Typically, our initial response to the concept of love is romantic. Yet we all know love has many applications. For example, we love our favorite food, and we love sports (go Eagles!). We love our families and close friends, and some of us love our jobs.
As it is in English, so it is for the Hebrew word “ahava.” It means all kinds of love and is perhaps the most commonly used word for love in modern day Israel. However, it is also the word used by the Prophet Moses in Deuteronomy 6:5 in calling us to love God: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.”
The thought that the word for loving our Father in Heaven is the same as the one used for loving ice cream, it just seems wrong. But the text of that Scripture gives us a defining understanding. The dynamics of loving with all our heart, soul and strength transcends any casual concept. Its focus is a deep commitment, encompassing all of our being.
Indeed, I think it’s downright intimidating, even scary, to live up to that standard. 1 John, which is all about love, tells us in 4:8, “God is love.” While I’m neither a Greek nor Hebrew scholar, it’s instructive to compare some of the key words for love used in both Testaments. In 1 John, the Greek “agape” is used almost exclusively, as it is in 4:8.
The common definition of “agape” is unconditional love. So it is a pretty simple association, with major implications, to see that God is unconditional love, and He loves us unconditionally.
An example of unconditional love I like to use is a parent’s love for a newborn child. This little human being has no personality, can’t do anything for anyone and requires constant care. In a breakdown of who does what, the chart reads parent 100%, baby 0%. Yet there is love for that child, just because the child is yours. It’s not about the child earning your love, you love him or her unconditionally.
Same with our heavenly Father. He is the essence of unconditional love, and therefore loves us without qualification, just because we’re His! 1 John 4:19 explains, “We love Him because He first loved us.” He created us in His love with the ability to love beyond ourselves . . . unconditionally.
To be sure, however, we as parents want our children to obey us. We don’t stop loving them when they misbehave, but there are consequences for them when they do. In John 15:24, Yeshua admonished, “If you love Me, keep My commandments.” He wants us to be obedient children of God.
Back to Deuteronomy 6:5 (from pg. 1) where we are told to love the Lord completely. Yeshua quoted it in Mark 12:30 as part of the greatest commandment. However, the New Testament adds the words, “with all your mind.” It’s easy to believe Jesus never said that phrase for two reasons. First, because He was quoting the sacred Torah to Torah-observant Jewish men at the time, He likely used the exact wording from Deuteronomy.
Additionally, the Hebrew word for soul in that passage, “nefesh,” as is typical of Hebrew, has several interpretations depending on context. It not only means soul, but can also mean mind. Thus when translated to Greek, which is a more exact language, the words soul and mind are both used in Mark 12 to accurately represent the thought.
Of course there is the argument that Yeshua was quoting the Septuagint, a Greek translation of the Hebrew Scriptures which was in use at that time. However, Hebrew was still regarded as the sacred language and was spoken regularly. When Paul gave his testimony at the Holy Temple in Jerusalem, Acts 22:2 notes, “And when they heard that he spoke to them in the Hebrew language, they kept all the more silent.”
Furthermore, although Greek was the established language of the Roman Empire, and many Jews spoke it, apparently not all of them. When Paul was being detained just before he gave his testimony at the Temple, Acts 21:37, “He said to the commander, ‘May I speak to you? He replied, Can you speak Greek?’” The Roman commander didn’t know if he spoke that language.
Nevertheless, Yeshua did say loving the Lord is the greatest commandment. As a child and young man in synagogue, I prayed Deuteronomy 6:4-9 at every service. It is a critical part of Jewish liturgy. Because of my atheism, when I was old enough to stop going to synagogue I obviously stopped praying it.
After becoming a born-again believer, I eventually re-united with that prayer. However, unlike the days when I said the prayer as just a bunch of words, now I was taking the depth of meaning from the scriptural mandate. As I said earlier, it presented a standard that was scary and intimidating.
I would think, “Lord I do love you, but I’m not sure I do with all my heart, soul and strength.” Then I thought, who can? I don’t know anyone who does.
But God is a God of grace and mercy. He doesn’t require us to achieve impossible goals. What He does require is for us to seek to accomplish those things He has laid out before us. He wants us to receive His love through Messiah, so that we can love Him to the best of our ability.