Commandment To Love One Another
Jesus issued the command to love one another in the upper room on the night before his crucifixion. In John 13:34, he declared, "A new commandment I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you also must love one another" [2]. He repeated this instruction in John 15:12 and 15:17, framing it as "my commandment" and linking it directly to the pattern of his own love [3, 1].
The Newness of an Old Command
Augustine addressed the apparent paradox of calling this a "new" commandment when the law already required "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself" [6]. The command is new not because mutual love was previously unknown, but because Christ redefines its standard and empowers its fulfillment. Where the Mosaic law set the measure as self-love, Jesus establishes his own sacrificial love as the pattern: "As I have loved you" [2, 13]. Augustine explains that this love transforms believers, divesting them of the old nature and clothing them with the new [6].
The command also appears in 1 John, where the apostle calls it both old—"from the very beginning"—and new, because it is realized afresh in Christ and his followers [10]. The love commanded is not merely human affection or the solidarity of corrupters, but the mutual love of those who are "God's, and all of them sons of the Highest, and brethren, therefore, of His only Son" [11].
The Primacy and Source of Love
Jesus himself taught that the entire law and the prophets hang on two commandments: love for God and love for neighbor [7]. The apostles echo this priority. James calls neighbor-love "the royal law" [8], and Paul identifies it as "the end of the commandment" [5]. Peter urges "fervent love among yourselves: for love shall cover the multitude of sins" [8].
Yet this love is not self-generated. Augustine insists that "the love which fulfils the commandments is not of ourselves, but of God" [12]. It is a fruit of the Spirit [5], taught by God himself [5], and produced in believers by the Holy Spirit [4]. As one Methodist commentator notes, "The love of God and the love of man can never be separated; he who loves God will love his brother" [9]. The command to love one another thus rests on divine initiative, modeled in Christ's self-sacrifice and enabled by the Spirit's work in the community of faith.
Sources
- John “John 15:17 (BSB) — This is My command to you: Love one another.”
- John “John 13:34 (BSB) — A new commandment I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you also must love one another.”
- John ““This is my commandment, that you love one another, even as I have loved you. -- John 15:12”
- Torrey's Topical Textbook “Torrey's Topical Textbook: Love to God — Commanded -- De 11:1; Jos 22:5. The first great commandment -- Mt 22:38. With all the heart -- De 6:5; Mt 22:37. Better than all sacrifices -- Mr 12:33. Produced by The Holy Spirit. -- Ga 5:22; 2Th 3:5. The love of God to us. -- 1Jo 4:19. Answers to prayer. -- Ps 116:1. Exhibited by Christ -- Joh 14:31. A characteristic of saints -- Ps 5:11. Should produce Joy. -- Ps 5:11. Love to saints. -- 1Jo 5:1. Hatred of sin. -- Ps 97:10. Obedience to God. -- De 30:20; 1Jo 5:3. Perfected in obedience -- 1Jo 2:5. Perfected, gives boldness -- 1Jo 4:17,18. God, faith”
- Torrey's Topical Textbook “Torrey's Topical Textbook: Love to Man — Is of God -- 1Jo 4:7. Commanded by God -- 1Jo 4:21. Commanded by Christ -- Joh 13:34; 15:12; 1Jo 3:23. After the example of Christ -- Joh 13:34; 15:12; Eph 5:2. Taught by God -- 1Th 4:9. Faith works by -- Ga 5:6. A fruit of the Spirit -- Ga 5:22; Col 1:8. Purity of heart leads to -- 1Pe 1:22. Explained -- 1Co 13:4-7. Is an active principle -- 1Th 1:3; Heb 6:10. Is an abiding principle -- 1Co 13:8,13. Is the second great commandment -- Mt 22:37-39. Is the end of the commandment -- 1Ti 1:5. Supernatural gifts are nothing without -- 1Co 13:1,2. The greates”
- Schaff ANF/NPNF (Patristic) “NPNF1 Vol 7: Augustine — Homilies on John — CHAPTER XIII. 34, 35. (part 1): 1. The Lord Jesus declares that He is giving His disciples a new commandment, that they should love one another. "A new commandment," He says, "I give unto you, that ye love one another." But was not this already commanded in the ancient law of God, where it is written, "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself"? (1) Why, then, is it called a new one by the Lord, when it is proved to be so old? Is it on this account a new commandment, because He hath divested us of the old, and clothed us with the new man? For it is not”
- Schaff ANF/NPNF (Patristic) “NPNF1 Vol 5: Augustine — Anti-Pelagian — CHAP. 36.--LOVE COMMENDED BY OUR LORD HIMSELF.: Moreover, the Lord Jesus Himself teaches us that the whole law and the prophets hang upon the two precepts of love to God and love to our neighbour. Concerning these two commandments the following is written in the Gospel according to St. Mark: "And one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, and perceiving that He had answered them well, asked Him: Which is the first commandment of all ? And Jesus answered him: The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel! the Lord our God i”
- Schaff ANF/NPNF (Patristic) “NPNF1 Vol 5: Augustine — Anti-Pelagian — CHAP. 35.--COMMENDATIONS OF LOVE.: The Apostle Peter, likewise, says, "And, above all things, have fervent love among yourselves: for love shall cover the multitude of sins."[19] The Apostle James also says, "If ye 459 fulfil the royal law, according to the Scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well."[1] So also the Apostle John says, "He that loveth his brother abideth in the right;"[2] again, in another passage, "Whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother; for this is the message which ”
- 1 John (Methodist/Wesleyan) “Adam Clarke on 1 John 4:21: This commandment have we - We should love one another, and love our neighbor as ourselves. The love of God and the love of man can never be separated; he who loves God will love his brother; he who loves his brother gives this proof that he loves God, because he loves with a measure of that love which, in its infinitude, dwells in God.”
- 1 John (Protestant academic) “Tyndale House on 1 John 2:7: 2:7-11 The disciples had the old commandment (to love one another) from the very beginning, from Jesus himself (John 13:34-35) and from the Old Testament (Lev 19:18, 33-34).”
- Schaff ANF/NPNF (Patristic) “NPNF1 Vol 7: Augustine — Homilies on John — CHAPTER XIII. 34, 35. (part 2): another:" not as those love one another who are corrupters, nor as men love one another in a human way; but they love one another as those who are God's, and all of them sons of the Highest, and brethren, therefore, of His only Son, with that mutual love wherewith He loved them, when about to lead them on to the goal were all sufficiency should be theirs, and where their every desire should be satisfied with good things. (3) For then there will be nothing wanting they can desire, when God will be all in all. (4) An end”
- Schaff ANF/NPNF (Patristic) “NPNF1 Vol 5: Augustine — Anti-Pelagian — CHAP. 37 [XVIII.]--THE LOVE WHICH FULFILS THE COMMANDMENTS IS NOT OF OURSELVES, BUT OF GOD.: All these commandments, however, respecting love or charity[12] (which are so great, and such that whatever action a man may think he does well is by no means well done if done without love) would be given to men in vain if they had not free choice of will. But forasmuch as these precepts are given in the law, both old and new (although in the new came the grace which was promised in the old, but the law without grace is the letter which killeth, but in grace th”
- John (Protestant academic) “Tyndale House on John 15:12: 15:12-13 This is my commandment: Love each other: See 13:34. • Jesus demonstrated his love by sacrificing his life at the cross.”