Master, which is the great commandment in the law?" asked the lawyer Pharisee of Jesus. Matthew tells in the preceding verses how, the Pharisees having heard that Jesus had effectively silenced their religious rivals, the Sadducees, one of their number, a lawyer by profession, propounded this question, hoping possibly to involve Jesus in academic controversy, whereby the Pharisee's professional knowledge of the law might secure for him a verbal victory. Jesus answered his question simply and directly, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind;" and then he added significantly and unexpectedly: "The second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets."
With the profound authority which characterized all his utterances, the Master not only rebuked the spirit of his questioner by citing the second commandment, so flagrantly absent from the Pharisaical thought and practice, but further united, as mutually dependent and complementary, man's duty to God, his duty to his neighbor, and his duty to himself. In this way he showed unmistakably that such observance was the fulfillment of the law, the foundation on which alone true worship and right conduct could be based. In other words, Jesus stressed the vital importance of brotherly love.
An examination of the nature of the obedience enjoined in this arresting answer will be found to include consecration of thought, motive, affection, and aim. To those to whom these words were addressed, even if their inner meaning was not apprehended, they must have appeared a challenge indeed.
