What Does Matthew 22:40 Mean in the King James?
On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.
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 two loves are the point from which the whole scriptural witness is suspended.
THE MEANING
Your whole reading of Scripture hangs together through two relations: love toward God and love toward your neighbor. Its commands and prophetic witness are not separate weights; they depend on these loves for their coherence.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the belief that Scripture’s commands are a disconnected list: the verse says their coherence hangs on love of God and neighbor.
THE ROOT
κρέμαται
krematai
GROWS FROM
κρεμα- (krem(a)-), the lexical stem of κρεμάννυμι
The Greek verb κρεμάννυμι (kremannymi) means “to hang” or “to suspend”; here, κρέμαται means “hangs” or “is suspended.”
“Hang” carries the force of dependence: the law and the prophets are suspended from these two commandments. English can make the image sound decorative, but the Greek makes love the support on which the whole scriptural witness rests.
ALSO GROWS
kremannymi: To hang or suspend.
κρεμάννυμι
This is the verb behind the verse’s image: the larger body of instruction is held from the two commandments.
kremastos: Hanging or suspended.
κρεμαστός
This related form describes something held in suspension, reinforcing the verse’s sense of dependence.
THE PATTERN
Scriptural instruction holds together around love of God and neighbor.
And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am the LORD.Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.THE THREAD
Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.Matthew says the law hangs from love; Romans uses the same Greek word, νόμος (nomos, law or instruction), and says love fulfills it. The shared word reveals the image’s force: love sustains the instruction and brings it to its intended expression.
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