Note 1 at Mt. 22:36: Jesus revealed that all of the Old Testament laws were designed to instruct us on how to love God and love others. Therefore, the two commands which dealt directly with loving God and others (Lev. 19:18 and Dt. 6:5) were the most important.

The religious leaders had become so obsessed with keeping every minor detail of the law that they had lost sight of its ultimate purpose. They neither loved God nor their fellow man and yet they thought that they were keeping the law. The same thing is happening today. Some of the cruelest acts of men towards their fellow men have been done in the name of the Lord by people who thought they were defending the holy commandments of God's Word. However, if we violate one of these two greatest commandments in an effort to enforce some other commandment, then we are misapplying God's Word even as these religious Jews did.

The Old Testament law and the New Testament grace compelled men to the same end which was to love God and our fellow men. However, the motivations to this end were different. The Old Testament law motivated men to love God and their fellow men through fear of punishment if they failed to comply, while the New Testament grace freely gives us this God-kind of love unconditionally and tells us to love as we have been loved (Eph. 4:32).

It is possible to have actions of holiness and yet not love God, but it is impossible for this God-kind of love not to produce holiness. Holiness is a fruit (Rom. 6:22) and not a root of loving God (see note 2 at Lk. 11:42, p. 264).