What Does Luke 10:27 Mean?
And he answered, saying, You shall love the Lord your God from your whole heart and from your whole living soul and from your whole strength and from your whole mind, and love your neighbor as yourself.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself.THE KEY
The same Greek verb governs love of God and neighbor, holding devotion in one undivided movement.
THE MEANING
Love reaches your whole self, heart, living soul, strength, and mind, and includes the person near you as fully as yourself. Devotion to God and care for your neighbor are held together in the same command.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The verse dissolves the belief that devotion to God can remain inward while the person beside you is treated as separate from it.
THE ROOT
ἀγαπήσεις
agapēseis
GROWS FROM
ἀγαπ-
The Greek stem ἀγαπ- (agap-) carries the sense “to love, to hold in affection or regard.”
In the Greek, ἀγαπήσεις (“you shall love”) governs both “the Lord thy God” and “thy neighbour”; no second verb appears before the neighbor. One act of love reaches both relationships, while the repeated “all” draws the whole self into that same movement.
ALSO GROWS
agapē: love
ἀγάπη
This noun shares the ἀγαπ- stem, naming the love expressed by the command.
agapētos: beloved
ἀγαπητός
This adjective shares the same stem and describes one who is loved.
ὅλης
holēs
GROWS FROM
ὁλ-
The Greek stem ὁλ- (hol-) carries the sense “whole, entire.”
“from your whole” in this verse is holēs. Greek repeats a form of ὅλος before heart, soul, strength, and mind: the force is wholeness in each dimension. The root carries “whole” inside each “all,” keeping the person integrated.
ALSO GROWS
holos: whole, all
ὅλος
This is the basic form behind the repeated word “all,” making its sense of wholeness explicit.
holoklēros: complete, entire
ὁλόκληρος
This related word carries the same whole-ness into the idea of completeness.
ψυχή
psychē
GROWS FROM
ψυχ-
The Greek stem ψυχ- (psych-) carries the sense of the living soul, the life of a person.
ψυχή names the living soul, the life of the person. Set beside heart, strength, and mind, and embraced by “whole,” it brings the full living self into view.
ALSO GROWS
psychikos: natural, soul-related
ψυχικός
This adjective shares ψυχ- and carries the word-family into a description of a person’s life or nature.
anápsyxis: refreshing, relief
ἀνάψυξις
This related word links the ψυχ- family with refreshing or relief, keeping the living self in view.
THE PATTERN
Love of God and love of the neighbor belong to one whole-person movement.
And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, and with all your living soul, and with all your might.You shall not avenge, nor hold a grudge against the children of your people; but you shall love your neighbor as yourself. I am the LORD.If anyone says, "I love God," and hates his brother, he is a liar. For the one who does not love his brother, whom he has perceived, cannot love God, whom he has not perceived.THE THREAD
If anyone says, "I love God," and hates his brother, he is a liar. For the one who does not love his brother, whom he has perceived, cannot love God, whom he has not perceived.Luke’s Greek verb ἀγαπάω (agapaō, “to love”) governs both God and neighbor; John uses the same word family to hold those relationships together. The person already seen makes the direction of love concrete.
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