Matthew 22:34

Jesus converses with a Pharisee respecting the law - See also Mar 12:28-34.

Mat 22:34

The Pharisees ... were gathered together - That is, either to rejoice that their great rivals, the Sadducees, had been so completely silenced, or to lay a new plan for ensnaring him, or perhaps both. They would rejoice that the Sadducees had been confounded, but they would not be the less desirous to involve Jesus in difficulty. They therefore endeavored, probably, to find the most difficult question in dispute among themselves, and proposed it to him to perplex him.

Mat 22:35

A lawyer - This does nor mean one that “practiced” law, as among us, but one learned or skilled in the law of Moses.

Mark calls him “one of the scribes.” This means the same thing. The scribes were men of learning - particularly men skilled in the law of Moses. This lawyer had heard Jesus reasoning with the Sadducees, and perceived that he had put them to silence. He was evidently supposed by the Pharisees to be better qualified to hold a debate with him than the Sadducees were, and they had therefore put him forward for that purpose. This man was probably of a candid turn of mind; perhaps willing to know the truth, and not entering very fully into their malicious intentions, but acting as their agent, Mar 12:34.

Tempting him - Trying him. Proposing a question to test his knowledge of the law.

Mat 22:36

Which is the great commandment? - That is, the “greatest” commandment, or the one most important.

The Jews are said to have divided the law into “greater and smaller” commandments. Which was of the greatest importance they had not determined. Some held that it was the law respecting sacrifice; others, that respecting circumcision; others, that pertaining to washings and purifying, etc.

The law - The word “law” has a great variety of significations; it means, commonly, in the Bible, as it does here, “the law given by Moses,” recorded in the first five books of the Bible.

Mat 22:37

Jesus said unto him ... - Mark says that he introduced this by referring to the doctrine of the unity of God “Hear, O Israel! the Lord thy God is one Lord” - taken from Deu 6:4. This was said, probably, because all true obedience depends on the correct knowledge of God. None can keep his commandments who are not acquainted with his nature, his perfections, and his right to command,

Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart - The meaning of this is, thou shalt love him with all thy faculties or powers. Thou shalt love him supremely, more than all other beings and things, and with all the ardor possible. To love him with all the heart is to fix the affections supremely on him, more strongly than on anything else, and to be willing to give up all that we hold dear at his command,

With all thy soul - Or, with all thy “life.” This means, to be willing to give up the life to him, and to devote it all to his service; to live to him, and to be willing to die at his command,

With all thy mind - To submit the “intellect” to his will. To love his law and gospel more than we do the decisions of our own minds. To be willing to submit all our faculties to his teaching and guidance, and to devote to him all our intellectual attainments and all the results of our intellectual efforts.

“With all thy strength” (Mark). With all the faculties of soul and body. To labor and toil for his glory, and to make that the great object of all our efforts.

Mat 22:38

This the first tend great commandment - This commandment is found in Deu 6:5. It is the “first” and greatest of all; first, not in “order of time,” but of “importance; greatest” in dignity, in excellence, in extent, and duration. It is the fountain of all others. All beings are to be loved according to their excellence. As God is the most excellent and glorious of all beings, he is to be loved supremely. If he is loved aright, then our affections will be directed toward all created objects in a right manner.

Mat 22:39

The second is like unto it - Lev 19:18. That is, it resembles it in importance, dignity, purity, and usefulness. This had not been asked by the lawyer, but Jesus took occasion to acquaint him with the substance of the whole law. For its meaning, see the notes at Mat 19:19. Compare Rom 13:9. Mark adds, “there is none other commandment greater than these.” None respecting circumcision or sacrifice is greater. They are the fountain of all.

Mat 22:40

On these two commandments hang ... - That is, these comprehend the substance of what Moses in the law and what the prophets have spoken.

What they have said has been to endeavor to win people to love God and to love each other. Love to God and man comprehends the whole of religion, and to produce this has been the design of Moses, the prophets, the Saviour, and the apostles.

Mark Mar 12:32-34 adds that the scribe said, “Well, Master, thou hast said the truth;” and that he assented to what Jesus had said, and admitted that to love God and man in this manner was more than all burnt-offerings and sacrifices; that is, was of more value or importance. Jesus, in reply, told him that he was “not far from the kingdom of heaven;” in other words, by his reply he had shown that he was almost prepared to receive the doctrines of the gospel. He had evinced such an acquaintance with the law as to prove that he was nearly prepared to receive the teachings of Jesus. See the notes at Mat 3:2.

Mark and Luke say that this had such an effect that no man after that durst ask him any question, Luk 20:40; Mar 12:34. This does not mean that none of his disciples durst ask him any question, but none of the Jews. He had confounded all their sects - the Herodians Mat 22:15-22; the Sadducees Mat 22:23-33; and, last, the Pharisees Mat 22:34-40. Finding themselves unable to confound him, everyone gave up the attempt at last.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Mat 22:34-36. When the Pharisees heard that he had put the Sadducees to silence — Gr. οτι εφιμοσε, that he had stopped their mouths, or so confuted that he had confounded them, and rendered them unable to make any reply; they were gathered together — It is not said with what design: but it is probable from Mat 22:15-16, with a malicious one, namely, to try, though the Sadducees had been baffled in their attempt upon him, as they themselves had also been, when they united with the Herodians, if they could yet any way expose him to the people. Then one of them, a lawyer — Or teacher of the law, (namely, of Moses,) as the word νομικος always means in the New Testament, that is, a scribe, asked him a question, tempting, or trying him — Not, it seems, with any ill design, but barely to make further trial of that wisdom which he had shown in silencing the Sadducees. For, according to Mark, it was in consequence of his perceiving that our Lord had answered the Sadducees well, that this person asked the question here mentioned. Master, which is the great commandment in the law? — This was a famous question among the Jews. “Some of their doctors declared that the law of sacrifices was the great commandment, because sacrifices were both the expiations of sin and thanksgivings for mercies; others bestowed this honour on the law of circumcision, because it was the sign of the covenant established between God and the nation; a third sort yielded to the law of the sabbath, because, by that appointment, both the knowledge and practice of the institutions of Moses were preserved; and to name no more, there were some who affirmed the law of meats and washings to be of the greatest importance, because thereby the people of God were effectually separated from the company and conversations of the heathen.” But Jesus, with much better reason, decided in favour of a command inclusive of the whole of piety, and leading to every holy temper, word, and work.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

QUESTION WITH THE LAWYER, Mat_22:34-40.

34. Put the Sadducees to silence — He had first silenced the Pharisees, then the Herodians, and last of all the Sadducees. See note preceding Mat_22:15. A candid lawyer from their own company now ventures to question him, with the purpose, indeed, to tempt, that is, to try him, but also with the purpose of yielding, where truth required. They were gathered together — They collect into a consulting group.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

CRITICAL NOTES

Mat_22:35. A lawyer.—The precise distinction between the “lawyer” and the other scribes rested, probably, on technicalities that have left little or no trace behind them. The word suggests the thought of a section of the scribes who confined their attention to the law, while the others included in their studies the writings of the prophets or the traditions of the elders also (Plumptre). Tempting Him.—We are not to impute the same sinister motives as actuated those who sent him. He also was, in a certain sense, tempting Jesus, i.e. putting Him to the test, but with no sinister motive (Gibson). (See Mar_12:34).

Mat_22:36. Which?—The original term is qualitative. It draws attention to the distinctive quality, nature, or essence of the great commandment. Of what nature is the great commandment in the law? What is the essence of the great commandment in the law? (Morison).

Mat_22:37. Heart … soul … mind.—St. Mark and St. Luke add “strength.” In Deu_6:5, the words are heart, soul, might. “The words represent different aspects of one substantive entity” (Morison). This great commandment was written on the phylactery which the lawyer was probably wearing (Carr).

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Mat_22:34-40

A “legal” snare.—Once more we find the Pharisees laying a word-trap for the Saviour. They appear to have been stimulated to this fresh effort by hearing that the Sadducees have been silenced (Mat_22:34). How sweet the hope of at once confounding Him and distancing them! They appear also to have learned wisdom by their previous experience. Not now about the rule of the Romans (Mat_22:17), but about the law of God do they ask. Not this time in the doubtful company of the Herodians, but by the lips of one of themselves—and he, apparently (Mar_12:32; Mar_12:34), a man of well-deserved repute as an interpreter of that law—do they speak. Very profound, accordingly, and unusually difficult is the question they ask. Equally complete, however, for all this, the reply they receive.

I. The special difficulty of the question asked seems to have lain in more matters than one. It lay, first, in the extreme width of its scope. “Which is the great commandment in the law?” How exceedingly ample the field surveyed by that question! Who can take it all in at one time? It is like asking a man to point out off-hand the most important star in the midnight sky. If he is looking to the north, he is turning his back on the south. If he is giving special attention to this portion he is giving none at all to all others. Who but God can “count the number of the stars?” (Psa_147:4; see also Num_23:10). Not less, next, is the difficulty involved in the exceeding variety of this field. “One star differeth from another star in glory” (1Co_15:41). So also do the different groups of enactments to be found in God’s law. On how many sides, and in how many ways, do they affect the duty of man? Political and ecclesiastical, ceremonial and moral, domestic and foreign, private and public, social and civil—these are only some of the aspects under which they look at our life. Who can arrange them so that they can all of them be, as it were, looked at at once? And who, without doing that, shall be sure of being able to distinguish and sever from amongst the whole manifold multitude, the very greatest of all? The bewilderment, in short, is hardly less than the magnitude of the task. Lastly, the question is difficult—most difficult of all indeed—because of the peculiar sanctity of this field. However varied these many enactments in some respects, there was one vital point in regard to which they were all exactly alike. By the pious Israelite they were all rightly regarded as having the same supreme majesty behind them. Whether greater or less in man’s fallible judgment, they were all spoken by God. “Thus saith the Lord,” “I am the Lord,” are declarations to be found repeatedly in the letter, and always in spirit, in every page of that “law.” Who, therefore, can undertake safely to point out differences between its enactments? And who, above all, shall so do this as to put his finger on that which is greatest of all? The very attempt to do it involves peril of the direst possible kind. Hence, not improbably, indeed, one principal reason of proposing it to the Saviour. With His pretensions He ought to be able to settle even such a difficulty as this.

II. The Saviour’s reply to this insidious and perilous question consisted of two principal steps. In the first of these He, practically, narrowed the field of inquiry. And did so, most wisely, by showing simply how God Himself had done so already. As the “lawyer” who had asked this question very well knew, God had put one portion of that multitudinous and manifold collection of statutes and ordinances known by the name of the law, as it were by itself. He had done so, partly, by the special place and manner of its original promulgation (Exo_20:1-18); partly by the special care taken by Him on that occasion to restrain His utterance to that portion alone (Deu_5:22); and partly by the fact that He Himself had then written that portion alone with His own finger on two tables of stone (ibid.). This being so, the Saviour will now, as it were, follow this lead. What God Himself has thus visibly exalted above the rest of His law, He will treat as so being. And will confine Himself, therefore, to searching in it for that which is greatest of all. In the next place, the Saviour, taking up this portion alone, proceeds to explain its structure and force. Briefly, its “structure” is this: that it consists of two groups. That the first group teaches man as a creature to love his Creator; and teaches him also that he cannot do this too much. That the second group is also a commandment to “love,” and, therefore, “like” to the “first.” That it differs from it, however, in teaching man, as God’s creature, to love his brother man as being the same; and to do so, therefore, with just the same degree of love as he bears to himself. The “force” of this analysis, it will be seen, therefore, is of a two-fold description. On the one hand it shows us that one of these tables or groups of commandments does necessarily and from its very nature come before the other, both as to order and importance; and is, consequently, so far the “greater.” On the other hand, it shows us that the second of these is so essentially a sequel of, as to be almost a part of, the former; and, therefore, is, so far, not to be regarded as “less.” And so, on the whole, therefore, that in these two in combination, we have the greatest of all. And this is the true teaching, moreover—so the Saviour adds in conclusion—of all teachers who have ever been sent from God to teach on this point. Judge for yourselves if either “Moses or the prophets” have taught other or more! (Mat_22:40).

