Love one another

‘A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.” (John 13:34–35) The greatest command given in Scripture is to love God with all our heart, soul, and mind, and the second greatest command in Scripture is like unto it, love thy neighbor as thyself (Matt.

22:37-39). When studying the topic “love” from God’s Word, we understand the need to love God, we love God as He loved us first (1 John 4:19), we seek God first (Matt. 6:33), and we keep His commands proving our love and devotion to Him (1 John 5:3). It may be easy to understand and apply the need to love God as we ought, just as this is the greatest commandment, but how easily do we apply the second greatest command?

If we allow the evening news to be our measure as to how well we apply the second greatest command and notice the many acts of violence that is reported each night, we might come to the conclusion that we do not apply the second greatest command in Scripture as well as we do the first. The night Jesus was betrayed and delivered to be tried and then crucified, Jesus gave His apostles a “new command,” which was to “love one another” and stated that this would be the way that others would know if one was a follower of Jesus. As we examine our love for one another, are we an example of one that is following the teachings of Jesus, based on the way we love others?

In the final moments Jesus spent with His apostles, He gave them a “new commandment.” This was something that Jesus was commanding, not a mere suggestion that could be disregarded if inconvenient but was something the apostles were commanded to do. Jesus had the authority to make such commands. Jesus had been given all authority in heaven and on earth (Matt.

28:18). While on the Mount of Transfiguration, the Father spoke from heaven commanding those present to “hear ye Him” proving Jesus had all authority and now as Jesus is giving new command, He is giving this statement as an imperative statement that must be followed. This new command was to “love one another”.

This command is one that is found throughout the New Testament (John 15:12; John 15:17; 1 John 3:23; 1 John 4:20-21; Mark 12:30-31; Rom. 13:8; Gal. 5:14).

Verse after verse throughout the New Testament, we are reminded of the love we are to have for one another if we desire to prove ourselves to be a follower of Jesus.

Although it is commanded to love one another, sometimes it is not necessarily easy to do so. At times it is difficult to love one another, but if we are going to continue to be a follower of Jesus, we must love one another.

As we examine the type of love that is mentioned in the giving of the new command, the “love” we are to have for one another is “agape,” which is the unconditional, sacrificial type of love, and is also the type of love God gives to us as He gave His only begotten Son (John 3:16). Agape is the type of love that is willing to bear one another’s burdens (Gal.

6:2). Agape is the type of love that is willing to forgive one another (Eph. 4:32; Col.

3:13). Agape is the type of love that suffers long and is kind, does not envy, vaunts not itself, is not puffed up, does not behave unseemly, seeks not its own, is not easily provoked, thinks no evil, does not rejoice in iniquity but rejoices in truth, bears all, hopes all, endures all, and never fails (1 Cor.

13:4-8).

Not only did Jesus give the command to love, but He also gave a comparison by which we are to love (“as I have loved you”).

Jesus is to be our example in everything we do (Phil.

2:5; 1 Peter 2:21; 1 John 2:6) and we are to “look unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith” (Heb.

12:2). We are to walk/ live in love just as Christ (Eph. 5:2-3), and our daily walk/life should be a life of loving service to Christ and to one another. Consider the things Jesus was doing just moments before He makes the statement to “love one another.” In the beginning of John 13 Jesus is seen washing the feet of the apostles before the Passover Feast. Jesus, by example, was teaching the type of selfless love they were to have. Jesus took on the form of a servant, doing what no one else wanted to do or had taken the initiative to do, and began washing the feet of the apostles.

Now consider what Jesus would do after this statement to “love one another” was made. The night He made this statement is the night that He would be betrayed by Judas and be taken by the Pharisees.

Jesus would then prove the type of sacrificial love He has for all of mankind as He would be nailed to the cross and shed His blood for the remission of sins of the whole world. Jesus says that we are to love one another as He has loved us, and although we will never have to go to the cross to die for someone else, when we begin to compare the type of love Jesus had and the type of love, we have for one another, are we fulfilling the command to love the way Jesus commanded? If we love one another the way Jesus has commanded, then all men will know that we are His disciples (John 13:35). If we live our lives according to the example Jesus has set before us people will notice that we are different (1 Peter 2:9-10). If we live our lives according to the pattern Jesus has set before us some may notice that we are “different”, maybe some will say that we are “weird”, but Jesus will say that we are His.

How will we be known by others? Will we be known as being the ones that loved one another, or will we simply be known as a group of people that assembled in a building twice a week?

Perhaps the better question is how will you be known by God? Will you be known as one that loved others as Christ loved, and one that kept the commands of Jesus? May we always strive to love one another just as Christ loved us.

Jeremy Thornton is Minister of Highway 77 Church of Christ in Marion, Arkansas.

Jeremy Thornton