Short answer: Asked to name the single greatest commandment, Jesus quoted Deuteronomy 6:5 — love God completely — and then added a second, Leviticus 19:18 — love your neighbor as yourself. He was not inventing new law. He was identifying the two commands that the entire law hangs on.
"Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself" (KJV).
The context
This exchange takes place during Jesus' final week in Jerusalem, in a sequence of hostile questions from religious leaders (Matthew 22). The Pharisees have just watched him silence the Sadducees, and a lawyer — an expert in the law — asks which commandment is greatest, testing him.
The question was a live rabbinic debate. Jewish tradition counted hundreds of commandments in the Torah, and ranking them was a genuine discussion, not a trick with no possible answer.
Verse 40 supplies the conclusion that makes the answer more than a list: on these two commandments "hang all the law and the prophets" (KJV). The image is of everything else suspended from these two hooks.
Parallels appear in Mark 12:28–31 and Luke 10:25–28. In Luke, the same answer is followed immediately by "who is my neighbour?" and the parable of the Good Samaritan.
Phrase by phrase
"Thou shalt love the Lord thy God." Jesus quotes Deuteronomy 6:5, part of the Shema — the confession recited daily by observant Jews, beginning "Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD" (Deuteronomy 6:4, KJV). Every listener would have known it by heart.
"With all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind." Deuteronomy 6:5 reads "heart, soul, and might"; Matthew has "mind." Mark 12:30 lists four terms. The variation is not a discrepancy about content — the phrase functions as a totality expression. The stacked terms mean all of you, not a checklist of separable faculties.
"This is the first and great commandment." First in rank and in order. Love of God is the source, not merely the top item.
"And the second is like unto it." The word translated "like" means of the same kind. Jesus is not softening the second; he is placing it in the same category. This is the striking move — the lawyer asked for one commandment and got two joined together.
"Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." From Leviticus 19:18. In its original setting the surrounding verses are intensely practical: leave gleanings for the poor, pay wages the same day, do not curse the deaf, judge fairly, do not stand idle while your neighbor is in danger. "As thyself" sets the standard by the care everyone naturally extends to their own interests.
Cross-references
- Deuteronomy 6:4–5 — the Shema, the source of the first command.
- Leviticus 19:9–18 — the concrete neighbor-love commands surrounding the quoted line.
- Luke 10:25–37 — the same answer, followed by the Good Samaritan.
- Romans 13:8–10 — love is the fulfilling of the law.
- Galatians 5:14 — the whole law is fulfilled in one word: love your neighbor as yourself.
- James 2:8 — the "royal law" (KJV).
- 1 John 4:20 — anyone claiming to love God while hating a brother is a liar.
How to apply it today
The two commands function as a diagnostic pair, and Scripture will not let them be separated. 1 John 4:20 states the test bluntly: love for the invisible God is verified by love for the visible person.
Take the order seriously, though. Love of God is first and generative. Neighbor-love detached from it tends to collapse into either exhaustion or self-congratulation. Love of God detached from neighbor-love is what Jesus spends most of Matthew 23 condemning.
For "as thyself," the useful reading is not a command to boost self-esteem first. It observes that everyone already attends carefully to their own needs — you notice when you are hungry, tired, or treated unfairly — and directs that same attentiveness outward.
And note what these commands do not do: they do not reduce the law to sentiment. Leviticus 19 spells out what neighbor-love costs in wages, courts, and harvests. Jesus said the law hangs on these commands, not that it is replaced by them.
Where faithful Christians differ: how the two commands relate to the rest of the law's specifics. Some traditions treat love as the interpretive key that reorders every other command; others emphasize that love is defined by the commands rather than replacing them. Romans 13:8–10 is central to both readings.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why did Jesus give two commandments when asked for one? He was asked for the greatest and answered it, then added a second he described as "like unto it" — of the same kind. Verse 40 explains the pairing: all the law and the prophets hang on both. In Jesus' teaching, love of God and love of neighbor cannot be separated (see also 1 John 4:20).
Was Jesus quoting the Old Testament? Yes, both commands. The first is Deuteronomy 6:5, part of the Shema recited daily by observant Jews. The second is Leviticus 19:18. He was not introducing new legislation; he was identifying which existing commands everything else depends on.
Why does Matthew say "mind" when Deuteronomy says "might"? The stacked terms function as an expression of totality — heart, soul, mind, strength together mean the whole person. Mark 12:30 lists four terms and Luke 10:27 also includes strength. The variation reflects the idiom's purpose rather than a difference in content.
What does "as thyself" mean — do I have to love myself first? The phrase observes an existing reality rather than issuing a prior command: people already attend closely to their own needs, comfort, and fair treatment. The instruction redirects that same attentiveness toward the neighbor. Leviticus 19:9–18 shows what it looks like in practice — fair wages, honest judgment, care for the poor.