See therefore here, in conclusion:—

1. The wisdom of Moses as a teacher.—Was there over such a summary of duty as that given through him?

2. The wisdom of Christ as a Teacher.—Was there ever any one who fathomed that summary as it was fathomed by Him?

3. The perfection of Christ as a Saviour.—“By the obedience of One many were made righteous” (Rom_5:19). See here how well that “One” understood what He undertook to obey. We may well believe, therefore, that He honoured it in practice to an equal degree. Could He, indeed, have understood it so perfectly if He had not obeyed it in full?

HOMILIES ON THE VERSES

Mat_22:36. The law of love a natural force of humanity.—It will help us to understand this principle if we first distinguish it from some other principles of our nature.

I. It is to be distinguished from the principle of will, and in some regards is indeed to be opposed to it. All human lives that are following the law of will, of self, of individualism, are breaking life’s true law, and missing life’s true aim.

II. The law of love is to be distinguished from the principle of knowledge. Knowledge is not a primary fact, and can never become an ultimate law, of life. “Knowledge shall vanish away, but love never faileth.”

III. The law of love is wholly opposed to the spirit of fear. Fear is not natural to man. Fear only came to man when tempted by knowledge. He transgressed the obedience of love, and having transgressed he hid himself from the presence of God. And Adam represents us all. We hide from God because we have sinned. When we kneel at the foot of the cross, and feel that because God loves us we must love God, we learn again the law of life, the law of being: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God,” etc. God has made you to love Him, to have communion with Him. And in that perfect communion the law of God is not broken. And that law is, that with all your heart, with all your being, with all the powers that you have, shall you love God. Then reason shall be linked to heaven, and affection linked to heaven, and conscience linked to heaven, and idea and imagination and all the powers of mind and soul linked to heaven by the eternal principle of love.—Archdeacon Watkins.

Mat_22:37-40. Love to God and man.—

I. These two principles from which our Lord tells us all religion flows, must be consistent with one another; otherwise they could not both be principles of the same religion.

II. Nothing is, or ought to be, esteemed religion that is not reducible to one or other of these principles.—Bishop Sherlock.

Mat_22:37-38. The first and great commandment.—Our Lord having to do with a proud hypocrite, puffed up with a conceit of his own righteousness, doth so answer him, as He layeth out the spiritual meaning of the law, that the man might see how short he came in the obedience thereof, and so doth teach us:

1. That the commandments are not obeyed except the obedience spring from love.

2. The commandments are not satisfied except the whole man, wholly, in all things, obey with his whole mind, affections, and the strength of all the powers of soul and body.

3. To love God is the greatest commandment, because it is the fountain of the obedience of all the commands, and also because all the commands of the first table are but branches, and evidences in part of our love to God.

4. The great commandment is not fulfilled except a man in the sense of his shortcoming in love to God, seek for reconciliation with Him, enter into a covenant of grace with Him, and make use of His friendship, as of a reconciled God.

5. The commandment of loving God with all our might and adhering to Him as reconciled unto us and made ours by covenant, is first to be looked unto, as being of greatest consequence (Mat_22:38).—David Dickson.

Why men do not love God.—There are two reasons why men do not love God. For one of them there are great excuses; for the other there is no excuse whatsoever.

I. In the first place, too many find it difficult to love God because they have not been taught that God is lovable, and worthy of their love.—They have been taught dark and hard doctrines, which have made them afraid of God. Our love must be called out by God’s love.

II. If we do not wish to do what God commands we shall never love God.—It must be so. There can be no real love of God which is not based upon the love of virtue and goodness, upon what our Lord calls a hunger and thirst after righteousness.—C. Kingsley, M.A.

Mat_22:37. The great commandment.—

I. Who is the Christian’s God?—We must know God before we can love Him.

II. Our duty towards God.—We must not only love Him, but our love must be—

1. Supreme.

2. Abiding.

3. Operative.

III. Why that duty is called “the first and great commandment.”—

1. It is the noblest exercise of our faculties.

2. It is the foundation of all other duties.—C. Simeon, M.A.

The mind’s love for God.—I. Is it not manifestly true that besides the love of the senses, and the love of the heart, and the love of the soul, and the love of the strength, there is also a love of the mind, without whose entrance into the completeness of the loving man’s relation to the object of his love, his love is not complete? Is your greatest friend contented with your love before you have come to love him with all your mind? Everywhere we find our assurances that the mind has its affections and enthusiasms, that the intellect is no cold-hearted monster who only thinks and judges, but that it glows with love, not merely perceiving, but delighted to perceive, the beauty of the things with which it has to do.

II. Christ bids His disciples to love God with all their minds.—“Understand Me,” He seems to cry, “I am not wholly loved by you unless your understanding is searching out after My truth, and with all your powers of thoughtfulness and study you are trying to find out all you can about My nature and My ways.”

III. There are ignorant saints who come very near to God, and live in the rich sunlight of His love, but none the less for that is their ignorance a detraction from their sainthood.—There are mystics who, seeing how God outgoes human knowledge, choose to assume that God is not a subject of human knowledge at all. Such mystics may mount to sublime heights of unreasoning contemplation, but there is an uncompleteness in their love, because they rob one part of their nature of all share in their approach to God. Love God with all your mind, because your mind, like all the rest of you, belongs to Him; and it is not right that you should give Him only a part to whom belongs the whole. Give your intelligence to God. Know all that you can about Him.—Phillips Brooks.

Love to God.—The measure of loving God is to love Him without measure.—W. Burkitt.

A comprehensive law.—When Thomas Paine resided in Bordentown, in the state of New Jersey, he was one day passing the residence of Dr. Staughton, when the latter was sitting at the door. Paine stopped, and after some remarks of a general character, observed, “Mr. Staughton, what a pity it is that a man has not some comprehensive and perfect rule for the government of his life.” The doctor replied, “Mr. Paine, there is such a rule.” “What is that?” Paine inquired. Dr. S. repeated the passage, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and thy neighbour as thyself.” Abashed and confounded, Paine replied, “Oh, that’s in your Bible,” and immediately walked away.—Biblical Museum.

Mat_22:38. The great and first commandment.—Love is the great and first commandment:

I. In antiquity.—Being as old as the world, and engraven in our nature.

II. In dignity.—As directly respecting God.

III. In excellence.—Being the commandment of the new covenant.

IV. In justice.—As preferring God above all things, and rendering to Him His due.

V. In sufficiency.—In making of itself man holy in this life, and blessed in that which is to come.

VI. In fruitfulness.—In being the root of all other commandments.

VII. In virtue and efficacy.

VIII. In extent.

IX. In necessity.

X. In duration.—As continuing for ever in heaven.—Quesnel.

Mat_22:39. The second great commandment.—

1. So many as profess love to God must set themselves to love their neighbour also, at His command; for he cannot love God who will not love his neighbour.

2. It is lawful to love ourselves, yea, it is a commanded duty after our love to God, and with our love to God, and from our love to God; that is to say, so as our love to ourselves be not in the first room, which belongeth to God, so as our love of ourselves be subordinate unto the love of God, and may make us forthcoming to the honour of God, and doth not prejudge our love to God, but further the same; for the command which saith, “Love thy neighbour as thyself,” saith “Love thyself,” by a second and like command, depending on, and flowing from, the first.

3. A right ordered and measured love to ourselves is the rule and measure of our love to our neighbour; the love of God must be preferred both to ourselves and neighbour, so as we must not please ourselves or our neighbour by displeasing God; but our love to God being fixed in its own place, then, in reason, as we would have others do unto us, do we also unto them; for “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself,” that is, sincerely and constantly.—David Dickson.

Mat_22:39. Love to our neighbour.—In canvassing the duty here enjoined, I shall consider:—

I. Its nature.—An attendant of regeneration. Disinterested. “As thyself.”

II. Its extent.—

1. It extends to our families, friends and countrymen.

2. To our enemies.

3. To all mankind.

4. It extends in its operations to all the good offices which we are capable of rendering to others.

(1) The love required in this precept will prevent us from voluntarily injuring others.

(2) Among the positive acts of beneficence dictated by the love of the gospel, the contribution of our property forms an interesting part.

(3) Love to our neighbour dictates also every other office of kindness which may promote his present welfare.

(4) Love to our neighbour is especially directed to the good of his soul.

Conclusion.

1. From these observations it is evident that the second great commandment of the moral law is “like the first.”

2. Piety and morality are here shown to be inseparable.

3. The religion of the Scriptures is the true and only source of all the duties of life.—T. Dwight, LL.D.

Self love.—There is no express command in Scripture for a man to love himself, because the light of nature directs, and the law of nature binds and moves every man so to do. God has put a principle of self-love and of self-preservation into all His creatures, but especially in man.—W. Burkitt.

Mat_22:40. What is religion?—The answers to the question are various, some of them wide enough of the mark, and others hitting it more or less nearly. Even where the answers are within sight of the truth there is a tendency to overlook the kernel of religion, and lay undue stress upon its husk. It was Christ’s function to remind a generation, blighted by formalism, where true religion lay. He pierced beneath all outward forms, laid bare the essence of religion, and sot it forth before men’s eyes in the clear light of His own Divine wisdom: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.” “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.” On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. That is an account of religion worth meditating upon.

I. How simple it is!—There is no mistaking what it means. Religion is in many ways a perplexing, complicated phenomenon. It touches us at so many points, it is so interwoven with the whole world of thought and feeling and conduct; it has so many different ways of expressing itself; it is so many-sided, and on some of its sides so profoundly mysterious, that it is natural enough to find variety and confusion and bewilderment in the conceptions men have entertained of it. Here, as elsewhere in human affairs, it is only those who have mastered a subject who can show us its simplicity. It was the genius of Newton that discovered the simplicity of the one all-pervading law of gravitation, which accounts at once for the falling of an apple and the movements of sun and planets. So the Divine insight of Christ into human life, and its relations with the life of God, has issued in the simplicity of His account of religion as love to God and love to man. Thought is a great element in human life, and belief has a large part to play in religion. Conduct, we are told, constitutes three-fourths of human life, and there can be no right religion without right conduct. Emotion is the source of much of the interest of life, and is deeply inwrought with religion. But Christ goes behind all that, behind thought and conduct and emotion, and fixes upon the moral will, expressing itself in love to God and man, as the deepest seat of religion.

II. Notice also, in Christ’s answer, how He has seized upon and emphasised the permanent element in religion.—The accidents of religion may change. But amid all changes in religious activity, or worship, or creed, there is one thing at least which is unchangeable—that on which Christ has laid the chief stress. The inner pith of religion can never be elsewhere than where He has put it—in love to God and love to man. It is a simple account of religion Christ gives; but if we are in earnest with His answer, and honestly strive to work it out in our daily life, its simplicity will seem to us to be something else than we often take it to be. Simplicity does not mean easiness. No. To love God with all our heart, and our neighbour as ourself, that is a demand than which none else can be harder, which penetrates into the deepest deep of our being, and embraces the widest reaches of our thought and activity. To give God the supreme devotion of our hearts, to merge our wills in His, to yield to Him the complete mastery of our life, to let the current of our affection go out towards Him—that is not easy. To love our neighbour as Christ loved, to go about the world with sympathy ready to take upon itself others’ burdens, so to identify ourselves with others that we learn to regard their welfare as one with our own, to keep down all envy and jealousy and narrow-hearted-ness, and to be willing to deny ourselves for the good of our neighbour—that is not easy.

III. Christ links the two together.—Devotion to our Heavenly Father and devotion to our fellows. They were linked together in that life of His which He lived beneath the Syrian skies, and where Christ’s religion is truly grasped they cannot be divorced. Love is a unity where it exists; it must go forth at once to God above us and to our fellows around us. Now notice that the demand is for love, not for mere awe, or zeal, or outward homage. You can test whether your relation to God is founded in love or in some less noble sentiment. You can test that by the effect it produces on your relation to your fellows. Love to God will show itself in love to man. On the other hand, you can reverse the process and test your love to man by your love to God. You cannot rightly love your brother without loving his Father and your Father. I do not say that there is no such thing as philanthropy, which is supposed to be dissociated from all reference to God—though even that kind of philanthropy is more closely linked with God than is sometimes thought. But this I say, that you have not elevated your philanthropy to a worthy enough level till you love your brother as a man who is linked with God, and destined for life in God.

