This commandment is evangelistic in nature because Jesus says that by our loving one another “everyone will know that are disciples.” The converse is true if we are not loving one another or acting in love toward one another, everyone will know that we are not His disciples. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” Jesus’ New Commandment John 13:34-35 “A new command I give you: Love one another. Of course, we don’t need to learn to love ourselves because that comes naturally, at least for most, but to love others means that we take care of them as we do our own body, mind, and soul. We are also to love our neighbors as ourselves. That means our devotion toward God comes first ( Matt 6:33) and involves all that we think about (our mind), all of our soul (whatever we do), and all of our heart (what we desire the most). We must love God first and foremost and this love encompasses all of our minds, our soul, and our heart. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters” (1 Jn 3:16).Jesus gave us the greatest commandment of all. One of those present for this command was John, who would later write, “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. We love like Christ, who loved us before we loved him, even when we hated him. #3 “As I have loved you, so you must love one another.” This command is new in that the grounds for it are based in Jesus’s own example of love for his disciples.Īs a father or mother longs to see their children love one another, so God in Christ longs to see his own children love one another with the love that is rooted in Christ’s death on the cross. Jesus’s commands are not a burdensome list of meticulous rules to follow, but rather some all-encompassing principles and virtues that to keep would cause one’s whole life to come into order. Breaking Down the Key Parts of John 13:34 Jesus knew that the sacrificial love of his Father was supernatural and would be a sign to the world if seen among his disciples. Jesus calls us to give ourselves to one another for the sake of building one another up and making concrete the love that God in Christ has for each of us. Christ loved his bride, the Church, “to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless” (Eph 5:25-27). It is a love for others that springs from the love at the heart of the Father, the sacrificial and perfect love that would absorb the offense of sin and the wrath of God for evil. The cross is the ultimate expression of the love of God. Additionally, his concern that the disciples love “one another” has a special motive in the next verse so that the world will know that they belong to Christ (Jn 13:35).Īnd how has he loved them? He has served them (Jn 13:1), he has kept them with him for his entire ministry, patiently teaching them, training them, empowering them, saving them by choosing them, and by what he knew he was ready to do for them on the cross. It was “a new command” because, while love had been the focus of some of Jesus’ earlier commands love God, love neighbor, and love enemies, here, he bases the love they are to have for one another on the way he has loved them. As he contemplated leaving the disciples all on their own, his main concern was that they love one another. Now in his mounting distress, he would give them his final parting words before going to suffer his greatest trial. Judas had just a moment prior left to go and betray Jesus, and Jesus knew it. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.” Explanation and Commentary of John 13:34 “A new command I give you: Love one another.
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