is righteousness given for good always to preserve alive. Obeying the law includes refraining from unnecessary work on the holy day, and every family member should know the law's requirements and restrictions. The passage is urged in examining whether people are chosen and set apart to honor God, in connection with keeping the Sabbath as the sign of His government. The instruction in Deuteronomy 4-8 is to be read and studied with profit now because the world is nearing the day of God's great final review when all must stand before the Judge to answer for deeds, in the time of investigation when every character will have been investigated and every case decided for eternity, and despite opposition these words of truth are to be heard by all, including the message of the third angel.
Undivided Heart Devotion
The Lord claims the whole heart and the entire affections, and He will not come in as second nor accept a divided heart. To love Him with all the heart and soul and strength and mind and life is thorough conversion and entire surrender, with the will brought into subjection and surrendered to His will and ways, the heart made clean and wholly conformed to His will, the mind pure and undefiled, and the whole heart and mind and soul and being enlisted in His service. Giving goods or performing service is not acceptable without the heart, and partial obedience or a competing passion, habit, or defect falls short, for acceptable obedience depends on this wholehearted consecration as a controlling principle rather than superficial profession or merely saying I believe. All who enter the new life must understand this before baptism, practicing the truth, doing the will of the Father, keeping His commandments, and bearing good fruit that makes a plain separation from those who disregard His precepts, and in this life each person decides destiny by obedience or disobedience. This love is produced in the heart by careful study of the Word, the voice of conscience, and the strivings of the Spirit in response to Christ who gave Himself as a whole sacrifice to redeem the whole person, soul, body, and spirit, and doing this brings eternal life while the transformed life witnesses to an indwelling Saviour who moves mind and heart to do His will and gives faith that works by love and purifies the soul.
Such wholehearted love leaves no place for other gods, self-love, love of the world, or undue affection for anything created. No idol, wealth, status, worldly attachment, darling habit such as tobacco held above God, misdirected sentimental affection, or adored human person may share the highest affection or absorb the mind, for the first four commandments forbid dividing devotion between God and anything else. Encouraging fixation on a faulty human ideal, or using the affections to attract others and lead them on so they become less interested in the service of God, divides devotion, injures them, interposes self between them and their Saviour, and robs God of heart-worship. Self-seeking and self-indulgence cloud the view of Christ and give Satan control, and departure from this obedience is the cause of weakness and backsliding. God alone is entitled to supreme love and entire confidence as the object of gratitude and adoration, reverence and unquestioning submission, because He alone can give rest and peace and happiness to the soul, and His law is spiritual, taking cognizance of the most secret thoughts, purposes, and motives and controlling the judgment, the will, and the affections. Without this love external compliance, mere belief in His existence and power, or outward worship will not be accepted, for if the heart delights in idols while offering formal worship, God is robbed of the service which is His due. God looks on the heart, and as the heart is so is a person's religion, so His truth cannot profit or enlighten when only professedly believed without sinking into the heart; it must enter the heart and reform the life and character, sanctifying the affections and bearing fruit in love for others, and when God holds His rightful place in the heart the duties to others are faithfully performed in obedience and the way of life.
God intends this love as inward spiritual work inwrought on mind and character and woven into life, not an outward exhibition of piety. His law must be written on the heart and stamped upon the soul, not merely held in the understanding or memory or professed while sin is loved in secret, with the whole heart and soul and strength and mind under His discipline, for profession of godliness alone is not obedience. This love is not mere emotion, fruitless belief that God exists and has power, or cold acknowledgment of His love, but a living, active principle shown by willing obedience to all His requirements. With the mind controlled by God, the heart purified, and the love of the Saviour constraining base passions, it reforms life and character and gives a preservative influence on others, for the heart is the citadel from which come the issues of life or death. It is not enough to hear it or accept it as true in theory; it must be woven into daily life and practice to honor both God who gave the law and Jesus Christ who died to magnify it in grateful response, and those who only hear without recognizing its claims and carrying out its principles receive no sanctifying effect upon character.