IV. These words of Christ form a noble guide for the religious life.—Forget not what religion according to Christ means. Take heed lest you be so engrossed with its mere accidents that you lose sight of its substance. Strive that you may grow in love to God and man.—D. M. Ross, M.A.

The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.

D. The Attack of the Pharisees, and the Victory of the Lord. Mat_22:34-46

(Mar_12:28-37; Luk_20:41-44.—The Gospel for the 18th Sunday after Trinity.)

34But when the Pharisees had heard that he had put the Sadducees to silence, they were gathered together [collected in the same place, συνήχθησαν ἐπὶ τὸ αὐτό]. 35Then one of them, which [who] was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying,29 36Master, which is the great commandment [what kind of commandment is great] in the 37law? 30 Jesus31 said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind (Deu_6:5). 38This is the first and great [the great and first]32 commandment. 39And the second [But a second, δευτέρα δέ] is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself (Lev_19:18). 40On these two commandments hang all the law [hangs the whole law, ὅλος ὁ νόμος κρέμαται and [also] the prophets.33 41, While the Pharisees were gathered [collected] together, Jesus asked them, 42Saying, What think ye of [concerning the, περὶ τοῦ] Christ? whose son is he [of whom is he the son? τίνος υἱός ἑστι]? They say unto him, The son34 of David. 43He saith unto 44them, How then doth David in spirit [by the Spirit]35 call him Lord, saying, The Lord [in Hebrew: Jehovah] said unto my Lord [Adonai], Sit thou on my right hand, till I make thine enemies thy footstool [till I put thine enemies under thy feet]?36 (Psa_10:5.) 45, If David then call37 him Lord, how is he his son? 46And no man [no one] was able to answer him a word, neither [nor] durst any man from that day forth ask him any more questions.

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

Mat_22:34-40. The Question of the Great Commandment, General Remarks.—Mark gives it in an enlarged form; the narrative of Luk_10:28-37 has a kindred element. De Wette: “Probably the three accounts are different forms of the evangelical tradition, derived from the same historical materials; although there are traces in Luke of some dependence on Matthew.” Strauss: “Three free variations of the same primitive Christian tradition.” Meyer: “The difference of time and place in Luke’s account shows that the accounts of Matthew and Mark only may be considered As variations of the same tradition.” We may add, that the occasion and the whole transaction are different in Luke. There, Jesus puts the question: here, the scribe. The account of Mark refers to the same fact, but under a different point of view. Matthew has in his eye the tempting assault which the sect of the Pharisees made upon Christ by one of their agents, without regard to the person of this agent. Mark, on the contrary, has taken pains to describe this latter in full, showing that his spirit was better than that of his party. There is nothing improbable in this; and in Matthew’s account also, the rich young man separates himself from the mass of Christ’s enemies, as having a nobler disposition than they. Those overpowering influences which Christ exerted upon some individuals in the ranks of the enemy, detaching them from the midst of their party, are among His greatest triumphs, and are anticipations of the power which converted Saul on the way to Damascus.

Mat_22:34. But when the Pharisees bad heard.—What was the motive of the new assault? Strauss: “In order to avenge the Sadducees”—against all probability. The Pharisees were rather rejoiced that Jews had reduced their enemies to silence; and this Matthew intimates in his ἐφἰμωσεν. (Luther: That He had stopped the mouths of the Sadducees.) Ebrard: “In order to make evident their superiority to the Sadducees;” which, although Meyer objects, seem very obvious. But they must have had, besides that, another and independent design. Meyer: “They would extort from Jesus an answer to a question of their own which would compromise Him.” But what answer? De Wette: “We cannot see the embarrassing nature of their question. The Rabbins distinguished between great and small, weighty and light, commandments (Wetstein on Mat_5:19; Mat_23:28); such a distinction is the basis of all casuistry in morals. Probably, it was very customary at that time; and even if Jesus had declared Himself very freely on the question, it would not have involved Him in any danger.” Meyer: “The temptation of the question lay in the Rabbins’ distinctions of weighty and light commandments. If Jesus had mentioned any particular ποιότης of a great commandment, His answer would have been measured by the standard of particular distinctions in schools of casuistry; and somehow He would have been compromised.” Olshausen understands the πειράζων of an honest desire to search out the views of Jesus.38—Thus exegesis leaves us in the dark here.

But the tempting element of the question is explained by the answer and the counter-question of Jesus. The Pharisees doubtless took it for granted that Jesus would answer them: “Thou shalt love God above all,” or: “Thou shalt have no other gods before Me;” certainly He would mention the sanctity of monotheism. But their monotheism was altogether deistical in its bias, and had in it no christological principle. They argued from the unity of God, like Mohammed afterward (compare also the history of Ebionitism and Socinianism), that God could have no son. But they knew that Christ made Himself the Son of God; for this they had charged Him somewhat before (John 10) with blasphemy, asserting that He thereby made Himself equal with God. They intended, therefore, to found upon His expected answer, “to love God above all,” a charge of blasphemy, in making Himself equal to that supreme God by pretending to be His Son. But Jesus disturbed this tempting design by adding to the statement of the great and first commandment, “to love God supremely,” the declaration that the second was equal to it, “to love our neighbor as ourselves.” This elevated the human nature into a higher relation to the Divinity; and He said in effect: “As the second commandment is subordinate to the first, and yet like unto it, so the Son of Man is subordinate to the Father, and yet like unto Him.” The Pharisees felt at once the t His addition of the love to man had traversed their whole design. But that the argument referred to was really prepared by them, is plain from the question which the Redeemer based upon theirs; that is, the question how David could call the Messiah, his Son (therefore man), his Lord (therefore God, or God’s Son). The correctness of our exposition is shown also by the following consideration. The two charges under which the council placed Jesus before Pilate’s judgment-seat were these: 1. That He had made Himself the Son of God; 2. that He had made Himself king of the Jews in a political sense. This accusation was derived by them, in their embarrassment and affected daring, from that preliminary single but ambiguous charge, that He had made Himself the king of the Jews, that is, the Messiah (see the process in Joh_18:19). The same ambiguous word: “king of the Jews,” they first construed into a religious crime, and then, since that availed nothing, they construed it into a political crime. On this day of temptations, they strove to extract from Him a confession of both these charges. The temptation of making Him a political Messiah had come to nought. They then thought that at least they would involve Him in another, and more perilous condemnation, that of blasphemously impugning monotheism, or undermining the fundamental idea of the Jewish religion: this charge, though not quite so serviceable before Pilate, would serve them better before the people. We are warranted in this supposition by the questioning before Caiaphas, Mat_26:63, and the condemnation to death winch ensued upon the answer of Jesus.

They were collected on the same spot.—We may ascribe to a wide diversity of motives the excitement which caused the Pharisees to flock to the spot in masses: delight at the humiliation of the Sadducees; the desire to do bettor than they had done; despair that all means had failed to extort from Jesus any ground of accusation; among some of them, a nobler complacency in the victory won for the doctrine of the resurrection; probably, also, the wish to induce Him to give up His extravagant pretensions to be the Messiah and the Son of God, and, as an orthodox teacher of the people (in an Ebionite sense), would make Himself useful to them against the Sadducees. Ἐπὶτὸαὐτό, as in Act_1:15, referring to place, not sentiment.

Mat_22:35. A lawyer, νομι κό ς.—A word often used by Luke; by Matthew only here. Paulus understands it, one who acknowledged only the Pentateuch and Scripture, rejecting tradition; that is, a Sadducee (or Scripturist, Karaite;—though these last did not yet exist, they were germinally present in the Sadducees). But this, as de Wette objects, is contradicted by the ἐξ αὐτῶν, which necessarily must be referred to the Pharisees. Meyer: “He was a Mosaic jurist: νομοδιδάσκαλος designates the same as teacher; γραμματεύς. is only an enlargement of the idea of νομικός—one versed in Scripture, a Biblical scholar, whose calling was the study and exposition of Holy Writ. Comp. Gfrörer in the Tühinger Zeitschrift for 1838, 1:146.”

Mat_22:36. Which is the great commandment?—Meyer lays stress39 upon the ποία, and explains: How must a commandment be, or what character must it have, in order to be called great? But the answer of Jesus does not suit this. Yet certainly the ποία indicates the quality of the commandment. The great, μεγάλη, says more than the greatest. The greatest might be brought into comparison with the less great; but the great must, strictly viewed as a principle, include them all.

Mat_22:37. Thou shalt love the Lord thy God.—The passage, Deu_6:5, freely after the Septuagint. Fritzsche: “God as thy Lord.” But it would be better to invert it—the Lord as thy God: in the original, Jehovah thy God. And this introduces a new significance in relation to Christ. Jehovah, God of the Revelation, the God of the incarnation, was to be Israel’s God, and not the God of a deistical perversion.

With all thy heart.—The ἐνὅλῃτῇ follows the original Hebrew בְּכָל, and not the Septuagint ἐξ. The heart is the entire inner nature of man; the soul is then rather the vitality of the heart animating the body; the mind, its spiritual and intellectus part (inlellectus, mens). Meyer, following Beck (Biblische Seelenlehre, p. 109), makes καρδια the whole energy of the reason and the intellect; ψυχή, the whole energy of sentiment and passion; and διάνοια, the whole energy of thought and will in its manifestation.40

Mat_22:39. But a second is like unto it, ὁμιία.—This refers to the preceding declaration of Jesus, “The great and the first” (according to the true reading). Hence the article may be omitted. The commandment of the love of God is regarded in two lights: 1. As the great, which embraces in their unity all commandments, including that of love to our neighbor; 2. as the first, inasmuch as it is a special commandment, which precedes the commandment of love to man.—Is like unto it.—Compare 1Jn_4:20-21 : Rom_13:9. Even the love of God itself is to manifest and actualize itself by love to man,—more generally by love to all men, more particularly by brotherly love.41 The commandment is according to the Septuagint of Lev_19:18. Meyer: “ἀγαπήσεις signifies a tender regard, and conduct in harmony with it; this, therefore, may be commanded, but not φιλεῖν, which is the love of affection or sentiment. Compare Tittmann’s Synonyms.” By this answer, Jesus not only penetrated and convicted the wicked design of the Pharisees, but also reproved the error which lurked in their question. He acknowledged a distinction between the great commandment and the rest, so far as the former is the principle, and all others derived from it. But in another sense, He acknowledged no distinction: the derived commandment of love to man is equal to the first in its absolute value, and as representing the first.

[As thyself.—“W. Burkitt: Every man may, yea, ought to love himself, not his sinful self, but his natural self, and especially his spiritual self, the new nature in him. This it ought to be his particular care to increase and strengthen. Indeed there is no express command in Scripture for a man to love himself, because the light of nature directs, and the law of nature binds and moves every man so to do. God has put a principle of self love and of self-preservation into all His creatures, but especially in man. Man ought to love his neighbor, 1. not as le docs love himself, but as he ought to love himself; 2. no; in the same degree, but after the same manner, i. e., freely and readily, sincerely and unfeignedly, tenderly and compassionately, constantly and perseveringly.”—There are cases, however, where man ought to love his neighbor more than himself, and sacrifice his life for his fellows, his country, and the church, in imitation of the example of Christ and the martyrs.—P. S.]

Mat_22:40. Hangs, κρέμαται (according to the true reading).—The figure is taken from the door on its hinges, or from the nail on the wall; and aptly indicates dependence upon one common principle, and development from it; and hence it follows that the two great commandments have a higher unity in the one great commandment, that we love Jehovah, the incarnate God of revelation, as our God.—And also the prophets.—By the position of ἱπροφῆται after κρέμαται the prophets are made especially prominent. And the sense is this: Even the prophets who predicted the Messiah, the Son of God, do not contradict the great commandment of monotheism; they rather proceed from that law,—that is, from the word of the God of revelation flow the prophetical words concerning His revelation.

