Church Fathers Commentary Matthew 22:34-40

"But the Pharisees, when they heard that he had put the Sadducees to silence, gathered themselves together. And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question, trying him: Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law? And he said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second like [unto it] is this, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments the whole law hangeth, and the prophets." — Matthew 22:34-40 (ASV)

St. Jerome: The Pharisees, having been refuted in the matter of the denarius and now seeing their adversaries also overthrown, should have taken warning not to attempt any further deceit against Him. But hate and jealousy are the parents of impudence.

Origen of Alexandria: Jesus had put the Sadducees to silence to show that the tongue of falsehood is silenced by the brightness of truth. For just as it is characteristic of the righteous man to be silent when it is good to be silent, and to speak when it is good to speak, it is characteristic of every teacher of a lie not to be silent, but to be silenced as far as any good purpose is concerned.

St. Jerome: The Pharisees and Sadducees, though enemies to one another, unite in one common purpose to tempt Jesus.

Pseudo-Chrysostom: Or, the Pharisees met together so that their numbers might silence Him whom their reasoning could not refute. In this way, by using their numbers against Him, they showed that truth had failed them. They said among themselves, "Let one speak for all, and let all speak through one. That way, if he prevails, the victory may seem to belong to everyone; but if he is defeated, the blame may rest on him alone." So it follows, "Then one of them, a teacher of the Law, asked him a question, tempting Him."

Origen of Alexandria: All who ask questions of any teacher to test him, and not to learn from him, we must regard as brothers of this Pharisee, according to what is said below: Inasmuch as you have done it to one of the least of my own, you have done it to me (Matthew 25:40).

St. Augustine of Hippo: Let no one be troubled by this, that Matthew speaks of this man as asking his question to tempt the Lord, whereas Mark does not mention this, but concludes with what the Lord said to him upon his answering wisely: Thou art not far from the kingdom of God (Mark 12:34). For it is possible that, though he came to tempt, the Lord's answer may have brought about a change of heart in him.¹

Or, the "tempting" mentioned here does not have to mean the deception of an enemy, but rather the cautious approach of one testing a stranger. And that is not written in vain: Whoso believeth lightly, he is of a vain heart (Ecclesiasticus 19:4).

Origen of Alexandria: He said "Master," tempting Him, for none but a disciple would address Christ this way. Therefore, whoever does not learn from the Word, nor surrenders himself completely to it, yet calls it Master, is a brother to this Pharisee who was tempting Christ. Perhaps while they read the Law before the Savior's coming, it was a question among them which was the great commandment in it. The Pharisee would not have asked this if it had not long been debated among them, but was never resolved until Jesus came and declared it.

Pseudo-Chrysostom: He who now asks for the greatest commandment had not even kept the smallest. Only the one who has fulfilled the lesser righteousness should seek for a higher one.

St. Jerome: Or, he asks not for the sake of the commands, but to know which is the first and great commandment, so that, seeing all that God commands is great, he may have an occasion to quibble, whatever the answer might be.

Pseudo-Chrysostom: But the Lord answers him in such a way as to at once expose the insincerity of his question: "Jesus said to him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, and with all thy mind." He says, "You shall love," not "fear," for to love is more than to fear. To fear belongs to slaves, to love to sons; fear is in compulsion, love is in freedom. Whoever serves God in fear escapes punishment but does not have the reward of righteousness, because he acted rightly out of fear, not willingness. God does not desire to be served like a slave by men, as by a master, but to be loved as a father, because He has given the spirit of adoption to men.

To love God with the whole heart is to have the heart inclined to love no one thing more than God. To love God with the whole soul is to have the mind fixed on the truth and to be firm in the faith. For the love of the heart and the love of the soul are different. The first is, in a way, physical, that we should love God even with our flesh, which we cannot do unless we first turn away from loving the things of this world. The love of the heart is felt in the heart, but the love of the soul is not felt but is perceived, because it consists in a judgment of the soul. For he who believes that all good is in God, and that apart from Him there is no good, loves God with his whole soul.

But to love God with the whole mind is to have all one's faculties available and dedicated to Him. He only loves God with his whole mind whose intellect serves God, whose wisdom is concerned with God, whose thoughts labor on the things of God, and whose memory retains what is good.

St. Augustine of Hippo: Or, to put it another way: You are commanded to love God "with all your heart," so that all your thoughts; "with all your soul," so that your whole life; and "with all your mind," so that your entire understanding may be given to Him from whom you received them. Thus He has left no part of our life that can rightly be empty of Him or make room for the desire of any other ultimate goodⁱ. But if anything else presents itself for the soul to love, it should be drawn into that channel where the entire current of love flows.

