What Does Matthew 22:38 Mean in the King James?

This is the first and great commandment.

Matthew 22:38 · KJV

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

“First” names love for God as the commandment that gives the others their order.

THE MEANING

Love for God stands first in your life with God now, carrying the greatest place among the commandments. The others gather around this governing center.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

This verse undoes the idea that God’s commands are a flat list of disconnected demands: one is named first and great, with a governing place among them.

THE ROOT

πρώτη

prōtē

GROWS FROM

πρῶτος

prōtos

first, foremost; preceding in order or rank

“First” can sound like an item that merely comes earlier in a sequence, but this Greek word also marks precedence. Here it places love for God in the position that orders the commandments around it.

ALSO GROWS

prōton: first; in the first place

πρῶτον

This form shows the root’s use for ordering what follows, which helps reveal the commandment’s priority here.

prōteuō: to be first or hold first place

πρωτεύω

This related verb makes the sense of precedence explicit: the commandment has primacy, not just an earlier position in a list.

THE PATTERN

Love for God stands first, and the rest of instruction gathers around that governing center.

And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.

Deuteronomy 6:5 · KJVThe command to love God with the whole self gives substance to the priority named in Matthew.

Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.

Romans 13:10 · KJVLove is presented as the center in which the law’s purpose is fulfilled.

On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

Matthew 22:40 · KJVThe image of everything hanging on these commandments shows how the rest of instruction gathers around them.

THE THREAD

And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.

Mark 12:30 · KJV

Mark uses the same Greek root for “first” and gives the commandment’s full scope: love for God with heart, soul, mind, and strength. That makes Matthew’s ranking tangible: first place belongs to love involving the whole person.

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