Two Great Commandments: Does loving my neighbor diminish my love of God?

Master, which is the great commandment in the law?

Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.

This is the first and great commandment.

And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. (Matthew 22:36–40)

Love God. Love your neighbor. These are what Jesus taught are God’s two great Commandments. They seem relatively simple, but some people disagree about what is required to love God and love one’s neighbor.

A few years ago Mormon leader Dallin Oaks gave a talk called “Two Great Commandments” discussing this scripture. Oaks explained “This means we are commanded to love everyone, since Jesus’s parable of the good Samaritan teaches that everyone is our neighbor. But our zeal to keep this second commandment must not cause us to forget the first, to love God with all our heart, soul, and mind.” Oaks then continued to talk about some of God’s other commandments before talking about loving one’s neighbor. He suggested that keeping all of God’s other commandments should take precedence over loving one’s neighbor.

On the other hand, when we look at the scripture quoted above, Jesus ends with “On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” This is commonly interpreted to mean that if you love both God and your neighbor, keeping all the other commandments will come naturally. For example, if you love God, you will want to speak with (pray to) him. If you love your neighbor, you will not want to steal from or lie about them.

Some (like Oaks) prioritize keeping all of God’s other commandments over loving one’s neighbor for fear that loving one’s neighbor too much will cause one to not love God enough. Others believe that loving both God and one’s neighbor go hand in hand and will naturally lead into keeping God’s other commandments. These two interpretations of the same scripture passage raise the question, does loving my neighbor diminish or hinder my love of God?

I would respond to that question by asking another. How does God ask us to show our love to him? Jesus taught “If ye love me, keep my commandments” then continued and stated “the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father’s which sent me.” Thus, we can understand that if we love God, we are to keep God’s commandments. In this sense, Oaks is right that God has asked us to keep his commandments in order to show love. However, God has many commandments. Where do we start?

Oaks suggested that we keep all of God’s other commandments, then love our neighbor. But his approach ignores both what Jesus defined as the second commandment and other scriptures explaining what God counts as loving God.

In regards to this first point, if we are concerned about the correct order in which to prioritize keeping the commandments, we can look to Jesus’ definition of the greatest commandments. Jesus taught that the second great commandment is to love our neighbor. If the first commandment is to love God, and we show our love of God by keeping God’s commandments, wouldn’t it make sense to start with the second commandment, loving one’s neighbor?

In regards to the second point, what else do scriptures teach about what constitutes loving God? Jesus taught that loving one’s neighbor is part and parcel of loving God. In the parable of the sheep and the goats, Jesus taught that anything we do for a stranger is the same as doing that to God.

Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:

For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in:

Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.

Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink?

When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee?

Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee?

And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me. (Matthew 25:35–40)

According to Jesus, when we feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, welcome the stranger, and visit the sick or imprisoned, God accounts our service and love as if it is done to him instead of a stranger or neighbor. Book of Mormon scripture similarly teaches that when we love our neighbor, God counts it as if we are loving him. Addressing his people, King Benjamin teaches “when ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God” (Mosiah 2: 17). Additionally, the apostle John wrote

If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?

And this commandment have we from him, That he who loveth God love his brother also. (1 John 4:20–21)

Not only does God count love of our neighbor as love of God, it is impossible to truly love God without also loving one’s neighbor/brother.

Both New Testament and Book of Mormon scriptures teach that God counts loving our neighbor as loving God. And, if loving our neighbor is loving God, then loving our neighbor cannot diminish or in any way take from our love of God. Rather, loving our neighbor is the same as loving God.

We have many neighbors on this earth who need to be fed and clothed and visited and comforted and listened to and served in a myriad of tangible ways. God will count that tangible service and love of our neighbors as love of God. If that’s the case, why would we hesitate to love our neighbor?