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A New Commandment That Was There All Along — 12 Comments

  1. This is food for the spirit and if the spirit is revived the whole body is taken care of.The idea of taking things new showed that sometimes we got lost thinking that we are deffending God's church,the fact is God defends His own church ours is to keep the new commandment and be still and see what God will do.Yes i have been revived.

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  2. William, I find interesting your article regarding John 13:34. I brought this subject up last week in our SS class, because the SS lesson only used John 13:35 as a reference text, I thought verse 34 should have been included. I assumed because Jesus made a point of informing the disciples that it was new commandment, and that it was a new addition to all the commandments that they were aware of. Jesus used the word commanded, in connection with himself in many places of the New Testament. My comment to the class was that this was a commandment not a request. Loving anyone as we love ourselves is not our natural inclination. That is why it seemed to me, the reason Jesus reinforced the point by making it a commandment.

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  3. John13vs34 ends with "by this shall all men know that you are my disciples " loving one another means you are united. the first great commandment upon which hangs the first 4 commandments is to love the Lord your God with all your might. What is the result? The result is loving your neighbour. So what is there to prove that you love God? There's no more proof than loving your neighbour, so loving your neighbour is a seen result of your love for God. Unity which results from love is an essential part which proves that we are the disciples of Christ. So the commandment was not literally new but new as in the way it was to be exercised or understood. In other words in old testament it was just kept but now its fulfilled

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    • Ruvimbo, I try to see the context, the atmosphere, the situation, the climate, of a chapter and verses. This was in the upper room, Judas had just left the room after he was aware that Jesus knew what he was about to do. My Bible identifies certain sections of scripture. It is an, It Is Written study edition. The NKJ version. The title of this section is called, THE New Commandment, and begins with verse 31. Jesus had made an announcement to the jews that He was going somewhere they could not go. This was surprising, and new information. If you read verse 36 Peter was really puzzled. Jesus then said, So now I give you a new commandment, or as I see it, something else new. Verse 35 is actually the one that says" By this"... By what? By what He said in verse 34. The Great commandment, is in Matt 22:35-40 and it says all the law, and the prophets. I would expect that includes all the ten commandments. I quote this quite often when the ten commandments are under discussion because it emphasizes how important love for God and our fellow man is.

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  4. Because no one had ever loved like Jesus loved, the command, restated in John 15:12 "This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you", brought "love your neighbor as yourself" to a new level. Were they ready to obey it? Not until they were fully converted. That's why in 1 John 2:7-8, the "old commandment" becomes the "new commandment." When the light of God's Spirit fills our minds and hearts, that command which was to us dark and distasteful, becomes light and life.

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  5. Thank you for all your comments. Jack raises a good question and I would be very interested to see the responses from everyone. For starters I believe the ten commandments define love for us. The first 4 tell us how to love God and put Him first. The next 6 tell us how to love our neighbor and family and put them first. Remember this "new" commandment does not replace the ten commandments but rather expounds upon them. I'm looking forward to reading what others have to say.

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    • I might add the practical aspects of 1 Corinthians 13 and 1 John 3:16. Someone said love is a "principle of action" and, as such, it does not continue if it is not lived out.

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  6. [Moderator's note: Please remember to use your full name.]

    The pastor of the Loma Linda church refers to this concept frequently. He is always reminding the congregation that the main thing is to love God with all of your being and to love your neighbor as yourself. In his words, "all the rest is commentary". Matthew 25:31-46 is very clear on how we are judged. NOT by how well we uphold some pet theological doctrine, but on how we respond to our fellow humans. One Bible version I've read puts it this way: "Whenever you have failed to help any of My people, no matter how unimportant they seemed, you have failed to help Me." It couldn't be any clearer, as far as I'm concerned. I know I've failed plenty at this, I pray that I do better.

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  7. If you love you do not steal, lie, cheat... the "new" commandment is the basis for all 10, if you love someone you will not hurt them, nor judge them. Thank you for this amazing article!

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