Mark 12:28-34
The
Greatest Commandment in the
Bible
12:28
"One of the scribes came and heard them arguing,
and recognizing that He had answered them well,
asked Him,
-
- 'What commandment is the
foremost of all?'
29
Jesus answered, 'The foremost is,
HEAR, O ISRAEL! THE LORD OUR GOD IS
ONE LORD;
30 AND YOU
SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART,
AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND, AND
WITH ALL YOUR STRENGTH.'
31
'The second is this, 'YOU SHALL LOVE
YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.'
There is no other commandment
greater than these.'
32
The scribe said to Him, 'Right, Teacher; You have
truly stated that HE IS ONE, AND
THERE IS NO ONE ELSE BESIDES HIM;
33
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
HIMSELF, is much more than
all burnt offerings and sacrifices.'
34
When Jesus saw that
he had answered intelligently, He said to him,
'You are not far from the
kingdom of God.'
After that, no one would
venture to ask Him any more questions.
"
-
This
is the Word of the Lord ... It is meant to
change the way that we think, and the way that
we live.
Commentary
by Bob Pardue
What is the greatest
commandment in the Bible?
Jesus said it all in these
verses. If you love God and love your neighbor as
much as you love yourself, the other 8 Commandments
will follow.
However, following these two
commandments is near impossible for us as humans.
Not a day goes by that we do not break one of these
commandments (or both) in one way or
another.
In the course of the day we
may give an ugly thought to the grocery clerk who
didn't "do it right" according to our standards or
we may have inadvertently failed to disclose that
minor engine problem when selling our
car.
We most likely didn't murder
anyone today but we may have murdered their
character by attacking them mentally or even
verbally.
The fact of the matter is
that, no matter how good a person we try to be, we
can never live up to the standards Christ set for
us.
Are we hopeless cases
doomed to failure? Yes and no.
Yes because we
are human with human feelings and human
thoughts.
No because we
have Jesus to stand in our place and to purify
us.
If we only put our trust in
him Christ will say to the Father, "I will vouch
for him (her)." and all we have done will be
forgotten and forgiven.
Isn't God
Wonderful??
-
Love in Christ
- Bob
If you have never made the
commitment to receive the love and life-changing
experience of Jesus Christ, please take a moment to
go
here and take the
first
steps to salvation.
Verses about the greatest commandment in the
gospel of Mark are from Life Application Study
Bible: New International Version
Another Bible Study
Lesson
Mark
3:31-35
- Jesus
Describes His True Family
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