“‘You
shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with
all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment.”
(Matthew 22:34-38 NKJV)
Jesus’s first and great commandment exhorts: “You
shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with
all your soul, and with all your mind.”
The “love” language here may be contrasted with the “love” language of the
second commandment: You
shall love your neighbor as yourself (Matthew 22:34-38 NKJV). The “love” language as to how one should love in the
second commandment corresponds to the Golden Rule: “Whatever you want men to do to you, do
also to them” (Matthew 7:12 NKJV) and “Just
as you want men to do to you, you also do to them likewise” (Luke 6:31 NKJV). It is a proactive principle of reciprocity. For example,
if you would like someone to give you a nice Christmas present, you should give
them a nice Christmas present first. Quid pro quo expectation is involved: I
wouldn’t treat you in a way that I would not like to be treated myself. Even if
unrequited love occurs, the second commandment still recommends the
Golden Rule as the high moral ground.
The “love” language as to how one should love God, however,
is of a different variety. We should not love the Lord our
God with quid pro quo expectations. According
to classicists John Kirby and Eduard Norden, when the ancient Greeks prayed to
their gods, quid
pro quo was frequently involved: “Either, because of past benefices which I
have performed for you, you owe me; or, I will do this . . . for you, if you
will do this . . . for me (conditional promise).” Modern-day Christians and
non-Christians alike are prone to pray to God, having similar quid pro quo expectations. “God, if you will heal my
disease, I will go to church,” for example. There are, however, no quid pro quo
implications in the commandment: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with
all your mind.” When people pray with constant “requests” in mind, they
miss the point of this commandment. The term “all” is repeated three times: all
your heart, all your soul, all your mind.
All Your Heart
Having dealt with “all your mind” in the previous post, we turn to “all your heart.” The greatest commandment has nothing to do with a literal, biological heart (cardia in the Greek); the term “heart/cardia” used by Jesus and Moses is a metaphor. Though the English metaphor “heart” refers to emotions (perhaps, because when you are frightened, excited, angry, or attracted to the opposite sex, your literal “heart/cardia” tends to beat faster and stronger), that is not what the metaphor “heart” typically means in Hebrew or Aramaic (the languages of Jesus and the Old Testament commandments). Perhaps, the Christian worshippers who like to wave their hands in the air, put quivers in their voices, and well up with tears in their eyes while worshipping think that this commandment means that they need to display emotional love toward God. I have difficulty picturing Jesus and John the disciple whom Jesus loved waving their hands in the air at each other and welling up with tears. Jesus certainly did express emotions, at times. He wept when He arrived at the tomb of His friend Lazarus, but there is no metaphorical mention of his “heart” in that account (John 11:17-44). Instead of using the term “heart” for emotions, the Hebrews typically used the term “bowels” (the belly) as a metaphor for the emotions (perhaps, because when you are frightened, excited, angry, or attracted to the opposite sex, your stomach feels like it is tied up in knots). The bowels are the seat of emotion/compassion in Hebrew and Aramaic, as in Genesis 43:30 (see KJV).
Jesus, however, uses the term “heart” in His beatitudes: Blessed are the pure in heart (Matthew 5:8). It is difficult to imagine what pure emotion would look like, but a purely-based decision is clearer. Most likely, Jesus uses the term “heart” to signify the center of our decision-making processes. In Genesis 6:5, God saw that the “intent (yetzer)” of man’s “heart (levav)” was “evil (ra‘)” all of the time. Jews teach that the center of a human being’s decision-making processes (i.e., his “heart [levav]”) has a “good inclination (yetzer ha-tov)” and an “evil inclination (yetzer ha- ra‘).” These two inclinations at conflict in our hearts” sprang, perhaps, from when Adam and Eve ate of the Tree of the Knowledge of “Good (ha-tov)” and “Evil (ha- ra‘). A Jewish psychoanalyst named Sigmund Freud borrowed this Jewish doctrine for his psychanalytic theory. The “good inclination (yetzer ha-tov)” became his “superego” and the “evil inclination (yetzer ha- ra‘)” became his “id.” These two factors were combined in his decision-making center (i.e., his “heart [levav]”), which Freud called his “ego.” New World Encyclopedia confirms: “The opposition of the id and the superego may be a reflection of a traditional Jewish psychology of fallen human beings, that within each person there is unending conflict between the "evil inclination" (yetzer ha-ra) and the "good inclination" (yetzer ha-tov)” (Ego, superego, and id - New World Encyclopedia). Jews center these two inclinations in the “heart.” Therefore, when Exodus 4:21 reports that God hardened Pharaoh’s “heart (levav),” Pharaoh’s free-will “decision” not to let the Israelites go was “hardened”; his initial “decision” was set in concrete, so to speak. God did not make Pharaoh’s decision for him, but He assisted Pharaoh in turning his decision into a psychosis. Pharaoh could not be talked out (or plagued out) of his psychosis by Moses.
Applying
all of this to Jesus’s beatitude “Blessed are the pure in ‘heart,’” Jesus is
praising those whose “decisions” are pure—following only their “good
inclination (yetzer ha-tov),” with no input from their “evil inclination
(yetzer ha- ra‘).” Likewise, in loving the LORD our God with “all” of
our “heart,” we must be certain to follow only our “good inclination (yetzer
ha-tov),” with no input from our “evil inclination (yetzer ha- ra‘)”
with regard to our decisions. We must be the exact opposite of those, in
Genesis 6:5, whose “intent (yetzer)” of their “heart (levav)” was
“evil (ra‘)” all of the time. When it comes to our love of God, the
“intent (yetzer)” of our “heart (levav)” must be “good (tov)”
all of the time. A comparative example of “heart” in decision-making is Jesus’s
observation that “whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with
her in his heart” (Matthew 5:28 NKJV). I understand this to mean that
“lust” as Jesus uses the term is that inward decision to commit adultery with a
woman, if and when the opportunity arises. Jimmy Carter, in his 1972 Playboy
magazine interview, stated: “I’ve looked on a lot of women with lust.
I’ve committed adultery in my heart many times.” If by that
statement, Carter meant that he experienced sexual temptation, he would have experienced
the same emotion millions and millions of other men (and women) have
experienced; but if by that statement, Carter meant that he had made an inward
decision to commit adultery with a woman, if and when the opportunity arose,
that is quite another matter. Likewise, if Christians and Jews experience
temptations to relinquish their faith in and love toward God, as when their
faith is threatened by non-Christian arguments (yet, agonizing over their
problem), that is one thing; but if Christians and Jews consciously decide to readily
relinquish their faith in and love toward God for personal gain, such as advancement
in the academic world, if it becomes necessary, they do not love THE LORD with
all of their heart. Loving God must involve total inward (cardiac)
commitment to staying true to God despite all the “fiery darts of
the wicked.” Paul recommends “taking the shield of faith with which you
will be able to quench” those darts (Ephesians 6:16 NKJV).
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