The command, we recall from Matthew 22, etc., is about loving God.
The hymns which sometimes express this thought invite us to sing some quite diverse admissions and claims, sometimes within the course of a single service or meeting. Some focus on Christ (1 Peter 1.8) rather than on God the Father. Are these complementary truths, we wonder, or contradictory statements? I, for one, would like to know; I may not choose many hymns now, but I may still sing them. Or may I? Here are a few samples of a line or two each, following two stanzas from the master which serve as an apt introduction:
Thus saith the first, the great command,
