Do They Know? - Feb. 12th, 2023

Formal Elements / Descriptive Data

Text: a complete thought-unit of Scripture providing the sermon’s basis

John 13:31–35 KJV 1900

Therefore, when he was gone out, Jesus said, Now is the Son of man glorified, and God is glorified in him. If God be glorified in him, God shall also glorify him in himself, and shall straightway glorify him. Little children, yet a little while I am with you. Ye shall seek me: and as I said unto the Jews, Whither I go, ye cannot come; so now I say to you. A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.

Central Idea of the Text (CIT): details of text summarized in a complete, past tense sentence

The Divine Son of God: A Commentary on John Practical Applications from John 13

The Lord Jesus commanded all believers to keep on loving one another (Pres. tense). We must never stop.

Proposition: major idea of sermon summarized in a complete sentence using present, active, future indicative or imperative mood; in direct relationship to the CIT

The real reason Jesus wanted them to love one another the way He loved them was that in a matter of hours, they would have need to fight against the forces that would seek to scatter them. Their love for each other would be the glue to bond them once Jesus went home.

Statement of Purpose:

(1) Major Objective (MO) – only ONE of six possible (doctrinal, devotional ethical, evangelistic, consecrative, or supportive)

Ethical

(2) Specific Objective (SO) – focuses on only one; calls for specific action (“I want my hearer to . . . “)

Be challenged to take an inventory of whether, why, and how they are seeking daily, actively to walk complicit to Jesus’ New Command.

The Divine Son of God: A Commentary on John Prayer

Dear Lord, put Your love in our hearts so that it may overflow to others. Protect us from selfishness and unconcern. For Jesus’ sake.

Title (Topic/Name): 2 to 4 words with a key or arrow word usually common to all major ideas; innovative, interesting, contemporary; indicative of general sermon content; not sensational or cute

Do They Know?

Informal Elements / Rhetorical Data

Introduction:

Get Attention/Raise Need/Orient Theme/State Purpose

- strong, attractive, and interesting opening sentence

As I studied this passage, I was impressed so deeply with the sobriety of these moments just before the Cross, I could not phrase it better than Alexander Maclaren did when he said,

John 9–14 ‘As I Have Loved’ (John 13:34–35)

WISHES from dying lips are sacred. They sink deep into memories and mould faithful lives. The sense of impending separation had added an unwonted tenderness to our Lord’s address, and He had designated His disciples by the fond name of ‘little children.’ The same sense here gives authority to His words, and moulds them into the shape of a command. The disciples had held together because He was in their midst. Will the arch stand when the keystone is struck out? Will not the spokes fall asunder when the nave of the wheel is taken away? He would guard them from the disintegrating tendencies that were sure to set in when He was gone; and He would point them to a solace for His absence, and to a kind of substitute for His presence. For to love the brethren whom they see would be, in some sense, a continuing to love the Christ whom they had ceased to see. And so, immediately after He said: ‘Whither I go ye cannot come,’ He goes on to say: ‘Love one another as I have loved you.’

- personal and social material; personal bridge; social bridge

This drives us to consider also what exactly we are prone to be driven by in our natural tendencies, for example, what would others say the “distinguishing mark” of our church is?

The Preacher’s Commentary Series, Volume 27: John The New Commandment

The distinguishing mark of discipleship is not programs or signs, wonders or eloquence or ecclesiastical power, but Christ’s love in us that allows us to love one another.

- textual material (CIT); textual bridge

What the Structure Means: The Upper Room Discourse (Jn 13–17)

The first twelve chapters of the fourth gospel cover a period of time of about two and a half to three years; chapters 11–19 document the last week of Jesus’ earthly life; and chapters 13–17 represent just His last evening with His disciples [before He would die] . . . John includes instruction on the significance of Christ’s death and the mandates it extends to Jesus’ disciples: the mandate for servant leadership and the command to love one another. The rejection of Jesus that led to His execution is also extended to the disciples in the warning they, too, will be hated and betrayed when they are sent out in Jesus’ name to be His presence in the world. The purpose of the Upper Room Discourse is to prepare those who followed Jesus to live in a world where he would no longer be present. As such, it is a precious last word from Jesus for Christian believers yet today.

