You have heard that it was said, “Love God and Love your neighbor as yourself” is the command of Jesus. But when Jesus was talking a Pharisee lawyer, a professional in Jewish law, Jesus answered from the Old Covenant that the Pharisee espoused to know well:
But when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together. And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets” (Mt 22:34-40).
The Old Testament was about love as well. But for them to understand love, they needed to have banks for the river. This was the Law. It’s why Jesus said the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.
But Jesus was going to be the fulfillment of the Law and the Prophets. If he was the fulfillment, then something new was going to come. A new covenant. And with it, a new command.
As much as this is a beloved verse–love God and love your neighbor as yourself, it is a verse representative of the old covenant. It was for the time of the Law and the Prophets.
But not Jesus has something new to bring. It is so slightly, but massively different, that most people miss it. See if you can see it:
34 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 (John 13:34)
Did you see it?
The Old Covenant was about Law. It was about the obedience and being the one to take on the responsibility of love, something that man failed over and over to do. This is the point of the Law. It is the mirror to show our utter sinfulness.
But now look at the New Covenant. It actually teaches a different message. Let’s look at it visually.
Do you see it now?
In the Old Covenant, it was about man trying to love and falling short. Under the new covenant, it is about Jesus doing the loving, and AS we are loved, to love one another. This is not the Old Covenant. It is something new!
Old Covenant – You Love, and also love one another
New Covenant – Be Loved –>Then Love one another
The burden is off of us. Jesus did it all. Let’s look at where this new commandment is given.
John 13:34
“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.”
John 13:35
“By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
John 15:12
“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.”
John 15:17
“These things I command you, so that you will love one another.”
Matthew 5:44
“But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.”
1 John 3:11
“For this is the message that you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another.”
1 John 3:23
“And this is his commandment, that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us.”
1 John 4:7
“Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.”
1 John 4:11
“Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.”
1 John 4:12
“No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.”
1 John 3:14
“We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers. Whoever does not love abides in death.”
1 John 3:16
“By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.”
Is it obvious? THIS was the command of Jesus under the New Covenant. AS I have loved you, so love one another.
Be loved.
Then go love.