Mat_22:41-46. The counter-question of Jesus. Its object.—Paulus; “Jesus aimed to lead His opponents to the point, that the Psalm was not of David, and not Messianic.” (!) De Wette: “He thereby intimated that He was not a political Messiah.” Weisse: “He wished to give a bint that He did not spring from David.” (?) Meyer: “He thus convicted them of their own ignorance and helplessness concerning the nature of the Messiah.” But, connecting the Lord’s question with the tempting question that preceded it, it appears plain that Jesus would prove by a Messianic utterance of the Psalm, that the Messiah might be at once the Son of David, i.e., a Son of Man, and at the same time the Lord of David, i.e., the Son of God.42

Mat_22:41. While the Pharisees.—A significant circumstance. The whole body of Pharisaism is convicted and confuted by an Old Testament word, showing the consistency of the doctrine concerning the Son of God with Scripture.

Mat_22:43. How then doth David by the Spirit call Him Lord?—Here πῶς is not: “With what propriety, how is it possible?” but: “In what sense?” or: “What can he mean by it?”—Doth call:—in the sense of formal designation, solemn title.

Mat_22:44. The Lord said unto my Lord.—Quotation from Psalms 110. There are different views on its authorship and Messianic bearing. De Wette: “The poet (who is not David) calls the king, of whom the Psalm speaks, his Lord. The difficulty is thus taken away by the historical exposition. Jesus assumes the authorship of David, and its Messianic interpretation, simply as being prevalent in His time. But it is not necessary to suppose that Jesus agreed with the common notion. If stress is laid upon the words Δαβὶδἐ πνεύμα·ι, it must be remembered that we cannot rely upon the genuineness of these words sufficiently to build anything upon them. See Luk_20:42.” But here it is not Luke, but Matthew who speaks. Meyer agrees with de Wette, but while the latter assumes an accommodation of Jesus to the popular opinion, the former supposes that Jesus shared in the prevailing view as to the historical origin of the Psalm. But in our opinion, the correctness of the application of the word in the Psalm does not depend upon the question, whether David himself composed it or not. That Psalm is manifestly a poetical reproduction of the historical promise of Jehovah, which David received from the lips of the prophet Nathan, according to 2 Samuel 12, and of the last words of David referring to it, 2Sa_23:3 sqq. David is introduced as speaking on that basis of what Jehovah had promised the Messiah his offspring.43 That the Psalm is Messianic, and in the stricter sense prophetically Messianic, is evident from the tenor of its whole connection. Similarly, in the prophet Daniel we must first distinguish the historical basis and the composition, and then again identify them; since both are combined in the ἐν πνεύμστι of Scripture. Compare Mat_24:15.

By the Spirit—Luk_2:27; 1Co_12:3; Rom_8:15. Not indeed impulsu Spiritus; but in the element of the Spirit, of the Spirit of God, which is the principle of unity in the Scripture.

Him.—The Son of David as the Messiah. The Rabbins saw in this Psalm one of the most clear and decisive Messianic prophecies. It was not till a later period that they retracted this interpretation. See Hengstenberg, Christologie, on this Psalm [vol. 1 p. 140 sqq.].

Mat_22:45. How is He then his Son?—The answer is Rom_1:3-4; Act_2:25. It was not the ignorance, but the unbelief, of the Pharisees which declined the answer.

Mat_22:46. And no one could answer Him a word.—Decisive mandatum de supersedendo.—Nor durst any one from that day question Him any more.—The great point of severance between the rabbinical, deistic Judaism, and Christian and believing Judaism. Bengel: Nova dehinc quasi Scena Me pandit.

DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL

See the preceding remarks. They will, we think, have shown that the question about the great commandment, and the Lord’s counter-question concerning David’s Son, the Greater than David, have a much higher significance than exegesis has hitherto discerned in them. It is the spiritual process of severance between the deistical apostasy of Judaism, and the true Messianic faith of Judaism—that is, Christianity itself. The silence of the Pharisees, after Christ’s question, marks the crisis of their hardening. Hence the decisive and final rebuke of Jesus, and the departure from the temple: symbol of their desolation and judgment.

HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL

The last assault of His enemies upon the Lord in the temple.—The last question of the Pharisees, and the last counter-question of the Lord.—The inquiry about the great commandment meant as a temptation of Christ: 1. He will either lay aside His own majesty in presence of the majesty of God; or, 2. asserting His own majesty, He will dishonor the majesty of , God.—How the Pharisees misunderstood the great commandment, to love God with all the heart: 1. In opposition to the love of man: 2. in opposition to the dignity of Christ.—The one great commandment in its all-comprehensive significance: 1. It unfolds itself into the gospel, as a prophecy of salvation in the doctrine that the Lord, the incarnate Jehovah, was to be loved as God (the supreme Personality must reveal Himself); 2. it unfolds itself into the law of the Spirit, in the two commandments, the ten, and all other subordinate ones.—To love God with all our life: 1. With all our heart; 2. with all our soul; 3. with all our mind.—The commandment of the love to God a strong testimony for His sacred and mysterious personality,—a witness also of His own glorious love.—Since God is love, love to Him must at once be kindled by the contemplation of Him.—How can the first commandment be the greatest, and yet the second be like unto it? 1. The first is the greatest, because it is the ground of the second, and embraces it; 2. the second is equal to it, because it is the copy of the first, and love to God is to be demonstrated by love to man.—The measure of the love of God: nothing is sufficient, neither our life nor all things.44 The measure of love to man: our love to ourselves.—In love to our neighbor we are to prove our love to God.—The two commandments are inseparable: 1. We cannot love God without loving our neighbor (against superstition); we cannot love our neighbor without the love of God (against unbelief).—Self-love has two conditions and guarantees: the love of God, and the love of man.—How far is self-love not commanded, and how far commanded? 1. It is not directly commanded, because it is a natural impulse of life; 2. it is indirectly commanded in the whole law and gospel; since this natural impulse is diseased, and has become selfishness,45—But a second is like unto it; or, how one word of our Lord cuts through the wicked motive and the wicked error of the Pharisees.—How far are the commandments different, and how far alike?—The empire of love is an empire of personal life.—Love is the fulfilling of the law, Rom_13:10—The counter-question of the Lord; or, the proof of the divinity of Christ from the Old Testament.—As the commandment of love to man is related to the commandment of love to God, so Christ is related to the Father: subordinate, yet equal.—The severance between Christianity and apostate Judaism in the temple.—They asked no more questions: no Jew dares ask a Christian any question, or commence an attack upon him; the missionary impulse, to work among the Gentiles, also gradually died away among the Jews since the time of Christ.

Starke:—Zeisius: However the wicked hate one another, they unite against Christ, His kingdom and members.—If you would ask, cultivate a sincere heart.—Hypocrites inquire about the greatest commandment, but they do not keep the least.—Osiander: As no man is able thus perfectly to love God, no man can be justified by the law.—The question concerning Christ the most important and the most necessary.—A correct knowledge of Christ necessary to salvation,—It is not enough to acknowledge Christ as the Son of Man.—Christ is God and Man in one undivided person.

Heubner:—The Rabbins were fond of discussing the relative greatness of commandments. The Jews counted 613 precepts: 365 prohibitions, and 248 commands.—It is dangerous to make a distinction between great and little commandments.—The nature of the love to God which Christianity requires.—Aristotle: There is no love to God (connection between this word and the heathen denial of the supreme Personality).—Consult the representations of Fenelon and the earlier mystics concerning the stages of the lore to God.—Piety toward God should be kind to man; and the love of men should be religious.—All commandments centre in love.—The whole ethical doctrine of Christianity very simple.—What think ye of Christ? always the question which finds out the genuine Christian.—Christ the Lord.—The dominion of Christ a dominion of love.—Faith and love closely connected in Christianity. Bachmann:—What think ye of Christ f 1. Manifold answers; 2. how important the right one!—Lisco: The supreme command, and the supreme article of faith.

[Quesnel:—On the great and first commandment, Mat_22:38 : Love is the great and first commandment: 1. In antiquity, being as old as the world and engraven in our nature; 2. in dignity, as directly respecting God; 3. in excellence, being the commandment of the new covenant; 4. in justice, as preferring God above all things, and rendering to Him His due; 5. in sufficiency, in making of itself man holy in this life, and blessed in that which is to come; 6. in fruitfulness, in being the root of all other commandments; 7. in virtue and efficacy; 8. in extent; 9. in necessity; 10. in duration, as continuing for ever in heaven.—The same, on Mat_22:46 :—Truth at length triumphs, but the defender of it will notwithstanding be oppressed by men. Hence we should not judge the truth by the sufferings of its defenders. The more triumphant it is, the more they must expect to suffer, that they may be made more conformable to Christ and capable of greater reward.—P. S.]

Footnotes:

[29] Mat_22:35.—The words: καὶ λέγεν (and saying), are omitted by Lachmann and Tischendorf [also by Tregelles, but not by Alford] on the authority of B., L., etc Meyer: An insertion from Mar_12:28, and contrary to the uniform style of Matthew ( Mat_12:10; Mat_17:10, etc.).

[30] Mat_22:36.—[Πεία ἐντο λὴυγάλη ἐννόμῳ; literally: What kind of commandment, or: What commandment is great in the low? Meyer: Was für ein Gebot ist gross im Gesetze? (Wie muse ein Gebot beschaffen sein. um ein grosses Gebot su seint?). ΙΙ οία is qualitative, qualis, what kind (comp. Mat_19:12), and the article before ἐντολή is omitted. But the Authorized Version agrees better with the answer, and Dr. Lange likewise translates: Welches ist das grosse Gebot im Gesetz? The Lat. Vulg.: Quid est mandatum magnum, in lege? See Exeg. Notes.—P. S.]

[31] Mat_22:37.—B., L., al., Lachmann, Tischendorf: ὁ δὲ ἔφη.

[32] Mat_22:38.—L., Z.: ἡ υεγάλη καὶ πρώτη [for πρώτη καὶ ηεφάλη]. Cod. D. likewise, yet without ἡ. So Cod. Z. with a second ἡ before πρώτη. The sense of the text is in favor of this reading. The transposition arose from the idea that πρώτη was the principal predicate. [Lachmann, Tischendorf, Tregelles, and Alford unanimously adopt ἡ μεγάλη καὶ πρώτη, which is now sustained also by Cod. Sinalt.—P. S.]

[33] Mat_22:40.—[The true reading of the best ancient authorities, including Cod. Sinait, recommended by Griesbach, and adopted by Lachmann, Tischendorf, and Alford, is: ἐν ταύταις ταῖς δςσιν ἐντολαῖς ὅλος ὁ νόμος κρέμαται καιοἱ προφῆται, instead of the text, rec.:…ὅλος ὁ νόμος καὶ οί προφῆται κρέμανται. Dr. Lange follows the former in his German Version: In. diesen zweien Geboten hängt das gante Gesetz und auch die Propheten. It is also preferable on internal reasons. The lawyer had asked what commandment was great in the law; the Saviour answers to this question by naming the great law of love on which hangs the whole law, and the prophets besides.—P. S.]

[34] Mat_22:42.—[The Interpolation: The son, must be omitted, if the question is translated: Of whom is he the son?—P. S]

[35] Mat_22:43.—[̓Εν πνεύματι is here not opposed to Εν πνεύματι, but refers to the Holy Spirit as the inspirer of the Scriptures. See Exeg. Notes.—P. S.]

[36] Mat_22:44.—The Recepta reads: ὑποπόδιον (footstool), from the Septnagint. But most MSS. and the critical editions: ὐποκάτω (τῶν ποδῶν σον), under. [So also Cod. Sinait As to the sense, Bengel remarks: The warlike kingdom will come to an end; but the peaceful kingdom will have no end, comp. 1Co_15:25.—P. S.]

