Great Commandment Quotes

“Neither the Ten Commandments nor the great commandment is revelatory if separated from the divine covenant with Israel or from the presence of the Kingdom of God in the Christ. These commandments were meant and should be taken as interpretations of a new reality, not as orders directed against the old reality. They are descriptions and not laws.
~ vol. 1, p.125”
― Paul Tillich, Systematic Theology: Three Volumes in One

“Love for God must precede service for God. Labor for God must be the overflow of love for God. Whenever we reverse the order, all of our ministry, including our work for God, become a dutiful task. The order in the Great Commandment is love for God before labor for God, allegiance to God before an assignment from God, intimacy with God before service for God.”
― Benjamin Sawatsky, Intimacy with God: Drawing Ever Closer to the Almighty

“Loving your neighbor is so much more than a social issue, it is a gospel issue.”
― Jonathan Hayashi

“When we devote heart, soul, mind, and strength to loving him, we perceive ourselves rightly - no room for pride or self-exaltation - which prepares us to love our neighbour freely. Rightly perceiving ourselves to be unworthy recipients of the agape of God, we become willing to love our neighbour in spite of himself because God first loved us in spite of ourselves. We do not wait to feel love; rather, we will ourselves to act in love whether we feel it or not. Agape transcends our feelings.”
― Jen Wilkin, In His Image: 10 Ways God Calls Us to Reflect His Character