And thou shalt love the Lord thy God
Which is to be understood of the one God, Father, Son, and
Spirit; for all the three divine persons are to be equally loved,
being possessed of the same perfections and excellencies, and
having done the same works, and having bestowed like benefits and
favours upon men: and though there is now no principle of love to
God in men; but, on the contrary, men are enemies to God in their
minds, which appears by their wicked works; yet this commandment
is still in force, and the obligation to it is the same; the fall
of man, the corruption of nature, and the impotency, and even
aversion in man to observe this command, do not make it null and
void: and in regeneration, when God puts his laws into the heart,
and writes them in the mind; love is produced in such persons, to
God the Father, who has begotten them again, according to his
abundant mercy; and to Christ, who has saved them from their
sins; and to the blessed Spirit, who has quickened and comforted
them: and this love is in some measure exercised as it should be,
and as here directed to,
with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy
mind;
that is, with all the powers and faculties of the soul; or with
the affections, as under the influence and guidance of the more
noble faculties of the soul, the mind, the understanding,
judgment, and will: it is added here, which is not in Matthew,
and with all thy strength;
which answers to the phrase in ( Deuteronomy
6:5 ) , "with all thy might"; that is, with the greatest
vehemency of affection, in the strongest expressions of it, and
with all the strength of grace a man has. This passage follows
the former in ( Deuteronomy
6:5 ) and is what is only cited in ( Matthew
22:37 ) , (See Gill on Matthew
22:37).