Q: Is the “first and greatest” commandment in Matthew 22 different from the first commandment in the Ten Commandments?
A: Let’s compare them:
One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment.”
“You shall have no other gods before me.”
“Love God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind” means “Love God 100%.” If someone loves God 100%, they cannot serve other gods. So, the first and greatest command in Matthew 22 and the first commandment in the Ten Commandments are the same.
There are many people who claim to love God sincerely according to their own standards. The Bible describes the way to love God with all our heart, soul, and mind is to keep the Passover.
The king gave this order to all the people: “Celebrate the Passover to the Lord your God, as it is written in this Book of the Covenant.” Neither in the days of the judges who led Israel nor in the days of the kings of Israel and the kings of Judah had any such Passover been observed. But in the eighteenth year of King Josiah, this Passover was celebrated to the Lord in Jerusalem. Furthermore, Josiah got rid of the mediums and spiritists, the household gods, the idols and all the other detestable things seen in Judah and Jerusalem. ... Neither before nor after Josiah was there a king like him who turned to the Lord as he did—with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his strength, in accordance with all the Law of Moses.
By celebrating the Passover, King Josiah was acknowledged to have loved God with all his heart, soul, and strength. Like Josiah, anyone who keeps the Passover obeys the first commandment.
“... it is the Lord’s Passover. On that same night I will pass through Egypt and strike down every firstborn of both people and animals, and I will bring judgment on all the gods of Egypt. I am the Lord.”
The Passover judges all other gods, so it is the only way to obey the first commandment. Throughout Israel’s history, whenever people did not keep the Passover, they worshipped other gods. When they repented and kept the Passover, they got rid of all other gods (2 Ki 23, 2 Ch 30, 2 Ch 31:1–3). Let us, too, keep the Passover so we may obey the first and greatest commandment.
