Joh 13:34, 15:12 | Clarke | e4.org | Verse 34. A new commandment I give unto you ] In what sense are we to understand that this was a new commandment? Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself , was a positive precept of the law, , and it is the very same that Christ repeats here; how then was it new ? Our Lord answers this question, Even AS I have loved you . Now Christ more than fulfilled the Mosaic precept; he not only loved his neighbour AS himself , but he loved him MORE than himself , for he laid down his life for men. In this he calls upon the disciples to imitate him; to be ready on all occasions to lay down their lives for each other. This was, strictly, a new commandment: no system of morality ever prescribed any thing so pure and disinterested as this. Our blessed Lord has outdone all the moral systems in the universe in two words: 1. Love your enemies; 2. Lay down your lives for each other.

‏ John 13:34

Verse 34. A new commandment I give unto you] In what sense are we to understand that this was a new commandment? Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, was a positive precept of the law, Le 19:18, and it is the very same that Christ repeats here; how then was it new? Our Lord answers this question, Even AS I have loved you. Now Christ more than fulfilled the Mosaic precept; he not only loved his neighbour AS himself, but he loved him MORE than himself, for he laid down his life for men. In this he calls upon the disciples to imitate him; to be ready on all occasions to lay down their lives for each other. This was, strictly, a new commandment: no system of morality ever prescribed any thing so pure and disinterested as this. Our blessed Lord has outdone all the moral systems in the universe in two words: 1. Love your enemies; 2. Lay down your lives for each other.

‏ John 15:12

Verse 12. That ye love one another] See Clarke on Joh 13:34. So deeply was thus commandment engraved on the heart of this evangelist that St. Jerome says, lib. iii. c. 6, Com. ad Galat., that in his extreme old age, when he used to be carried to the public assemblies of the believers, his constant saying was, Little children, love one another. His disciples, wearied at last with the constant repetition of the same words, asked him, Why he constantly said the same thing? "Because (said he) it is the commandment of the Lord, and the observation of it alone is sufficient." Quia praeceptum Domini est, et, si solum fiat, sufficit.