Thank you for the opportunity to respond to your note regarding the first and greatest commandment. Of course, people who are committed to the authority of God's Word will immediately turn there for whatever answer they conclude are authoritative. This identical question was asked of Jesus by one of the scribes. Jesus responded: "The first of all commandments is: Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord; and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all they mind, and with all they strength: this is the first commandment. And the second is this: Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. There is no other commandment great than these." (Mark 12:28-31).
Of course, we believe that the only way for a person to love God with their entire being is to be reconciled to Him through faith in His Son, Jesus Christ who loved us and gave Himself for us. The apostle John declared: "We love Him because He first loved us." (1 John 4:19). In addition, Jesus stated that "I am the way, the truth and the life, no man comes unto the Father but by me." (John 14:6). Therefore, without a personal awareness of the love of God that comes through an acceptance of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, a man or woman is incapable of fulfilling the greatest commandment - loving God.
I trust that your perspective aligns with the Master's. May God bless
you.