Mark 12:28-31

These verses jumped out at me because a gentleman in Bible study (I apologize for not knowing his name), made a specific point about the supremacy of the Love thy neighbor commandment during the law vs. gospel discussion. I believe what he was trying to communicate was that the entire law/gospel discussion was somewhat moot once "love thy neighbor as thyself" was established. The law/gospel handout used Mark 12:31.

In verses 28-31, the entire context is shown. The most important commandment according to both Jesus and the questioner is the love of God with all of your heart, mind, and soul. Love thy neighbor is second. The gentleman's point in Bible study doesn't really change, but what is additionally interesting is that the conversation is between Jesus and "one of the teachers of the law."

For me, the relatively nascent Christian, that Jesus should reach agreement on the commandments of love with a man of the law is just another extraordinarily cool example of the intertwinedness (not a real word probably, but you get the point) of law and gospel. As I say, in our house the rule is "give to science what belongs to science, and give to the Bible what belongs to the Bible." (Much like Mark 12:17!).

This exchange between Jesus and the teacher of the law unequivocally describes where our heart belongs.