John 13:34

A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. A NEW COMMANDMENT I GIVE UNTO YOU, THAT YE LOVE ONE ANOTHER; AS [`EVEN AS' kathoos (G2531 )] I HAVE LOVED YOU, THAT YE ALSO LOVE ONE ANOTHER. This was the new feature of it. Christ's love to His people in giving His life a ransom for them was altogether new, and consequently as a Model and Standard for theirs to one another. It is not however, something transcending the great moral law, which is "the old commandment" (1 John 2:7; and see the notes at Mark 12:23), but that law in a new and special form. Hence,...

34._A new commandment I give you. _To the consolation he adds an exhortation,_that they should love one another; _as if he had said, “Yet while I am absent from you in body, testify, by mutual love, that I have not taught you in vain; let this be your constant study, your chief meditation.” Why does he call it _a new commandment _? All are not agreed on this point. There are some who suppose the reason to be, that, while the injunction formerly contained in the Law about brotherly love was literal and external, Christ wrote it anew by his Spirit on the hearts of believers. Thus, according to them, the Law is _new, _because he publishes it in a _new _manner, that it may have full vigor. But that is, in my opinion, far-fetched, and at variance with Christ’s meaning. The exposition given by others is, that, though the Law directs us to the exercise of _love, _still, because in it the doctri...

31-35 Christ had been glorified in many miracles he wrought, yet he speaks of his being glorified now in his sufferings, as if that were more than all his other glories in his humbled state. Satisfaction was thereby made for the wrong done to God by the sin of man. We cannot now follow our Lord to his heavenly happiness, but if we truly believe in him, we shall follow him hereafter; meanwhile we must wait his time, and do his work. Before Christ left the disciples, he would give them a new commandment. They were to love each other for Christ's sake, and according to his example, seeking what might benefit others, and promoting the cause of the gospel, as one body, animated by one soul. But this commandment still appears new to many professors. Men in general notice any of Christ's words rather than these. By this it appears, that if the followers of Christ do not show love one to another...

Verse 34. _A NEW COMMANDMENT I GIVE UNTO YOU_] In what sense are we to understand that this was a _new_ commandment? _Thou shalt love_ _thy neighbour as thyself_, was a positive precept of the law, Leviticus 19:18, and it is the very same that Christ repeats here; how then was it _new_? Our Lord answers this question, _Even AS I have_ _loved you_. Now Christ _more_ than fulfilled the Mosaic precept; he not only loved his neighbour AS _himself_, but he loved him MORE than _himself_, for he laid down his life for men. In this he calls upon the disciples to imitate him; to be ready on all occasions to lay down their lives for each other. This was, strictly, a _new_ commandment: no system of morality ever prescribed any thing so pure and disinterested as this. Our blessed Lord has outdone all the moral systems in the universe in two wo...

A NEW COMMANDMENT - This command he gave them as he was about to leave them, to be a badge of discipleship, by which they might be known as his friends and followers, and by which they might be distinguished from all others. It is called new, not because there was no command before which required people to love their fellow-man, for one great precept of the law was that they should love their neighbor as themselves Leviticus 19:18; but it was new because it had never before been made that by which any class or body of people had been known and distinguished. The Jew was known by his external rites, by his uniqueness of dress, etc.; the philosopher by some other mark of distinction; the military man by another, etc. In none of these cases had love for each other been the distinguishing and special badge by which they were known. But in the case of Christians

EXPOSITION IV. THE FINAL MANIFESTATIONS IN WORD AND ACTION OF THE LOGOS INCARNATE, EXPRESSING ITSELF ABSOLUTELY AND TO THE UTTERMOST AS LOVE. (Jn 13-21.) In two divisions— A._ The inner glorification of the Christ in the presence of those who received and believed on him_. *** The Loges incarnate as life, light, love, and sacrifice, lavishing all his grace upon his own (Jn 13-17.). B._ The outer glorification of the Christ in his Passion and resurrection_. *** The fully manifested love laying down life that he might take it again, and lift

A NEW COMMANDMENT I GIVE UNTO YOU,.... As parents, when they take their leave of their children, in their dying moments, give them proper instructions and orders, and lay their dying injunctions on them, so Christ taking his leave of his disciples, gives them his; which were, that they LOVE ONE ANOTHER: as brethren in the same family, children of the same Father, and fellow disciples with each other; by keeping and agreeing together, praying one for another, bearing one another's burdens, forbearing and forgiving one another, admonishing each other, and building up one another in faith and holiness: and this he calls "a new commandment"; that is, a very excellent one; as a "new name", and a "new song", denote excellent ones; or it is so called, because it is set forth by Christ, in a new edition of it, and newly and more clearly explained, than before; and being enforced with a new argu...

CHAPTER 13 _ 1. The Washing of the Disciples' Feet. (John 13:1 .)_ 2. Instructions given; to Wash One Another's Feet. (John 13:12 .) 3. The Betrayal Foretold. (John 13:18 .) 4. His Own Departure and the New Commandment. (John 13:31 .) 5. The Denial of Peter Foretold. (John 13:36 .) We reach with this chapter the most precious portion of this Gospel. The multitudes are left behind. Israel has completely rejected Him and now He gathered His own beloved disciples around Himself and gave them the sweet and blessed words of in

JOHN 13:33 TO JOHN 17:26. THE LAST DISCOURSES AND PRAYER. Perhaps this is the best place to consider the general arrangement and character of the final discourses. They present the same problems of style and language, of content and of arrangement, that are raised elsewhere in this gospel. The language and the theology of the author are conspicuous. And yet we cannot escape the conviction that a greater than John is here, or fail to ask whether something of his style and theology was not learned in the upper room. These Chapter s are not merely the reflections of a later generation. The question of order is also difficult. The last words of ch. 14 mark the end of the discourse, the preceding verses are clearly the last words of a speech. The command, Arise, let us go hence, does not find its counterpart till...

NEW COMMANDMENT. GIVE UNTO YOU. The commandment to love was not new, but such love as the Savior commanded was new. It was such love for each other as he had shown for them that he commanded. That love was one so intense as to give up all things. His love led him to leave heaven, to take our infirmities upon him, to endure. weary and painful ministry, to become. servant, even to wash the feet of his disciples, and it was about to show itself forth in the outpouring of his blood for the sake of his people. It was such love as he would inspire in the hearts of his disciples for each other;. self-denying, self-sacrificing love which is not of the earth, but carries its own demonstration that it is of heavenly origin. The "new life" is love....