Love God With All Your More

“Love the LORD your God . . . with all your strength,” is ashamedly the one part of Deut. 6:5 that gets brushed over in the Christian tradition. Ironically, given the Scriptures strong metaphorical language against the body (flesh, dust, etc.), you would expect an in-depth analysis within the tradition for a clarification on this term. In Jewish tradition, it is also labeled as “strength” but not exclusively. Some theologians have chosen to translate it as “wealth” or “possessions” instead of “strength”.[1] The Hebrew word there - b'kol me'odekhah – does have a connotation of extra or more. In this context, the verse may actually be referring to

“loving God with all your heart, all your soul, and all the more that you are. . . All the more commands the mending of relation, for it takes us beyond the confines of ego in a movement towards the neigbor. God confronts man with the demand to turn to his human neighbor, and in doing so, to turn back to God Himself. . .”[2]

There is definitely more to this phrase than just to refer to the body.

In light of this rich exegesis, I would argue that we are commanded here not to merely love God with our bodies, as is commonly taught. For I believe that is already addressed in the command to love God with all your soul. To love God with all your more, means, or strength means that anything that is beyond your soul in which you have a responsibility for, you should cultivate in love towards God. I have responsibilities towards my neighbor, towards my money, towards my possessions, and towards my actions. And in all of these, I operate within the framework of cultivating these things in my life in order that I may love God in purity and earnest.



Therefore, the message and commandment of this verse is not to merely love God with all of yourself – as to say, we are to love him with our heart, soul, mind, and strength, which is thrown in there to mean everything else that is you. God is commanding us to love Him with all that we are and all that we have responsibility for, to love God in all of our existence. Our love for God extends beyond ourselves and into the world around us. Thusly, John’s insistence that to love God, you must love your brother![3] To isolate the love of God within our own egos is to assume that God’s love is not universal and does not connect our lives to others.

[1] Rashi

[2] Philosopher As Witness, 158.

[3] John 4