On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”
English Standard Version (ESV)
Jesus isn't just summarizing the Law here; He's revealing its very foundation. He's showing that every single command, from the grandest to the most minute, is designed to flow out of and serve these two core principles: loving God completely and loving others fully. In essence, He's saying that to truly understand and live out the entirety of God's Word, you must grasp these two essential loves as its guiding force.
On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”
English Standard Version (ESV)
Jesus has just expertly answered two challenging questions posed by the Pharisees and their allies, first about paying taxes to Caesar and then about the resurrection of the dead. In response, a Pharisee, acting as a lawyer, asks Jesus to identify the single greatest commandment in the Law, a question designed to trap Jesus by forcing him to choose between two core laws. Jesus’ reply, emphasizing love for God and neighbor, sums up the essence of all biblical teaching.
Ever wonder if there's a 'secret code' to understanding the entire Bible? Jesus reveals it here, boiling down thousands of laws and prophecies into two core principles.
Jesus is asked to identify the single greatest commandment in the Law. He doesn't just pick one; he gives two, intimately connected.
The Two Pillars
Jesus states that all of God's Law and the messages of the Prophets are built upon these two foundational commands. Everything else flows from them or serves to explain them.
Why did God give so many rules? Jesus makes it clear: it wasn't just about rules, but about the heart that beats beneath them.
Think of it like this: God gave the Law and the Prophets not as an end in themselves, but as a means to an end. That ultimate end is expressed in these two great commandments.
Beyond Rules to Relationship
Ask a follow-up
Understand the original words
kremamai · Greek Verb
To hang or be suspended from. Metaphorically, it means that the entire witness and moral requirements of the Hebrew Scriptures are rooted in and supported by these two core commands.
nebi'im · Hebrew Noun
The divinely inspired spokesmen for God in the Old Testament whose writings and ministries served to call Israel to repentance and point forward to the coming Messiah.
This passage is the foundational command for loving God, which Jesus cites as the 'first and great commandment,' highlighting its centrality to all of Jewish law and practice.
Leviticus 19:18This verse provides the basis for the second great commandment, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself,' showing its direct link to the Mosaic Law and its importance in interpersonal relationships.
Romans 13:8-10Paul echoes Jesus' teaching, stating that love fulfills the law, reinforcing the idea that these two commandments are the essence and summary of all God's commands.
Galatians 5:13-14This passage connects freedom in Christ with serving one another through love, illustrating how the spirit of the law, embodied in these two commands, is to be lived out by believers.
1 John 4:7-8John emphasizes that love originates from God and is the defining characteristic of those who know Him, directly linking the practice of love to a relationship with God and effectively summarizing the core of His will.
calvinMatthew 22:34-40: "But when the Pharisees had heard that he had put the Sadducees to silence, they were gathered together."
- But when the Pharisees heard that he had put the Sadducees to silence, they assembled together. 35. And one of them, a doctor of the law, put a question to him, tempting him, and saying, 36. Master, which is the great commandment in the law? 37. Jesus saith to him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. 38. Th…
ellicottMatthew 22:40: "On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets."
(40) All the law and the prophets. —The words are coupled, as in Matthew 5:17 ; Matthew 7:12 , to indicate the whole of the revelation of the divine will in the Old Testament. The two great commandments lay at the root of all. The rest did but expand and apply them; or, as in the ceremonial, set them forth symbolically; or, as in the law of slavery and divorce, confined their application within limits, which the hardn…
Jesus isn't just summarizing the Law here; He's revealing its very foundation. He's showing that every single command, from the grandest to the most minute, is designed to flow out of and serve these two core principles: loving God completely and loving others fully. In essence, He's saying that to truly understand and live out the entirety of God's Word, you must grasp these two essential loves as its guiding force.
Jesus has just expertly answered two challenging questions posed by the Pharisees and their allies, first about paying taxes to Caesar and then about the resurrection of the dead. In response, a Pharisee, acting as a lawyer, asks Jesus to identify the single greatest commandment in the Law, a question designed to trap Jesus by forcing him to choose between two core laws. Jesus’ reply, emphasizing love for God and neighbor, sums up the essence of all biblical teaching.
Jesus has just expertly answered two challenging questions posed by the Pharisees and their allies, first about paying taxes to Caesar and then about the resurrection of the dead. In response, a Pharisee, acting as a lawyer, asks Jesus to identify the single greatest commandment in the Law, a question designed to trap Jesus by forcing him to choose between two core laws. Jesus’ reply, emphasizing love for God and neighbor, sums up the essence of all biblical teaching.
"On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”" — Jesus isn't just summarizing the Law here; He's revealing its very foundation. He's showing that every single command, from the grandest to the most minute, is designed to flow out of and serve these…
Get the original Greek and Hebrew, verse-by-verse context, and related passages inside the app.
Last reviewed October 2026