Supreme love to God is shown by keeping His commandments with pleasure and meditating upon the eternal excellence of His character, and it grows in proportion to knowledge of His attributes and the value placed on Him, so that it cannot be hidden but has a reflex influence upon all hearts. It means devotedness to His service, trust in Him, living to His glory, pleasure in His ordinances and delight in Him, and keeping up the form of religion without these proves destitution of grace in the heart. It takes all there is of a person, with everything earthly secondary and no human affection allowed to come between, expressed through daily consecration, meekness, lowliness, and praise without needing to announce religion publicly. Meditating morning, noon, and night on God's goodness and love helps people know Him, while neglecting this leaves the affections elsewhere and praise unoffered. Taking in the full significance of the Father's love in valuing fallen man enough to give His Son to self-denial, sacrifice, shame, and death must be meditated upon, beheld critically, talked of in the family, and brought into life experience until its breadth and depth and height are known and implicit confidence in His promises follows. This wholehearted love is lived out in giving up one's own way and making seeking Him and having daily communion with Him one's business with a contrite heart whose prayer He hears and answers as a present help in every time of need, and in faithful, cheerful duty such as standing at the post in caring for a father in sickness and enduring privation to wait on him, which God's eye watches and angels mark with strength given to fulfill it until its reward at last.
To love God with all the heart means more than many understand: to be a partaker with Christ in His humiliation and suffering, with the human mind blended with the mind of Christ. This union sanctifies the understanding, giving thoughts clearness and force. It means surrendering all one has and is to the keeping power of Christ and striving to bring life into conformity to His will in response to being bought with the blood of the only begotten Son of God. Whoever loves God in this way can do medical-missionary work that is excellent in God's sight.
Love Shown in Action
Love for God with all heart, soul and might cannot be kept while love to neighbor is broken, and love to neighbor cannot be kept while it is broken. When God has His rightful place on the throne of the heart the right place will be given to neighbor, and only as God is loved supremely is it possible to love neighbor impartially. Truly loving God makes love for one's brother natural as brotherly kindness, and withholding affection withholds the love due to both God and neighbor, so helping one another follows. This wholehearted love is the true fruit of piety shown by doing what the law requires and not merely professing belief, and it reveals the importance of keeping the last six commandments, all summed in loving one's neighbor as oneself as part of one's very being. Since all the commandments are summed up in love to God and man, not one precept can be broken without violating this divine whole, for the law is not separate greater and lesser precepts that may be ignored but a divine whole of the first four expressing duty to the Creator and the last six flowing out of it.
This love is kept by seeing and relieving the needs of others regardless of religious beliefs, even the unconverted, uncourteous, uncouth, and disagreeable. Its meaning is made plain in the good Samaritan, where compassion in binding wounds, carrying, sheltering, and paying for care of a stranger left half dead sums all principles of the law, in contrast to passing by. To leave a suffering neighbor unrelieved is breach of the law and proves unfitness for sacred office, while practical mercy and tender care is true missionary work revealing a Christlike character. True godliness is measured by what a person does, and a Christlike character — not profession or position — is evidence of faithfulness, binding people to one another as God's helping hands. Even in business dealings this wholehearted love must shape conduct toward others, avoiding sharp or dishonest dealings, refusing to take as much as possible for personal gain, and giving no reason to think self-gain is put first.
Loving God with all the might, mind, and strength is practical and active, not idle musing, calling for energetic use of all mental and physical powers in faithful duties for His glory. Physical powers are to be cultivated and used completely and intelligently in loving and serving Him, consecrating every faculty to His service and putting those powers to faithful use in honoring Him and blessing others. It means putting heart and soul into every kind of work with cheerfulness and efficiency even in the humblest occupation, appreciating God's gift of physical powers and mental faculties, using educated ability to devise improved methods, and making the law of God the standard of action so all essential labor is ennobled and sanctified. Steadily perfecting work begun by the Spirit rather than impulsive excitement followed by inaction reflects complete change of heart, soul, mind, and strength, excludes cherishing self or living for oneself, and enables steadfastness in trial through sacrifice that puts His honor and glory before everything else. The rich man who knew the command but used his abundance and powers for selfish pleasure instead of serving God by helping those in need showed neglect, forgetfulness of accountability, and failure to cooperate in God's work of mercy.
Such love brings every power of one's being into harmony with the laws that enable doing His will, refusing to weaken or defile the offering by indulgence of appetite or passion. It brings every appetite into harmony with God in caring for the body as His dwelling place and temple, watching mental and physical powers, and giving Him the best service of life. Such wholehearted love cannot be practiced without self-denial: ruling passion, resisting fault-finding, patiently bearing with difficult conduct, faithfully carrying responsibilities without seeking applause, and doing good to others rather than serving oneself. It practices strict economy in eating, drinking, dressing and spending, remembering that money is the Lord's and the result of hard labor. Those who ruin health, become slaves to corrupt passions, lose inclination for secret prayer, and sacrifice physical strength and reason upon lust violate this requirement, and their distracted and enfeebled service through licentiousness, vanity in dress, love of amusement, and ruined health cannot be accepted while they continue in their wrong course.