[37] Mat_22:45.—[Codd. D., K.„M., al., insert ἐνπνεύματι, by the Spirit, before καλεῖ, and Lange puts it in the text, but in small type. But Lachmann, Tischendorf, Alford reject it as insufficiently supported, and superfluous.—P. S.]

[38][So also Alford in loc., referring to the more detailed account in Mar_12:28-44. Bui Nast regards Lange’s interpretation as the only Intelligible one. It is certainly very Ingenious.—P. S.]

[39][Not: Less stress, as the Edirib. trsl. has It, In direct opposition to the original: Meyer betont ποία und er kldrt, etc. Comp. my critical note above.—P. S.]

[40][Olshausen: “The Lord by culling the commandment to love God supremely the first and great commandment, does evidently not de sign to represent it as one out of many, though greater in decree than others. On the contrary, the love of God is the commandment, and the whole law, with all its injunctions and prohibitions, is only a development of this one commandment: ‘Thou shalt love the Lord thy God.’ By this love we have to understand the unqualified surrender of our whole being to God. Of such a love man Js capable, though not by his own strength, but by Divine grace, because he finds in God alone all his wants fully and everlastingly satisfied.”—P. S]

[41][The original reads: Christusliebe (Edinb. trsl.: lore of Christ; or, better: to Christ); but this is probably a printing error for Christensliebe; for we love Christ not as our neighbor, but as the God-Man.—P. S.]

[42][Quesnel: “Jesus here asks a question in His turn, not to tempt, but to instruct His disciples; to confound the obstinate; to point out the source of all their captious questions, namely, their ignorance of the prophecies which foretold the Messiah; to furnish His church with weapon against the Jews in all ages; and, by His last public instruction, to establish the truth of His divinity. Incarnation, power, and kingdom, as the foundation of all religion.—P. S.]

[43][This sentence, so necessary to give Lange’s view, is enthely omitted in the Edinb. trsl. For other expositions on the Messianic character of the Psalm, see especially Hengstenberg (Christology of the O. T., and his Com. on the Psalms), also Stier and Nast in loc. Alford and Wordsworth do not touch the difficulty at all.—P. S.]

[44][Burkitt in loc.: “The measure of loving God, is to love Him without measure.”—P. S.]

[45][Comp. the practical remarks of Burkitt inserted in the Exeg. Note on Mat_22:39, p. 404.—P. S.]

Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Matthew

THE TABLES TURNED: THE QUESTIONERS QUESTIONED

Mat 22:34.

Herodians, Sadducees, Pharisees, who were at daggers drawn with each other, patched up an alliance against Jesus, whom they all hated. Their questions were cunningly contrived to entangle Him in the cobwebs of casuistry and theological hair-splitting, but He walked through the fine-spun snares as a lion might stalk away with the nooses set for him dangling behind him. The last of the three questions put to Jesus, and the one question with which He turned the tables and silenced His questioners, are our subject. In the former, Jesus declares the essence of the law or of religion; in the latter, He brings to light the essential loftiness of the Messiah.

I. The two preceding questions are represented to have been asked by deputations; this is specially noted as emanating from an individual.

The ‘lawyer’ seems to have anticipated his colleagues, and possibly his question was not that which they had meant to put. His motive in asking it was that of ‘tempting’ Jesus, but we must not give that word too hostile a sense, for it may mean no more than ‘testing’ or trying. The legal expert wished to find out the attainments and standpoint of this would-be teacher, and so he proposed a question which would bring out the whereabouts of Jesus, and give opportunity for a theological wrangle. He did not ask the question for guidance, but as an inquisitor cross-examining a suspected heretic. Probably the question was a stereotyped one, and there are traces in the Gospels that the answer recognised as orthodox was that which Jesus gave {Luk 10:27}. The two commandments are quoted from Deu 6:5 and Lev 19:18 respectively. The lawyer probably only desired to raise a discussion as to the relative worth of isolated precepts. Jesus goes deep down below isolated precepts, and unifies, as well as transforms, the law. Supreme and undivided love to God is not only the great, but also the first, commandment. In more modern phrase, it is the sum of man’s duty and the germ of all goodness. Note that Jesus shifts the centre from conduct to character, from deeds to affections. ‘As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he,’ said the sage of old; Christ says, ‘As a man loves, so is he.’ Two loves we have,-either the dark love of self and sense, or the white love of God, and all character and conduct are determined by which of these sways us. Note, further, that love to God must needs be undivided. God is one and all; man is one and finite. To love such an object with half a heart is not to love. True, our weakness leads astray, but the only real love corresponding to the natures of the lover and the loved is whole-hearted, whole-souled, whole-minded. It must be ‘all in all, or not at all.’

‘A second is like unto it,’-love to man is the under side, as it were, of love to God. The two commandments are alike, for both call for love, and the second is second because it is a consequence of the first. Each sets up a lofty standard; ‘with all thy heart’ and ‘as thyself’ sound equally impossible, but both result necessarily from the nature of the case. Religion is the parent of all morality, and especially of benevolent love to men. Innate self-regard will yield to no force but that of love to God. It is vain to try to create brotherhood among men unless the sense of God’s fatherhood is its foundation. Love of neighbours is the second commandment, and to make it the first, as some do now, is to end all hope of fulfilling it. Still further, Jesus hangs law and prophets on these two precepts, which, at bottom, are one. Not only will all other duties be done in doing these, since ‘love is the fulfilling of the law,’ but all other precepts, and all the prophets’ appeals and exhortations, are but deductions from, or helps to the attainment of, these. All our forms of worship, creeds, and the like, are of worth in so far as they are outcomes of love to God, or aid us in loving Him and our neighbours. Without love, they are ‘as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.’

II. The Pharisees remained ‘gathered together,’ and may have been preparing another question, but Jesus had been long enough interrogated.

It was not fitting that He should be catechised only. His questions teach. He does not seek to ‘entangle’ the Pharisees ‘in their speech,’ nor to make them contradict themselves, but brings them full up against a difficulty, that they may open their eyes to the great truth which is its only solution. His first question, ‘What think ye of the Christ?’ is simply preparatory to the second. The answer which He anticipated was given,-as, of course, it would be, for the Davidic descent of the Messiah was a commonplace universally accepted. One can fancy that the Pharisees smiled complacently at the attempt to puzzle them with such an elementary question, but the smile vanished when the next one came. They interpreted Psa 110:1 - Psa 110:7 as Messianic, and David in it called Messiah ‘my Lord.’ How can He be both? Jesus’ question is in two forms,-’If He is son, how does David call Him Lord?’ or, if He is Lord, ‘how then is He his son?’ Take either designation, and the other lands you in inextricable difficulties.

Now what was our Lord’s purpose in thus driving the Pharisees into a corner? Not merely to ‘muzzle’ them, as the word in Mat 22:34, rendered ‘put to silence,’ literally means, but to bring to light the inadequate conceptions of the Messiah and of the nature of His kingdom, to which exclusive recognition of his Davidic descent necessarily led. David’s son would be but a king after the type of the Herods and Cæsars, and his kingdom as ‘carnal’ as the wildest zealot expected, but David’s Lord, sitting at God’s right hand, and having His foes made His footstool by Jehovah Himself,-what sort of a Messiah King would that be? The majestic image, that shapes itself dimly here, was a revelation that took the Pharisees’ breath away, and made them dumb. Nor are the words without a half-disclosed claim on Christ’s part to be that which He was so soon to avow Himself before the high priest as being. The first hearers of them probably caught that meaning partly, and were horrified; we hear it clearly in the words, and answer, ‘Thou art the King of glory, O Christ! Thou art the everlasting Son of the Father.’

Jesus here says that Psa 110:1 - Psa 110:7 is Messianic, that David was the author, and that he wrote it by divine inspiration. The present writer cannot see how our Lord’s argument can be saved from collapse if the psalm is not David’s.

Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

THE THEOLOGIAN AND THE GREAT COMMANDMENTS

Mat 22:34-40; Mar 12:28-34. “And one of the scribes coming to Him, and having them interrogating Him, knowing that He answered them beautifully, asks Him, What is the first commandment of all? And Jesus responded to him, The first commandment of all is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord. And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, with all thy mind, and with all thy strength. This is the first commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. There is no other commandment greater than these. [Deu 6:4; Lev 19:18.] And the scribes said to Him, Beautifully, Teacher, You spoke the truth, that He is one and no other beside Him; and to love Him with all the heart, with all the understanding, with all the mind, and with all the strength, and to love the neighbor as himself, is more than all whole burnt-offerings and sacrifices. Jesus seeing him, that he answered intelligently, said to him, Thou art not far from the kingdom of God. And no one dared to interrogate Him any more.” This theologian so meekly and intelligently corroborated and endorsed Jesus on the great plan of salvation, as He showed from the Scriptures the pre-eminence of love into God supreme, with all the heart, mind, and strength, and our neighbor as ourselves, that Jesus, reading his heart like a book, saw his sincerity and candor, and notified him that he was not far from the kingdom of God. You see, the attitude of this theologian, when he exalted Divine love — to God supreme and to the neighbor as ourselves — and so frankly confessed that this love was infinitely more important than all the sacrifices of the Levitical law, clearly demonstrated that he was on the fight line, recognizing the pure spirituality of the redemptive scheme, while sacrifices and oblations are merely subordinate and symbolic. This man clearly evinces that the light of the Holy Ghost was already shining in on his mind, and revealing to him the true way of salvation. What a beautiful exception to the hypocrites, legalists, and ritualists, who so constantly thronged about Jesus with their captious questions and occult intrigue!

Mat 22:40. “On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” Hence you see that even the Old Testament teaches a religion of perfect love, its burdensome ritual constituting a symbolic school, in which the people were constantly and vividly reminded of the vicarious atonement of the Son and the Pentecostal baptism of the Spirit.

William B. Godbey, Commentary on the New Testament (1896–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Mat_22:34. The following conversation respecting the great commandment is given in Mar_12:28 ff. with such characteristic detail, that Matthews account cannot fail to have the appearance of being incomplete, and, considering the bias of the incident (see note on Mat_22:35), to look as if it represented a corrupt tradition. In Luk_10:25 ff. there is a similar conversation, which, however, is not given as another version of that now before us, but as connected with a different incident that took place some time before.

οἱ δὲ Φαρις.] Comp. Mat_22:15. They had already been baffled, and had withdrawn into the background (Mat_22:22); but the victory of Jesus over the Sadducees provoked them to make one more attempt, not to avenge the defeat of those Sadducees (Strauss), nor to display their own superiority over them (Ebrard, Lange),neither view being hinted at in the text, or favoured by anything analogous elsewhere,but, as was the object in every such challenge, to tempt Jesus, if that were at all possible, to give such an answer as might be used against Him, see Mat_22:35.

ἀκούσαντες] whether while present (among the multitude), or when absent, through the medium, perhaps, of their spies, cannot be determined.

συνήχθησαν ἐπὶ τὸ αὐτό] for the purpose of concerting measures for a new attack. Consequently the νομικός of Mat_22:35 had to be put forward, and, while the conversation between Jesus and him is going on, the parties who had deputed him gather round the speakers, Mat_22:41. There is, accordingly, no reason to apprehend any discrepancy (Köstlin) between the present verse and Mat_22:41.

ἐπὶ τὸ αὐτό] locally, not said with reference to their sentiments. See on Act_1:15; Psa_2:2.

Meyer — Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament — English translation by Peter Christie, edited by Frederick Crombie (T&T Clark, 1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Mat 22:34-40 . The great commandment (Mar 12:28-34 ). In a still more marked degree than in the case of the man in quest of eternal life, Mk.’s account presents the subject of this incident in a more favourable light than that of Mt. The difference must be allowed to stand. Mk.’s version is welcome as showing a good side even in the scribe or Pharisee world.

Mat 22:34 . ἀκούσαντες , hearing; not without pleasure, if also with annoyance, at the uniform success of Jesus. ἐφίμωσεν : silenced, muzzled, from φιμός , a muzzle (Mat 22:12 , used in literal sense in Deu 25:4 ).