John 13 Through Old Testament Eyes

The commemoration of the exodus from Egypt as celebrated in the Passover creates the frame in which John will tell the story of Jesus’ last hours on earth. Jesus chooses to spend these precious hours with His disciples to inform, comfort, and motivate them as the horrendous event of His crucifixion approaches, and for the lives they must thereafter live as His agency in this world.

The footwashing [though it carries no salvific or sacramental value for the lost soul, but was a sanctifying of those who had believed on Jesus already, as well a further condemnation on the unbelieving, nevertheless its message does point us forward to the coming cross, where] the cleansing for sin previously accomplished by the death of sacrificial animals in the temple would finally and fully be accomplished by the death of Jesus, the Lamb of God (Jn 1:29, 36). Passover had established the concept of vicarious sacrifice in the religious life of Israel, as the blood of the lamb was substituted for the death of each family’s firstborn son. This was followed by the continual and repeated sacrifice of animals through millennia for cleansing from sin, which had likely come to an end with the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem in AD 70 by the time John wrote his gospel at the end of the first century. Following Jesus’ crucifixion, animal sacrifice would no longer be needed, for the truth to which it pointed was once-for-all accomplished by the death of the Lamb of God.

Words of the Old Testament also provided a prophecy (Ps 41:9 in Jn 13:18) that showed Judas’ betrayal would not thwart Jesus’ mission in the world but, to the contrary, that it had been foretold as part of messianic redemption. Even this evil instigated by Satan was being taken up within God’s great plan for the mission of Jesus. The disciples are thereby to be assured that nothing is happening that lies outside the purview and purposes of the sovereign God. Furthermore, Jesus was not blindsided by his disciple’s betrayal for he already knew what role Judas would play in sending him to the cross. Yet Jesus allowed Judas to do only what the Father had ordained, and loved him nevertheless.

The Old Testament, therefore, provides the context in which the significance of Jesus’ vicarious death as the purpose of the incarnation in God’s redemptive plan could be revealed.

[20 Bauckham, Gospel of Glory, 67.]

[Karen H. Jobes, John through Old Testament Eyes: A Background and Application Commentary, ed. Andrew T. Le Peau, Through Old Testament Eyes: New Testament Commentaries (Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Academic, 2021), 221–222.]

- focus the sermon’s intent (Proposition)

The real reason Jesus wanted them to love one another the way He loved them was that in a matter of hours, they would have need to fight against the forces that would seek to scatter them. Their love for each other would be the glue to bond them once Jesus went home.

The Lord Jesus commanded all believers to keep on loving one another (Pres. tense). We must never stop.

Prayer: Dear Lord, put Your love in our hearts so that it may overflow to others. Protect us from selfishness and unconcern. For Jesus’ sake. Amen.

[Stewart Custer, The Divine Son of God: A Commentary on John (Greenville, SC: Bob Jones University Press, 2011), 68.]

- relational and transitional material; structural bridge

Having indicated the substance of his future (a new glory) and theirs (a new situation), Jesus addresses the practical question as to what the disciples should do in the new circumstances that were about to come upon them. He outlines the nature of their future discipleship in terms of three main elements: a new commandment, a new example and a new witness.

[Gordon J. Keddie, A Study Commentary on John: John 13–21, vol. 2, EP Study Commentary (Darlington, England; Auburn, MA: Evangelical Press, 2001), 47.]

Body – Development – Outline:

I. State major idea drawn directly from the text, in a brief, complete sentence using present active, future indicative or imperative mood, strong verbs (avoid “to be” and its forms); (vs ?)

I. His Departure (Jn. 13:31-33)

Explanation (EXP): from only the selected text; 3rd person pronouns; past tense; express the “then-ness” aspect of the text itself in its historical context

A. His Glory (Jn. 13:31-32)

B. His Going (Jn. 13:33)

Transitional Sentence (TS): sentence indicates change and progression to next major idea; use the unifying word

Having considered what Jesus said about His Departure, namely, His glorification, and where He was going, now consider,

II. Our Discipleship (Jn. 13:34-35)

EXP:

A. Our Love (Jn. 13:34)

John 13:34 KJV 1900

34 A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.

The Bible Exposition Commentary Chapter Thirteen: The Sovereign Servant (John 13:1–35)

The word love is used only twelve times in John 1–12, but in John 13–21 it is used forty-four times! It is a key word in Christ’s farewell sermon to His disciples, as well as a burden in His High Priestly Prayer (John 17:26).