Supreme love makes Christ first and highest, preferring no person before Him in gifts and offerings and making His tabernacle and sacred institution the first consideration. The Lord claims the whole heart and entire affections and will not come in as second, so heart, soul, strength, mind and life are surrendered wholly with affections given wholly to Him and His honor and glory put before everything else. This love is tested by denying self and refusing pleasure and selfish gratification while God's house is burdened with debt, being ready for great personal sacrifice to leave it free as partners with Christ. Because every part of a person and all possessed belong to God, time, talents, influence, and money are to be devoted to His service and glory, not used to enhance personal honor, but used to meet missionary necessity and sustain workers so they can provide for families and carry the work forward. Living this love means uniting wholeheartedly with God's people and seeking with all powers to advance His cause and advocate known truth, using passing time and precious opportunities to do duty to God and fellow men instead of leaving them unimproved, and giving cheerfully and generously while honoring sacred things.
Wholehearted love is shown in daily life by faith working by love and purifying the soul, visible in words, dress, and conduct. It cherishes humble and contrite hearts, seeks God with full purpose and daily communion, trusts Him rather than making flesh an arm, and turns from self-rule and pride. It clings to Him in faithful duty to family and to young men in school, blending husband and wife as one in consulting, praying, and studying Scripture. It loves co-laborers with pure unselfish courtesy instead of criticism and fault-finding, forbidding disparaging the individuality of any other mind by condemnation, and calls many different minds to blend in revealing a perfect pattern while retaining individuality. It puts the whole heart into the temperance cause, develops the intellect fully to know and love the Creator, uses abilities and influence in a wide field, and learns God's requirements from Scripture and then practices them to build up His church.
Spoken by Christ Himself through Moses to Israel, the command calls for loving the one Lord with everything a person is, heart and soul and strength and mind engaged together. It is complete love without division or reserve, taking the whole heart and affections and will into covenant devotion rather than a part. With love to neighbor as self it forms one of the two great principles on which hang all the law and the prophets, summing the first four commandments toward God while the second sums the last six toward fellow men. Doing this is the stated condition of entering life, for obedience from the heart means life and refusal means death. That inward love is first to be kept in the parents' own hearts and then taught diligently to children continually, and it proves itself in keeping all His commandments, relieving the needs of others, and using every mental and physical power in faithful service.
Words and Original Setting
The command was given through Moses to the children of Israel before the incarnation by Christ himself, their visible Leader enshrouded in the cloudy pillar in the wilderness wanderings. He who spoke it is the same who proclaimed the law from Sinai and delivered the ritual precepts, who later spoke the Sermon on the Mount, and who repeated the same requirement when the Word was made flesh and dwelt among men to teach them how to be saved. It is His direction and His own requirement spoken to Moses from the pillar of cloud, and His setting forth of love to God in the gospel is only a reiteration of what He had already spoken through Moses.
It belongs to the commandments and statutes and judgments Moses was commanded to teach Israel to do in the land they were to possess, heard and observed that it might be well with them and that they might increase mightily in the land flowing with milk and honey as promised to the fathers. It was given to a people brought out of Egypt that they might be a holy people unto Himself and loyal subjects of His kingdom, in covenant calling and faithful response to the Lord who had delivered them. The words commanded were to be kept in the heart and taught diligently continually to children, talked of when sitting in the house and walking by the way and lying down and rising up, bound for a sign upon the hand and as frontlets between the eyes and written upon the posts of the house and on the gates, with parents given the sacred duty and special work with ordinances to keep Him in remembrance so that children would know, fear, honor, and obey Him as Leader. The instruction in Deuteronomy 4-8 is to be read with profit and studied and obeyed now, because the world is nearing God's great final review when all must stand before the Judge and every character will have been investigated and every case decided for eternity, with its special lesson to do what it teaches.
Because the LORD is one LORD, the command calls for love with all the heart and with all the soul and with all the might, taking in all that a person is in covenant relation with Him. It engages the whole person — heart, soul, strength and mind — in complete devotion expressed in consecrated service, with reverence, walking in His ways, and keeping His commandments and statutes for good. The affections of the heart and the thoughts of the mind must not be given to created things in place of the Creator, and hanging the helpless soul upon the Lord is the way this wholehearted devotion is expressed, with prosperity assured. This love belongs in the heart to shape daily life and household education, kept continually before the home and woven into everyday instruction of children to obey.