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The Gospel doth not abolish the precepts of the Law, but doth rather confirm them.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Verse 34. They were gathered together.] επι το αυτο - they came together with one accord, or, for the same purpose; i.e. of ensnaring him in his discourse, as the Sadducees had done, Mt 22:23.

The Codex Bezae and several of the Itala have επαυτον, against him. Camen togidre into oon. - Old MS. Eng, Bib.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(34) Had put the Sadducees to silence.—The primary meaning of the Greek verb is to stop a man’s power of speaking with a gag, and even in its wider use it retains the sense of putting men to a coerced and unwilling silence. (Comp. 1Pe_2:15.)

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

34. had put … to silence] Literally, gagged; hence silenced completely, not only for the moment. The same Greek work is used (Mat_22:12) of the guest; Mar_1:25 and Luk_4:35, of silencing a demon; Mar_4:39, of silencing a storm; 1Co_9:9 and 1Ti_5:18, of muzzling an ox.

34–40. The Greatest Commandment

Mar_12:28-34; Luk_10:25-28

In St Luke the question is asked at an earlier period of the ministry, after the return of the Seventy; and the meaning of “neighbour” is illustrated by the parable of the “Good Samaritan.”

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Jesus said unto him,.... Directly, without taking time to think of it; and though he knew with what design it was put to him, yet, as an answer to it might be useful and instructive to the people, as well as silence and confound his adversaries, he thought fit to give one; and is as follows, being what is expressed in Deu 6:5.

thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind; that is, with all the powers and faculties of the soul, the will, the understanding, and the affections; in the most sincere, upright, and perfect manner, without any dissimulation and hypocrisy, and above all objects whatever, for this the law requires; and which man, in his state of innocence, was capable of, though now fallen, he is utterly unable to perform; so far from it, that without the grace of God, he has no true love at all to God, in his heart, soul and mind, but all the reverse; his carnal mind is enmity against God, and everything that is divine and good, or that belongs unto him: and though this is now the case of man, yet his obligation to love the Lord in this manner is still the same; and when the Spirit of God does produce the grace and fruit of love in his soul, he does love the Lord sincerely; because of the perfections of his nature, and the works of his hands, and because of the blessings of grace bestowed, and especially for Christ, the unspeakable gift of his love; and most affectionately does he love him, when he is most sensible of his everlasting and unchangeable love to him, and when that is shed abroad by the Spirit; "for we love him, because he first loved us", Jo1 4:19 instead of, "with all thy mind", as here, in Deu 6:5 it is read, "with all thy might"; and which clause is here added by the Syriac, Persic, and Ethiopic versions, as it is in

Mar 12:30. The Hebrew phrase seems to denote the vehemency of affections, with which God is to be beloved. Though the Jewish writers (s) paraphrase and interpret it, "with all thy substance", or "money"; and in the Misna (t), the following interpretation is given of the whole,

""with all thy heart", with thy imaginations, with the good imagination, and with the evil imagination; and "with all thy soul", even if he should take away thy soul; and "with all thy strength", with all thy "mammon", or riches; or otherwise, "with all thy might", with every measure he measures unto thee, do thou measure unto him;

that is, as one of the commentators says (u), whether it be good or evil; or, as another (w), in every case that happens give thanks to God, and praise him. And certain it is, that as God is to be loved in the strongest manner we are capable of, and with all we have, and are; so always, at all times, under all dispensations of his providence, and upon all accounts, and for all he does towards, in, upon, and for us,

(s) Targum Onk. & Jarchi in Deut. vi. 5. (t) Beracot, c. 9. sect. 5. Vid. Targum Jon. in Dent. vi. 5. (u) Bartenora in Misn. ib. (w) Maimon. in ib.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

34 But when the Pharisees had heard that he had put the Sadducees to silence, they were gathered together.

Ver. 34. But when the Pharisees] Nunquam bella bonis, nunquam certamina desunt. Truth never lacks an adversary. Christ had many conflicts all his life long, but most and sharpest at last cast. At death, Satan will muster up all his forces against a Christian; that last encounter is like to be the sharpest; as Israel in the wilderness met with much hardship: but when they entered the land, all the kings of Canaan combined against them.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The Pharisees heard that he had silenced their adversaries, the Sadducees, &c. Some of them, says St. Luke, (xx. 39.) applauded him, saying, Master, thou hast said well. (Witham) --- The Pharisees assembled themselves together, that they might confound him by their numbers, whom they could not by their arguments. Wherefore they said one to another: let one speak for all, and all speak by one, that if one be reduced to silence, he alone may appear to be refuted; and, if he is victorious, we may all appear conquerors. Hence it is said, And one of them, a doctor of the law, (St. John Chrysostom) asked him, tempting him, if he were really possessed of that wisdom and that knowledge which people so much admired in him. (Bible de Vence)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Mark relates this history more fully, Mar 12:28-31. 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 is one Lord: and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these. And the scribe said unto him, Well, Master, thou hast said the truth: for there is one God; and there is none other but he: and to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the soul, and with all thy strength, and to love his neighbour as himself, is more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices. And when Jesus saw that he answered discreetly, he said unto him, Thou art not far from the kingdom of God. And no man after that durst ask him any question. Luke omits this history, only subjoins to our Saviour’s answer to the Sadducees, Luk 20:39,40, Then certain of the scribes answering said, Master, thou hast well said. And after that they durst not ask him any question at all. There are different opinions of interpreters concerning the design of this scribe, called by Matthew a lawyer, in coming to Christ with this question. Some think that he came upon the same errand with the others, to entangle him in his speech. Others, that he came merely out of a desire to be more fully instructed by him, and that tempting here signifies no more than trying him, not for a bad end, but as the queen of Sheba came to prove Solomon with hard questions, to have an experiment of his wisdom. Our Saviour’s fair treating him, and the commendation he gave him, together with his fair speaking to our Saviour, and commending his answer, induce me to think that he came on no ill design. Besides that, the opinion of some, that he came hoping to hear our Saviour vilify their ritual precepts in comparison of the moral precepts, seemeth to me not probable; for himself consents to what our Saviour saith, and addeth, that to love the Lord our God, &c., is more than all burnt offerings and sacrifices. His question was, Which is the first and greatest commandment? Matthew saith, the great; Mark saith, the first: they have both the same sense, and our Saviour puts them together, Mat 22:38. Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. Mark adds, with all thy strength. It is to be found Deu 6:5, only there is not with all thy mind. Luke puts it in, Mat 10:27. It is but the same thing expressed in divers terms, for with all thy soul is comprehensive of heart, mind, and strength. Mark adds a preface: Hear, O Israel; the Lord our God is one Lord: thou shalt love, & c. Those words only;

1. Stirred up the people’s attention.

2. Showed the reason of the following precept, which is fully expressed in Matthew.

If any ask, To which of the ten commandments is this to be referred? It is easily answered, that it is the sum of the four first, which comprehend our duty toward God. Our Saviour’s expressing them by loving God, shows us that the law, of God was not fulfilled in the observation of the letter of those commandments, but doing these things which God commands out of a principle of love, the highest degrees of love to God. They idly interpret this precept, who interpret it only an obligation upon us to love God as much as we are able in our lapsed state; the fall of man lost God no right of commanding, and telling us our duty. The law doth undoubtedly require of us love to God in the highest degree, to be showed by the acts of the whole man, in obedience to all his commandments, and that constantly. It is our only happiness that the law is in the hands of a Mediator, who hath thus perfectly fulfilled it for all those who believe in him, Rom 8:3, and accepteth of us the will for the deed. Thus the moral law is a schoolmaster that leadeth us unto Christ. Our Saviour justly calls this the first and great commandment,

1. Because God is to be served before our neighbour.

2. Nor can love to our neighbour flow from any other true principle than that of love to God, nor is our neighbour to be loved but for God’s sake, and in subordination unto him.

And the second is like unto it, commanding love also; so that, as the apostle saith, love is the fulfilling of the law. Thy neighbour, that is, every man, as thyself; doing as much for him as thou wouldst have him do for thee, and doing no more against him than thou wouldst willingly he should do against thee: as truly and sincerely as thyself.

On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets: there is nothing commanded in all the Old Testament but may be reduced to these two heads. This is the whole duty of man there commanded. The whole book of God is our rule, and we are obliged to every precept in it. Moses summed up all in the ten commandments, to which, truly interpreted, all the precepts of Scripture are reducible. Christ here brings the ten to two. The apostle brings all to one, telling us love is the fulfilling of the law. There is nothing forbidden in Scripture but what offends the royal law of love, either to God or man; there is nothing commanded but what will fall under it. Mark addeth, that the scribe applauds our Saviour, as having said the truth, and confessing that the fulfilling these two precepts was more than all sacrifices and burnt offerings; in which he agreed with Samuel, who long since told Saul that to obey was better than sacrifice; and it needs must be so, seeing that all the true value of sacrifices lay in the obedience by them given to the will of God. Christ tells the scribe he was not far from the kingdom of God. He who once rightly understands the law of God, and hath cast off that silly fancy of thinking to please God with ritual things, hath made a great proficiency under that schoolmaster, who, if rightly understood, will show him the need of another righteousness than his own wherein to appear before God.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Vers. 34-40. Fourth attack: The Pharisees" question concerning the great, commandment. (Mar_12:28-34)

He had put the Sadducees to silence (efimwsen , as ver. 12). The Pharisees were informed of, and some of them had witnessed, the discomfiture of the Sadducees; (see Luk_20:40) hence they deemed it necessary again to attack Jesus by asking a question which specially appertained to their own teaching. They felt that, if they were ever to compass his overthrow, they must first lower his credit with the people, so that these might no longer care to support or defend him. To succeed in entangling Jesus in a difficulty would not only effect this, but would also gain them a triumph over their adversaries, who had been so completely defeated. Were gathered together; epi to auto , Which may mean, "to the same place," as perhaps Act_2:1; or "on the same ground, for the same purpose." The former is probably correct. The English versions omit the words (see the rendering of ver. 41, where epi to auto does not occur). They grouped themselves around Christ, or else gathered in a council chamber, taking combined action against him.

Vers. 34-46. The Pharisees.

I THE QUESTION OF THE LAWYER.

1. The gathering of the Pharisees. The multitude were astonished at the wisdom, the deep and holy teaching, of the blessed Lord. He had answered the pretended difficulties of the Sadducees, and had proved the great doctrine of the resurrection from the very books which they prized most highly. The Pharisees heard that he had put their adversaries to silence. They came together. Their feelings, doubtless, were various: many of them were angry and troubled at the Lord"s success and popularity; some were vexed at his superiority in theological argument, he had done what they could not do; some few had better motives.

2. The lawyer. He had beard the Lord reasoning with the Sadducees; like the scribes mentioned by St. Luke, (Luk_20:39) he perceived that he had answered them well, that he knew far better than himself the meaning of that Law of Moses which the scribes and lawyers professed to understand and to teach. He asked him a question, tempting him. We must not take it for granted that the intention was evil. The word may mean no more than "trying" him, as "God did tempt Abraham," trying his faith; as the Queen of Sheba came to "prove Solomon with hard questions." We know from St. Mark"s narrative that the lawyer or scribe belonged to the better class of Pharisees. He recognized the wisdom of our Lord, and felt the truth and holiness of his words. "Which is the great commandment in the Law?" he said; or, as the words may perhaps be rendered, "What sort of commandment is great?" He may have been thinking of the Pharisaic distinction of commandments into great and small, heavy and light.

