When asked which was “the greatest commandment” of the Law code, Jesus replied: “‘You must love Jehovah your God with your whole heart [Greek: kar·diʹa] and with your whole soul [psy·kheʹ] and with your whole mind [di·a·noiʹa].’ This is the greatest and first commandment. The second, like it, is this, ‘You must love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments the whole Law hangs, and the Prophets.” (Matthew 22:35-40) Here, the heart is referred to in relation to the mind, showing that it must be “heart” in a figurative sense.

¹⁴ Jesus was there quoting from Deuteronomy 6:5: “And you must love Jehovah your God with all your heart [Hebrew: le·babʹ] and all your soul [neʹphesh] and all your vital force.” Also, from Leviticus 19:18: “And you must love your fellow as yourself. I am Jehovah.” So Jesus ranked those two as the greatest and the next greatest commandments of the Mosaic Law covenant. We today are not under the Mosaic Law, but those fundamental requirements have not gone out of date. We should keep them.

16. (a) According to the Bible, what is the figurative heart? (b) What is required of us in loving Jehovah with ‘all the heart’? (c) How do we love him with all our “mind”?

¹⁶ But let us look beyond the literal heart of living tissue. As used in the Bible, the heart stands for the seat of motivation and also of the emotions. This is the figurative heart, which actually means our innermost self. At 1 Peter 3:4 it is described as “the secret person of the heart” (NW), “the hidden person of the heart” (Revised Standard Version), “your inner self” (New International Version). So it is with ‘all the heart’ that we are under command to love Jehovah God. We are also commanded to love Jehovah God with all our soul, with the whole of our being. This calls upon us to love the one living and true God, the Almighty, with all our vital force, directing all our energies to the doing of the revealed will of God and the full performance of his work during this “conclusion of the system of things.” (Matthew 24:3) In addition to this, there must be a loving of the God of the Bible with all our “mind,” our mental faculties.​—Mark 12:29-31.

17. (a) If we love Jehovah with all our heart and mind, what assurance do we have? (b) According to Philippians 4:7, how will our hearts and minds be affected by the peace of God?

¹⁷ It goes without saying that if we express our love of Jehovah God with all our heart and mind, he will take pleasure in answering our prayers, and this assurance will keep us free from anxiety. We shall enjoy a peace that this turbulent world does not enjoy and cannot understand. Why so? Because, as the apostle Paul assured the beloved Christians in ancient Philippi, Greece, “the peace of God that excels all thought [Greek: noun] will guard your hearts [kar·diʹas] and your mental powers [no·eʹma·ta: “minds,” Authorized Version; RS] by means of Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:7) Thus our figurative hearts will not become excited to any hasty wrong motivations and emotional disquietude, and the mental powers or mind will not be confused or twisted.