The love required is complete, not with two-thirds or half or a quarter of the heart, but by a person and his son and his son's son all the days of life, with obedience linked to prolonged life and well-being in the promised land. It is joined to fearing and serving the Lord alone without going after other gods or tempting Him, and to diligently keeping His commandments and testimonies and statutes and doing what is right and good. That fear is not servile fear but godly fear, and observing to do all the commandments before the Lord is righteousness given for good always to preserve alive. These words are to be read to believers so the church will give the message in wisdom and in righteousness, with parents honoring God by keeping His commandments and passing them on to their children.
Foundation of God's Law
Supreme love to God with all heart and soul and might and mind and strength is one of the two great principles of the law, joined with love to neighbor as self, and upon these two hang all the law and the prophets, and doing them brings life. It is the first of all the commandments and the commandment of greatest importance, with none other greater than these two, the second being like the first and flowing out of it. It is repeated from age to age to keep those in danger of formalism from forgetting to show mercy. This wholehearted devotion means depending on God rather than making people into gods.
This love sums the first four commandments and expresses the principle governing duty to the Creator, while love to neighbor covers the last six and flows out of love to God. When God has His rightful place on the throne of the heart the right place will be given to neighbor, and only as God is loved supremely is it possible to love neighbor impartially. Neither love can be kept while the other is broken. Since all the commandments are summed up in love to God and man, not one precept can be broken without violating this divine whole, for the law is not separate greater and lesser precepts that may be ignored. Keeping the first four through grace removes every fiber of selfishness, so that no one who truly does duty to God can practice oppression toward fellow men, but the divine attributes are expressed in character and the very love circulating in God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering and abundant in goodness and truth, is imparted and reproduced to the world. Losing this whole-hearted love is falling and leaving first love, requiring repentance and doing the first works, or the candlestick will be removed. It belongs to the laws of righteousness which give life to the one who does them.
Christ's later setting forth of love to God as the foundation of the law and the prophets is only a reiteration of what He had already spoken through Moses, proving the Saviour typified in the rites of the Jewish law is the same Redeemer revealed in the gospel. It was spoken through Moses by Christ Himself, the same who proclaimed the law from Sinai and delivered the ritual precepts and later spoke the Sermon on the Mount, the same visible Leader in the wilderness wanderings, and repeated when He came among men. God's work, claims, teacher, and principles of government are the same in both dispensations and in all time, with a gradual unfolding of His purposes in the plan of redemption from the first gospel promise through the patriarchal and Jewish ages to the present to meet human need, proceeding from one with no variableness nor shadow of turning. It is the same standard given at Sinai and required in the gospel, involving heart and soul and strength and mind, with the heart's affections and thoughts not given to created things in place of the Creator, belonging with fearing God, walking in His ways, serving Him, keeping His commandments, and continual cleaving to the Lord.
The command was not spoken for the Hebrews alone but entrusted to them as guardians and keepers as a sacred trust for the whole world, adapted to all mankind and given for the instruction and government of all. The ten brief, comprehensive, authoritative precepts carry out in detail and make applicable to the condition and circumstances of man the whole duty to God and to fellow man based on love for God and love for neighbor. It is God's holy, everlasting, immutable law, the standard of righteousness and rule of life to be complied with in heart and soul and strength, and the standard by which people are judged. Together with love for neighbor as self it is the law of love that binds to obedience that would guard from evil paths. It must be stamped upon the soul and woven into daily life and practice, for only hearing without recognizing its claims and carrying out its principles brings no sanctifying effect upon character. Jesus joined it with love for neighbor as the answer to what leads to life.
God intends this love to be inward spiritual work inwrought on mind and character and woven into life, not outward exhibition of piety, ceremony, long prayers, holy office, or display. Such love shown in humble obedience to God and unselfish regard for others is a living, active principle of willing obedience to all requirements, worth more than all whole burnt-offerings and sacrifices, and outward religious ceremonies have no value apart from inward piety and living faith. The commandments displayed on a blue ribbon on garments were meant to keep that duty with love for neighbor continually in mind, but outward signs contradicted it when lives opposed God's law and did not take the place of living according to it. The Jewish leaders failed to keep it while insisting on the law, breaking the law and replacing God's commandments with human traditions and maxims. Supreme love to God as evidence that truth is an abiding principle in mind and heart, with love to neighbor flowing out of it and founded upon it, condemns mere tradition and example, and speaking and holding this truth with moral courage in opposition brings one not far from the kingdom of God.
