John 13:34-35 - Homilies By B. Thomas

The new commandment.

I. IN ITS IMPORT .

1. That the disciples of Christ should love one another . "That ye love one another."

2. That the disciples of Christ are to lore one another as Christ loved them . "As I have loved you." In order to know the full import of this command, we must know what Christ's love to his disciples was.

II. IN ITS IMPORTANCE AND OBLIGATION . It is important and obligatory:

1. As it is the natural law of spiritual life in , Christ . This is love. It naturally arises from their relationship to him and to each other. This relationship is the nearest, dearest, and most sacred and lasting, and from each of these considerations love is the essential law, and the essential law is specially binding and important. Not to observe it is a contradiction of our real relationship to Jesus and to each other. It is a universally acknowledged law—the higher and nearer our relationship, the greater is our obligation to love and succor each other. If so, how great is this obligation with regard to the disciples of Christ!

2. As the specially expressed will of Jesus . Expressed in a positive form and in a most solemn command, given at a most solemn hour, on the eve of his departure from them, under the shadow of death and the stroke of enmity, he gave the command of love, and his express will is in perfect harmony with the law of spiritual life in him, which is supreme love to one another. The voice of the law within is echoed by the voice of the lawgiver without, "That ye love one another."

3. As it is renewed and revived by the life and death of Christ . On this account it is properly called a new commandment.

4. As it is the outward sign of Christian discipleship . "By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another."