Jesus reminds His disciples of the necessity of loving one another. He is speaking of genuine love. Judas had not exhibited genuine love for Christ, so He gives His disciples an admonition. J. Carl Laney wrote:

The betrayal by Judas was a sin against love. Instead of showing love for the one who had extended grace and friendship, Judas responded with deception and hostility. It is in the context of Judas’s sin against love that Jesus reveals to His disciples the mark of the Christian.

The greatest demonstration of love this world has ever known is the cross of Calvary. The evidence of God’s unwavering love is the sacrifice of His Son for the sin of a lost world.

But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8)

Christ’s death demonstrated God’s unconditional love for us. Calvary’s cross is the undeniable proof of God’s love. We are told that …

The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us. (Romans 5:5b)

You will notice that it is not our love, but the love of God that is shed abroad in our hearts. We are incapable of loving as we ought to. Therefore, God enables us to love others as we ought. It is our responsibility to love people.

[Glen Spencer Jr., The Gospel according to John, vol. 2, Expository Pulpit Series (Wordsearch, 2019), 48–49.]

1. A New Commandment (13:34a)

Jesus surely knew how to draw his hearers into his teaching. He says he is giving a ‘new commandment’ (ἐντολὴν καινὴν / entolen kainen) and then delivers what looks like a very old one! Of course, there is nothing new about God wanting people to love one another (Lev. 19:18). Jesus had already taught that the whole law of Moses was summed up in two great commandments, of which this was the second (Mark 12:28–33). Yet this is the one place in the Gospel where Jesus uses the word ‘new’ (καινός / kainos) and the expression ἐντολὴν καινὴν is right at the beginning of the sentence—an emphatic position in Greek.8 It must be new in some very significant way.

What newness does Jesus have in mind? It appears that this love is not just for ‘your neighbour’ and ‘as yourself’, as in Leviticus 19:18, but is the shared love of believers for ‘one another’ and is, in Jesus’ words, ‘as I have loved you’.9 The verb is ἀγαπάω (agapao), a word indelibly associated with a distinctly Christian love. What is new, in other words, is the love of Jesus—the character of his self-sacrificing love for them, and the mutuality of that love in the hearts of those who are transformed by his grace. The great distinguishing badge of those whom Jesus loves is loving one another (1 Peter 1:22; 3:8; 1 John 3:14, 16).

1 Peter 1:22 KJV 1900

22 Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently:

1 Peter 3:8 KJV 1900

8 Finally, be ye all of one mind, having compassion one of another, love as brethren, be pitiful, be courteous:

1 John 3:14 KJV 1900

14 We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death.

1 John 3:16 KJV 1900

16 Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.

2. A New Example (13:34b)

The example of Jesus is the standard for this new love. ‘He holds out his own example,’ says Calvin, ‘not because we can reach it, for we are at a vast distance behind him, but that we may, at least, aim at the same end.’10 Ridderbos ties this in with what Paul says in Romans 8:3–4 and argues that, in Christ, a new possibility of fulfilling the commandment has been opened to believers. God has ‘condemned sin in the flesh’ on account of Christ’s atoning sacrifice and unblemished life (Rom. 8:3). Whereas the law could only declare the condemnation of sin, Christ has deprived sin of its controlling power, through his victory over sin and death. Because of Christ, believers are dead to sin and must therefore no longer live in it but die more and more to sin (Rom. 6:2–14). Growth in grace is to be expected. Believers are no longer slaves of sin, but, Paul tells us,

Romans 6:22 KJV 1900

22 But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life.

Yes, we shall always follow Jesus some distance behind him, but, by his grace, we shall follow at a canter, because ‘sin shall not have dominion’ over his believing people. We will love one another, God enabling us.

[8 Morris, Gospel according to John, p. 632.]

