Matthew 22:37

The context

Matthew 22 collects a series of test questions put to Jesus in the temple during the last week: tribute to Caesar, resurrection, and then the greatest commandment. A lawyer asks which command is greatest, and Jesus answers by combining the Shema with the love command from Leviticus. The exchange ends with a question back to the Pharisees.

What it establishes

The verse names love of God as the greatest command and specifies its scope as the whole person: heart, soul, and mind. It also treats the law as something with a center rather than a flat list of equal rules.

What it does not establish

It does not replace the other commands. Matthew immediately adds the second command and says the law and prophets hang on these two, a claim about ordering rather than cancellation. Nor does it set feeling above action; the idiom includes will and intention.

Short note, first pass, October 2026. Corrections welcome.

Cited in these answers

• I tried Christianity but failed when the church bouncer told me to check my intelligence in at the door. Christians are stupid – ignorant, dumb, money-grubbing gay-bashing idiot bigots.
• Since God knows everything, He would have known how much suffering would come. Why didn't He stop the process before it started, and spare His creatures all that pain?

Part of Scripture, Opened — the exegetical layer behind every citation on this site. Scripture quotations are from the ESV.