John 13:34 - "A new commandment
I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you
also love one another."
To the best of my knowledge, this is the only time that Christ gave a new commandment. The old commandment, found in Leviticus 18:19 says, "you shall love your neighbor as yourself." In the new commandment we're told to love one another, not as yourself, but as Christ loves us. Which of course, humanly speaking, we can't do. Just like when Jesus was asked what the greatest commandment was, and He responded in Mark 12:30 - "you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength." Again, humanly speaking, this is impossible. How can we love like God loves? Well, we know that it's not impossible, because He would never command us to do something that's impossible, but we can't do it in ourselves. If Christ has command us, than He has also enabled us.
Philippians 4:13 says - "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." It's His working through us that enables us to love as He loves. Philippians 2:13 also says, "for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure."
1 John 4:7-21 - "Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love. By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has seen God at any time; if we love one another, God abides in us, and His love is perfected in us. By this we know that we abide in Him and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit. We have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son to be the Savior of the world. Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. By this, love is perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment; because as He is, so also are we in this world. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love. We love, because He first loved us. If someone says, "I love God," and hates his brother, he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from Him, that the one who loves God should love his brother also."
To the best of my knowledge, this is the only time that Christ gave a new commandment. The old commandment, found in Leviticus 18:19 says, "you shall love your neighbor as yourself." In the new commandment we're told to love one another, not as yourself, but as Christ loves us. Which of course, humanly speaking, we can't do. Just like when Jesus was asked what the greatest commandment was, and He responded in Mark 12:30 - "you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength." Again, humanly speaking, this is impossible. How can we love like God loves? Well, we know that it's not impossible, because He would never command us to do something that's impossible, but we can't do it in ourselves. If Christ has command us, than He has also enabled us.
Philippians 4:13 says - "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." It's His working through us that enables us to love as He loves. Philippians 2:13 also says, "for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure."
1 John 4:7-21 - "Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love. By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has seen God at any time; if we love one another, God abides in us, and His love is perfected in us. By this we know that we abide in Him and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit. We have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son to be the Savior of the world. Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. By this, love is perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment; because as He is, so also are we in this world. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love. We love, because He first loved us. If someone says, "I love God," and hates his brother, he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from Him, that the one who loves God should love his brother also."
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