[9 Calvin thinks this view ‘far-fetched’ and posits what I will call the ‘psychological interpretation’. Jesus calls it a ‘new’ commandment, not because it is any different from Leviticus 19:18, but to ‘recommend it [brotherly love] on the ground of novelty’. Calvin’s idea is that commandments get old and we lose interest as time goes on. If, however, we keep thinking of them as ‘new’, we will pay more attention to them. So, in his view, Jesus only means that we should think of it as always new! (Commentary on John, vol. II, pp. 75–6). This, surely, is not the Reformer at his best!]

[10 As above, p. 76.]

[Gordon J. Keddie, A Study Commentary on John: John 13–21, vol. 2, EP Study Commentary (Darlington, England; Auburn, MA: Evangelical Press, 2001), 47–49.]

John 9–14 I. The New Scope of the New Commandment

When the words were spoken, the then-known civilised Western world was cleft by great, deep gulfs of separation, like the crevasses in a glacier, by the side of which our racial animosities and class differences are merely superficial cracks on the surface.

Jesus called this a “new command,” although the commandment to love was as old as the Mosaic revelation. He did so because his radical love demanded a new object and a new measure. The object was now “one another.” The Jews had watered down the Mosaic teaching so they could love whom they wanted and hate whom they wanted. But Christ changed the object from “neighbor” to “one another.” This was a radical new commandment. The world at that time was divided by prejudicial divisions that make many of our differences pale by comparison—master and slave, Jews and Gentiles, and so on. The Greeks regarded Jews as barbarians. The Jews had the reputation of being haters of the world. There was also a vast chasm between men and women. The world seemed helplessly alienated. Alexander Maclaren describes what happened because of Christ’s command:

Barbarian, Scythian, bond and free, male and female, Jew and Greek, learned and ignorant … sat down at one table, and felt themselves all one in Christ Jesus. They were ready to break all other bonds, and to yield to the uniting forces that streamed out from his Cross. There never had been anything like it. No wonder that the world began to babble about sorcery, and conspiracies, and complicity in unnamable vices. It was only that the disciples were obeying the new commandment, and a new thing had come into the world—a community held together by love and not by geographical accidents or linguistic affinities, or the iron fetters of the conqueror .… The new commandment made a new thing, and the world wondered.5

It was as a band of brothers and sisters that the church conquered the world. It was a glorious band of brothers and sisters that sailed the oceans and marched through the continents to both dungeon and throne with the good news of salvation through Jesus Christ! One of the reasons they succeeded is that mankind, severed from one another, longing to come together, witnessed real love among the followers of Christ—and especially among believing Jews, the narrowest, most bigoted, most intolerant nation on the face of the earth.

[5 Alexander Maclaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture, Vol. 10 (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 1974), pp. 227–228.]

[R. Kent Hughes, John: That You May Believe, Preaching the Word (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 1999), 325.]

Because their love for one another will be Christ’s strategy for reaching the world. How fitting that this should be stated to those who were so full of themselves, and their selfish desires for greatness in the kingdom at the expense of each other, that they were not able to respond to the humble task of washing one another’s feet. In other words, He is saying, “Peter, I want you to love Andrew. And James, I want you to love John. And not in words only, though those are important and should not be underestimated, but in actions as well.”

[Gary Derickson and Earl Radmacher, The Disciplemaker: What Matters Most to Jesus (Salem, OR: Charis Press, 2001), 80–81.]

We see John’s own understanding of Jesus’ words in his first epistle. There he defines this same “new” command (1 John 2:7–10)

1 John 2:7–10 KJV 1900

7 Brethren, I write no new commandment unto you, but an old commandment which ye had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word which ye have heard from the beginning. 8 Again, a new commandment I write unto you, which thing is true in him and in you: because the darkness is past, and the true light now shineth. 9 He that saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother, is in darkness even until now. 10 He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is none occasion of stumbling in him.

as calling for a love that motivates one not only to die for his or her fellow Christian, but also to meet needs (1 John 3:16–17).

1 John 3:16–17 KJV 1900

16 Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. 17 But whoso hath this world’s good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?

He again talks about the demonstrated element of the love Jesus is calling for in 1 John 4:7–11.

1 John 4:7–11 KJV 1900

7 Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. 8 He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love. 9 In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. 10 Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.

There He notes that God demonstrated His love by sending Jesus in order to give us life. Thus, the love Jesus calls for is active, practical, and visible, being expressed toward fellow believers in tangible ways.

