The Highway Forums General Discussion Open Forum Questioning God’s Greatest Commandment

QUESTION: Why can't you love God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength?
ANSWER: Because you are a sinner and incapable of doing one good thing perfectly.
Matt 19:26 And looking at them Jesus said to them, "With people this is impossible, but with God all things are possible." NASU
Matt 21:22 "And all things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive." NASU
Mark 9:23 And Jesus said to him, " 'If You can?' All things are possible to him who believes."NASU
Mark 10:27 Looking at them, Jesus *said, "With people it is impossible, but not with God; for all things are possible with God." NASU
Mark 11:24 "Therefore I say to you, all things for which you pray and ask, believe that you have received them, and they will be granted you. NASU
John 14:26 "But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you. NASU
Rom 8:32-33 He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things? NASU
1 Cor 3:21-23 So then let no one boast in men. For all things belong to you, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or things present or things to come; all things belong to you, and you belong to Christ; and Christ belongs to God. NASU
1 Cor 13:4-7 Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. NASU

Phil 4:13 I can do all things through Him who strengthens me. NASU

My concern is that your conclusions seem to be based more on your experience (and/or the experience of others) than it is on the Word of God. The Bible teaches us that when we “compare ourselves with ourselves’ we are unwise (2 Cor 10:12). As a result, I should not be estimating God’s ability in me by past experience of what I have been able to do or the past experience of what others have been able to do. I should be basing it on what God says he is able to do in me. I believe “all things” in the above verses are all those things that are in God’s will. If I am correct in this, then the only way “loving God with my all” would be excluded from the verses above would be for it to outside of God’s will for me. In other words, not keeping the greatest commandment would be outside of God’s will for me! Can you clarify your position here using the Bible? What is your definition of “all things” in the above scriptures?
Rom 12: 2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect. NASU

Yes we "can" do all things through Christ, and yet:


and


Have you already been resurrected? Are you in your glorified new body already? Good for you! The rest of us must wait for the redemption of our bodies before we can love the Lord as perfectly as you can.

This is another of those glorious "already and not yet" scriptural truths that people point to when they're trying to argue that "the bible contradicts itself."

The passages you provided are irrelevant to the truth above, which is eminently biblical. As I have labored to point out to you from the very day you arrived here, to love God is to DO God's revealed will (Jh 14:15, 15:10; 1Jh 2:3-5, 5:2-3; Lk 6:46ff).

1. NO MAN is able to do ALL the revealed will of God but one; Christ Jesus. For within ALL men there is a sin nature, either one which has total dominance or one which has been greatly bound yet not completely as in a regenerated man. Thus, it is IMPOSSIBLE for any man to love God perfectly with mind, heart, soul and strength. This is the testimony of ALL of the Apostles, disciples and true followers of Christ which were, are and are yet to come. To say otherwise is to blaspheme God condemn yourself (1Jh 1:8-10; 1Kg 8:46; Job 14:4, 15:14; Ps 143:2; Prov 20:9; Eccl 7:20; Isa 64:6; Rom 3:23; 1Jh 2:4).

2. Re: Matt 19:26 - a. It states that with GOD "all things" are possible. However, even here the "all things" must be taken relatively and not absolutely; God cannot sin.

3. Re: Matt 21:22 - a) Without a perfect faith, you will not receive "all things", which again must be taken relatively and not absolutely. b) Whatever is prayed/asked for with the expectation of receiving it is always qualified by "according to His will" (1Jh 5:14).

4. One must make the necessary distinction between God's "decretive will", i.e., that which God has decreed, foreordained, determined from eternity which will infallibly come to pass (Job 23:13)... and God's "prescriptive will", i.e., that which God requires of men which has no guarantee that it will happen. It is God's prescriptive will that ALL MEN without exception love Him with all their heart, mind, soul, and strength. But NO MAN will nor can fulfill this command, except the man Christ Jesus.

5. Re: John 14:26 - a) This promise was given to the Apostles and cannot be taken to be a universal promise to ALL men, even those who profess to believe. For, the second part of the passage also speaks of the Spirit reminding them of all that Jesus taught them. b) Once again, the "all things" must of necessity be taken relatively and not absolutely. Was Jesus promising all believers or even just the apostles that the Holy Spirit would teach them quantum mechanics or astrophysics or even simple algebra, or how to make French ragout?

6. Re: 1Cor 13:4-7 - But again, "all things" must be understood relatively and not absolutely. Is it God's will that you believe falsehood, etc.???

Your concern may be sincere, but it is incontrovertibly unwarranted, because I offered myriad biblical texts to undergird my points in my previous reply. To be sure, my experience is in 100% accord with the biblical teaching concerning my spiritual state as a regenerated sinner, a believer in Christ by grace. My experience is in total harmony with Paul's own experience who confessed "For I know that in me, that is, in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me, but to do that which is good is not." (Rom 7:18). And more, Romans 7:24-25 (ASV) "Wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me out of the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then I of myself with the mind, indeed, serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin."

Yet, you apparently think that you can overcome this universal truth and universal experience of all true believers and thus love God with your all. Some might say this is rank arrogance on your part. There is an example in Scripture of a similar individual who asked Jesus how he might inherit eternal life. The Lord Christ responded by pointing out that NO ONE is good but God. And He continued by reminding him that one must keep ALL the law of God [love God]. And this ruler who was wise in his own eyes and with great unrestrained arrogance and ignorance responded by professing that he had kept ALL THESE THINGS from my youth. Not only was he incredibly naive concerning the depth of God's holy law, his ability to keep them, but also his own accomplishment to keep them.

