Baptist Catechism 47

Question 47:  What is the sum of the Ten Commandments?

Answer: The sum of the Ten Commandments is, to love the Lord our God, with all our heart, with all our soul, with all our strength, and with all our mind; and our neighbor as ourselves. (Matt. 22:36-40; Mark 12:28-33)

Scripture Reading: Matthew 22:34-40

“But when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together. And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. ‘Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?’ 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. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.’” (Matthew 22:34–40, ESV)

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Please excuse any typos and misspellings within this manuscript. It has been published online for the benefit of the saints of Emmaus Reformed Baptist Church but without the benefit of proofreading.

Introduction

Track with me now. We have asked the question, what duty does God require of man? And we have answered that man is obligated to keep God’s revealed will. So God has revealed his will. He has made known what he requires of us. The next question follows quite naturally. “What did God at first reveal to man for the rule of his obedience?” Answer: “…the moral law.” This moral law was revealed to Adam. It was written on his heart according to the scriptures. And all who are human — all who descended from Adam being made in the image of God — do have this moral law. There is of course a problem now. All have the moral law, but all do suppress and distort it now that we are fallen into sin. This moral law is not as clear to us as it was for Adam when he was first made, when he stood right before God in the garden. And so our catechism then asks, “Where is the moral law summarily comprehended?” In others words, where is this moral law summarized and most clearly revealed so that we may know it? Perhaps I should pause for just a moment and make this observation: God was not obligated to reveal his moral law to sinners in such a clear way. He would have done no wrong to leave us only with the moral law written upon our hearts — the law which we do suppress and distort by nature. That he has revealed his law clearly so that it may be comprehended is in itself an act of grace. When our catechism asks in question 46, “Where is the moral law summarily comprehended?” it assumes that God has revealed his moral law in another place besides man’s heart, and as we consider this we should be moved to give thanks to God for his mercy and grace. The moral law was written on mans heart (all have a conscience whereby they may distinguish between right and wrong), and the moral law has, by God’s grace, been revealed more clearly. “Where is the moral law summarily comprehended?” We answer, “in the Ten Commandments.” (Deut. 10:4; Matt. 19:17)

Now, you would think that our catechism we move on to a consideration of the Ten Commandments. And it will! Soon. But not yet. There is one more question. And it is a very, very important one. Question 47 asks,  What is the sum of the Ten Commandments? Sum here means essence. What is the main message of the Ten Commandments? What are they all about? Make it simple. What do the Ten Commandments reveal? Answer: “The sum of the Ten Commandments is, to love the Lord our God, with all our heart, with all our soul, with all our strength, and with all our mind; and our neighbor as ourselves.” 

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Matthew 22:34–40

This is what Jesus taught in the passage from Matthew that we have read.

“A lawyer” — that is to say an expert in the law of Moses — “asked [Jesus] a question to test him. ‘Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?’”

It is not surprising that a lawyer would ask this question. Granded, he asked the question to “test” Jesus. Perhaps his motives were wrong. But the question is a good question. It is an interesting one. Jesus, simplify the law for us. Give us the essence of it. Boil it all down to one commandment. Give us the central and most important commandment. Jesus’ response is wonderful, and it is very instructive.  

First of all, notice that Jesus did not give one command, but two. And there is a reason for this. As we will see, Jesus intended for these two commandments to sum up the Ten Commandments, and the Ten Commandments are to be considered in two parts. The first four commands have to do with our relationship to God, and the last six have to do with our relationship to our fellow man. And so when Jesus was asked to identify the greatest commandment, he gave two. In brief, man is to love God, and man is to love man.

Secondly — and this is massively important, so please don’t miss it —  when Jesus was asked to identify the greatest commandment in the law he immediately spoke of love. In other words, the essence of the law is love. We obey God’s law when we love, and we love when we obey God’s law. 

Let that sink in for a moment. 

I think it is very common for people (yes, even Christians) to assume that there is law, and there is love, but the two things have little to do with each other. Stated differently, some assume that we must choose between two options. Either we serve God through law keeping, or we serve God being moved by love, but these two ways are opposed to one another. And it is better to be driven by love for God than by law. But this way of thinking is unbiblical.    

I know why they think this way. They think like this, in part, because they have watched people obey God externally but not love him from the heart and they think this is wrong. And it is wrong! But it is also wrong to assume that law and love are contrary to one another. They are not! No, God’s will is that we obey him from the heart. His desire is that we would keep his commandments in love.  

This is why Jesus said, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments” (John 14:15, ESV). Think about that statement. If you love Christ, you will keep his commandments. Those who love God will obey his moral law from the heart. Law and love are not contrary to one another, friends. They go hand in hand. Those who keep God’s rules in a superficial way but don’t love have not really kept God’s law. And those who say they love God but do not keep his commandments are liars. The truth is not in them.

Consider 1 John 2:3-6: “And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments. Whoever says ‘I know him’ but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him, but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him: whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.” (1 John 2:3–6, ESV)

Brothers and sisters, to love God is to keep his commandments, and to keep his commandments truly and from the heart is to love him. 