3. The Lord"s answer.

(1) The great commandment. The Lord does not lay down mechanical rules; he does not compare the commandments with one another, and estimate their comparative importance. He states at once a great principle, "Thou shalt love." Selfishness is the bane and curse of our nature. Love is the refining, elevating power. The highest form of love must have the highest object, and that is God himself. "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God." The Jews owned the importance of this commandment; they wore it in their phylacteries; the Lord bids us carry it in our hearts. Men may say that the affections are not directly under our own control like individual actions; we cannot hope or fear, hate or love, at the bidding of another. Love is essentially spontaneous; it cannot be forced; forced love is no true love; it is not love at all. But God bids us love him; he would not mock us with an impossible commandment. He helps us to obey it by his Word, by his grace. Love produces love. God reveals to us his own great love in the life and death of Jesus Christ our Lord. Love implies personal knowledge. God "shineth into his people"s hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." The love of God is the first of all the commandments. We must not be contented with our spiritual state unless we are sincerely and earnestly striving to obey it. The measure of that love is the measure of the whole heart and soul and mind: the heart, the centre of our being; the soul, the seat of the affections and desires; the mind, the home of thought and reason. The love of God must dwell in all these parts of our complex nature, filling the whole man with its gracious sanctifying influence; we must try to love him with the whole strength of all our highest faculties. Such love, the first duty of the Christian, is also the source of his sweetest, holiest joy. There is no earthly joy like that which flows from the love of those dearest to us; and as the love of God is of all forms of love beyond comparison the highest, so the joy which streams from that love is of all joys unutterably the deepest and the most blessed. It is the foretaste of heaven, for the joy of heaven is to love God perfectly, and to know and feel the great love of God. St. Peter says that those who love him now "rejoice in him with joy unspeakable and full of glory." And if that be true of those who now see him not save by faith, what must be the entrancing gladness of those who see him face to face, as he is, in his kingdom?

(2) The second commandment. There is a second, the Lord said, like unto the first: "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." Like the first, it prescribes a pure and unselfish love. And it issues from the first, for Christian love is not mere human good nature; it is a grace it is the love of those whom God loves, because he loves them. The two commandments are like one another. Both say, "Thou shalt love;" the word "love" in both is the same; not filein , which expresses feeling, affection, passion; but agapan , which is the love of reverence, respect. We are bidden to honour all men; to respect their rights, their feelings; to reverence in all men, however humble and ignorant, the image of God; to remember that all are precious in the sight of Christ, ransomed with his life, redeemed with his precious blood. And that love, that respect, should be like the feelings with which we regard ourselves true, real, sincere. As we care for ourselves, for our own comfort and happiness; so, if we are Christ"s true disciples, we must care for the comfort and happiness of others. Our love for others must be like the love with which we regard ourselves like it in reality, in strength. On these two commandments hang all the Law and the prophets. "He that loveth another hath fulfilled the Law;" for the great principle, "Thou shalt love," covers the whole sphere of human action and duties; and, if once accepted and received into the heart, will regulate all the details of life, and guide the Christian aright in all his relations to others, at all times, under all circumstances. The commandments of God, whether expressed in the Law or the prophets, are not so many scattered, unconnected rules; they run up into one great principle; they are all developed from the one law of love.

II THE COUNTER QUESTIONS OF THE LORD.

1. The first question. The Pharisees were still gathered together; most of them were filled with jealousy and hatred. All so understood the great truth of the unity of the Godhead as to suppose it impossible to regard the expected Messiah as other than merely human. Hence the Saviour"s question, "What think ye concerning the Christ the Messiah? whose Son is he?" They thought the answer easy. They knew that the Scripture had said that the Christ cometh of the seed of David; they had said so before, (Joh_7:42) and now they answered at once, "The Son of David.

2. The second question. Jesus quoted the hundred and tenth psalm a psalm regarded by the rabbis as Messianic, "The Lord said unto my Lord Jehovah said unto Adoni, Sit thou at my right hand." How could David speak of the Christ as his Lord? How could the Son of David be the Lord of David? David spoke in the Spirit, by the inspiration of the Holy Ghost. How did they, the teachers of Israel, understand those sacred words? They could not answer him. They did not deny the Messianic character of the psalm, as, alas! some do without good reason now. They believed that the psalm was David"s, and that he was speaking of the Christ; but they did not know, as we know, that Christ "was made of the seed of David according to the flesh; and declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead;" that he was "God, of the substance of the Father, begotten before the worlds; and Man, of the substance of his mother, born in the world." We can answer the Lord"s question readily; we know the Christian faith. The Pharisees could not answer him a word; and none from that time durst ask him any more questions.

LESSONS.

1. "The great commandment is, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God." Keep that commandment, and you are safe; neglect it, and no exactness of external obedience will atone for that neglect.

2. The second commandment is like it: "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." It is the rule which must guide the Christian in his relations to others.

3. "What think ye of Christ?" He is the Son of God; he became for our sake also the Son of man. He is our God, our Saviour, our Example, our Life, our All in all.

Vers. 34-40. The two commandments.

Originality of mind may be as much apparent in a wise selection from what is old as in the creation of what is new. Some of the most striking teaching of our Lord is of this character. Jesus Christ did not repudiate the Old Testament, nor did he despise its truths because his own went further, but he pointed out what was most important in the ancient revelation, and rescued this from the oblivion into which it had fallen with many people in their scrupulous attention to the petty details of external observances. Thus he met the tempting question of the Pharisees by weighty words from.their own Law, the very solution of which was a revelation and a rebuke of Pharisaic formalism.

I CHRIST CALLS US BACK TO FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES. The error of the rabbis lay in a tendency to confuse the minds of their scholars and to obscure the essential truths of revelation by directing too much attention to minute questions of casuistry. A similar mistake was made by the Schoolmen in the Middle Ages, although these masters of hair splitting delighted in the discussion of less practical subjects. We are always in danger of missing the essential truths of our faith in the consideration of distracting details. But Christianity is a religion of principles. This is most characteristic of the New Testament.

1. These principles are fundamental.

2. They admit of wide and varied application.

3. They must be obeyed internally in thought and heart.

II THE ROOT PRINCIPLE OF CHRISTIAN CONDUCT IS LOVE. This was found in the old Law; it belonged to Judaism, because it is always the source of the best life. But it is most prominent and powerful in Christianity. The gospel reveals the love of God, and it instills a spirit of love in man. So essential is this that no one can be accounted a Christian who is hard-hearted and utterly selfish, however saintly he may be in other respects. Love is shown in two principal relations.

1. It seeks the welfare of those who are loved the honour of God and the good of fellow men.

2. It delights in fellowship with those who are loved. Christian love draws us nearer to God and nearer to one another.

III GOD IS THE FIRST OBJECT OF CHRISTIAN LOVE.

1. He deserves love.

(1) Because he is good and glorious in the beauty of holiness. There is no other object of affection so supremely worthy of our heart"s devotion.

(2) Because he first loved us. Love is the child of love. Our love to God is a reflection of God"s love to us; it is our response to his goodness and kindness.

2. He claims love. God is not indifferent to our attitude towards him. He cannot be if he loves us. In his own wonderful fatherly love he seeks the affection of his children. Therefore a cold morality, or a philanthropy that ignores God, is not sufficient.

IV MAN IS THE SECOND OBJECT OF CHRISTIAN LOVE. In practice we cannot separate the second commandment from the first. St. John tells us that we cannot love God if we do not love our brother. (1Jn_4:20) In loving what is good in man we love God. Therefore neither commandment can be taken without the other. If it were possible to seek God alone, that would not please him. He does not desire us to be so absorbed in heavenly contemplation as to forget earthly duties. The Christian ritual is the ministry of brotherly charity. (Jam_1:27)

To all this it may be objected that we cannot love on command. True. But

(1) we can remove the selfish hindrances to the love of God and man.

(2) We can direct our thoughts to those considerations out of which love springs. Thus we can cultivate the affections. W.F.A.

Vers. 34-40. The greater commandments.

The Jews made many distinctions about the commandments of God, calling some "light," others "weighty," others "little," others "great." According to their estimating, therefore, some commandment must be "greatest." Some of them contended that the law of the sabbath was the greater commandment, some the law of sacrifice, some that of circumcision, and some pleaded for the wearing of phylacteries. They now referred the resolution of this vexed question to Jesus, who astonished them by giving precedence to love. The Talmud reckons the commandments at six hundred and thirteen; of which three hundred and sixty-five are negative, and two hundred and forty-eight affirmative; but our Lord"s enumeration is two, for that all the Law is fulfilled in love to God and man. This is so in the nature of the case.

I LOVE PRESUPPOSES ESTIMATION.

1. God reveals himself that he may be supremely loved.

(1) Opinion must precede affection. Love resists all attempts at coercion. It cannot be forced. It must be won. God binds us to love him by his supreme and infinite excellence. He is "the Perfection of beauty," of intelligence and truth, of goodness and love.

(2) He reveals himself in his manifold and glorious works.

(3) He reveals himself in his sacred Word. In the wonders of his Law. In the riches of his Gospel.

(4) He reveals himself in his wise and gracious providence.

2. Man is to be loved as reflecting the image of God.

(1) The God-like win the love of the godly. They are admirable and amiable as they reflect the truth and goodness of their Maker.

(2) The devil like cannot be loved with complacency by the godly. Yet with pity and compassion they may be loved. They are thus loved by God, who still sees his image, though dreadfully defaced; he sees wonderful capabilities, though frightfully demoralized.

II LOVE IDENTIFIES ITSELF WITH ITS OBJECT.

1. So in loving God the lover is ennobled.

(1) The intense love of a holy being necessarily implies the intense love of holiness. Love to God is the vital and purifying flame of holiness. So it fulfils the law of God, by a sweet constraint compelling obedience to all his commandments.

(2) The freedom of this obedience, being that of entire choice and supreme delight, gives the noblest character to submission.

(a) As it impels to the most arduous duties for the glory of God.

(b) As it makes us willing to submit to the severest sufferings for the glory of God.

(3) Love to God feeds its own strength and the strength of every virtue by bringing us into communion with God himself. It produces the full and entire satisfaction of the soul. But without it the most punctilious obedience is but a formal idolatry.

2. The second commandment is like unto" the first.

(1) It is not equal to it; for it is "the second. " The claims of God are evermore superior to the claims of men. Yet how prone are men to feel indignation at a breach of the Law in its second table rather than in the first!

(2) It is, however, "like unto it:

(a) In having superiority over all except the first.

(b) As being also a precept of love, an efflux of the same principle, directed to our neighbour.

(3) It makes self-love the measure of neighbourly affection. It therefore supposes that we should love ourselves. It is not wrong to pay respect to our interests, temporal as well as spiritual. And in loving our neighbours as ourselves we shall do them no harm, but seek to do them all the good we can.

III LOVE WOULD HAVE ITS OBJECT WORTHY OF ITSELF.

1. This it has in God.

(1) We can only bless God by acknowledging him. For he is Love itself, infinitely worthy.

(2) We acknowledge him in worship. By praise. By meditation. By prayer.

(3) We acknowledge him in service. Obeying his will. Witnessing for his glory.

2. This it seeks in our neighbour.

(1) Love makes us to rejoice in his happiness.

(a) If he is virtuous, love will not detract, but emulate.

(b) If he is honoured, love will not be envious, but pleased.

(c) If he becomes wealthy, love will not covet, but pray that he may not suffer damage by that which has proved ruin to many.

(2) Love makes us to mourn in his adversity.

(a) If he is sick and suffering, love will not be unconcerned, but will visit and comfort him.

(b) If he is disappointed, love will not exult, but encourage him.

(c) If he is disgraced, love will not chuckle and give currency to the scandal, but will help to deliver him from the snare of the devil.

(3) It will bless him by prayer to God for him, by holy exhortation, and by kindly Christian influence.

3. It will make sacrifices in this service.

(1) It will sacrifice ease in the interests of religion and philanthropy.

(2) It will sacrifice temporal profit to glorify God and to benefit a fellow man possessing a nature that is to live forever.

(3) It will sacrifice reputation for God, with whom our reputation is safe, by condescending to the low for his benefit.

(4) It will sacrifice life for God as the martyrs did, and in the cause of humanity, which is the cause of God. J.A.M.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Mark xii, 28; Luke x, 25.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

The Silencing of the Pharisees.

Information asked and given:

v. 34. But when the Pharisees had heard that He had put the Sadducees to silence, they were gathered together.

v. 35. Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked Him a question, tempting Him, and saying,

v. 36. Master, which is the great commandment in the Law?

v. 37. Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord, thy God, with all thy heart and with all thy soul and with all thy mind.

v. 38. This is the first and great commandment.

v. 39. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.

v. 40. On these two commandments hang all the Law and the prophets.

