The greatest commandment — love God with ALL your heart, soul, mind, strength — is what everyone gets wrong about morality. Love of GOD comes first, love of neighbor second. Not all sins are equal; violating this foremost command is the most serious.

Mark 12:28-34: A scribe (non-hostile member of a hostile group, listening to debates) sincerely asks which commandment is foremost. Jesus quotes Deuteronomy 6:4-5 (Shema — "Hear O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord") and Leviticus 19:18 ("love your neighbor as yourself"). Jesus affirms a moral hierarchy: one command IS more important than others. Implications: (1) not all sin is the same (violation of the foremost command is worst); (2) success in lesser commands doesn't compensate for failure in this one; (3) Paul's "if I have not love I am nothing" (1 Cor 13) likely draws from this. Application: those raised in the church who say "it was all just a bunch of rules" don't understand that the foundational morality IS love — all rules are expressions of love.