Condition of Eternal Life
What is written in the law about inheriting eternal life is loving the Lord God with all the heart and soul and strength and mind, joined with loving the neighbor as oneself. The answer was given by a lawyer when the burden of answering his own question was laid upon him before a large number of listening people, after prompting by the Pharisees who hoped to secure material for condemnation. Christ confirmed the answer as right and said this do and thou shalt live, putting the question of salvation on that obedience and entering into no controversy over it. Loving God in this complete way, engaging heart, soul, strength and mind, is keeping His commandments given from Sinai, and doing it brings life. The lawyer knew he had not obeyed and asked who counts as neighbor in order to justify himself.
The verse states a decided condition of salvation and eternal life, identical to the answers given to the lawyer asking what to do to inherit eternal life and to the young ruler asking the same question. If one will enter into life, keep the commandments, meaning the ten holy precepts, which prove love for God supremely and for neighbor as self. It is the sum and substance of the law and outlines the terms of salvation: loving God means keeping His commandments, and doing this love is the condition of life, not dependence on a good state of feeling. It must be stamped upon the soul and woven into practice, for belief alone without obedience is not enough. Parents must listen to the Word rather than to men and ministers who say the commandments are not obligatory, and teach children to obey and reverence the law, with the words in the heart and taught diligently at all times when sitting in the house and walking by the way and lying down and rising up, bound for a sign upon the hands and as frontlets between the eyes and written upon the posts of the house and on the gates, for obedience means life and disobedience means death.
The verse means supreme love for God in place of supreme self-love, and exposes deficiency in fulfilling the law of God. Nothing — not wealth, status, possessions, fellow men, or any worldly attachment — may claim the affections in a way that pushes God from the mind, for loving possessions or fellow men above God and His service breaks the command. Such self-love, love of the world, or excessive affection for anything created is idolatry because it draws the affections away from God, and it is not enough merely to acknowledge His power or offer formal worship while the heart delights in idols. God requires the heart's best and holiest affections and must reign supreme in mind and heart, and supreme love for Him sanctifies the affections and bears fruit in love for other people. Making riches an idol by loving them above God belongs to breaking it, while selling, giving to the poor, and following belongs to keeping it, and acquisitive self-interest, dishonest dealings and unjust gain show a person does not love God wholly or treat others with love, bring a curse, are marked whether toward believers or unbelievers, and cannot withstand the Judgment.
To those who so obey from the heart, keeping all statutes and commandments in the path of obedience by a person and his son and his son's son all the days of life, not with two-thirds or half or a quarter of the heart, God promises that it shall be well with them, that they shall increase mightily in the land flowing with milk and honey as promised to the fathers, and that their days shall be prolonged. He will give blessing and protecting care and guardianship with the cooperation of heavenly intelligences, with abundant blessing in basket and in store and removal of sickness from the midst. Without such obedience He cannot let blessing and protection rest upon them, because the enemy claims power over transgressors of the commandments. Turning away from serving the living God brings His curse, and the same blessing or curse stands now, blessing if there is coming out from the world and walking in humble obedience and a curse if there is uniting with the idolatrous and departing from God. The sacred claim for the whole heart, soul and affections with devotion and cheerful obedience and unconditional surrender rests on all alike, young men and women, whether professing or not, and refusing to profess does not lessen it or excuse neglect and rebellion, while vanity in dress and love of amusement violate it, and every day the claim is disregarded and every offered mercy slighted is charged to the account and swells the list of sins for the day when the accounts of every soul will be investigated, so the present short time of probation is the opportunity to yield the affections fully and to be guarded against forgetting God and being led into idolatry.
Teaching Children at Home
The love commanded must first be in the parents' own hearts by entire surrender, and then parents are to make training their children from very infancy their first work, letting nothing else take its place. The words commanded are to be kept in the heart and taught diligently continually, talked of when sitting in the house and walking by the way and lying down and rising up. They are to be bound for a sign upon the hand and as frontlets between the eyes, picturing the mind dwelling continually on the will revealed, and written upon the posts of the house and on the gates. The command engages the whole person with heart and soul and might, and its principles are to guide children's conduct and be woven into all their experience, including learning to love with the whole heart.