Three, notice that Jesus did not say anything new when he summarized the law in this way.  Instead, Jesus correctly identified the greatest commandments in the law of Moses. They were not new commandments that Jesus invented in that moment. Neither did they become the greatest commandments when Jesus identified them as such. The law to love God with all of the heart, soul, mind, and strength, and the law to love your neighbor as yourself, are found in Moses, and they have always summarized the two tables of the law. 

One of the places the ten Commandments are found is Deuteronomy 5. But listen to Deuteronomy 6:4ff. “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.” (Deuteronomy 6:4–7, ESV). Did you hear that? It was Moses who commanded Israel to love the LORD and keep God’s commands from the heart. This has always been the standard. 

And when Jesus summarized the second table of the law with the words, “love your neighbor as yourself” he was quoting Leviticus 19:18, which says, “You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the LORD.” (Leviticus 19:18, ESV)

There is a false teaching out there that some who claim to be reformed teach. It is called New Covenant theology. And this teaching does, in one way or another, make a distinction between the law of Moses and the law of Christ. They imagine that Christ’s law is different from the moral law found in the ten Commandments. It is not. Christ did not abolish the law, he fulfilled it. Christ did not give a new law, but showed what obedience to the moral law revealed through Moses truly means. Avoid New Covenant theology, friends. 

So, Jesus summed up the Ten Commandments with two commandments — love God and neighbor. Law and love are not contrary, therefore. No, they agree. We love God when we obey him from the heart, and we obey him when we love him. Jesus did not say something new when summarizing the law  with those two commands. No, those two commands were from Moses. Christ simply interpreted the law correctly when he identified those commands in response to the lawyers question. 

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Catechism Explained

With those observations about Matthew 22 now stated, let us consider the words of the catechism. 

What duty does God require of man? Well, if we boil it all down, we are to love.

First, we are to love the Lord our God.

We are to love him above all else. He is to be our greatest treasure and delight. He is to be our greatest comfort and our hope. All of our trust is to be placed in him. When we love other people or things more than God, we fall short of the duty which God requires of us — we break his law. 

And our love for God is to be thorough and sincere. We are to love him with all of our being. We are to love God with “all our heart, with all our soul, with all our strength, and with all our mind”, or catechism says. 

You may have noticed that in Matthew 22:37 Jesus says, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” “Strength” is not mentioned there. But in Luke 10:25ff “strength” is mentioned. 

There we find a different story. “And behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test, saying, ‘Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?’ [Jesus] said to him, ‘What is written in the Law? How do you read it?’ And [the lawyer] answered, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.’ And he said to him, ‘You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live’” (Luke 10:25–28, ESV). 

Interesting. So this confirms what I said earlier about this teaching not being unique to Jesus. Even this lawyer possessed a proper interpretation of the law of Moses. But when he summarizes the law of Moses, he mentioned “strength”. And this does fit with what Deuteronomy 6 says: “You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.”

There is no reason to make much of the discrepancy. The meaning is the same. The first and greatest commandments is love God with everything you are! Love him with all your heart. Love him with all your soul. Love him with all your mind. Love him with all your strength. You are to love, worship, and serve God with your whole being perfectly and perpetually.  

I think I should pause for a moment to ask, is this law to love God with all that you are  lighter or heavier than the Ten Commandments themselves? What do you think? I think many would say it is lighter. They assume that to love is a lighter burden than to keep the law. Or perhaps we should say, this law of love is neither lighter nor heavier, for it is merely a summary of the first four of the Ten Commandments. I think that would be a very good answer. But there is also a sense in which the law to love God is heavier, for it does reveal that God’s moral law was never intended to be kept in a merely external manner, but from the heart. 

For example, the command to have no other gods before God does not only forbid us from crafting idols and bowing before them. It even forbids having other god’s (greater loves) in our heart. The command to love does not weaken the law, it deepens it. And the same may be said of the laws against murder and aultery in the second table. Not only are these acts forbidden, but also hatred and lust in the heart. Again, it wasn’t Jesus who made that up. This was the intent of the law of Moses from the start. 

The commands to love God with all you are, and to love you neighbor as yourself do not weaken or soften the Ten Commandments, instead they reveal that we are to keep these laws, not merely in an external way, but from the heart.  

What does it mean to love your neighbor as yourself? Well, you are to treat your neighbor a you yourself would want to be treated. You are to do good to your neighbor. So long as it depends upon you, you are to see to it that their life, property, and good name are preserved. “As you wish that others would do to you, do so to them.” (Luke 6:31, ESV)

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Conclusion

Let me conclude with this question. If I were to read the Ten Commandments to you and then ask, have you kept this law perfectly? What would you say? I hope that you say, no, I have violated this law in thought, word, and deed. You know that the Ten Commandments are a rule for us to live by. And you should also know that you have come short of it. You need a Savior, therefore. But what if I were to read to you the sum of the moral law, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind”, and ”you shall love your neighbor as yourself”, and then asked, have you kept this law perfectly? What would you say? I hope that you would say with equal or even greater certainty, no, I have violated this law in thought, word, and deed.

Brothers and sisters, “on these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.’”

Question 47:  What is the sum of the Ten Commandments?

Answer: The sum of the Ten Commandments is, to love the Lord our God, with all our heart, with all our soul, with all our strength, and with all our mind; and our neighbor as ourselves.