“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. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:34-35).

‌This passage launches what has come to be known as the Olivet Discourse, or the final series of teachings Jesus gave to His disciples before He went to the cross. ‌The overall context here is the Last Supper. Judas had just departed, and Jesus was about to enter into the longest and most grueling night of His life. The core and foundational teaching of His last discourse consists of what Jesus calls a “new commandment.” Notice the four-fold repetition of “love” and the three-fold repetition of “one another.” Jesus’ main concern before He endures Calvary is the way in which His very own disciples would love each other.

‌Now when we hear a command like this, it can seem so basic, so elementary, so “Sunday school-like” that we can easily dismiss it and feel like we are ready to move on to something deeper and more mature.

‌But beloved, we will never graduate from this foundational word of truth! It is the linchpin of Christianity—and this particular command will be one we will never reach the finish line for in growing in and applying it to our lives.

‌Yet here is the key question: How do we love one another just as Jesus loves us so that the world knows we are His followers? Simply put, we need a new encounter with God’s love.

Here are a few thoughts on how this can happen and how we can joyfully obey this command today.

We Need a New Revelation to Understand Jesus’ Love (the Holy Scriptures)!

‌The word that Jesus uses here for love is a Greek word likely familiar to us: agape. We must prayerfully strip all our cultural biases and baggage from this rich biblical word that demands our attention to rightfully understand. Agape love is marked by demonstration and actions over mere words or emotions. Throughout the New Testament, agape is a verb that conveys the idea to have great affection or care or loyalty towards something, or rather someone. One biblical scholar states, “It is to have a strong, non-sexual affection and love for a person and their good as understood by God’s moral character; especially characterized by a willing forfeiture of rights or privileges on another person’s behalf.”^[1]

‌I heard once that agape love is defined as “giving to others what they need the most, when they deserve it the least, and at great personal cost.”

Agape love is defined as “giving to others what they need the most, when they deserve it the least, and at great personal cost.”

‌Here Jesus expresses the meaning of love. Love is defined by what He has been and would soon be to His disciples. This command links the exposition of love to the full extent to the foot-washing, which is an active parable of Jesus washing away their sin through His sacrifice. Ultimately, love is defined by the cross. It is love of that caliber which disciples of Jesus are called to express towards one another.^[2]

‌‌We Need a New Capacity to Receive Jesus’ Love (Humble Obedience)!

‌So it is important to ask what was “new” about this commandment concerning love.

The disciples knew the Scriptures’ teaching on love, and even what Jesus Himself had taught about love. But they did not realize what He had been teaching them about love.

‌Their current standard was to love others as they love themselves. But this word raised the ante considerably. The measure of love for their neighbor was no longer their love for themselves, but Jesus’ love for them.^[3] Jesus said His disciples are to love “just as” He loves.

‌So how has Jesus loved us? I wonder how the disciples would have answered that question as they reflected back on the past three years of their lives spent with Jesus. How would you answer that question today?

‌Here are some possible responses that express the kind of love Jesus commands us to exemplify:

• His love humbly serves (Mark 10:45),
• ‌His love courageously unites (Ephesians 2:16),
• ‌His love relentlessly pursues (Luke 15:4),
• ‌His love righteously judges (John 5:30),
• ‌His love mercifully forgives (Matthew 18:22),
• ‌His love generously provides (John 6:11),
• ‌His love graciously saves (Ephesians 2:4-5),
• ‌His love sacrificially gives (Mark 14:22-25),
• ‌His love authoritatively resurrects (John 11:25),
• ‌His love hospitably befriends (Matthew 9:9-10),
• ‌His love patiently endures (Psalm 145:8),
• ‌His love joyfully surrenders (Hebrews 12:2),
• ‌His love unceasingly prays (Luke 22:31-32; Romans 8:34),
• ‌His love continually mediates (1 Timothy 2:5),
• ‌His love compassionately heals (Matthew 14:14),
• ‌His love powerfully delivers (Mark 5:6-13),
• ‌His love faithfully fulfills (Matthew 5:17),
• ‌His love wisely empowers (Acts 1:8), and…
• ‌His love victoriously renews (Revelation 21:5).

‌It is imperative that we view commandments from Jesus like this not being given as a duty or obligation to carry out, but rather as a gift to be received. For embedded in every command is sufficient grace to obey what’s commanded, which will always be the pathway to a flourishing and abundant life. Jesus’ command actually creates the capacity for us to carry it out.

‌The command to love one another as Christ loves us is a gift given to every Christian with the grace to receive and reproduce the very love of Christ in and through our lives.

‌The command to love one another as Christ loves us is a gift given to every Christian with the grace to receive and reproduce the very love of Christ in and through our lives.

‌We Need a New Power to Reproduce Jesus’ Love  (the Holy Spirit)!

‌Our love for one another is what incarnates the life of Jesus for the world to see. It makes the presence of Christ tangible. Yet this action is not possible apart from the empowerment of the indwelling Holy Spirit. Indeed, the love of Christ has already been poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit (Romans 5:5). But we are not meant to simply be containers of Christ’s love, but channels for Christ’s love. We are first to be receivers of Christ’s love and then be reproducers of Christ’s love.

‌‌Our love for one another is what incarnates the life of Jesus for the world to see. It makes the presence of Christ tangible.

While we can and should receive Christ’s love directly from Him, we all need it, and in fact, God designed it to be a necessity for us to receive His love by the way it is incarnated through another person. Here we ought to note the evangelistic power of love. “A loving community, says Jesus, is the visible authentication of the gospel.”^[4] Francis Schaeffer once quipped that love is the “final apologetic.”

‌“A loving community, says Jesus, is the visible authentication of the gospel.” Bruce Milne

‌The early church father Tertullian once reported in the late second century the comment of the pagans in his day: “Behold, how these Christians love each other! How ready they are to die for each other!” Their mutual love was the magnet that drew the pagan multitudes to Christ. It has the potential to do so still.^[5]

So may we both experience and express the love of Christ that the Spirit has poured into our hearts so that the watching world will know that we are truly Jesus’ disciples.

Copyright © 2023 Justin Jeppesen. All rights reserved

^[1] Milne, B. (1993). The message of John: here is your king!: with study guide (p. 206). Leicester, England; Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.

^[2] Ibid.

^[3] Ibid.

^[4] 1 Milne, B. (1993). The message of John: here is your king!: with study guide (p. 206). Leicester, England; Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.

^[5] Ibid.