Love As He Loved

 Joh_13:34 A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.

Why did Jesus call it a new commandment? It became a new commandment because it was given after He took on flesh. God declared the Son, became a human and lived among us in that flesh, interacting with us in a way never before done. He showed us what His love meant. He stood before human beings, cried with them, ate with them, walked with them, ever the example.

Jesus could say He was giving us a new commandment because humanity now knew what it meant to love others as He loved us.

He said- AS I HAVE LOVED YOU.

Yes, prior to this we were to love one another, that is an Old Testament command. We were told what this love should be (Ten Commandments). We were instructed to love, but the instructor came in person to give us Himself as living proof showing us how we were to love.

Love others as He loved them. He loved in truth, pure truth.

He was revealing His love when He yelled at the pharisees and when He overturned the moneychangers tables. He was revealing His love when He healed the blind, the lame, the lepers, the demon possessed, etc. We have real examples from Him of His love, always putting the welfare of others before His own and most importantly His love pointed to Salvation, always.

There are more verses about new commandments.

1Jn_2:7 Brethren, I write no new commandment unto you, but an old commandment which ye had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word which ye have heard from the beginning.

1Jn_2:8 Again, a new commandment I write unto you, which thing is true in him and in you: because the darkness is past, and the true light now shineth.

Contradictory statements? Not really. The old commandment to love one another is from the beginning and is a part of the new commandment. The love of a future Savior became realized with the appearance of Jesus, a present Savior who dispelled the darkness, the ignorance and brought salvation knowledge.

The Savior that was longed for, arrived and He did all that was needed. The true light was shining where before the promise of that light existed as darkness prevailed. After Jesus, the darkness, the lack of knowledge, the unknown way to eternal life and salvation was done away with. The true Light, the true understanding, Jesus.

2Jn_1:5 And now I beseech thee, lady, not as though I wrote a new commandment unto thee, but that which we had from the beginning, that we love one another.

The commandment to love as already stated, is an old one. Just as Jesus did with the other, still relevant, commandments, He brought the truth of them into the light for all to see.

He lived every single commandment perfectly, an example for all. We are to love as He loved. Jesus taught us that our hearts, our inner spirit must live in His love. We can't lust after forbidden things and console ourselves with the fact that we don't act on them. We can't willingly indulge sin in our minds, nurturing it, and then pat ourselves on the back for not physically committing the sin. We have to truly love one another and He showed us how. We must love one another in actions, not just in words mouthed, believing that our words are enough.

We must shun all forms of willful sinning, embracing all of the love Jesus. It is that love we give to others, the love He gives to us.

The future Messiah loved us before He took on flesh.

And He loved us after He took on flesh. We are forever loved.

A new commandment He gave us--in addition to the ten commandments already given- LOVE AS HE LOVED.

Amen.