This preparation of parents and children is required before admission into the heavenly family and the city of God. Unless the root is holy there can be no acceptable fruit, and even the most splendid service is not accepted without personal consecration first. That consecration means the soul-temple cleansed, the inner lamp trimmed, self controlled, and piety and virtue and godliness revealed in the home life, which prevents objectionable traits of character and fits the family for the present life and the future life. Such wholehearted love with heart and mind and soul invites God's unseen angels to be present in the home and to cooperate with parents and children. Fathers and mothers receiving converting power upon their minds and a tender loving heart are to bring children up in nurture and admonition so they may have a place in the kingdom when the gates are opened, for only those who have kept the truth will enter.
The teaching starts when children are young by giving them the privilege of reading the Word of life and by educating them in patience and kindness and goodness with no scolding or fretting. It is carried on through family worship where unruly children are taken aside and instructed not to dishonor God, and where prayer at the altar is heard as praise and thanksgiving, including thanks for keeping from impatience and fretfulness and wickedness, so they learn obedience is worship. Parents teach also by words and example and by the way they live, impressing sacred principles on minds and teaching what true salvation means, shaping conduct and responsibilities at home so children are prepared for school and guarded when away. Ordinances were instituted as a special safeguard and blessing to keep Him in remembrance for the younger members, that they might gain knowledge of Him and fear and honor Him as Leader and depend on Him to carry them safely through. So taught, children can become loyal subjects of the kingdom, and this simplicity of godliness brings thousands converted where only a hundred are seen.
Neglect of this work is sinful and forfeits the peace and happiness that faithful duty brings by putting what should come first last. Failure to teach the requirements diligently leads to separation from wisdom, exalting human tradition and inventions above the commandments, regarding divine truth as of small worth, rejecting light, and finally rejecting Christ. That same spirit is still manifested in aversion to investigating truth lest tradition be disturbed. Neglect by parents to train children to respect and honor the holy commandments, joined with failure by religious teachers to respect every precept and present the holy standard while erecting their own standard and dishonoring the law, produces sins and crimes by adults and by youth and children and widespread iniquity making the days like the days of Noah and Lot.
The surrounding instruction joins this love to fearing and serving the Lord alone without going after other gods or tempting Him, and to diligently keeping His commandments and testimonies and statutes and doing what is right and good, with godly fear rather than servile fear, and observing to do all the commandments is righteousness given for good always to preserve alive. Obeying the law includes refraining from unnecessary work on the holy day, and every family member should know the law's requirements and restrictions. The passage is urged in examining whether people are chosen and set apart to honor God, in connection with keeping the Sabbath as the sign of His government. The instruction in Deuteronomy 4-8 is to be read and studied with profit now because the world is nearing the day of God's great final review when all must stand before the Judge to answer for deeds, in the time of investigation when every character will have been investigated and every case decided for eternity, and despite opposition these words of truth are to be heard by all, including the message of the third angel.
Undivided Heart Devotion
The Lord claims the whole heart and the entire affections, and He will not come in as second nor accept a divided heart. To love Him with all the heart and soul and strength and mind and life is thorough conversion and entire surrender, with the will brought into subjection and surrendered to His will and ways, the heart made clean and wholly conformed to His will, the mind pure and undefiled, and the whole heart and mind and soul and being enlisted in His service. Giving goods or performing service is not acceptable without the heart, and partial obedience or a competing passion, habit, or defect falls short, for acceptable obedience depends on this wholehearted consecration as a controlling principle rather than superficial profession or merely saying I believe. All who enter the new life must understand this before baptism, practicing the truth, doing the will of the Father, keeping His commandments, and bearing good fruit that makes a plain separation from those who disregard His precepts, and in this life each person decides destiny by obedience or disobedience. This love is produced in the heart by careful study of the Word, the voice of conscience, and the strivings of the Spirit in response to Christ who gave Himself as a whole sacrifice to redeem the whole person, soul, body, and spirit, and doing this brings eternal life while the transformed life witnesses to an indwelling Saviour who moves mind and heart to do His will and gives faith that works by love and purifies the soul.
