G4. Loving God. [Make a Comment]
We are to love God with all of our heart, soul, strength, and mind.
This precept is derived from His Word (blessed be He):
Key Scriptures
Deuteronomy 6:5-9
(Maimonides RP3; Meir MP3; Chinuch C418)
... and you are to love ADONAI your God with all your heart, all your being
and all your resources. These words, which I am ordering you today, are to
be on your heart; and you are to teach them carefully to your children. You
are to talk about them when you sit at home, when you are traveling on the
road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them on your hand as a
sign, put them at the front of a headband around your forehead, and write
them on the door-frames of your house and on your gates.
Matthew 22:33-38
When the crowds heard how he taught, they were astounded; but when the
P'rushim learned that he had silenced the Tz'dukim, they got
together, and one of them who was a Torah expert asked a sh'eilah to
trap him: "Rabbi, which of the mitzvot in the Torah is the most important?"
He told him, "'You are to love ADONAI your God with all your heart and
with all your soul and with all your strength.' This is the greatest
and most important mitzvah.
Mark 12:28-30
When the crowds heard how he taught, they were astounded; but when the
P'rushim learned that he had silenced the Tz'dukim, they got
together, and one of them who was a Torah expert asked a sh'eilah to
trap him: "Rabbi, which of the mitzvot in the Torah is the most important?"
He told him, "'You are to love ADONAI your God with all your heart and
with all your soul and with all your strength.' This is the greatest
and most important mitzvah.
Luke 10:25-28
An expert in Torah stood up to try and trap him by asking, "Rabbi, what
should I do to obtain eternal life?" But Yeshua said to him, "What is
written in the Torah? How do you read it?" He answered, "You are to love
ADONAI your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your
strength and with all your understanding; and your neighbor as yourself."
"That's the right answer," Yeshua said. "Do this, and you will have
life."
John 14:21-24
Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me, and the one
who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and reveal
myself to him." Y'hudah (not the one from K'riot) said to him,
"What has happened, Lord, that you are about to reveal yourself to us and
not to the world?" Yeshua answered him, "If someone loves me, he will keep
my word; and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our
home with him. Someone who doesn't love me doesn't keep my words
- and the word you are hearing is not my own but that of the Father who sent
me.
1 John 4:20-21
If anyone says, "I love God," and hates his brother, he is a liar. For if a
person does not love his brother, whom he has seen, then he cannot love God,
whom he has not seen. Yes, this is the command we have from him: whoever
loves God must love his brother too.
Commentary
This Mitzvah is recited by Jews the world over several times a day in a portion of the Torah known as the "Sh'ma" (Deuteronomy 6:4-9). It is so foundational to Jewish faith, that when Yeshua was asked in Matthew 22:36, "Rabbi, which of the mitzvot in the Torah is the most important?" he replied by quoting Deuteronomy 6:5: "'You are to love ADONAI your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength'" (see also Mark 12:30 and Luke 10:27).
Loving God is a covenant commitment to Him that is proven though our obedience (John 14:21-24) and our willingness and sincere desire to put His agenda before our own (Matthew 6:33, 16:24-25; Luke 9:23). That notwithstanding, love (including love of God) has an emotional component to it, a passion, that must be guided by that covenant commitment; the two go together. Also, perceiving God's nature, character, majesty, and faithfulness, causes us to recognize His love of us, and stimulates our love of Him in return (1 John 4:19).
Loving God is also connected to our loving one another in two prominent Scriptures. 1 John 4:20-21 makes it clear that, despite any claim we may make to the contrary, we cannot love God if we do not also love our brother. The other Scripture is a continuation of Yeshua's statement that loving God is the most important commandment; in Matthew 22:39 he also said: "And a second is similar to it, 'You are to love your neighbor as yourself.'" (See also, Mark 12:31 and Luke 10:27).
Classical Commentators
Maimonides analogizes loving God with meditating upon and contemplating His mitzvot; he says that by so doing, we get to know Him and receive joy. Also, because the words of the Sh'ma speak of teaching God's mitzvot, Maimonides associates the commandment to love God with our obligation to teach the people of the world that they must have faith in Him and serve Him.
Meir agrees with Maimonides, and adds the component of having affection for God. He refers to Abraham's relationship with God as an example of there being "love" between them, and he quotes Genesis 12:5 as an example of Abraham's love through obedience, and Isaiah 41:8 as an example of God considering Abraham to be His friend (see reference to this in James 2:23).
HaChinuch adds an interesting perspective by stating that a man cannot fully obey God's Commandments unless he loves Him. This is the reverse of (but not inconsistent with) the Scriptures cited above that infer that one way to love God is by obeying His Commandments.
HaChinuch also cites God's relationship with Abraham, and that our love of God should cause us to encourage others to serve and worship Him as well.
NCLA: JMm JFm GMm GFm KMm KFm