JOHN 13.34-35: “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. (35) By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” (ESV)
During His ministry on earth, Jesus affirmed the Ten Commandments. At various times He had the opportunity to teach that the greatest commandment for all of us to live by is to have love for the LORD God, and to love our neighbor as we love ourselves.
The parable of the Good Samaritan recorded in the tenth chapter of the Gospel of Luke was given by Jesus to illustrate how the love for God and the love for our neighbors is to be lived out in our lives. And it is during this solemn time in the upper room, when the disciples were listening intently to everything Jesus was saying, that Jesus sets forth His new commandment.
“Love one another”. This imperative to love one another is expressed so that it is to be an ongoing way of life. It is not restricted to any particular group of people, but it is to love everyone. And to do it in the way that is identical to the way that Jesus loves us.
The actual living out of this commandment is beyond our ability to do, based upon our human efforts alone. It can only be accomplished by God’s power working in and through us. It takes willful agreement and participation on our part, knowing that success in obeying this new commandment is not produced by us acting in our own capacity.
And Jesus sums this up by saying that our love for one another is an indication by which people around us can discern that we are followers of Him. God enables this love through us, and it will come forth if we agree to live by the way of this new commandment from Jesus.