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Mat_22:36 f. What kind of a commandment (qualitative, comp. Mat_19:18) is great in the law; what must be the nature of a commandment in order to constitute it great? The commandment, then, which Jesus singles out as the great one κατʼ ἐξοχήν , and which, as corresponding to the subsequent δευτέρα , He places at the head of the whole series ( ἡ μεγάλη κ . πρώτη , see the critical notes) in that of Deu_6:5, quoted somewhat freely after the Sept.
κύριον τὸν θεόν σου ] àÅú éÀäÉåÈä àÁìÉäÆéêÈ , in which regular designation τὸν θεόν σου is in apposition, consequently not to be rendered: “utpote Dominum tuum,” Fritzsche.
Love to God must fill the whole heart, the entire inner sphere in which all the workings of the personal consciousness originate (Delitzsch, Psychol. p. 248 ff.; Krumm, de notionib. psych. Paul. § 12), the whole soul, the whole faculty of feeling and desire, and the whole understanding, all the powers of thought and will, and must determine their operation. We have thus an enumeration of the different elements that go to make up to τὸ δεῖν ἀγαπᾶν τὸν θεὸν ὁλοψύχως τοῦτό ἐστι τὸ διὰ πάντων τῶν τῆς ψυχῆς μερῶν καὶ δυνάμεων αὐτῷ προσέχειν (Theophylact), the complete harmonious self-dedication of the entire inner man to God, as to its highest good. Comp. Weiss, Bibl. Theol. p. 81, ed. 2.