Matthew 22: 34-44

Matthew 22: 34-44

Note: The links that I have put in my study are important to understanding where or why something was said or done. It enhances the study to read the information there. Some links are to give credit from where my information comes from.

22:34 But when the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered themselves together. Mat 22:35 One of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him, Mat 22:36 "Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?"

It appears now that the failures of the last groups to trap Jesus did not succeed they went to the Lawyers. Times have not changed even then they had Lawyers. The lawyer tested Jesus on what the most important law was. The Sadducees and Pharisees had defined 600 laws in the Old Testament and they constantly debated which was the most important. MY guess is that it was mostly from the Pentateuch but since the Pharisees were involved they may have moved to the rest of the Old Testament.  

Mat 22:37 And He said to him, 'YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND.' Mat 22:38 "This is the great and foremost commandment.

The LANTC had some very interesting thoughts as to why this was the first choice. “The word for “love” is agapao, totally unselfish love, a love of which human beings are capable only with the help of the Holy Spirit. The heart is the center of desires and affections, the soul is a person’s “being” and uniqueness, and the mind is the center of a person’s intellect. To love God in this way is to fulfill completely all the commandments regarding one’s “vertical” relationship”.

1. Love: agapao,

2, Heart: The center of you desires and affections

3. Soul: Your being, what you give to God for redemption

4. Mind: Your intellect

Everything about you and what is important to you is within this verse.

The first answer came from Deuteronomy 6:5 Again Jesus was using the text from the Old Testament. It was all in his memory, I would suppose that since he was the Christ he would have the Old Testament memorize. I struggle with memorization, but it is easy to see how helpful it can be.

Mat 22:39 "The second is like it, 'YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.' Mat 22:40 "On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.

Once again Jesus went to the Old Testament from Leviticus 19:18. Both of the top two on Jesus list were about love and forgiveness.

Mat 22:41 Now while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them a question: Mat 22:42 "What do you think about the Christ, whose son is He?" They *said to Him, "The son of David." Mat 22:43 He *said to them, "Then how does David in the Spirit call Him 'Lord,' saying, Mat 22:44 'THE LORD SAID TO MY LORD, "SIT AT MY RIGHT HAND, UNTIL I PUT YOUR ENEMIES BENEATH YOUR FEET"'?

This was quoted from Psalms 110:1.

 LANTC: If the great King David himself called the coming Messiah his Lord, then how could the Messiah be merely David’s son (meaning “descendant”)? David himself didn’t think the Messiah would be just a descendant; instead, David, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, had realized that the Messiah would be God in human form and would deserve due respect and honor.

The Sadducees thought that the Christ would only be human but not the Son of God.

Mat 22:45 "If David then calls Him 'Lord,' how is He his (David's) son?" Mat 22:46 No one was able to answer Him a word, nor did anyone dare from that day on to ask Him another question.

Agape

Dave

LANTC is the Life Application New Testament Commentary

ALL CAPS in the New Testament are used in the text to indicate Old Testament quotations or obvious references to Old Testament texts.  Variations of Old Testament wording are found in New Testament citations depending on whether the New Testament writer translated from a Hebrew text, used existing Greek or Aramaic translations, or paraphrased the material. It should be noted that modern rules for the indication of direct quotation were not used in biblical times; thus, the ancient writer would use exact quotations or references to quotation without specific indication of such.

ASTERISKS are used to mark verbs that are historical presents in the Greek which have been translated with an English past tense in order to conform to modern usage.  The translators recognized that in some contexts the present tense seems more unexpected and unjustified to the English reader than a past tense would have been.  But Greek authors frequently used the present tense for the sake of heightened vividness, thereby transporting their readers in imagination to the actual scene at the time of occurrence. However, the translators felt that it would be wise to change these historical presents to English past tenses.