Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. A second likewise is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’” Matthew 22:37–39 WEB

These famous words of Jesus Christ about the first and great commandment and its corollary sum up the law of God. The Sadducees and the Pharisees questioned Christ in order to find fault with him. Their questions concerned the circumstances of heaven and importance of the law of Moses. When answering, Jesus’ wise words left both groups confused.

First, the Sadducees, not believing in resurrection, questioned Christ about marriage in heaven. Trying to discredit Jesus, they asked whose wife a woman would be if she had married more than one man before her death. Specifically, the question presented a scenario in which a woman married seven brothers in succession after each died without children. 

Like The Angels

In addressing the Sadducees’ convoluted query, Christ explained that in heaven people do not marry nor are they given in marriage. Instead of marriage, which is an institution created for the rearing of children, in heaven we are like God’s angels. There is no reason for marriage because there is no sexual reproduction in heaven.

After Christ’s answer silences the Sadducees, a Pharisee asked Jesus to state the most important commandment in the law. This gave Christ the opportunity to sum up the law in two simple commands saying, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. A second likewise is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ WEB”. The Lord continued, saying in Matthew 22:40, “The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments. WEB”

Yesterday’s Devotional: When I Awake