Such wholehearted love leaves no place for other gods, self-love, love of the world, or undue affection for anything created. No idol, wealth, status, worldly attachment, darling habit such as tobacco held above God, misdirected sentimental affection, or adored human person may share the highest affection or absorb the mind, for the first four commandments forbid dividing devotion between God and anything else. Encouraging fixation on a faulty human ideal, or using the affections to attract others and lead them on so they become less interested in the service of God, divides devotion, injures them, interposes self between them and their Saviour, and robs God of heart-worship. Self-seeking and self-indulgence cloud the view of Christ and give Satan control, and departure from this obedience is the cause of weakness and backsliding. God alone is entitled to supreme love and entire confidence as the object of gratitude and adoration, reverence and unquestioning submission, because He alone can give rest and peace and happiness to the soul, and His law is spiritual, taking cognizance of the most secret thoughts, purposes, and motives and controlling the judgment, the will, and the affections. Without this love external compliance, mere belief in His existence and power, or outward worship will not be accepted, for if the heart delights in idols while offering formal worship, God is robbed of the service which is His due. God looks on the heart, and as the heart is so is a person's religion, so His truth cannot profit or enlighten when only professedly believed without sinking into the heart; it must enter the heart and reform the life and character, sanctifying the affections and bearing fruit in love for others, and when God holds His rightful place in the heart the duties to others are faithfully performed in obedience and the way of life.
God intends this love as inward spiritual work inwrought on mind and character and woven into life, not an outward exhibition of piety. His law must be written on the heart and stamped upon the soul, not merely held in the understanding or memory or professed while sin is loved in secret, with the whole heart and soul and strength and mind under His discipline, for profession of godliness alone is not obedience. This love is not mere emotion, fruitless belief that God exists and has power, or cold acknowledgment of His love, but a living, active principle shown by willing obedience to all His requirements. With the mind controlled by God, the heart purified, and the love of the Saviour constraining base passions, it reforms life and character and gives a preservative influence on others, for the heart is the citadel from which come the issues of life or death. It is not enough to hear it or accept it as true in theory; it must be woven into daily life and practice to honor both God who gave the law and Jesus Christ who died to magnify it in grateful response, and those who only hear without recognizing its claims and carrying out its principles receive no sanctifying effect upon character.
Supreme love to God is shown by keeping His commandments with pleasure and meditating upon the eternal excellence of His character, and it grows in proportion to knowledge of His attributes and the value placed on Him, so that it cannot be hidden but has a reflex influence upon all hearts. It means devotedness to His service, trust in Him, living to His glory, pleasure in His ordinances and delight in Him, and keeping up the form of religion without these proves destitution of grace in the heart. It takes all there is of a person, with everything earthly secondary and no human affection allowed to come between, expressed through daily consecration, meekness, lowliness, and praise without needing to announce religion publicly. Meditating morning, noon, and night on God's goodness and love helps people know Him, while neglecting this leaves the affections elsewhere and praise unoffered. Taking in the full significance of the Father's love in valuing fallen man enough to give His Son to self-denial, sacrifice, shame, and death must be meditated upon, beheld critically, talked of in the family, and brought into life experience until its breadth and depth and height are known and implicit confidence in His promises follows. This wholehearted love is lived out in giving up one's own way and making seeking Him and having daily communion with Him one's business with a contrite heart whose prayer He hears and answers as a present help in every time of need, and in faithful, cheerful duty such as standing at the post in caring for a father in sickness and enduring privation to wait on him, which God's eye watches and angels mark with strength given to fulfill it until its reward at last.
To love God with all the heart means more than many understand: to be a partaker with Christ in His humiliation and suffering, with the human mind blended with the mind of Christ. This union sanctifies the understanding, giving thoughts clearness and force. It means surrendering all one has and is to the keeping power of Christ and striving to bring life into conformity to His will in response to being bought with the blood of the only begotten Son of God. Whoever loves God in this way can do medical-missionary work that is excellent in God's sight.
Love Shown in Action
Love for God with all heart, soul and might cannot be kept while love to neighbor is broken, and love to neighbor cannot be kept while it is broken. When God has His rightful place on the throne of the heart the right place will be given to neighbor, and only as God is loved supremely is it possible to love neighbor impartially. Truly loving God makes love for one's brother natural as brotherly kindness, and withholding affection withholds the love due to both God and neighbor, so helping one another follows. This wholehearted love is the true fruit of piety shown by doing what the law requires and not merely professing belief, and it reveals the importance of keeping the last six commandments, all summed in loving one's neighbor as oneself as part of one's very being. Since all the commandments are summed up in love to God and man, not one precept can be broken without violating this divine whole, for the law is not separate greater and lesser precepts that may be ignored but a divine whole of the first four expressing duty to the Creator and the last six flowing out of it.
