Church Fathers Commentary Luke 10:25-28

"And behold, a certain lawyer stood up and made trial of him, saying, Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? And he said unto him, What is written in the law? how readest thou? And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbor as thyself. And he said unto him, Thou hast answered right: this do, and thou shalt live." — Luke 10:25-28 (ASV)

The Venerable Bede: Our Lord had previously told His disciples that their names were written in heaven. It seems to me that from this, the lawyer took the opportunity to test our Lord, as it is said: And, behold, a certain lawyer stood up, and tempted him.

St. Cyril of Alexandria: Indeed, there were certain men at that time who traveled throughout the land of the Jews, accusing Christ and saying that He spoke of the commands of Moses as useless and was introducing strange doctrines Himself. A lawyer, therefore, wishing to entrap Christ into saying something against Moses, came and tested Him, calling Him "Master" even though he could not bear to be His disciple. And because our Lord was accustomed to speaking about eternal life with those who came to Him, the lawyer adopted this kind of language. Since he tested Him cunningly, he receives no other answer than the command given by Moses, for it follows: He said to him, What is written in the law? How do you read it?

St. Ambrose of Milan: For he was one of those who consider themselves skilled in the law, keeping the letter of the law while knowing nothing of its spirit. Our Lord uses a part of the law itself to prove they are ignorant of the law, showing that from the very beginning the law preached the Father and the Son and announced the sacraments of the Lord’s Incarnation. For it follows, and he, answering, said: You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind.

St. Basil the Great: By saying, with all your mind, He does not permit any division of love toward other things, for whatever love you direct toward lower things necessarily takes away from the whole. Just as with a vessel full of liquid, whatever flows from it must diminish its fullness by that amount, so also the soul, by whatever love it has wasted on unlawful things, has lessened its love for God by that much.

Gregory of Nyssa: The soul is divided into three faculties. The first is merely for growth and vegetation, like that found in plants. The second pertains to the senses, which is found in the nature of irrational animals. But the perfect faculty of the soul is reason, which is found in human nature. Therefore, by mentioning "the heart," He signified the bodily, or vegetative, substance; by "the soul," the middle, or sensitive, faculty; and by "the mind," the higher nature, that is, the intellectual or reflective faculty.

Theophylact of Ohrid: By this we must understand that we ought to submit every power of the soul to the divine love, and to do so resolutely, not half-heartedly. Therefore, it is added, And with all your strength.

St. Maximus the Confessor: For this purpose, then, the law commanded a threefold love for God, that it might pull us away from the threefold way of the world concerning possessions, glory, and pleasure, in which Christ was also tempted.

St. Basil the Great: But if anyone asks how the love of God is to be obtained, we are sure that the love of God cannot be taught. For we did not learn to rejoice in the presence of light, to embrace life, or to love our parents and children; much less were we taught the love of God. Rather, a certain seed-like principle was implanted in us, which contains within itself the reason that man clings to God. The teaching of the divine commands tends to cultivate this principle diligently, to foster it watchfully, and to bring it to the perfection of divine grace.

For we naturally love what is good; we also love what is our own and related to us; likewise, of our own accord, we pour out our affection on our benefactors. If God is good, and all things desire the good, then He is by nature inherent in us. And although we are far from knowing Him because of His greatness, yet from the very fact that we came from Him, we are bound to love Him with an exceeding love, as one who is truly kin to us. He is also a greater benefactor than all those whom we naturally love here.

The love of God, then, is the first and chief command, but the second, which both completes the first and is completed by it, commands us to love our neighbor. Hence it follows, And your neighbor as yourself. But God has given us an instinct to perform this command, for who does not know that man is a kind and social creature? Nothing is so essential to our nature as communicating with one another, mutually needing one another, and loving our relatives. Therefore, concerning those things for which He first gave us the seed, He later requires the fruit.

St. John Chrysostom: Yet observe how He requires the performance of each command with nearly the same degree of obedience. For concerning God, He says, with all your heart. Concerning our neighbor, as yourself. If this were diligently kept, there would be neither slave nor free, neither conqueror nor conquered (or rather, neither prince nor subject), neither rich nor poor. Nor would the devil even be known, for chaff would sooner withstand the touch of fire than the devil the fervor of love. So surpassing is the constancy of love.

St. Gregory the Great: But since it is said, You shall love your neighbor as yourself, how can he be merciful in having compassion on another, who, by his own unrighteous living, is still unmerciful to himself?

St. Cyril of Alexandria: When the lawyer had answered with the things contained in the law, Christ, to whom all things were known, tore apart his crafty nets. For it follows: And He said to him, You have answered correctly: do this, and you will live.

Origen of Alexandria: From these words, it is gathered without a doubt that the life preached according to God the Creator of the world, and the Scriptures given by Him, is everlasting life. For the Lord Himself testifies to the passage from Deuteronomy, You shall love the Lord your God, and from Leviticus, You shall love your neighbor as yourself. But these things were spoken against the "flowers" of the teachings of Valentinus, Basilides, and Marcion. For what else did He wish us to do in seeking eternal life, but what is contained in the Law and the Prophets?