The Great Commandment

Deuteronomy 6:4-7; Jeremiah 35:5-10

GOLDEN TEXT: “Train up a child in the way he should go; and when he is old, he will not depart from it.”—Proverbs 22:6

DEUTERONOMY is the title of one of the most important books of the Bible. From it evidently David and the other prophets of the Old Testament drew much inspiration, and from it our Lord and the apostles freely quoted. It may be said to be a grand summary of the whole law of God. Its preparation may have been a gradual work on the part of Moses, but its delivery to the people of Israel was, apparently, reserved until shortly before his death and at about the time the Israelites were ready to pass over Jordan under the leadership of Joshua, to take possession of the promised land. The evident object of the book was to impress upon the Israelites the glorious lessons of their past, and to inspire them with reverence for Jehovah their God, and thus to be to that people the voice of Moses and the voice of the Lord through Moses, encouraging and admonishing them and, through them, future generations.

Our lesson opens with a statement of the fact that God is one—Jehovah. The importance of this statement put it at the very top of the list of injunctions, and it should still be regarded as the most important doctrine amongst the doctrines or teachings of the Lord’s Word. Notwithstanding its importance, however, we know as respects fleshly Israel that they soon forget the word of Moses and time and again they were punished on the score of idolatry—for recognizing other gods, forgetting the declaration that there is but the one, and His name Jehovah. Quite similarly we find amongst Christian people the tendency to forget this great central truth that there is but one God and His name Jehovah. Many professing Christians have confused themselves with the thought that there are many gods or at least a trinity of gods, and thus have made a mystery of what is indeed a very simple fact.

Nothing in this statement, however, need hinder us from recognizing our Lord Jesus as a god also, a “mighty god.” Thus the Scriptures describe Him, and clearly tell us that His greatness, His wisdom, His love, His power, are due to His full harmony with the Heavenly Father, Jehovah, and His full submission to His Heavenly Father’s will in all particulars. As He Himself said, “I can of Mine own self do nothing,” “My Father hath sent Me,” “I seek not Mine own will, but the will of the Father”; and again, “My Father is greater than I.” (John 5:30,36; 14:28) How beautiful is the explanation given by the apostle of the perfect accord between the Father and the Son, and in their relationship to the divine plan, all things are of the Father—all things are by the Son. (I Cor. 8:6) The Bible teaching of the relationship between the Father and the Son honors both, does violence to neither Scripture nor reason, but leaves the teachable one in a happy frame of mind, and the more ready to be taught of the Lord on all subjects.

After calling attention to the one true God, Jehovah, we are exhorted, “Thou shalt love Jehovah thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.” This is the summary of the first great commandment, as approved by our Lord Himself. (Matt. 22:37) It is not in conflict with this that we love our Lord Jesus also, for the apostle declares, “Every one that loveth Him that begat loveth Him also that is begotten of Him.” (I John 5:1) He who loveth the Father must love the Son also, who is the Father’s express image and who has manifested to us in His own flesh the glorious character of the Father. This exhortation cannot, of course, be understood to apply to the nation of Israel nor to the church as a whole, but to the individual. Each individual Israelite and member of the church is exhorted to love the Lord with heart, soul, being, strength, and as followers of the Lord Jesus, we are to serve Him, to lay down our lives in obedience to God’s will, and in the forwarding of the divine purposes.

That the Lord and Moses, His mouthpiece, did not seek to in culcate the mere nominal professions of love for God is clearly attested by the next verse, which declares respecting the divine commands, “Thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou hest down, and when thou risest up.” One whose mind and heart would be so filled with love for God and the glorious attributes of His character would, indeed, he a saint. What time would he have for sin or frivolity? What a model home his would be! How well instructed his children would be in the dealings of divine providence and all the gracious promises of the divine Word! What moderation of word and of act would result from this intimate fellowship with God, and yet how the light would shine out from such a life!

The highest attainments under this exhortation were not reached under the Jewish dispensation, as the apostle most clearly sets forth. But the apostle explains, also, that the highest attainment under this law may be made by spiritual Israelites during this Gospel age. He declares, “The righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.”—Rom. 8:4

In other words, although we are not more able to accurately keep that grand law than were the Jews, we, who are in Christ, having His righteousness imputed as a covering for our blemishes, being made partakers of His Holy Spirit, are able to approximate in spirit this grand position.

QUESTIONS:

What is the first commandment, and how is it harmonized with the fact that Jesus is also to be worshiped as a “mighty God”?

What is the chief commandment? Is it binding upon the Christian?

How is the righteousness of the Law fulfilled by the Christian?

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