Reaction: Do the two greatest commandments supersede the 10 commandments of the Old Testament?
“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and will all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no greater commandment than these.” Mark 12:30-31 NIV
June 2024: I remember seeing a video post on Instagram from a pastor’s personal account. The pastor was using the Bible to call out people doing immoral and ungodly acts. I recall seeing the comments and people arguing about biblical context. It was apparent to me, that many of the people commenting on the video had a lack of understanding of God and His teachings. I remember one commenter said there are no commandments for us to follow other than what is quoted in the verse above, love God and love your neighbor. The person argued this verse canceled out the previous commandments provided to us in the Old Testament. What this person was arguing was that we can do whatever we want as long as we follow those two commandments.
The fallacy in this argument and what the person did not comprehend was that the verse did not say there are no other commandments. In fact, the 10 commandments God gave to Moses in the book of Exodus are completely in line with God’s plans and purpose for our lives. If we were to break one of the 10 commandments, we would not be loving our neighbor and most importantly we would not be loving God with all our hearts. For example, if we lie, steal, murder, etc, we are hurting ourselves, other people, and God.
The two greatest commandments of the Gospels sum up the previous 10 commandments and also God’s will for our lives. I urge you to consider, if you do not know if what you feel compelled to do is righteous or sinful, question, will this act be loving God with all my heart? Will it bring Him glory? Would this act make Him pleased with me? Would this be me loving my neighbor as myself? Would I want someone to do this to me?
To love God is to know God and to be obedient to his teachings. If we are disregarding God’s teachings and disregarding His heart and purpose for our lives, we are living for ourselves and not even following the 2 greatest commandments. In reality, we could be on a path to destruction and on the wide path to Hell.