One of the common misconceptions that I encounter in the discussions I have with believers, is that Jesus’ commandment to love one another is actually a reference to the Old Covenant Law of Moses. This tends to confuse people because they believe that Jesus is reinforcing the Mosaic Law, even though scripture is quite clear in many other places about us not being under Law but under Grace. So it seems very contradictory and it often confuses people.
We know however that God is not the author of confusion, and He doesn’t want His dearly beloved children to stumble over such fundamental things. That’s why today in this study, we will be looking at love through the lens of Grace; love in the finished work of Jesus Christ. By seeing this truth, we will be able to understand the differences between the Old and New Covenants in the area of love, and how indeed God is supplying us completely, even in the area of love.
Most of the people I have spoken with, tend to believe that they must still generate love within themselves. That they must love the LORD with all of their heart, mind, soul and strength; and love their neighbor as themselves. This of-course is a direct reference to Deuteronomy 6:5 and Leviticus 19:18 respectively. And these two commandments were quoted by Jesus when one of the Pharisees asked Jesus what the greatest commandment of the Law was to test Him, in Matthew 22:34-39.
Many believers do not take that fact into consideration though and still consider themselves to be under the same burden of the Law today – not understanding the difference in Covenants. So let’s begin by reading 1st John 3:22:
“And whatever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight.”
Now although this is not the main focus of our study today, I want to take a moment and just draw your attention briefly to the first part of the verse. Notice what it says, and whatever we ask, we receive of Him. Settle this truth in your mind first. Many believers do not actually believe the first part of this verse, let alone the rest of it! So settle this fact in your spirit, because the first part of this verse is just as much scripture as the rest of the Bible.
Then we have the rest of it. This is where some people try to say “Aha! I got you!” due to the fact that the verse says because we keep His commandments. However I want to draw your attention to the fact that this does not say if we keep His commandments, but because we keep His commandments! You see this is not telling you something that you need to do in order to receive answer from God – This is telling you the status that you have and why the first part of this verse is true for you today in Christ.
What then are these commandments that we keep? Well if we were to stop right here, everyone would automatically assume that these were the Ten Commandments. This is partly due to our own human mind that is conditioned to think of the Ten Commandments whenever we hear the word “commandments”, however, this is not the case here… look now at verse 23:
“And this is his commandment, That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment.”
Notice that the word “commandments” has now been reduced to a singular form! John is emphasizing something here. That the sum total of Jesus’ commands (again, not the Law of Moses) can be summarized with this one thing: That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another. You see here the focus is not on doing but believing.
Yet some may still say “Gee, that still sounds an awful lot like the commandment of the Law.”
But in actuality the commandment of Jesus is very much different then the Mosaic Law. It is important for us to fully understand the difference in order to appreciate what Christ has done in this area for us. One of the key’s to seeing that this is definitely not referring to the Old Covenant Law, is in the last part of the verse: … as He gave us commandment. This is an important point of reference! When exactly did Jesus give this commandment? As we look at when Jesus actually gave this commandment, we will see many important details. So let’s look at it now. Turn with me to John 13:34:
“A new commandment I give to you, That you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another.”
Now typically when we read this verse, people think that Jesus’ commandment is rehashing the Old Covenant Law. Yet that is not what Jesus has done. Notice from the text that Jesus clearly states a new commandment I give unto you. Why exactly is it new? Well, look closer at what Jesus is saying here.
The commandment from the Law is to “love your neighbor as yourself”;
However Jesus’ new commandment here is to “love one another; as I have loved you“
Do you see the difference?
So the Law says “love your neighbor (which by the way was only fellow Israelities during the Old Covenant) as yourself. Whereas Jesus’ new commandment is “love one another (all people) as I have loved you.”
Jesus is not rehashing the Old Covenant Law of Moses; He is defining the New way of life under Grace which He came to usher us into.
Then, look at the next verse 35:
“By this shall all men know that you are my disciples, if you have love one to another.”
Jesus says that By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.
Now again, this is another area that lends itself to confusion, again we tend to think that this is telling us that we must love from out of ourselves in order to prove that we are disciples of Jesus Christ. If we think that and try to live that way we will be setting ourselves up for a lot of pain and disappointment. But I have more good news straight from the scriptures… Jesus here is not saying that we have to love in order to prove our discipleship, because remember what the previous verse (34) said: love one another as I have loved you. The only way in which we can love one another as by first receiving love from God for us personally. This concept is explained in scripture further in 1st John 4:10:
“Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.”
This is the New Covenant definition of love compressed into one verse of scripture, but wonderfully descriptive.
In the Old Covenant under the Law, the first five commandments summarized “Love the LORD your God with all of your heart, soul, mind, and strength.” However in the New Covenant under Grace, love is defined as not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins. So Jesus ushered us into a new and better covenant. a covenant not based on our performance or what we do; not based on the Law of Moses, but a covenant based on believing and receiving the truth of Jesus Christ and His love for us. It is a total paradigm shift, a complete game changer.
Further down in verse 19 of this same chapter we see this:
“We love, because he first loved us.”
Now some translations such as the King James versions will say “we love him, because he first loved us”, but the word him is actually not in the original Greek text, it was added by the translators. The verse actually reads as it is printed above: we love, because He first loved us. Our ability to love is directly linked to our first receiving the divine love of God for us through Jesus Christ.
This is how we love in the New Covenant; not by manifesting imperfect human expressions of love from within ourselves – but by receiving the divine love of God for us and then extending that love to others. This is the love of God, for you.