Message
Mark 12:30
All Your Mind
If you have had a chance to listen to the sermons from the past week you will be familiar with the verses which are the focus of our current series.
Mark 12:30-31
30 “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.” 31 The second is this: “Love your neighbour as yourself.” There is no commandment greater than these.’
Today our specific focus is to “Love the Lord with all our mind.” This focus brings us back to an issue I briefly spoke about in the first sermon.
In Mark 12:30 Jesus is quoting from Deuteronomy 6:5.
Deuteronomy 6:5
5 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.
You can see the difference can’t you. Deuteronomy calls us to love with heart, soul and strength. Mark calls us to love with heart, soul, MIND and strength.
Why the difference?
Firstly this is the Word of God. The Word of God is inspired so there is no reason why New Testament authors
… especially someone like Jesus.
… there is no reason why New Testament authors can’t give a further revelation, or adapt the Old Testament, to the situation at hand.
Such adaptations are not errors … this is how the progressive revelation of Scripture works.
Secondly, Jesus is quoting from the Old Testament, which is in Hebrew, and Mark is written in Greek. Two different languages.
Often a word in one language needs a few words in another language to get the full range of meaning.
Heart Soul Strength in Hebrew.
Heart Soul Mind Strength in Greek.
Jesus is using the extra word in this situation to convey the full meaning of Deuteronomy 6:5.
(
Which word from Deuteronomy is being further expanded?
The Hebrew word ??? - leb = heart.
Previously we have seen that the heart is the vital centre of who we are.
The heart drives you, and takes your focus, and gives you your identity.
The heart forms your worldview and governs your character. It is the essence of who you are.
That is why the command to love God “with all your heart” is first on the list.
That is what we learnt in the first message of this series. But there is also more to it. The difficulty is that we can hear the word “heart” and we think …
… emotion or being emotional.
… following our heart.
… going beyond logic – or not even being logical.
… being true to our heart.
“The heart wants, what the heart wants,” is a common saying.
All these descriptions of the heart are true. But, from a Scripture perspective the “heart” is not just emotion, or lack of logic.
This is where it gets really interesting.
Deuteronomy 6:5 (in Hebrew)
(you will need to get this verse from an online Hebrew Bible)
In the second century BC, in order to help the wider community read the Old Testament, the Jewish Bible, which we call the Old Testament, was translated into Greek. That translation is called the Septuagint.
Today we have access to three full manuscripts of the Septuagint, all which date back to the 4th and 5th century AD. These manuscripts are pretty much the same but, sometimes, they use different words.
Deuteronomy 6:5 (LXXa)
(This is the LXX in the Sinaiticus and Alexandrian Codex - available online)
Deuteronomy 6:5 (LXXb)
(This is text of LXX Vaticanus which uses dianoian instead of kardias - the codex is hard to find online but can be found with a bit of a search))
Now let’s compare these to
Mark 12:30
(You need to get the text online ... the point being that Mark 12:30 has both dianoias and kardias).
Why is this significant?
Apart from anything else we are being reminded here of the difficulties of translation. The Septuagint was translated at a time when Biblical Hebrew and Biblical Greek were active and alive languages.
Many people in first century Judea were able to fluently speak Hebrew and Greek.
Yet, even then, making an exact translation was difficult.
That is why it really helps at times to have a close look at the original language of Bible, and see what is happening in the original language.
But what is also significant here is that the Hebrew word leb – heart could be translated with the Greek word kardia or the Greek word dianoia. Indeed Jesus wasn’t the only one who did this. In the Gospel of Luke Jesus asks a teacher of the law what he thinks is the first commandment.
The teacher of the law replies.
Love the Lord your God with all your heart (kardia) and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind (dianoia).
Luke 10:27
Jesus and the teachers of the law both recognised that translating Deuteronomy 6:5 into the first century Roman context required using the words “heart” and “mind”.
Heart and mind are intricately connected to each other.
This connection was recognised by Thomas Crammer – the 16th Century Archbishop of Canterbury and a leader of the English Reformation
He said
“What the heart loves, the will chooses and the mind justifies.”
The heart loves the truth.
The will seeks the truth.
The mind justifies the truth.
The heart loves to gossip.
The will encourages gossip.
The mind justifies gossip.
The heart loves being a servant.
The will seeks ways to be a servant.
The mind justifies a life of servant hood.
The heart loves being selfish.
The will lives selfishly.
The mind justifies a self-centred life.
Heart to mind. It is an intricate connection.
So, if you find yourself in a place that is not loving God with all your heart then you need to find a way to stop justifying what your heart is doing.
