Biblical Commandments For Loving God
The biblical command to love God is presented as the "first and greatest commandment" [2, 4]. Jesus himself affirmed this, quoting Deuteronomy 6:5: "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength" [2, 5]. This command is part of the Shema, a daily prayer for Jews [5].
This love for God is not merely an emotion but encompasses the entirety of a person's being—heart, soul, mind, and strength [2]. It is a love that is commanded in both the Old and New Testaments [1]. The Apostle Paul states that "love is the fulfilling of the law" [8], and Augustine similarly notes that "all the commandments of God...are embraced in love" [9]. This supreme affection for God should be evident in various aspects of Christian conduct, including believing God, fearing Him, obeying Him, and rejoicing in Him [3].
The manifestation of love for God is intrinsically linked to obedience to His commandments [10]. As John writes, "For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments" [1 John 5:3]. This obedience is not meant to be burdensome; rather, God's commandments "are not grievous" [10]. Love for God also produces other spiritual fruits, such as joy, hatred of sin, and love for fellow believers [1]. Indeed, the love of God and the love of humanity are inseparable; one who loves God will naturally love their neighbor [6]. Augustine further explains that while self-love is natural, the command to love God and neighbor is necessary because it directs our affections toward what is above us (God) and beside us (neighbor) [7].
Sources
- Torrey's Topical Textbook “Torrey's Topical Textbook: Love to God — Commanded -- De 11:1; Jos 22:5. The first great commandment -- Mt 22:38. With all the heart -- De 6:5; Mt 22:37. Better than all sacrifices -- Mr 12:33. Produced by The Holy Spirit. -- Ga 5:22; 2Th 3:5. The love of God to us. -- 1Jo 4:19. Answers to prayer. -- Ps 116:1. Exhibited by Christ -- Joh 14:31. A characteristic of saints -- Ps 5:11. Should produce Joy. -- Ps 5:11. Love to saints. -- 1Jo 5:1. Hatred of sin. -- Ps 97:10. Obedience to God. -- De 30:20; 1Jo 5:3. Perfected in obedience -- 1Jo 2:5. Perfected, gives boldness -- 1Jo 4:17,18. God, faith”
- Mark “you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’This is the first commandment. -- Mark 12:30”
- Torrey's Topical Textbook “Torrey's Topical Textbook: Conduct, Christian — Believing God -- Mr 11:22; Joh 14:11,12. Fearing God -- Ec 12:13; 1Pe 2:17. Loving God -- De 6:5; Mt 22:37. Following God -- Eph 5:1; 1Pe 1:15,16. Obeying God -- Lu 1:6; 1Jo 5:3. Rejoicing in God -- Ps 33:1; Hab 3:18. Believing in Christ -- Joh 6:29; 1Jo 3:23. Loving Christ -- Joh 21:15; 1Pe 1:7,8. Following the example of Christ -- Joh 13:15; 1Pe 2:21-24. Obeying Christ -- Joh 14:21; 15:14. Living To Christ. -- Ro 14:8; 2Co 5:15. To righteousness. -- Mic 6:8; Ro 6:18; 1Pe 2:24. Soberly, righteously, and godly. -- Tit 2:12. Walking Honestly. -- 1”
- Schaff ANF/NPNF (Patristic) “NPNF1 Vol 5: Augustine — Anti-Pelagian — CHAP. 36.--LOVE COMMENDED BY OUR LORD HIMSELF.: Moreover, the Lord Jesus Himself teaches us that the whole law and the prophets hang upon the two precepts of love to God and love to our neighbour. Concerning these two commandments the following is written in the Gospel according to St. Mark: "And one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, and perceiving that He had answered them well, asked Him: Which is the first commandment of all ? And Jesus answered him: The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel! the Lord our God i”
- Luke (Protestant academic) “Tyndale House on Luke 10:27: 10:27 You must love the Lord your God: Jesus identified Deut 6:5 and Lev 19:18 as the two greatest commandments (Mark 12:28-34). Deuteronomy 6:5 is part of the prayer known as the Shema, which every Jew was to repeat daily.”
- 1 John (Methodist/Wesleyan) “Adam Clarke on 1 John 4:21: This commandment have we - We should love one another, and love our neighbor as ourselves. The love of God and the love of man can never be separated; he who loves God will love his brother; he who loves his brother gives this proof that he loves God, because he loves with a measure of that love which, in its infinitude, dwells in God.”
- Schaff ANF/NPNF (Patristic) “NPNF1 Vol 2: Augustine — City of God, Christian Doctrine — CHAP. 26.--THE COMMAND TO LOVE GOD AND OUR NEIGHBOR INCLUDES A COMMAND TO LOVE OURSELVES.: 27. Seeing, then, that there is no need of a command that every man should love himself and his own body,--seeing, that is, that we love ourselves, and what is beneath us but connected with us, through a law of nature which has never been violated, and which is common to us with the beasts (for even the beasts love themselves and their own bodies),--it only remained necessary to lay injunctions upon us in regard to God above us, and our neighbor ”
- Schaff ANF/NPNF (Patristic) “ANF Vol 1: Clement, Polycarp, Ignatius, Barnabas, Papias, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus — CHAP.XII.--IT CLEARLY APPEARS THAT THERE WAS BUT ONE AUTHOR OF BOTH THE OLD AND (part 2): the law; but He would undoubtedly have endeavoured by all means to bring down a greater one than this from the perfect Father, so as not to make use of that which had been given by the 476 God of the law. And Paul in like manner declares, "Love is the fulfilling of the law:"(1) and [he declares] that when all other things have been destroyed, there shall remain "faith, hope, and love; but the greatest of all is love;"(2) a”
- Schaff ANF/NPNF (Patristic) “NPNF1 Vol 3: Augustine — On the Holy Trinity — CHAP. 121.--LOVE IS THE END OF ALL THE COMMANDMENTS, AND GOD HIMSELF IS LOVE. (part 1): All the commandments of God, then, are embraced in love, of which the apostle says: "Now the end of the commandment is charity, out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned."(9) Thus the end of every commandment is charity, that is, every commandment has love for its aim. But whatever is done either through fear of 276 punishment or from some other carnal motive, and has not for its principle that love which the Spirit of God sheds abro”
- 1 John (Baptist/Reformed) “John Gill on 1 John 5:3: For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments,.... Keeping of the commandments of God is an evidence of love to God; this shows that love is not in word and tongue, in profession only, but in deed and in truth; and that such persons have a sense of the love of God upon their souls, under the influence of which they act; and such shall have, and may expect to have, greater manifestations of the love of God unto them: and his commandments are not grievous; heavy, burdensome, and disagreeable; by which are meant, not so much the precepts of the moral law, w”