“A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.”
My Notes
What Does John 13:34 Mean?
Jesus gives his disciples a new commandment during the Last Supper: love one another. This is nearly identical to John 15:12, but its placement here — at the beginning of the farewell discourse, right after Judas leaves to betray him — gives it special weight.
The love commanded is marked by its standard: as I have loved you. Jesus is the definition and the measure. His love — patient, sacrificial, specific, unconditional — is the template.
The word "new" (kainos) means fresh, unprecedented. The commandment to love was not new in the Old Testament. What was new was the standard and the community: love each other the way I have loved you, and by this the world will know you belong to me.
Verse 35 completes the thought: "By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another." Love is the identifying mark of Jesus' followers — not doctrine, not morality, not spiritual gifts. Love.
Reflection Questions
- 1.How does this commandment being given on the night of betrayal shape how you receive it?
- 2.What does love 'as I have loved you' require that ordinary love does not?
- 3.If love is the identifying mark of discipleship, what does your love life say about your faith?
- 4.Who in your community needs to experience this kind of love from you right now?
Devotional
A new commandment: love one another. Spoken on the night of betrayal, to men who would scatter within hours. Jesus knew exactly who he was talking to — people who would fail him before sunrise — and he gave them love as their assignment.
As I have loved you. Not as the world loves. Not as you feel like loving. As I have loved you — knowing your weaknesses, seeing your future failures, and loving you anyway.
This is the mark. Not your theology, not your church attendance, not your spiritual résumé. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples: your love for one another. That is what identifies you. That is what makes the invisible God visible to a watching world.
The question is not whether you agree with this commandment. The question is whether you are living it — in your home, in your community, in your most difficult relationships.
Love one another. As he has loved you. That is the assignment. It is also the testimony.
Commentary
Trusted original commentary from respected historical Bible scholars and theologians.
A new commandment I give unto you,.... As parents, when they take their leave of their children, in their dying moments,…
A new commandment - This command he gave them as he was about to leave them, to be a badge of discipleship, by which…
A new commandment I give unto you - In what sense are we to understand that this was a new commandment? Thou shalt love…
This and what follows, to the end of ch. 14, was Christ's table-talk with his disciples. When supper was done, Judas…
A new commandment The commandment to love was not new, for -thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself" (Lev 19:18) was…
Cross References
Related passages throughout Scripture