What Does Matthew 22:37 Mean in the King James?
Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The heart, soul, and mind are not separate compartments of devotion; together they name your whole living self in love.
THE MEANING
Love for God reaches your inner center, your living self, and your understanding. Nothing in you stands outside that relationship: thought and life belong within it as much as feeling does.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the belief that devotion is only an emotion, while your thoughts and ordinary life belong somewhere else.
THE ROOT
ψυχή
psychē
GROWS FROM
ψυχ-
psych-
The Greek word family names the living self, life, or person.
Here “soul” is the living person, not a detachable part of you. The same Greek noun can also mean “life,” so the verse gathers your whole lived existence into its picture of love.
ALSO GROWS
psychē: Living soul; life; person
ψυχή
The same noun can name a person’s life, showing that “soul” includes the life you are living.
psychikos: Natural; belonging to living existence
ψυχικός
This related adjective keeps the word family tied to the living self, rather than to an isolated spiritual compartment.
διάνοια
dianoia
GROWS FROM
νοῦς / νοέω (nous / noeō)
To understand, think, or perceive.
The mind here includes understanding and thought: love reaches how you make sense of what you encounter. Your understanding belongs within the whole-person response the verse describes.
ALSO GROWS
nous: Mind; understanding
νοῦς
This related word makes clear that the family concerns perception and understanding, not only passing thoughts.
noēma: Thought; intention
νόημα
This branch brings the family into the thoughts and intentions that shape how you see and respond.
ἀγαπήσεις
agapēseis
GROWS FROM
ἀγαπ-
agap-
Love; regard with affection or care.
The Greek uses a verb: love is an active orientation of the whole person, not a feeling confined to the heart. The verse places your living self and understanding within that love.
ALSO GROWS
agapē: Love
ἀγάπη
The related noun names the love that the verse expresses as an action of the whole person.
agapētos: Beloved; dearly loved
ἀγαπητός
This related word shows the same family describing a person held in love.
THE PATTERN
Love reaches through the whole person, joining inward life with embodied response.
And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.THE THREAD
And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.Matthew’s words carry the Shema’s whole-person pattern forward: לֵבָב (levav, heart or inner person), נֶפֶשׁ (nephesh, living soul or life), and מְאֹד (me’od, might or full strength) all belong within love of God. Matthew names the mind explicitly, making clear that understanding, too, is part of that whole.
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