The Sadducees had been most effectually silenced, so that they had nothing more to say. Now the ancient rivalry between the two sects came into play. Should the members of the one succeed in conquering Jesus in an argument, it would be a feather in the cap of the entire party. So the Pharisees determined to find a point in which they could triumph over the Lord. They came together and finally agreed upon a certain question, whose answer would be sure to compromise Him. In a very earnest manner, as though they were most sincere in their longing after truth, their spokesman, one well versed in the Law, put the question; Which is the great commandment, the most important, the one upon which everything depends? His purpose is evident. If Jesus should select some single precept of the Law and place it above the rest, He might be accused of giving to the other commandments a correspondingly low position and denying their validity. But Christ avoids the pitfall by giving a summary of the entire Law, placing that of the first table first and that of the second table immediately beside it. The love toward God is the fulfillment of the Law. But the entire heart, the entire soul, the entire mind must be His, Deu 6:5. Reason and intellect, sentiment and passion, thought and will, must be given into His service. "Take, then, before thee this commandment: Thou shalt love the Lord, thy God, with all thy heart, and think upon that, seek after it, and try to understand it, what kind of a law it is, how far thou still art from fulfilling this commandment; yea, that thou hast not really begun to fulfill it rightly, namely, to suffer and to do from thy heart what God wants of thee. It is pure hypocrisy if one will crawl into a corner and think: Aye, I want to love God! Oh, how dearly I love God: He is my Father! Oh, how well-intentioned I feel toward Him! and similar things. Indeed, when He does according to our pleasure, we can say many such words, but when once He sends us misfortune and adversity, we no longer consider Him to be a God or a Father. A true love toward God does not act thus, but feels it in the heart and says it with the mouth: Lord God, I am Thy creature, do with me as Thou wilt, it is all the same to me; for I am Thine, that I know; and if it should be Thy will that I should die this hour or suffer some great misfortune, I should suffer it with all my heart; I shall never consider my life, honor, and goods, and whatever I have, higher and greater than Thy will, which shall be well-pleasing to me all my life. " (Luther.) This is the first commandment, the one with which sanctification begins. And it is great, since it includes all the other commandments. But the second is like it, Lev 19:18-34, since it brings the love to God, in the fulfillment of His Law, into a visible, tangible form, in the relation toward one’s neighbor. As every person by nature has the wish to have only the good and pleasant fall to his lot, so he should endeavor, in all his relations toward His neighbor, to yield and provide for him the same pleasant and agreeable things wherever he can. In these two commandments hang the whole Law and the prophets. The faith of the heart finds its expression in the doing of the will of God, and the sanctification of life begins and ends in love toward God and man. Love is the fulfilling of the Law, Rom 13:10.

Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The Sadducees being put by Christ to silence, the Pharisees again encounter him; they send to him a lawyer, that is, one of their interpreters and expounders of the law of Moses, who propounds this question to him, Which is the great commandment of the law? Our Saviour tells them, It is to love the Lord with all the heart, and with all the soul, and with all the mind. That is, with all the powers, faculties, and abilities of the soul, with the greatest measure and highest degrees of love. This is the sum and substance of the duties of the first table.

And the second is like unto it, not equal with it, but like unto it. The duties of the second table are of the same authority, and of the same necessity with the first. As a man cannot be saved without the love of God, so neither without the love of his neighbour.

On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets: that is, the whole duty of man, required by Moses and the prophets, is comprehended in, and may be reduced to, these two heads, namely, the love of God and our neighbour.

From the whole, Note, 1. That the fervency of all our affections, and particularly the supremacy of our love, is required by God as his right and due. Love must pass through and possess all the powers and faculties of the soul; the mind must mediated upon God, the will must choose and embrace him, and the affections must take complacency and delight in him; the measure of loving God, is to love him without measure. God reckons that we love him not at all, if we love him not above all.

1. We must love him above all, appreciative, so as to prize him in our judgment and esteem above all, and before all things.

2. We are to love God above all things, comparative, preferring his favours above all things, comparatively hating whatever stands in competition with him.

3. We are to love God above all things intensive. That is, our longing desires must run out after him, we must pant and thirst for the enjoyment of him.

4. We must love everything in subordination to God, and nothing co-ordinately, or equal with God.

Note, 2. That thus to love God is the first and great commandment. Great, in regard of the object, which is God the first cause and the chief good. Great, in regard of the obligation of it. To love God is so indispensible a command, that God himself cannot free us from the obligation of it; for so long as he is God, and we his creatures, we shal lie under a natural and necessary obligation to love and serve him. Great, in regard of the duration of it, when faith shall be swallowed up in vision, and hope in fruition; love will then be perfected in a full enjoyment.

Note, 3. That every man may, yea, ought to love himself, not his sinful self, but his natural self, and especially his spiritual self, the new nature in him. This it ought to be his particular care to increase and strengthen. Indeed there is no express command in scripture for a man to love himself, because the light of nature directs, and the law of nature binds and moves every man so to do. God has put a principle of self-love and of self-preservation into all his creatures, but especially into man.

Note, 4. As every man ought to love himself, so it is every man’s duty to love his neighbour as himself.

1. Not as he does love himself, but as he ought to love himself.

2. Not in the same degree and measure that he loves himself, but after the same manner, and with the same kind of love that he loves himself. As we love ourselves freely and readily, sincerely and unfeignedly, tenderly and compassionately, constantly and perseveringly; so should we love our neighbour. Though we are not commanded to love our neighbour as much as we love ourselves, yet we are to love him like as we love ourselves.

Note, lastly, That the duties of the first and second table are inseparable. The love of God and our neighbour, must no be parted. He that loveth not his neighbour whom he hath seen, never loved God whom he hath not seen. A conscientious regard to the duties of both tables, will be an argument of our sincerity, and an ornament to our profession. Let it then be our prayer and daily endeavour, that we love the Lord our God with all our heart, and our neighbour as ourselves. For this is the sum of the law and the substance of the gospel.

William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

J. W. McGarvey's The Fourfold Gospel [CIX. C. The Great Commandment].

CIX. JEWISH RULERS SEEK TO ENSNARE JESUS. (Court of the Temple. Tuesday, April 4, A. D. 30.) Subdivision C. A LAWYER ASKS ABOUT THE GREAT COMMANDMENT. aMATT. XXII. 34-40; bMARK XII. 28-34; cLUKE XX. 40.

a34 But the Pharisees, when they heard that he had put the Sadducees to silence, gathered themselves together. 35 And one of them, a lawyer, bone of the scribes came, and heard them questioning together, and knowing that he had answered them well, aasked him a question, trying him [he was evidently deputed by those who counseled to ask this question]: 36 Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law? bWhat commandment is the first of all? [According to the statement of Jewish writers, there had been an old and interminable dispute among the rabbis as to which was the greatest commandment. Some held that it was the law which commanded sacrifices; others, that which commanded the wearing of phylacteries; others contended for those about purification; others, for those about the great feasts. But as they reckoned the commandments of Moses as numbering over six hundred, there was plenty of room for argument. On this memorable day the answers of Jesus had hitherto been of such a nature as to put his questioners to silence. Therefore, in asking this question, they hoped to get an answer about which they could at least find room to wrangle, and thus discredit the wisdom of Jesus.] 29 Jesus answered, a37 And said unto him, bThe first is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God, the Lord is one: 30 And aThou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. band with all thy strength. a38 This is the great and first commandment. [ Deu_6:4-9. This command is first because it is the foundation of the entire law of God. It is greatest, because, in a sense, it includes all the other laws. Polytheism, atheism, idolatry, and all sins against God are forbidden by it. All sins against man are likewise, in [603] a sense, prohibited by it; for sin against man is sin against God's image, and against the objects of God's love. Those who truly love God can not consistently sin against man ( 1Jo_4:20). The curious may make metaphysical distinctions in the analysis of this required fourfold love, but the sum of it is that we are to love God with our whole being.] 39 And a { b31 The second alike unto it bis this, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. [Love is the cure for sin, for we can not sin against those whom we truly love. Where we love, we desire to bless. But sin always carries with it a willingness to injure or to curse.] There is none other commandment greater than these. a40 On these two commandments the whole law hangeth, and the prophets. [The generic nature of the law of love is also noted by Paul ( Rom_13:8-10); but love without law is not sufficient. Love begets a desire to bless, but the law guides to the accomplishment of that desire. Perfect righteousness is the result of wisdom as well as affection. Love without law is power without direction, and law without love is machinery without a motor-- 1Co_13:1-3.] b32 And the scribe said unto him, Of a truth, Teacher, thou hast well said that he is one; and there is none other but he: 33 and to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the strength, and to love his neighbor as himself, is much more than all whole burnt-offerings and sacrifices. [Here, as in the preceding subdivision, the answer of Jesus was so clearly right that it enforced admiration.] 34 And when Jesus saw that he answered discreetly, he said unto him, Thou art not far from the kingdom of God. [Prejudice is the great obstacle to entering the kingdom. In proportion as we overcome it we draw near to God.] And no man after that durst { c40 For they durst not any more ask him any question. [They found it expedient to keep silence when their questions only exposed their own shallowness, and made more conspicuous the supreme wisdom of Jesus.] [604]

[FFG 603-604]

J. W. McGarvey (with Philip Y. Pendleton), Commentaries on the New Testament (The Fourfold Gospel, 1914; Acts; and the epistles) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

34. The Pharisees … gathered. Compare Mark 12:28–34; Luke 10:25–28

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

Connecting Statement:

A Pharisee who was an expert in the law tries to trap Jesus by asking him a difficult question about the greatest commandment.

a lawyer

"an expert in the law." This is a Pharisee who had special skill in understanding the law of Moses.

translationWords

Pharisee

Sadducee

test

teacher

command

law

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

34–40. THE GREATEST COMMANDMENT

Mar 12:28-34; comp. Luk 10:25-28

In Luke the question is asked at an earlier period of the ministry, after the return of the Seventy; and the meaning of ‘neighbour’ is illustrated by the parable of the ‘Good Samaritan.’

34. ἐφίμωσεν. Literally ‘gagged’ or ‘muzzled,’ hence silenced completely, not only for the moment. φιμὸς is a muzzle for dogs, or a nose-band in a horse’s bridle: φιμοὶ δὲ συρίζουσι βάρβαρον τρόπον. Æsch. Sep. c. Th. 463. The verb is rare in the classics, ἢν … φιμώσητε τούτου τῷ ξύλῳ τὸν αὐχένα, Arist. Nubes 592, ‘fasten in the stocks.’ The figurative sense is Hellenistic. φιμοῦν is used (Mat 22:12) of the guest; Mar 1:25 and Luk 4:35, of silencing a demon; Mar 4:39, of silencing a storm; 1Co 9:9 and 1Ti 5:18, of muzzling an ox.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

34-40.] Reply concerning the great commandment. Mar 12:28-34. In the more detailed account of Mark (Luke has a similar incident in another place, 10:25), this question does not appear as that of one maliciously tempting our Lord: and his seems to me the view to be taken,—as there could not be any evil consequences to our Lord, whichever way He had answered the question. See the notes there.

34.] ἐπὶ τὸ αὐτό is local; not of their purpose.

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

34-40. Cf. Mar 12:28-34.

(E)

34. And the Pharisees, having heard that He had silenced the Sadducees, were gathered together.]

(E)

34. έπὶ τὸ αὐτό] D latt S1 S2 have έπʼ αὐτόν cf. 27:27 συνήγαγον ἐπʼ αὑτόν. έπί has here a hostile significance, as in Act 4:27. This reading gives an admirable sense, and ould be easily corrupted into ἐπὶ τὸ αὐτό: cf. Act 4:26.

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Put to silence [εφιμωσεν] . There is a kind of grim humor in the use of this word : he had muzzled the Sadducees. Compare ver. 12.

Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (1887–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.