Israel, remember this! The Lord - and the Lord alone - is our God. Love the Lord our God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. Never forget these commands that I am giving you today. Teach them to your children. Repeat them when you are at home and when you are away, when you are resting and when you are working. Tie them on your arms and wear them on your foreheads as a reminder. Write them on the doorposts of your houses and on your gates. Deuteronomy 6:5-9
Jesus said to him, "You shall love the Lord, Your God, with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind." Matthew 22:37
I give you a new commandment: love one another; just as I have loved you, you also must love one another. By this love you have for one another, everyone will know that you are my disciples. John 13:34-35
My commandment is this: love one another, just as I love you. The greatest love a person can have for his friends is to give his life for them. John 15:11-12
What is hateful to you do not do to your neighbour. That is the entire Torah, all the rest is commentary. Go and learn it. Hillel (60 BCE - 10 CE), quoted in: Michael Shire, The Jewish Prophet, P.47.
You shall love your neighbour as yourself. This is the greatest principle of the Torah. Rabbi Akiva (50-135 CE, Judea), quoted in: Michael Shire, The Jewish Prophet, P.53.
While Akiva was being tortured, the hour for saying the Sh'ma (Deuteronomy 6) arrived. He recited it and smiled. The Roman officer called out, "Old man, are you a sorcerer that you smile in the midst of such pain?" Akive replied, "All my life I have loved God with all my heart and might and now I can truly fulfill the commandment in this prayer by loving God with all my life." As he spoke, his soul departed. Talmud Berachot IX, quoted in: Michael Shire, The Jewish Prophet, P.55.
Loving God "with all thy mind" means withdrawing attention from the senses and giving it to God (...). A prayer that one utters while in the same time thinking of other things in the background of his mind is not a true prayer and is unheeded by God. Paramahansa Yogananda, Man's Eternal Quest, P.16.
The Lord is hidden in His own commandments, and He is to be found there in the measure that he is sought. St. Mark the Ascetic (4th Century C.E.), quoted in: The Philokalia, Vol. I., P.123.
(...) Of all the commandments, (...) the most comprehensive is to love God and our neighbor. This love is made firm through abstaining from material things, and through stillness of thoughts. St. Mark the Ascetic (4th Century C.E.), quoted in: The Philokalia, Vol. I., P.145.
Last updated: 2007/01/14
See the related subjects: God's Love
for Humans, Humans' Love of God