An Exegetical Insight

Consider the following verses. Matthew 22:37, “And [Jesus] said to him, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’” Mark 12:30, “you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.” Luke 10:27, “And [Jesus] 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.’” All are a quotation of Deuteronomy 6:5 in response to the question of what is the greatest commandment. All seem to say the same thing. But do they?

The answer is yes, and no. Yes they all three convey the importance of loving God, Yahweh, the Father, over everything else. Matthew and Mark say that the second command is like it, but not the same thing. They do point to God as the being the is owed our love above all other things.

However, journey with me into Matthew, Mark, and Luke’s Greek translation for a minute with me. Translators of all three verses use the word “with” as the preposition modifying the way in which a person loves. In other words we love with our hearts, with our souls, with our minds, and with our strength. However, Matthew and Mark and Luke do not use the same Greek prepositions as we might be led to think by reading the English versions. The English word “with” is the Greek word ἐν in the Greek in Matthew’s Gospel. The preposition primarily means “in” as in “inside.” So what Matthew is saying is that we love God in our hearts, in our souls etc. Mark uses the word ἐκ or more specifically ἐξ that we translate “with.” It means “out.” Take this meaning with the genitive or possessive nouns that follow, Mark is saying that we love God out of our hearts, out of our souls etc. Both are saying the same thing from different perspectives.

Now there is a strange phenomena that occurs in Luke’s Gospel. Luke says, “You shall love the Lord your God ἐξ all your heart and ἐν all your soul and en all your strength and en all your mind.” Do you see the change in prepositions? We love God out of our hearts in our minds, souls, and strength. Luke has put the heart, our affections, as the center from which we love God and that from that center we love God in our minds, our souls, and our strength. Our obedience is not our love but rather stems from our affections for God. That is a very interesting exegetical insight.

Cross Posted at Theology for the Masses.