Faith Expressions

List: Greatest Commandments

The two greatest commandments were given by Jesus in response to the question asked by one of the teachers of religious laws of his time. 

  • “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind and all your strength.” (Mark 12:30) - This is the greatest commandment. One’s spoken and written words, one’s thoughts, one’s feelings and one’s action must be motivated by the love of God. However wonderful, amazing, great or heroic all of one’s spoken and written words, all of one’s thoughts, all of one’s feelings and all of one’s actions, if they are not motivated by the love of God, they do not amount to anything until God, in his wisdom, goodness and compassion, decides they amount to something good.
  • “Love your neighbor as yourself.” (Mark 12:31) - This is the second greatest commandment and it is directly related to the love of God. Inversely, love of God without love of neighbor is not love of God. There are many ways by which God manifests himself to humanity, and the most common manifestation is through one’s neighbor: the most vulnerable in society, the orphans and the widows, the children and the elderly, the people in need of God, the individuals with special needs, the homeless and so on. In short, God commands us to love our neighbor because if we love our neighbor, we are loving God.

Note: Bible Verses Reference for the “LIST: GREATEST COMMANDMENTS” - NLT 2013