Matthew 22:34-40 NLT
34 But when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees with his reply, they met together to question him again. 35 One of them, an expert in religious law, tried to trap him with this question: 36 “Teacher, which is the most important commandment in the law of Moses?”
37 Jesus replied, “‘You must love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.”
In Matthew 22:35-38 Jesus was asked a question, but the reason was not to gain a better understanding about a Biblical topic, as it was done as before(Mat. 22:18), to try to trap him. Verse thirty-five identifies the one asking the question as “an expert in the law” or a Pharisee. But who were the Pharisees? And why is it really important to know?
In the NIV New Testament, Pharisee or Pharisees is mentioned 96 times. But when we read scripture mentioning these men, one of the few things we can easily see is that they did not like Jesus and He did not appreciate them either. The gospel of Matthew tells us nine times that Jesus calls them hypocrites. “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites!” Matthew 23:13.
Pharisee or Pharisees “a religious and political party in Palestine in New Testament times known for strict observance of rites and ceremonies of the written law and for insistence on the validity of their own oral traditions concerning the law.” “Pharisees observed the Law carefully as far as appearances went, but their hearts were far from God.”
Jesus in this instance, instead of rebuking this Pharisee who was “an expert in the law”, uses this opportunity in answering this question as a teaching opportunity, not only for the Sadducees whom He just had corrected, (Mat. 22:23-32) but also for the “crowds” who were present (Mat. 22:33) and the other Pharisees (Mat. 22:34b).
Because the Pharisees believed it was so important to observe all 613 laws of God found in the Old Testament, they overlooked the most important one of which they knew very well. In their legalistic attempt of trying to fulfill all the requirements of the other 612 laws, they had lost or removed themselves from the relationship that comes from loving God.
Understanding this fact about the Pharisees, the question we must consider is, in which ways can we possibly be like the Pharisees when it comes to how we apply the Bible to our relationship with God?
Some well-meaning Christian leaders have said, B.I.B.L.E. stands for “Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth”, or have referred to the Bible as the “owner’s manual” for Christians. These quotations might seem cute or witty, but we need to be very careful not to see the Bible only as a resource of “divine principles for life”. When we have this kind understanding about the Bible, we begin to value and seek it‘s contents only for it‘s applicable spiritual principles thatapply to our lives and to others. The end result will be a replacing of an intimate relationship with God for Biblical knowledge that is arrogant and a legalistic adherence to spiritual principles, which is not much different than what the Pharisees did.
All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
2 Timothy 3:16-17
The Bible from Genesis to Revelation is the inspired Word of God and the New Testament refers to the Bible 71 times as “the Word of God” or “Scripture”. We also must take into account that these terms are making reference to the Old Testament because the New Testament was still in the process of being written.
The reading of the Bible along with prayer, fellowship with the Church, and other means are what we use to know God and to nourish our intimate relationship with Him. But when we make the Bible our only source for what we think we need in our lives, we can easily diminish and exchange our relationship with God for “spiritual principles, divine laws and applicable Biblical instructions”. When this happens, an intimate relationship that experiences what it is to “love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind” will be replaced with, “five steps to a more godly marriage, how to raise kids God’s way, biblical laws of leadership, managing your finances with kingdom principles”.
The Pharisees in their zeal to strictly obey the other 612 laws forgot about “the most important commandment”, as Jesus stated, to “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.”; even though Deuteronomy 6:5 was one of very laws they should have observed.
Sky Jethani in his book, With: Reimagining the Way You Relate to God, tells us how this can also easily happen to Christians today. “But in our zeal to honor the importance of God’s Word and extol its usefulness, we may unintentionally do the opposite. We may reduce the Bible from God’s revelation of himself to merely a revelation of divine principles for a new set taken from the Bible.”
God’s divine plan for the believer in Christ is to have an intimate relationship with Him. He made this possible by giving us His Spirit when we received His Son Jesus as our Savior and Lord. John 14:16-17, 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever— 17 the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.
God never intended His Word, the laws of His Word or the spiritual principles from the Bible to replace the intimate relationship we should have with Him and He wants to have with us.
When we “love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind”, God will be our most precious treasure, the utmost or greatest desire of our lives, God will be the most important priority in our lives over anything else. All of our desires, plans and decisions will be to honor Him and His will for our lives.
The challenge that every Christian confronts is the willingness to let go or submit, to put into a position of lesser importance and priority what we think and what the world tells us what should be important in and for our lives. In order to “love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind” we must keep everything and everyone in our lives in their proper priority and not allow anything or anyone to hinder or get in the way or take the place of us fulfilling the “…the first and greatest commandment”.