The first century church seems to have understood and lived out this command. We see it demonstrated in Acts 11:27–30 with the very practical gift for the church in Jerusalem when it faced a famine. The gift is sent from the Gentile churches by the hand of Paul and Barnabas. This love is in evidence in two of Paul’s earliest epistles, namely those written to the church of the Thessalonians. Paul is able to describe the church of Thessalonica as being characterized by love as well as faith (1 Thes 1:3; 3:6) and that their walks are pleasing to God (1 Thes 4:1). He is able to say to them, “But concerning brotherly love you have no need that I should write to you, for you yourselves are taught by God to love one another; and indeed you do so toward all the brethren who are in all Macedonia” (1 Thes 4:9–10). And, when he writes to them a second time he can say their love “abounds toward each other” (2 Thes 1:3). It is again in evidence in Paul’s epistles to the Romans and Corinthians when he talks of the Gentile churches taking up a second collection for the saints in Jerusalem (Rom 15:25–27; 2 Cor 8–9).

[15 Westcott (The Gospel According to St. John, 198) considers the clause “as I have loved you” to be ambiguous and says that it “may express either the character or the ground of the love of Christians.”]

[Gary Derickson and Earl Radmacher, The Disciplemaker: What Matters Most to Jesus (Salem, OR: Charis Press, 2001), 81–82.]

B. Our Witness (Jn. 13:35)

John 13:35 KJV 1900

35 By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.

I like Bruce Corley’s statement in his article “Biblical Theology of the New Testament” in the hermeneutics book Foundations For Biblical Interpretation: “Christ’s people are characterized by the ethic of love, whereby the ‘is-ness’ of grace is linked to the ‘ought-ness’ of love through the work of the Spirit (cf. Gal. 5:6, 25; 6:2; James 3:17–18; John 13:34–35; 1 John 4:7)” (p. 562).

[Robert James Utley, The Beloved Disciple’s Memoirs and Letters: The Gospel of John, I, II, and III John, vol. Volume 4, Study Guide Commentary Series (Marshall, Texas: Bible Lessons International, 1999), 122.]

ILL:

When the Jews saw Jesus weep at Lazarus’ grave, they remarked …

Behold how he loved him! (John 11:36)

When these Jews saw Jesus weep, they saw love in action. The Jews recognized the great love of Jesus for others. Sincere Christian love for others can have a powerful impact on those who witness it. J. C. Ryle said:

That of all the graces, love is the one which most arrests the attention and influences the opinion of the world.

Our love and care of one another gives the lost world a picture of God’s love for them. We need to ask ourselves the question, How am I representing Christ? The proof of being a genuine Christianity is our love for one another.

[Glen Spencer Jr., The Gospel according to John, vol. 2, Expository Pulpit Series (Wordsearch, 2019), 50.]

1. A New Witness (13:35)

The evangelistic witness of consistent practical godliness is incalculable. The pity is that Christians are so often barely distinguishable from the world. ‘The infidelity of the world,’ laments John Brown, ‘is chargeable to a considerable degree, on professed believers failing to exhibit the true character of the religion of Christ as the religion of love.’11 Love between Christ’s followers is a quintessential proof of their discipleship. That is why Paul emphasized doing good, not just to ‘all men’, but

Galatians 6:10 KJV 1900

10 As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith.

He does not mean to say we should slacken in our loving-kindness towards lost people. He only means that if believers cannot be seen to love one another with that mutuality unique to those who share the love of Jesus, then the very salvation they profess will be diminished before the watching world.

The credibility of every Christian’s profession of faith hangs on this issue. It is not enough to sound very orthodox and biblical in what you say you believe. That we must be if we love God’s Word. But truth rightly understood will be rightly applied. Loveless behaviour is no evidence of love in the heart. Therefore, if you cannot love other Christians and demonstrate the practical fruit of grace in your heart, you deny your profession and betray the gospel in plain sight.

It is not at all trite to say that people must see Christ in the lives of Christians. Christians are ‘epistle[s] of Christ …

2 Corinthians 3:3 KJV 1900

3 Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart.

What a responsibility! What a privilege!

[11 Brown, Discourses and Sayings, vol. 2, p. 503.]