"Give diligence to present thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, handling aright the word of truth." (2Tim 2:15).

I tell you in all honesty, if you have not come to the point in your life, which only the Spirit of God can work within you, that you are are horrible sinner, a wretch, a dead sinner whose rotting corpse stinks in the nostrils of God, then your biggest need is not to sell some book you have written or worry about loving God with your all, but rather to get right with God by praying that God would have mercy upon you and send His Spirit to bring this most necessary conviction of sin and guiltiness to you and with great humility bow before God pleading that you might be forgiven in Christ.

After penning my previous reply I realized that I had not included something which I do believe is most illustrative and which indubitably seals the point, at least from where I am standing. However, due to the length of my previous reply I have chosen to simply addend it by this separate reply.

This pericope was one of the last things that John, by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit wrote in his gospel. There can be no doubt that what was written there was directly related to the event written elsewhere, e.g., Matt 26:31-25; Mk 14:27-31; Lk 22:31-34, where Peter foolishly, and hastily; he being impetuous at times, boldly stated that while all the other disciples might be scattered and hide when Jesus was taken and wrongly crucified, he Peter would follow Him to prison and even death. But Jesus rebuked him and prophesied that before the rooster would crow that next morning, Peter would deny him three times.

As you will hopefully notice, I have added the Greek words for 'love' used in the passage in their original forms. The reason for my doing so is because: a) they true meaning of the text cannot be grasped in the English translation, b) it is of crucial importance to understanding what this passage teaches.

1. The first time Jesus asks Peter if he 'loves' him, the word agape is used, i.e., 'Peter do you love me with your all more than these [other disciples]...?' And Peter responds by saying, 'Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee as a friend.

2. The second time the question was asked by Jesus, He said, ' Simon, son of John, lovest thou me with your all? And Peter again replied, 'Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee as a friend'.

3. The third time Jesus asks Peter, 'Simon, son of John, lovest thou me as a friend'? And Peter, grieved in his heart because of what Jesus asked of him, replied, 'Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee as a friend'.

The first two times that Jesus asked Peter if He loved Him, He used the word "agapaw" [agape], that self-sacrificial love that has no boundaries nor any qualifications or restrictions. The third time Jesus asked Peter if he loved Him, He used a different word, "philw" [philo], which most always has the meaning of a friend. This is a love which does have limits and is often controlled by self.

Now, the details of Peter's three responses to Jesus' three questions is quite interesting albeit very simple. He answered in an identical way each and every time... "I love You as a friend" using the Greek word "philw" [philo].

Here is the lesson that is most meaningful in regard to this subject of being able to "love God with your all".

1. The command to "love God" with all your heart, mind, soul and strength, uses the word agapaw [agape].
2. Peter initially thought he was capable of loving Jesus with that selfless, sacrificial, boundless love and elevated himself above all his brethren as the one who would demonstrate that love in the coming hours.
3. Peter learned in the most painful way that 'pride always precedes the fall'...that loving Jesus/GOD in the way which he thought he could and which God requires of him and all men was not in his possession. He was brought to the place that he had to be openly honest with himself and realize that he was but a poor needy sinner and his ability to live before God and love Him with his all was greatly limited.
4. The only reason that Peter was able to know himself as Jesus/GOD knows him and that he did not totally forsake Christ as did so many others is because JESUS LOVED HIM and prayed for him that his faith would not fail and he would return/revert epistrepho(Lk 22:31,32).
5. Every true believer's heart is torn apart when they read these two accounts of Peter's falling away before the crucifixion and his private conversation with Jesus after the resurrection. Why? Because they KNOW that they are a Peter in their very soul. They KNOW that pride lurks within them and rears its ugly head all too often. They think far too highly of themselves, their intellect, their self-esteemed accomplishments, their so-called good works and especially the quality and quantity of love they have for God. And further, every true believer KNOWS the pain that Peter must have felt as Jesus asked him if he truly loved Him with his all. For the truth about how a true believer really loves God is woeful.
6. But not is all pain and sorrow because of a true believer's limited love and weak faith, for the true believer's hope does not lie in himself/herself but in the LORD Christ Who loves them with an everlasting love and Who intercedes in their behalf and Whose Spirit dwells within them to guide, protect and assure them that they are not their own but belong to their faithful Saviour Who loved them and died in their stead.
7. Since Peter, one of the chief apostles admitted in all humility that he did not and could not love God "with his all", how is it that anyone could think that they could do what was impossible for Peter? Should not Peter's humility bred from adversity, embarrassment and shame, be an example to all who name the name of Jesus to not think too highly of oneself but to cast all one's hope upon the Christ Who is the source of all that is good, pure and lovely?
8. True biblical Christianity is NOT about "Oh, how I love Jesus..." but about "Oh, how God loves His own and sent His only begotten Son into the world to redeem them with His own shed blood and to sanctify them in the Spirit as adopted sons and finally bring them home to glory."
9. God demands that all men love Him with all their heart, mind, soul and strength. But that does not necessitate that All men, nor even one man has the ability to fulfill that command. In fact, it is God's will that no man has nor ever will love God in that way. But ONE has so loved God with all His heart, mind, soul, and strength and His name is Jesus. And with a love that Peter confessed, a love that hardly qualifies as that of a friend, we serve God in faithful obedience clinging to the LORD Christ whose love is then ours and thus acceptable to God.

No sir, you CANNOT love God "with your all" as long as you inhabit this mortal body and walk upon this earth. For you are at best a sinner. And what a joyous thing it is to know within oneself that they are a wretch, a helpless sinner, for it is of such that Christ came to save and to make His own.