Why Did Jesus Add to The Shema?

Why did Jesus add "mind" to the Shema?

In Mark 12:29-30, Jesus says the Shema, but he adds 5 words, or in the original Greek, six words, that translate to “and with all your mind”.

“Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord is one! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might” (Deuteronomy 6:4-5 NASB1995).

“Jesus answered, “The foremost is, ‘Hear, Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord is one; and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength” (Mark 12:29-30 NASB1995).

It is never clarified why Jesus decided to add this to the Shema, but there are many theories. It is possible Jesus did this to add emphasis to the Shema, as if to say that a person should strive to follow God intellectually. That a person should love God with all their wisdom (c.f. Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary).

Jesus may have also added “mind” as a way to attack the view of the Pharisees, as if to say that rather than focusing on the intellectual approach, they focus on the wrong qualities causing them to be overly legalistic.

Works Cited:

Jamieson, Robert, et al. Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary. United States, Hendrickson Publishers, 1996.

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