Mark 12:31

The second is this, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.

As noted in the discussion under the preceding verse, Christ here gave a summary of the Decalogue, equating the first four commandments with the love of God and the last six with the love of neighbor. Jesus' answer, however, is far more than a mere summary of ancient law. Without love, first of God, and then of other human beings, there can be no unity with God who IS love. Moreover, Jesus' mention of a second commandment is more than a mere gratuitous extension of his answer to the scribe's question; for the first and second commandments are a compound unity. Can a man love God and hate his neighbor? "If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, cannot love God whom he hath not seen" (1 John 4:20).