[Gordon J. Keddie, A Study Commentary on John: John 13–21, vol. 2, EP Study Commentary (Darlington, England; Auburn, MA: Evangelical Press, 2001), 49–50.]

It seems much easier doesn’t it to love people at a distance, especially if they are across the ocean. But the key to effectiveness for Christ is how we love the brothers and sisters right next to us, in our own family, in our own church. What do you suppose would happen in a local church if it took this command as their marching orders for evangelism? Is it possible that we would find it much easier to accomplish the “Great Commission” if we gave priority to the “Great Command’? Undoubtedly, one of the reasons we are sorely hindered in our outreach to the world is the disobedience with respect to inreach to the brethren.

Three times in John’s Gospel Jesus defines what determines whether someone is His disciple or not. In John 8:31 Jesus defines discipleship in terms of “continuing” in His word. Here, it is defined in terms of “loving one another.” And in John 15:8, He defines it in terms of bearing “much fruit.” One should notice also that at both ends of this inclusio (Jn. 13:34 and Jn. 15:17) it is the world, “all” referring to people, that will recognize that they are disciples of Jesus when they love one another. It is not God who is convinced by their love. The world will not hear our doctrine if it is not being demonstrated where they can see it. Paul put this in a powerful maxim: “Speaking the truth in love.” A more contemporary expression of it is, negatively stated, “What you do speaks so loudly that I cannot hear what you say.”

[Gary Derickson and Earl Radmacher, The Disciplemaker: What Matters Most to Jesus (Salem, OR: Charis Press, 2001), 80–81.]

APP:

The Love Commandment

As much as the plan of God had always involved the arrival of Jesus, so also did it always include his departure. The departure of Jesus initiates the fullest expression of the love of God for the world, for in the new covenant Christ’s love for the world transitions to the body of Christ’s love for the world, beginning with the new commandment to love one another (v. 34). The plan of God had always been to share the love between the Father and the Son with the children of God and ultimately the world. The people of God are not only the recipients of the love of God but also become the expression of the love of God in the world. The Christian life and mission is centered upon and compelled by this new commandment. In this way the Ten Commandments of the Old Testament, and even Jesus’s summary of the Ten into two—love of God and neighbor—find their truest expression in this single love commandment. When we love God, we are able to love one another, and when we love one another we love God. These are not the same thing, but they have the same source—the love found among and between the persons of the Trinitarian God. Quite simply: “We love because he first loved us” (1 John 4:19).

[Edward W. Klink III, John, ed. Clinton E. Arnold, Zondervan Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2016), 608.]

Exalting Jesus in John The Disciples Are Part of a New Community

Two of the great ways to love people (and they go hand in hand) are to assume the best and have a sense of humor. When someone says something to you that could be interpreted two ways, assume the best possible interpretation and laugh about it. Even if you’re wrong, you’ll be happier. Sometimes we parse other people’s words like we’re back in high school English class. We’ve diagrammed their sentences to see if there’s any possible way for what they said to be understood as offensive. If there’s even a remote chance, we consider it hostile and get offended. Why? Because we don’t love them as we love ourselves. Christian love intentionally assumes the best about people. It refuses to jump to conclusions. It doesn’t judge motives. It is kind.

Two key things in this verse are Jesus’ statement of the means by which their status as His disciples would be proven and the possibility of failure. The possibility of failure is seen in His use of the Greek term for “if” which carries the sense, “it may or may not be true.”17 We can fail to love one another. Rearranging the sentence to reflect His emphasis, Jesus is saying, “If you have love for one another, by this love all will know that you are My disciples.” Implied in this is also the statement, “But if you do not have love for one another, by your failure to love all will not know that you are My disciples.”

What is Jesus saying? We will not be known as His disciples by our doctrine, as basic as that is; nor by our love for the world, for that can be a gimmick; but by the world’s observation of our love for each other in the family of God. It is only by living out mutual love that we prove to the world our relationship to Jesus as His followers. His use of by this communicates that the means by which the world is convinced of our relationship to Jesus as His disciples is the demonstration of mutual love, love of the same kind as He has for us.

It is also important to note what Jesus does not say by this. He does not say that failure to love means we are not His disciples. He also does not say that mutual love convinces Him or the Father of our status as disciples. Finally, He does not say that mutual love makes us disciples.

