How do we interpret - "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’[c] 38 This is the first and greatest commandment."
Many a time we overly simply the meaning of words & verses in the Bible & thus missing the essence of the message.
We know Jesus is our Lord & our God.
Below is my interpretation (based on reference site - http://www.divorcehope.com/lovegodwithallyourheartsoulmind.htm) of the words - "heart", "Soul" & "Mind" used in the first & greatest commandment:
1) "Heart"... The Hebrew word for “heart” is lebab, which means: To be enclosed—as the interior or center, hence, the heart. In the Greek, the word is kardia. It means: The seat in the center of man’s inward life—the place of human depravity or the sphere of divine influence.
==> I would interpret "Heart" as the centre of your life, your passion, attention & your focus - thus, loving the Lord our God with all our attention or focus... putting God in the centre of our life...
2) "Soul"... The Hebrew word for “soul” is nephesh. It means: A breathing creature—whether a person, animal or creature of the sea. The Greek word equivalent is psuche, in which we get our prefix-word, psycho, for words like: psychology, Psuche means: Breath—voluntarily but gently (basically, being alive).
Psuche is used in a very wide sense throughout the Bible regarding mans many feelings: His emotions, attitudes and will. Hence, loving God “with all your soul” is different from ‘loving God with all your heart” in that it speaks of the “emotions, attitudes and will” of a person.
1Timothy 6:11 speaks about “godliness” —being devoted to God. It is saying to CHOOSE to love God—an attitude of self-devotion to love. It is an exercising of the will (part of the soul) to love God in all situations of life. In other words, choose to do what is right and do it with the right attitude.
==> In other words, Soul is the "air" or "atmosphere" (our emotions, attitudes & will) within you that reflect or exudes "Godliness" or "Christlikeness"...
3) "Mind"... The Greek word Jesus used for “mind” is dianoia, which means: Deep though, exercising the mind, to think through. The word the Scribe used for mind is sunesis, which means: A putting together, to figure out, intelligence. The Hebrew equivalent (taken from Jeremiah 31:33 translated in the KJV as “inward parts”) is qereb, which means: to approach or bring near—hence, to consider and think upon.
==> Therefore, our mind is our intellect—the place where we analyze, figure-out and plan things; the place where knowledge and understanding are analyzed and manipulated to bring about a conclusion or decision.
Loving God “with all our mind” means:
- That EVERYTHING we put in or allow in our minds is right, true and moral.
- That we align our conclusions and decisions based upon the commandments of God and the written Word of God in all situations.
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