📖 Biblical Definition
Christ's answer to the lawyer's question: "Master, which is the great commandment in the law?" (Matt 22:36). Christ named two: (1) Love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, soul, and mind (the Shema, Deut 6:5); (2) Love thy neighbor as thyself (Lev 19:18). Christ's claim: "On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets" (Matt 22:40). The whole OT moral teaching reduces to these two; everything else expands them.
📜 Webster 1828 Definition
Mt 22:36-40: love God + love neighbor; all law and prophets hang on these.
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Christ's answer to the lawyer's question ("Master, which is the great commandment in the law?") in Matthew 22:36-40 (par. Mark 12:28-31). Christ names two: (1) Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind (citing Deut 6:5, the Shema, with the addition of "mind"); (2) Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself (citing Lev 19:18). Christ's interpretive claim: "On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets" (v 40). The whole OT moral teaching reduces to these two; every other commandment expands them. The vertical (love God) and horizontal (love neighbor) together form the cross-shape of biblical ethics. Christ does not abolish the law's specifics; He shows their unifying principle.
📖 Key Scripture
Matthew 22:37-40 — "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. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets."
Mark 12:30-31 — "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."
Romans 13:8-10 — "Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law... Love is the fulfilling of the law."
⚠️ Modern Corruption
"Just love" reductionism flattens both commands; Christ insisted on the specifics each unpacks.
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The reduction "just love" sometimes uses Christ's two commandments to abolish all specific moral commands. Christ said the law and prophets HANG on these two — meaning the specifics are still there, hanging from the principle. Like a cloak hangs from a peg: take away the peg and the cloak falls; but the peg without the cloak is not a covering. Both are needed.
Recover the integration: love God and neighbor IS the fulfillment of the law — but the specific commandments unpack what love looks like. Don't abolish; integrate.
🔗 Greek & Hebrew Roots
Greek entolē megalē.
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['Greek', 'G1785', 'entolē', 'commandment']
['Greek', 'G3173', 'megas', 'great']
Usage
"Love God + love neighbor."
"All law and prophets hang on these."
"Vertical + horizontal cross-shape ethics."