Which is where the meaning of the word mind (diavoia) comes in.
Jeremiah 31:33
‘This is the covenant that I will make with the people of Israel after that time,’ declares the Lord.
‘I will put my law in their minds (dianoia) and write it on their hearts (kardia). I will be their God, and they will be my people.
We call this the new covenant. That time when the Lord will take much more direct action in the lives of those who will be called into His kingdom. This same covenant is spoken about in the book of Hebrews where the writer to the Hebrews describes how God is acting after the death and resurrection of Jesus.
Hebrews 8:10
This is the covenant I will establish with the people of Israel after that time, declares the Lord. I will put my laws in their minds (dianoia) and write them on their hearts (kardia). I will be their God, and they will be my people.
Putting Scripture into the mind, so that Scripture can be written on the heart.
God is putting the Scripture into that specific point where the justifying thoughts are brought into focus. By putting Scripture here God is building accountability into the expression of our love for God.
Colossians 1:21-22
21 Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds (dianoia) because of your evil behaviour. 22 But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation
That reconciling process causes the mind to ponder on the spiritual implications of what is going on in your life. You do this by having your mind focussed on, and thinking about, that which challenge your heart to live in accountability – not accountability to itself – but accountability to a holy standard.
2 Peter 3:1-2
1 Dear friends, this is now my second letter to you. I have written both of them as reminders to stimulate you to wholesome thinking (dianoia). 2 I want you to recall the words spoken in the past by the holy prophets and the command given by our Lord and Saviour through your apostles.
When that holy standard
… when your mind isn’t allowed to justify heart and will actions that don’t meet the holy standard …
… when that happens, the direction of your life is completely changed.
Instead of being an enemy in our mind, we have a completely different mind set.
1 Peter 1:13
Therefore, with minds (dianoia) that are alert and fully sober, set your hope on the grace to be brought to you when Jesus Christ is revealed at his coming.
From a Scripture perspective then, the definition of “mind” would be something close to the following:-
The “mind” is the spiritual barometer that assesses what the heart loves and the will chooses.
Apply this to the great commandment.
To love the Lord with all of our mind means making sure that the “mind” doesn’t simply justify what the heart loves and the will chooses, instead the mind makes the heart and will accountable to the written word.
When we love God with all our mind we step into this space where we refuse to allow our heart to just follow it’s emotions. We refuse to just follow our heart and just let the heart want what the heart wants. We don’t allow our heart to just throw away all logic.
Thomas Crammer is correct.
“What the heart loves, the will chooses and the mind justifies.”
But he is only correct to the extend that we are NOT loving the Lord with all our minds.
When we love the Lord with all our minds the process changes.
“What the heart loves, the will chooses and the mind assesses.”
The heart loves the truth.
The will seeks the truth.
The mind … doesn’t just justify … the mind assesses – assess against Scripture.
Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled round your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place.
Ephesians 6:14
31 Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. 32 Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
John 8:31-32
When the heart seeks the truth, and the will lives the truth the mind assess and confirms … I am loving God with my all.
The heart loves to gossip.
The will encourages gossip.
The mind … doesn’t just justify … the mind assesses – assess against Scripture.
A perverse person stirs up conflict, and a gossip separates close friends.
Proverbs 16:28
I am afraid that when I come I may not find you as I want you to be …I fear that there may be discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, slander, gossip, arrogance and disorder.
2 Corinthians 12:20
When the heart loves gossip, and the will encourages gossip, the mind assesses … I am NOT loving God with my all.
Then you have a choice.
Do I hold my heart and will accountable to the Word … and repent.
Or do I let my heart and will rule … even though I know I am not loving God with my all … and just force my mind to justify.
Gossip is just words.
Gossip doesn’t hurt anyone.
Everyone gossips.
Justifying by ignoring the mind … the spiritual barometer … and just becoming more and more like the world.
It is a choice, but it could be an eternally dangerous choice.
Paul, when speaking about unconverted Gentiles, says:-
They are darkened in their understanding (dianoia) and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts.
Ephesians 4:18
When you keep choosing to ignore the mind.
When the spiritual barometer that God has given you is not allowed to keep you accountable.
When you don’t love God with all your mind.
You can get to a place where your heart is hardened. A heartened heart is one that just stops listening to God.
You don’t want to be there. You don’t want anyone you know to be there.
So here now is a question for today that definitely has eternal implications.
Am I allowing my mind to be the spiritual barometer that keeps me accountable to the Word.
Or do I just keep justifying all the loves of my heart and the choices of my will – even when those loves and choices are against God’s Word?
Let’s commit to loving the Lord with all of our mind.
Prayer
