Loving God means...

How do We Love God?

Recently I have been pondering the New Testament references to Deuteronomy chapter 6 verse 5.  The NIV translates the Hebrew, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.”    The more I ponder the more Iam aware that loving God is about more than an emotional response.

There are three references to this in the Gospels.  Matthew and Mark both have Jesus quoting it in answer to a question about what is the greatest commandment.  In Luke, we find it being quoted by a pharisee in answer to a question from Jesus.

Matthew adds the word “mind”, but omits “strength”.  Mark adds “mind” and retains “strength”, as does Luke.  Since this is described as the greatest of commandments and on which all the other commandments hang, it is well worth taking some time to think through exactly what the text is saying.  So, I have been asking, “What does it mean to love God?”, and “How does this relate to heart, soul, mind and strength?”

The answer to the first question is probably best answered by the words of Jesus to his disciples: “If you love me, keep my commandments” (John 14:15).  Here, and in all three places where the text from Deuteronomy is quoted, the word,”love” is translated from the Greek word “agapao) which many might describe as the highest form of selfless love.  We cannot claim to love God if we fail to act in ways that pleases him.

We are left with the question, how do we love with “all our heart”, with “all our soul”, with “all our mind” and with “all our strength”?  While our New Testaments in English are translated from Greek, It is probable that Jesus spoke in Aramaic.  Aramaic was a language closely related to Hebrew. It is probable that Jesus would have known Hebrew and also Greek, but the common language in Israel at the time of Jesus was Aramaic.But it’s not just the original language of the text that is important, we also need to understand how those with whom Jesus spoke would understand these four concepts.

In Hebrew thought, and probably therefore in Aramaic, “soul” is not a part of you.  It is the essential you; what it means to be a living being.  It has a root that links it to breath. God breathed into Adam and he became a living being. So, “loving God with every breath in my body” might be helpful.  It about putting your whole being into it.

In the Hebrew scriptures there are many verses where heart and soul are mentioned in the same sentence.  In English we sometimes talk about putting our heart and soul into doing something Strangely in Hebrew thought, heart was more than about emotions; it was also the centre for mind and thought.  It was seen as the place where thoughts originate. So in Moses time, to love God with all your heart has to do with mental application and attitude of mind.

Did you notice that Deuteronomy 6:5 does not include the word “mind”.  This is only added in the references in the gospels. Philosophical reasoning had developed much later with the emergence of the great Greek philosophers, some 400 plus years before Christ.  So by adding the word “mind” to the text in the gospels it emphasises the aspect of attitude of mind and thought.

Within our British culture we think of falling in love as an overwhelming emotional experience.  However, when that experience leads to a commitment by a couple to live together where each is exposed to many unattractive aspects of the other party, it is a conscious decision to love that keeps couples together.  I have heard frustrated parents say to an annoying child, “I don’t like you, but I do love you”.

A man whose wife’s personality had substantially changed through dementia, spoke of a daily determination to love the person who had replaced the person he had fallen in love with.  By so doing they were able to continue to share precious times together.

Reflecting on Deuteronomy 6:5, and its use in the gospels has made me see loving God in a different light.  The focus has moved from an emotional response to conscious wholehearted determination and commitment, while feelings are not excluded.  The Song of Songs, which most Christians take as a metaphor for our relationship with Jesus is about passion. The post-resurrection conversation between Jesus and Peter has an emotional undertone (See John 21).  

Deut 6:5 is not a suggestion; it is a command.  Obedience to it is a matter of choice not chance.  The first time I realised that the awfulness of Christ’s death on the cross, and all that was involved, I encountered God’s love.  I felt it. My response there and then was expressed in singing the final verse of Isaac Watts hymn, When I survey the wondrous cross: 

“Love so amazing, so divine, demands my soul, my life my all.”.  It is a response that needs to be refreshed and renewed every moment of every day - all my soul, all my heart (thoughts), and all my strength.

I started these reflections on loving God last Saturday, but other matters hindered my completing it.  So it is now Tuesday evening. This morning at school assembly I was asked “How did Jesus die?”  I did my best to describe the crucifixion honestly yet sensitively to very young children.  As I was leaving the school a lovely little girl in Key stage 2 asked me, “Did Jesus give his life as a sacrifice for me?”  What a precious moment!  I told her, “Yes, that’s how much he loves you”

Barry - 10th September 219.