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NEW Commandment I give unto you (John 13:34)
The Commandments of God, written on Tables of Stone, proved impossible for the Children of Israel to obey in the strict legal sense with which they were viewed by the people. God had intended it so to be in order to cause the people to realize their inability to merit the Kingdom of God as sinless followers.
The coming of Christ did not annul the Commandments of God and were never intended to do so. Instead, He added only one additional Commandment to the other Ten – 34 A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. 35 By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another. (John 13:34-35) In a certain sense, this was not s new Commandment. But an ancient Commandment repeated as a seal of the believers and followers of Christ.
We are told to love one another in at least at least sixteen times by the Apostle John which seems most appropriate since John is considered the Apostle of Love (the disciple, as he says,’whom the Lord loved’). John was of a tender age and heart – able to perceive the depth of love demonstrated by our Lord, and he makes more reference to love than any other of the New Testament witnesses. And this is his commandment, That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment. 1 John 3:23; as John said to the elect lady: And now I beseech thee, lady, not as though I wrote a new commandment unto thee, but that which we had from the beginning, that we love one another. (2 John 5)
Now it may seem less important to love one another than to love God, but actually, we must do BOTH or none at all. It seems easier to love God, the Giver of all Good Gifts, than a fellow believer; but whatsoever thing god loves, we must love as well since we are His adopted children by grace. As John has said in John 13:35, love for one another is the evidence of discipleship.
We owe the Father of Lights a great gift – Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law. (Romans 13:8) Since our Lord Jesus Christ hung both tables of the Law on LOVE, obedience thereby is the only means of being accounted righteous before God the Father. . . . love covereth all sins. (Proverbs 10:12), and above all things have fervent charity (love) among yourselves: for charity (love) shall cover the multitude of sins. (1 Peter 4:8) Love is a debt to be paid to both God and man.
Love is a demonstration of the abounding grace with which we are endowed as believers: And the Lord make you to increase and abound in love one toward another, and toward all men, even as we do toward you: (1 Thessalonians 3:12)
Love for one another is proof-positive of our being taught by God to do so. The love we spread abroad is the mark of our identity as children of God: But as touching brotherly love ye need not that I write unto you: for ye yourselves are taught of God to love one another. (1 Thessalonians 4:9) It is our mark of salvation: Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently: (1 Peter 22)
If we are to be sons and daughters of the Living God, we must quit ourselves with the character and disposition of the family Head. For this is the message that ye heard from the beginning, that we should love one another. (1 John 3:11)
Just as coinage of the realm is marked with the seal and stamp of the issuing authority, so must the Christian bear the stamp of Divine approbation Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. (1 John 7)
Love is not only a sentiment and a proclivity of behavior, but an obligation: Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another. (1 John 4:11) God did, indeed, so love us as to send His only Begotten Son as Redeemer for us.
Since our Lord loved us first – the only means of our response of love – the manner in which we love abundantly is evidence of His indwelling Presence in our hearts. No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us. (1 John 4:12)
Perhaps you grow weary of the repetitious mention of the importance of love made by the Apostle John? When God repeats His counsel over and over again as a good Father, it is intended to aid retention of the beauty of His truth to us. Love is the Cornerstone of our Faith in our Lord Jesus Christ!
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