A New Commandment (John 13:34)

“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another.” (John 13:34 NKJV)

What is the new command? The new command is the same as the old command, “Love your neighbor as yourself” except Jesus added the phrase “As I have loved you.” Jesus has set the example how to love one another. While we were still sinners, He laid down His life unto the Father not because He did anything wrong but because He paid the price of our sin in an obedience to the Father. “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” (2 Corinthians 5:21 NKJV)

He did not come to condemn the world but to save. He did not come to be served but to serve. He was not welcomed but rejected by the world. However, He did not change His plan to die on the cross in Calvary not because we deserved but because we were ignorantly in unbelief as the victims of the vicious and cunning enemy, the devil. He had compassion upon us who were groping in frustration and confusion and darkness, always going astray like sheep. He endured and embraced our trespasses and inequities to the end with the maximum extent of His unfailing love.

Prophet Isaiah foretold the ministry of the Son of God some seven hundred years before Christ came. He is so compassionate and merciful that He does not even break a bruised reed, nor quench smoldering wick.

“Behold! My Servant whom I uphold,

My Elect One in whom My soul delights!

I have put My Spirit upon Him;

He will bring forth justice to the Gentiles.

He will not cry out, nor raise His voice,

Nor cause His voice to be heard in the street.

A bruised reed He will not break,

And smoking flax He will not quench;

He will bring forth justice for truth.

He will not fail nor be discouraged,

Till He has established justice in the earth;

And the coastlands shall wait for His law.” (Isaiah 42:1-4 NKJV)

He was reviled but did not revile in return because He entrusted the Father who will get justice, even quickly. “For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps: ‘Who committed no sin, Nor was deceit found in His mouth’; who, when He was reviled, did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously; who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness—by whose stripes you were healed. For you were like sheep going astray, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.” (2 Peter 2:21-25 NKJV)

In fact, the only Person who can love unconditionally is Christ the Son of God. That’s why God promised to send His Spirit to those who believe in Christ the Son of God. That’s Christ in you, the hope of glory. The living God Christ Jesus indwells within us who believe in Him by means of the Holy Spirit forever. We cannot love anyone, not even our families, but God can love even the enemies. See Jesus Christ is the proof of His unconditional and faithful love upon us who didn’t deserve at all. So, we can love one another as Christ has loved us, precisely. As a matter of fact, we don’t love but Christ in us does when we admit the fact that we died to sin in body and spirit.

Under the new commandment, God demands that we must love one another and fulfills that demand by providing the power to do it. That power is to raise the dead as happened to Jesus Christ who rose again from the dead on the third day according to the scriptures. That’s the new way of living for all Christians now and forevermore.