Jesus said unto him,
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.
Read Chapter 22
Cornelius a Lapide
AD 1637
Jesus saith to him, &c. Moses, in Deuteronomy 6:5, and from thence Mark and Luke add, with all thy strength. The Persian has, with the utmost power of thy mind. This answers to the Hebrew meodecha of Deuteronomy.
Observe, as against Calvin, that this precept is in every one"s power as possible to keep. For the complete and highest love of God, in its utmost extent, is not that which is here spoken of, but that only which is to be understood comparatively. Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and soul, and mind, is the same thing as to say, Thou shalt love God with thy whole will, namely, 1st. Comparatively, that thou shalt give no portion of thy love to an idol, or to anything whatsoever that is contrary to God2d. Finally, that altogether thou shouldst wish God to be the final object of all thy thoughts, actions, and thy love; and that thou shouldst choose Him as thy chief good and Last End, before all things whatsoever3d. Appreciatively, that thou shouldst esteem not...
Therefore the first commandment teaches every kind of godliness. For to love God with the whole heart is the cause of every good. The second commandment includes the righteous acts we do toward other people. The first commandment prepares the way for the second and in turn is established by the second. For the person who is grounded in the love of God clearly also loves his neighbor in all things himself. The kind of person who fulfills these two commandments experiences all the commandments.
For since the first commandment was this, You shall love the Lord your God, thinking that He would afford them some handle, as though He would amend it, for the sake of showing that Himself too was God, they propose the question. What then says Christ? Indicating from what they were led to this; from having no charity, from pining with envy, from being seized by jealousy, He says, You shall love the Lord your God. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like this, You shall love your neighbor as yourself. Matthew 22:37-39
But wherefore like this? Because this makes the way for that, and by it is again established; For every one that does evil hates the light, neither comes to the light; John 3:20 and again, The fool has said in his heart, There is no God. And what in consequence of this? They are corrupt, and become abominable in their ways. And again, The love of money is the root of all evils; which while some coveted after they have erred from the faith; 1 Timo...
