What Is the New Commandment of Love?
1. The Old Commandment Renewed in Christ
The commandment to love was not absent in Israel’s Scriptures. The Shema declared, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might” (Deuteronomy 6:5), while Leviticus instructed, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Leviticus 19:18). These two commands formed the ethical heart of the Torah.
Yet when Jesus gathered His disciples on the night before His crucifixion, He spoke of a “new commandment”: “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another” (John 13:34). What made this commandment “new” was not that love itself was unknown, but that Jesus redefined it in light of His person, His work, and His covenant.
2. A New Standard of Love: As I Have Loved You
The radical element of Jesus’s new commandment lies in the phrase “as I have loved you.” The measure of love is no longer human self-interest but divine self-giving. Jesus showed this love by washing His disciples’ feet (John 13:12–15) and ultimately by laying down His life for them (John 15:13).
This sets a higher bar than the Old Testament command to “love your neighbor as yourself.” Instead of using self-love as the measure, Jesus places His sacrificial love at the center. The cross becomes the model of how disciples are to treat one another.
3. A New Community Ethic: The Messianic People
The new commandment is also new because it establishes the ethic of a new community—the church, the body of Christ. Jesus says, “By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:35). Love becomes the visible badge of belonging to Him.
In this way, the new covenant people are defined not by ethnic identity, dietary laws, or temple rituals, but by mutual love. This love reflects the eternal relationship between the Father and the Son: “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love” (John 15:9). The church embodies the love of God as it mirrors this divine fellowship.
4. A New Power: The Spirit Produces Love
Another reason the commandment is new is that it comes with new power. In the Old Testament, God’s people often failed to live out love because of hardened hearts. But under the new covenant, God promised: “I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you” (Ezekiel 36:26).
Paul explains that “God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us” (Romans 5:5). Love is no longer merely commanded; it is empowered by the Spirit. The fruit of the Spirit begins with love (Galatians 5:22). This divine enabling ensures that what was once impossible becomes the natural outworking of a transformed life.
5. A New Witness: Love as Mission
The new commandment also serves a missional purpose. Jesus links disciples’ love for one another with the world’s recognition of Him: “By this all people will know that you are my disciples” (John 13:35). Love is not only the ethic of the church but also the church’s testimony to the world.
When believers forgive, serve, and care for one another, they provide tangible evidence of the gospel’s power. The kingdom of God is not proclaimed only in words but demonstrated in the self-giving love of its citizens. In this way, the new commandment turns inward love into outward witness.
6. A New Covenant Context: Love in Christ’s Kingdom
The newness of the commandment cannot be separated from the new covenant. Jeremiah prophesied of a covenant in which God would write His law on the hearts of His people (Jeremiah 31:31–34). In Jesus, this covenant is fulfilled. The new commandment of love is the internalized law of the kingdom, shaping the life of God’s people from the inside out.
This covenantal framing also has an eschatological dimension. Love is the ethic of the coming age, already present in the life of the church. Paul underscores this when he says, “So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love” (1 Corinthians 13:13). Faith and hope will find their fulfillment, but love will remain eternal.
7. Newness in the New Testament Theme
The “new commandment” fits within the broader theme of newness in the New Testament. Believers are a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17), partakers of a new covenant (Luke 22:20), given a new song (Revelation 5:9), and awaiting a new heavens and a new earth (Revelation 21:1).
The commandment of love is at the heart of this renewal. It is the ethic of new creation, the defining feature of the new covenant, and the way the new humanity reflects the image of Christ.
8. Love Inside and Outside the Covenant Community
Although the new commandment highlights love among disciples, it does not exclude love for outsiders. Jesus still affirms the command to love one’s neighbor, and Paul urges believers to “do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith” (Galatians 6:10).
The distinction is not between loving insiders and neglecting outsiders, but between the church’s love as a distinctive witness and its broader love as a reflection of God’s heart for the world. Love in the community of believers is the model that overflows to the nations.
9. The Commandment of Love and the Gospel
The new commandment of love encapsulates the gospel itself. The gospel is not only about individual forgiveness but also about participation in the kingdom of God, where Christ reigns as King and His people embody His love.
As Anthony Delgado emphasizes, the gospel is bigger than simply “Jesus died for my sins so I can go to heaven.” It is the announcement of God’s kingdom, where love rules. The new commandment shows that the gospel produces not only justification but also transformation. Believers are called into a new way of life shaped by the self-giving love of Christ.
10. Conclusion: The Eternal Newness of Love
What makes the new commandment of love new? It is new because Jesus redefined love around His own sacrificial example. It is new because it creates a community ethic that identifies His disciples. It is new because it is empowered by the Spirit and aimed at the mission of the church. It is new because it belongs to the new covenant and the new creation.
Above all, it is new because it reveals the eternal ethic of God’s kingdom. Love is not simply a command to be obeyed; it is the life of Christ shared with His people, transforming them and making them witnesses to the world.
Bible Verses on the New Commandment of Love
John 13:34 – “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you.”
John 13:35 – “By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
John 15:12 – “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.”
John 15:13 – “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.”
Romans 5:5 – “God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.”
Romans 13:10 – “Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.”
Galatians 5:22 – “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness.”
1 Corinthians 13:13 – “So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.”
1 John 4:19 – “We love because He first loved us.”
1 Peter 4:8 – “Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins.”
