Love Ends the Argument

²⁸ One of the Torah scholars came and heard them debating. Seeing that Yeshua had answered them well, he asked Him, “Which commandment is first of all?”

²⁹ Yeshua answered, “The first is, ‘Shema Yisrael, Adonai Eloheinu, Adonai echad. Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One. ³⁰ And you shall love Adonai your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ ^{[a] 31} The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’^[b] There is no other commandment greater than these.”

³² “Well said, Teacher,” the Torah scholar said to Him. “You have spoken the truth, that He is echad, and besides Him there is no other! ^{[c] 33} And ‘to love Him with all the heart, with all the understanding, and with all the strength,’^[d] and ‘to love the neighbor as oneself,’^[e] is much more than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.”

³⁴ When Yeshua saw that he had answered wisely, He said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” And no one dared any longer to question Him.

Be Dead to Self

12 I urge you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice—holy, acceptable to God—which is your spiritual service. ² Do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect.

Feast with the Lord—Not with Idols

¹⁴ Therefore, my dearly loved ones, flee from idolatry. ¹⁵ I speak as to sensible people—judge for yourselves what I say. ¹⁶ The cup of blessing that we bless—isn’t it a sharing of Messiah’s blood? The bread which we break—isn’t it a sharing of Messiah’s body? ¹⁷ Since there is one bread, we who are many are one body—for we all partake of the one bread. ¹⁸ Consider physical Israel. Those who eat the sacrifices—aren’t they partners in the altar?^[a]

¹⁹ What am I saying then—that an idol sacrifice is anything, or that an idol is anything? ²⁰ No, I’m saying that what the pagans sacrifice is to demons and not to God, and I don’t want you to become partners with demons. ^{[b] 21} You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons. ²² Or do we provoke the Lord to jealousy?^[c] We are not stronger than He, are we?

²³ “Everything is permitted”—but not everything is helpful. “Everything is permitted”—but not everything builds up.