He was asked which commandment is first. Singular. He answers, then keeps going.
The second is like it. That phrase is doing something. He is not adding a runner up. He is saying the two are the same kind of thing, and you cannot hold one while dropping the other.
Which closes off both of the exits we like. You cannot love God privately and treat people as an optional extra. You also cannot be decent to your neighbours and call that the whole of it.
The measure is uncomfortable too. As yourself. Not more than yourself, which is the version that burns people out. As. The same instinctive care you extend to your own situation without deciding to.
Most of us do not need better theology here. We need to notice that the person who has been irritating us this week is the assignment, and that no amount of vertical devotion is going to excuse us from it.