[17 This is a Third Class conditional clause that does not assume the truth or untruth of the protasis, but does link the truthfulness of the apodosis to it. Thus, if the “if” clause is true, then what follows is true also. If the “if” clause proves false, then what follows does not happen.]

[Gary Derickson and Earl Radmacher, The Disciplemaker: What Matters Most to Jesus (Salem, OR: Charis Press, 2001), 83.]

2. It Is A New Thing To The World

Its newness is in its rule or model, “As I have loved you.” What was the character of Christ’s love towards men? It was—

First: Absolutely disinterested.

The love which man shows to man has in it generally, if not always, some amount of selfishness. There is in it the hope of some advantage. Not so with the love which Christ had for man. He had no personal interest to serve. Men could confer no benefit on Him; nor could their wrath, though it raged with the fury and force of hell, injure Him. His love towards men was—

Secondly: Unexcited by merit.

The love of man for man has generally in it the recognition of some merit. Man is loved on account of some real or imaginary excellence, such as amiability, uprightness, intelligence, or trustfulness. But in man Christ saw nothing to merit His love. To His eye all men were corrupt, hell-deserving, and enemies to Himself. He loved His enemies. His love towards man was—

Thirdly: Self-sacrificing in power.

. . . Christ’s love was a practical force, a force that urged on to the sacrifice of Himself. “He loved us, and gave Himself for us.” “Scarcely for a righteous man will one die,” &c. His love towards man was—

Fourthly: Essentially forgiving.

His love was a forgiving love, for He loved His enemies. Even on the Cross He prayed for His murderers, “Father, forgive them, they know not what they do.” Man’s love for man has seldom in it the forgiving power to any great extent. One or two offenses will destroy it and replace it by revenge. When Peter asked the question of our Lord,“ How often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him, till seven times? ” he thought that to forgive a man seven times was a wonderful display of love—a display that Christ would commend. But what was the reply? “I say not unto thee, until seven times: but until seventy times seven.”

Here then is the “new commandment.” Men are bound by the law of Christ to love their brethren with a love absolutely disinterested, entirely unmerited, practically self-sacrificing, and essentially forgiving. This kind of love is the great cardinal supreme law under which humanity is placed by Christ.

[David Thomas, The Genius of the Fourth Gospel: A Homiletical Commentary on the Gospel of John, Kregel Bible Study Classics (Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 1997), 403–404.]

Conclusion:

- forceful, attractive, interesting

- motivational in reporting God’s action (good news)

- possible recapitulation of major ideas or proposition

- in harmony with stated purpose in MO, SO, and all APP

- encourage the hearer in his/her response

The new covenant brings with it the new life in the Holy Spirit which will as never before enable the fulfilling of the law.33 It is ‘new’ also in the sheer depth and demand of the summons to love which Jesus issues. In the light of the cross all other descriptions and definitions of love pale into insignificance. Here indeed is love ‘so amazing, so divine’ (Isaac Watts). Yet according to Jesus this is the norm for Christian community.

Jeremiah 31:33–34 KJV 1900

33 But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts, And write it in their hearts; And will be their God, And they shall be my people. 34 And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: For they shall all know me, From the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord: For I will forgive their iniquity, And I will remember their sin no more.

Ezekiel 36:26–27 KJV 1900

26 A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.

Romans 5:5 KJV 1900

5 And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.

Galatians 5:22 KJV 1900

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,

[Bruce Milne, The Message of John: Here Is Your King!: With Study Guide, The Bible Speaks Today (Leicester, England; Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1993), 206.]

His hour has come; at last the Father’s home, Beyond dark death, as sunlight on the hill, Shines o’er the valley of the Father’s will. The day has dawned, when He must leave His own To tread a path that He must take alone; And drawing nearer to that day of days, Upon His soul a load of sorrow weighs: Upon His heart of love divine, well known, One rests his wearied head, with great delight; One takes the sop, and passes into night: And thus set free, the Master’s voice is heard—

“If all men are to learn that ye are Mine, Then take to heart My last—My parting word— And let your love to one another shine.”

[Hamilton Smith, The Last Words (Galaxie Software, 2004), 31.]