“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13:34-35)
Jesus said to His followers, “I am giving you a new commandment, that you love one another; just as I have loved you, that you also love one another” (v. 34). The disciples may have thought that was impossible, and yet the commandment itself contains the answer to how we can, in fact, obey it.
Before anyone can love as Jesus does, they must first receive His love. Only then are they able to emulate it to those around and point them to the One who cares more deeply and abundantly than they could ever imagine.
The Lord empowers us to be “imitators of God, as beloved children.” Only then are we able to “walk in love, just as Christ also loved us” (Ephesians 5:1-2). And when we do, we carry out something grand and glorious, and are blessed as a result.
There are three capacities of love in this context:
- Vertical love for the Lord,
- Horizontal love for each other, and
- Love for one another demonstrating love for the Lord.
Loving other people as ourselves was NOT a new command (Leviticus 19:18; Matthew 5:43-48). The “new” element here, however, is to love “as I have loved you.” Jesus’ standard for loving is His own loving sacrifice for others.
This phrase goes beyond the Leviticus 19:18 command to love others. The “new” element of the commandment is that the disciples were to love each other just as Jesus loved them. Jesus loved them by dying on the cross. The emphasis here is on a new mode of loving. The kind of love that Jesus requires of His followers raises love to an entirely different level. It is the example that Jesus set for His disciples and the distinguishing mark of being a Christian.
Self-sacrificing love is the new norm for believers and the hallmark of genuine Christianity. Love for Christians does not imply we are to love those that have not accepted Christ less.
The idea of “love” is randomly used today and is not the biblical love Jesus is referring to. Biblical love is not sharing common interests; instead it is both the willingness and the execution of sacrificial love for others. It has to do with what is best for another person.
Believers’ love for each other is a testimony both to fellow believers and to the world. Loving one another invites a test of validity of genuine Christian living.
As Jesus embodied the Father’s love, so His disciples are to embody His love. The single identifying mark of being a Christian is to love others. Our identity as Christians is not how much we know or how we serve but our love for others.
In 1 John, John brings out that believers should sacrifice self-interest for others, it is a love of action and personal cost. The reason being that those who hate others or have malice toward fellow Christians undermine what Christianity is all about.
The key standard for living out Christian belief, and the means by which believers are to distinguish themselves from non-believers, is expressed in this verse. As Paul expresses in 1 Corinthians chapter 13, nothing is commendable unless it is done out of love (1 Corinthians 13:1–3). Love must be pursued truthfully and with good judgment (Ephesians 4:15; John 7:24; 1 John 3:18), but it cannot be set aside under any circumstances.
Growing in love requires lifelong effort, but our aim should be to love others even as Jesus loves us. Consequently, our love for one another ought to reflect the mutual love between the Father and the Son, as well as the love that Jesus has for us, “having loved His own who were in the world, he loved them to the end” (John 13:1).
Let us always pray and ask that the Father help us to be imitators of this kind of love (John 3:16).
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Mission Venture Ministries 
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