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.

(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.”

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)