Pesachim 116a: Rabban Gamliel used to say, “Whoever did not say these three things on Pesach did not fulfill his obligation.”
פסחים קטז ע”א: רבן גמליאל היה אומר כל שלא אמר שלשה דברים אלו בפסח לא יצא ידי חובתו.
Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik was once in Berlin on Shabbos Hagadol, and he heard a German rabbi speak. “The Gemara says,” said the rabbi, “that if Persians forced a man to eat matzah, he fulfilled his obligation (Rosh Hashanah 28a), although he surely did not recite the Hagadah. How is this consistent with Rabban Gamliel’s famous statement: Anyone who did not say these three things on Pesach did not fulfill his obligation: pesach matzah and maror?” The rabbi spoke for a long time about this question. After the speech, Rav Soloveitchik said to him, “You have erred. Rabban Gamliel means he did not fulfill his obligation of telling about the Exodus, but certainly he has fulfilled the mitzvah of matzah.”
The rabbi did not have a ready reply, but the next morning in shul he showed Rav Soloveitchik the comment of the Maharsha on Rabban Gamliel’s statement:
לא מצינו בשאר מצות דבעיא שיאמר בהן על שם מה, דסגי להו בברכה על המצוה, אבל טעם הענין הוא מפורש ברפ”ק דזבחים דכל הזבחים שנזבחו שלא לשמן כשרין חוץ מן הפסח וחטאת דפסולין שלא לשמן וטעם הענין מפורש שם דלפי פגמם ורחקם מן הקדושה בעי טפי קירוב לקדושה דהיינו זביחה לשמה וע”כ אר”ג דגם אכילת הבעלים יהיה מפורש לשמה לקרב אל הקדושה.
“We don’t find regarding other mitzvos that one must say out loud why he is doing them. It’s usually enough just to make a bracha on the mitzvah. But the reason for this is explained in the first chapter of Zevachim. All offerings that were slaughtered with the wrong type of offering in mind are kosher, except for the Pesach and the Chatas. Because they are far from holiness, they require one to slaughter them with the right purpose in mind to bring them closer to holiness. And that is why Rabban Gamliel said that even the eating of the offering must be done with the right purpose in mind.
“An Acharon,” replied Rav Soloveitchik, “cannot say something unless there is a source for it in the Rishonim. In this case, the source for the Maharsha is a Ramban in Milchamos, at the beginning of Berachos, who says:
וזו היא ששנו בברייתא במס’ יומא הקורא עם אנשי משמר לא יצא ידי חובתו לפי שמקדימין וקורין קודם לזמן הזה… והיאך אפשר שהיו אנשי משמר ואנשי מעמד מבטלין מצות ק”ש ואמת ויציב דאורייתא לגמרי…אלא ודאי מאי לא יצא ידי חובתו שלא קיים מצוה כהלכה שאלו מקדימין וקורין קודם שיכיר בין תכלת ללבן… ושנינו כיוצא בה כל שלא אמר ג’ דברים אלו בפסח לא יצא ידי חובתו ולא שיהא צריך לחזור ולאכול פסח מצה ומרור.
The Gemara (Yuma 37b) says that one who says Shema with the kohanim of the mishmar does not fulfill his obligation, because they say it too early. Now, how is it possible that the kohanim did not keep the mitzvah of saying Shema, and Emes Veyatziv which is D’oraisa? Rather, it means that he fulfills his obligation, but not in the best way. As another example of this, Rabban Gamliel says that anyone who did not say these three things on Pesach did not fulfill his obligation, but he does not have to eat the pesach, matza and maror over again.
“So,” Rav Soloveitchik concluded, “that explains why if the Persians forced a Jew to eat matza, he fulfilled his obligation.”
Source: Mr. Stern from the Mirrer Minyan of Borough Park
[It’s interesting that the Ramban is essentially understanding Rabban Gamliel the way the rabbi in Berlin understood him: that the recital of the three things is part of the mitzvos of eating pesach, matza and maror. The only difference is that the Ramban says that you do fulfill your obligation, albeit not in the best way.
Rav Soloveitchik’s original response, that Rabban Gamliel is talking about the mitzvah of telling about the Exodus, is based on the Rambam (Hilchos Chometz Umatzah 7:5), who brings Rabban Gamliel in the middle of his chapter on telling the story of the Exodus, and concludes, “And all these things are what are called Hagadah.”]
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