The New Commandment

Author: Rev Tokunbo Adejuwon

John 13:34-35 (KJV)
34 A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.
35 By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.

In the new covenant, the Church has only one commandment: to love one another as Christ loved us. Notice that Jesus says the world is not going to know that we are His disciples because we have faith. No! In Mathew 15:21-28, we read about the woman of Canaan who was outside the covenant but exercised great faith. The same thing is seen in the healing of the centurion’s servant in Matthew 8:5-13. The centurion exercised great faith, yet he wasn’t a part of the covenant. Faith is certainly very important in our walk with God and it’s by faith that we receive God’s blessings and provisions. However, it’s by our love-walk that the world will know that we are disciples of Christ.

Our love-walk is what shows that we are His disciples. In 1 John 4:8, we see that God is love, more than He is anything else. Let’s have faith, let’s have tongues and let’s have the gifts of the Spirit; but let’s have love with them and let’s put love first. Anybody – saint or sinner – can walk in faith and do exploits for God. But love is the commandment of the new covenant, and love is what we are to make our great aim and quest as believers in Christ.

1 Corinthians 14:1 (Amplified – Classic)
1 Eagerly pursue and seek to acquire [this] love [make it your aim, your great quest]; and earnestly desire and cultivate the spiritual endowments (gifts), especially that you may prophesy (interpret the divine will and purpose in inspired preaching and teaching).

John 15:12 (KJV)
2 This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.

1 John 3:16 (KJV)
16 Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.

Jesus did not just tell us to walk in love, He also told us how to walk in love. We are not just to love our neighbours as ourselves as the old covenant demanded but we are to go a step further. We are to love one another as Christ loved us. We are to lay down our lives for the brethren.

Romans 9:3 (KJV)
3 For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh:

Paul was willing to lay down his life to see that those people got saved. In like manner, we are to lay down our lives for the brethren. Jesus died for us, so we are to live for the brethren; to be a blessing to them. The order is God first, then the other person next, and ourselves last.

If God’s Word tells us to walk in love, that means we can walk in love. His desire is to have an intimate relationship with us, and that we stay in good fellowship with one another as children of God. Therefore, to be able to give love, one has to first receive it from God. Thereafter, it can be given to others. The heart reason for redemption is fellowship.
The reason we love God is because He first loved us. The more we understand God’s love towards us, the easier it becomes to love Him in return. He is the Master Lover, and the way we show our love towards Him is by loving one another.

1 John‬ ‭4:7,8‬ (‭KJV)
7 Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God.
8 He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.‬‬

1 John‬ ‭4:19,21‬ (‭KJV)
19 We love him, because he first loved us.
20 If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?
21 And this commandment have we from him, That he who loveth God love his brother also.‬‬

Love is treating others like you would want to be treated. (Mathew 7:12) We owe one another the debt of love. (Romans 13:8-10)

Galatians 5:14 (KJV)
14 For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

Love is the fulfilling of the Law. If we are walking in love, we wouldn’t break a commandment that was given to curb sin. We should make it a habit to always ask ourselves “What would love do?”, or “What would Jesus do in this situation?”

Love prefers the other person. An unbeliever does not have the love of God in his heart, so he can’t walk in the God-kind of love. God has faith and God has power, but God is love! The commandment of the new covenant is written in our hearts. Under the old covenant they had the Ten Commandments, but under the new covenant we have only one commandment and it is the commandment of love.

Since love is the fulfilment of the law, a Christian commits sin when he doesn’t walk in love. Love works no ill to his neighbour. If we would walk in love, we wouldn’t wrong or hurt anyone. Like faith, love is of the heart, and is expressed in words and in actions.

God loves us. The finished work of redemption is a revelation of God’s love towards us. If God loved us so much that He sent His Son to die for us when we were sinners, does He love us any less now that we are His children? No, a thousand times, no! God loves us and that’s why we are able to love others with the same love.

Let’s feed regularly on God’s Word especially on what He says about His love towards us, His love that’s within us, and how we are to respond by loving one another, loving sinners and loving our enemies.

Love never fails!