Matthew 22:34-40

The Greatest Commandment

22:34 Now when the Pharisees ¹  heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, ²  they assembled together. ³  22:35 And one of them, an expert in religious law, ⁴  asked him a question to test ⁵  him: 22:36 “Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?” ⁶  22:37 Jesus ⁷  said to him, “‘Love ⁸  the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ ⁹  22:38 This is the first and greatest ¹⁰  commandment. 22:39 The second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ ¹¹  22:40 All the law and the prophets depend ¹²  on these two commandments.”

[22:34]  ¹ sn See the note on Pharisees in 3:7.

[22:34]  ² sn See the note on Sadducees in 3:7.

[22:34]  ³ tn Grk “for the same.” That is, for the same purpose that the Sadducees had of testing Jesus.

[22:35]  ⁴ tn Traditionally, “a lawyer.” This was an expert in the interpretation of the Mosaic law.

[22:35]  ⁵ tn Grk “testing.” The participle, however, is telic in force.

[22:36]  ⁶ tn Or possibly “What sort of commandment in the law is great?”

[22:37]  ⁷ tn Grk “And he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity. Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[22:37]  ⁸ tn Grk “You will love.” The future indicative is used here with imperatival force (see ExSyn 452 and 569).

[22:37]  ⁹ sn A quotation from Deut 6:5. The threefold reference to different parts of the person says, in effect, that one should love God with all one’s being.

[22:38]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “the great and first.”

[22:39]  ¹¹ sn A quotation from Lev 19:18.

[22:40]  ¹² tn Grk “hang.” The verb κρεμάννυμι (kremannumi) is used here with a figurative meaning (cf. BDAG 566 s.v. 2.b).