For a person is most perfect when their whole life is directed toward the unchangeable lifeⁱ and clings to it with their soul's entire purpose.²

Glossa Ordinaria: Or, "with all your heart," i.e., understanding; "with all your soul," i.e., your will; "with all your mind," i.e., memory; so you shall think, will, and remember nothing contrary to Him.³

Origen of Alexandria: Or, to put it another way: "With all your heart," that is, in all recollection, action, and thought; "with all your soul," that is, to be ready to lay it down for the sake of one's faith in God; "with all your mind," producing nothing that is not from God. And consider whether you cannot thus take the "heart" for the understanding, by which we contemplate intellectual things, and the "mind" for that by which we speak thoughts, walking, so to speak, with the mind through each expression and speaking it.

If the Lord had given no answer to the Pharisee who tempted Him, we would have judged that there was no commandment greater than the rest. But when the Lord adds, "This is the first and great commandment," we learn how we ought to think of the commandments: that there is a great one, and that there are lesser ones down to the least. And the Lord says not only that it is a great, but that it is the first commandment—not in its order in Scripture, but in its supremacy of value.

Only those who not only love the Lord their God but also add these three conditions can grasp the greatness and supremacy of this commandment. Nor did He only teach the first and great commandment, but added that there was a second like the first: Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. But if Whoso loveth iniquity hath hated his own soul (Psalm 11:5), it is clear that he does not love his neighbor as himself, since he does not love himself.

St. Augustine of Hippo: It is clear that every person is to be regarded as a neighbor, because evil is to be done to no one. Furthermore, if everyone to whom we are bound to show a service of mercy, or who is bound to show it to us, is rightly called our neighbor, it is clear that the holy angels are included in this commandment, for they perform for us those services of which we may read in Scripture.⁴

For this reason our Lord Himself would be called our neighbor, for it was Himself whom He represents as the good Samaritan, who gave aid to the man who was left half-dead on the road.

He who loves people ought to love them either because they are righteous or so that they may become righteous. In the same way, he ought to love himself either because he is righteous or so that he may become righteous. And thus, without danger, he may love his neighbor as himself.⁵

But if you should not love even yourself for your own sake, but because of Him who is the rightful end of your love, then another person should not be displeased that you love them for God's sake. Therefore, whoever rightly loves his neighbor ought to strive together with him, so that he too may love God with his whole heart.⁶

Pseudo-Chrysostom: But he who loves man is like one who loves God, for man is God's image, in whom God is loved, just as a king is honored in his statue. For this reason this commandment is said to be like the first.

St. Hilary of Poitiers: Or, to put it another way, that the second command is like the first means that the obligation and merit of both are the same, for no love of God without Christ, or of Christ without God, can be profitable for salvation.

It follows, "On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets."

St. Augustine of Hippo: "Hang," that is, they refer to them as their ultimate purpose.⁷

Rabanus Maurus: For the whole Decalogue belongs to these two commandments: the commandments of the first table to the love of God, and those of the second to the love of our neighbor.

Origen of Alexandria: Or, because he who has fulfilled the things that are written concerning the love of God and our neighbor is worthy to receive the great reward from God of being enabled to understand the Law and the Prophets.

St. Augustine of Hippo: Since there are two commandments, the love of God and the love of our neighbor, on which hang the Law and the Prophets, Scripture, with good reason, often uses one commandment to represent both. Sometimes it is the love of God, as in, We know that all things work together for good to them that love God (Romans 8:28); and sometimes the love of our neighbor, as in, All the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself (Galatians 5:14).⁸

This is because if a man loves his neighbor, it follows from this that he loves God also. For it is the very same affection by which we love God and by which we love our neighbor, except that we love God for Himself, but ourselves and our neighbor for God's sake.

But since the divine substance is more excellent and higher than our own nature, the command to love God is distinct from the one to love our neighbor. However, if by "yourself" you understand your whole self—that is, both your soul and your body—and likewise for your neighbor, then no category of things to be loved is omitted from these commands. The love of God comes first, and its rule is presented to us in such a way that all other loves are centered in it, so that it seems nothing is said about loving yourself.⁹

But then follows, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, so that love of yourself is not omitted.

1. de Cons. Ev., ii, 73
2. de Doctr. Christ., i, 22
3. interlin.
4. de Doctr. Christ., i, 30; see Rom 13:10
5. de Trin., viii, 6
6. de Doctr. Christ., i, 22
7. Quaest. Ev., i, 33
8. de Trin., viii. 7
9. de Doctr. Christ., i, 26, 30