This love is kept by seeing and relieving the needs of others regardless of religious beliefs, even the unconverted, uncourteous, uncouth, and disagreeable. Its meaning is made plain in the good Samaritan, where compassion in binding wounds, carrying, sheltering, and paying for care of a stranger left half dead sums all principles of the law, in contrast to passing by. To leave a suffering neighbor unrelieved is breach of the law and proves unfitness for sacred office, while practical mercy and tender care is true missionary work revealing a Christlike character. True godliness is measured by what a person does, and a Christlike character — not profession or position — is evidence of faithfulness, binding people to one another as God's helping hands. Even in business dealings this wholehearted love must shape conduct toward others, avoiding sharp or dishonest dealings, refusing to take as much as possible for personal gain, and giving no reason to think self-gain is put first.
Loving God with all the might, mind, and strength is practical and active, not idle musing, calling for energetic use of all mental and physical powers in faithful duties for His glory. Physical powers are to be cultivated and used completely and intelligently in loving and serving Him, consecrating every faculty to His service and putting those powers to faithful use in honoring Him and blessing others. It means putting heart and soul into every kind of work with cheerfulness and efficiency even in the humblest occupation, appreciating God's gift of physical powers and mental faculties, using educated ability to devise improved methods, and making the law of God the standard of action so all essential labor is ennobled and sanctified. Steadily perfecting work begun by the Spirit rather than impulsive excitement followed by inaction reflects complete change of heart, soul, mind, and strength, excludes cherishing self or living for oneself, and enables steadfastness in trial through sacrifice that puts His honor and glory before everything else. The rich man who knew the command but used his abundance and powers for selfish pleasure instead of serving God by helping those in need showed neglect, forgetfulness of accountability, and failure to cooperate in God's work of mercy.
Such love brings every power of one's being into harmony with the laws that enable doing His will, refusing to weaken or defile the offering by indulgence of appetite or passion. It brings every appetite into harmony with God in caring for the body as His dwelling place and temple, watching mental and physical powers, and giving Him the best service of life. Such wholehearted love cannot be practiced without self-denial: ruling passion, resisting fault-finding, patiently bearing with difficult conduct, faithfully carrying responsibilities without seeking applause, and doing good to others rather than serving oneself. It practices strict economy in eating, drinking, dressing and spending, remembering that money is the Lord's and the result of hard labor. Those who ruin health, become slaves to corrupt passions, lose inclination for secret prayer, and sacrifice physical strength and reason upon lust violate this requirement, and their distracted and enfeebled service through licentiousness, vanity in dress, love of amusement, and ruined health cannot be accepted while they continue in their wrong course.
Supreme love makes Christ first and highest, preferring no person before Him in gifts and offerings and making His tabernacle and sacred institution the first consideration. The Lord claims the whole heart and entire affections and will not come in as second, so heart, soul, strength, mind and life are surrendered wholly with affections given wholly to Him and His honor and glory put before everything else. This love is tested by denying self and refusing pleasure and selfish gratification while God's house is burdened with debt, being ready for great personal sacrifice to leave it free as partners with Christ. Because every part of a person and all possessed belong to God, time, talents, influence, and money are to be devoted to His service and glory, not used to enhance personal honor, but used to meet missionary necessity and sustain workers so they can provide for families and carry the work forward. Living this love means uniting wholeheartedly with God's people and seeking with all powers to advance His cause and advocate known truth, using passing time and precious opportunities to do duty to God and fellow men instead of leaving them unimproved, and giving cheerfully and generously while honoring sacred things.
Wholehearted love is shown in daily life by faith working by love and purifying the soul, visible in words, dress, and conduct. It cherishes humble and contrite hearts, seeks God with full purpose and daily communion, trusts Him rather than making flesh an arm, and turns from self-rule and pride. It clings to Him in faithful duty to family and to young men in school, blending husband and wife as one in consulting, praying, and studying Scripture. It loves co-laborers with pure unselfish courtesy instead of criticism and fault-finding, forbidding disparaging the individuality of any other mind by condemnation, and calls many different minds to blend in revealing a perfect pattern while retaining individuality. It puts the whole heart into the temperance cause, develops the intellect fully to know and love the Creator, uses abilities and influence in a wide field, and learns God's requirements from Scripture and then practices them to build up His church.