OBEYING THE NEW COMMANDMENT.
By Chas. B. Reynolds
“A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.” John 13:34. God is love. God’s law is love. The way to gain eternal life is by obedience to the great law of love; not such obedience as that of the Jews, who had this commandment from the beginning,—“Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.” Lev. 19:18. We are to obey as Jesus obeyed, love as he loved us. Obedience in such a spirit of perfect love was new indeed to the Jews. Moses had said, “And it shall be our righteousness, if we observe to do all these commandments before the Lord our God, as he hath commanded us.” Deut. 6:25. Christ found them ostensibly keeping the law, committing no overt violation, claiming to be very moral men; yet he declared, “For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of Heaven.” Matt. 5:20. We are thus enjoined not to ostentatiously claim to be commandment-keepers while observing only outward forms, but to love God and our neighbor in very deed and truth, obedience to the new commandment being declared the test of our discipleship. “By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.” John 13:35. Let us apply this test to ourselves. Are we obeying the new commandment? Are we, by our love and sympathy for one another, proving to all men our discipleship; or do we rejoice in iniquity, especially in those to whom we have taken a dislike? Are we easily provoked, continually thinking evil in regard to those who may have unintentionally, perhaps all unconsciously, provoked our ire? Are we throwing out evil surmisings, hints, and innuendoes,—secretly seeking to discourage them and cripple their usefulness,—yet all the time zealous and ostentatious in giving of our means, and in outward observance of all forms and ceremonies? To all such, notwithstanding the boasted possession of all the light of present truth, the commandment of Christ must be very new indeed. How solemn the warning of the Master: “Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of Heaven, but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in Heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you; depart from me, ye that work iniquity.” Matt. 7:21–23. To lack that charity described by the apostle in 1 Cor. 13, is to be devoid of the love of God; to be devoid of the love of God is to be devoid of all true knowledge of God, and, consequently, of all hope of salvation. “He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.” 1 John 4:8. “Love worketh no ill to his neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.” Rom. 13:10. The law of God, enjoined by Christ, demands that we manifest our love to God by our love to one another. This we must do, if we would gain eternal life. “And, behold, a certain lawyer stood up, and tempted him, saying, Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? He said unto him, What is written in the law? how readest thou? And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbor as thyself. And he said unto him, Thou hast answered right; this do, and thou shalt live.” Luke 10:25–28. Every member of the church has solemnly vowed before God, the holy angels, and his brethren to do this,—to keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus. We have covenanted to live in active benevolence toward all men, and more especially toward those of the household of faith (Gal. 6:10), and every pulsation of our being must be brought into subjection to this main principle: “If any man have not the spirit of Christ, he is none of his.” Rom. 8:9. No man is really and truly converted until he is made more loving and more lovable. If we have the spirit of Christ, it will be manifest. The old love of self, with its pride, stubbornness, and utter indifference to the feelings of others or aught that concerns them only so far as they can be made to minister to our gratification, will be taken away. All who come in contact with us will realize the change. The old man with a confirmed shrew for a wife, who, fearing that some doubted the genuineness of his conversion, cried out, “I know I’ve got the genuine article; if you think I am not truly converted, just ask my wife,” had the true idea, though he did excite all in the meeting to laughter. Doubtless the old lady found him as much a new creature as he had found the command to love as Jesus loved a new commandment. Such a conversion prompts a man to study the character of those around him; makes him gentle, patient, humble, forbearing; and induces him to dwell with delight upon the good qualities of others, instead of ever harping on their short-comings and faults. If a man in the spirit of Christ obeys the new commandment, it will first be manifest in his home. He will be more gentle, patient, and forbearing. His neighbors will know it. The poor will have reason to rejoice at it. The very tones of his voice become more kindly. All that was harsh, ungracious, and irritating in his manner departs—changes to gentleness and love. He will diffuse an atmosphere of love and kindly feeling wherever he may go, that will prove wondrously contagious; and though some may cavil at what they term the strangeness of his doctrine, all will respect and promptly testify to the reality of his religion. A man makes his own path bright and cheerful by striving to make other people’s so. No man can keep this new commandment, and retain his stinginess, his pride, his passionate temper, or indulge in evil surmisings, contention, hate, or evil speaking. He that wounds, grieves, wrongs,—causes sighs, tears, and sorrow,—is doing the work of Satan. He that by love and sympathy removes one pang, or causes one throb of joy to a human heart, is doing the work of Jesus. But there are those who prove false to their profession,—those who by words and acts bring disgrace upon the cause of Christ. Will it mend the matter if we too prove false to our covenant, and cease to love them? We are to love as Jesus loved. He could not love pride, lust, lying, or any evil in us. We may not love or sanction sin in any one; but we are at all times, under all circumstances, to deal gently with the erring. It is the common practice to drive them from us, to treat them with coldness, contempt, and scorn; but this is neither right nor Christ-like. We should endeavor to win them back to virtue and to right; and however much we may have been wronged by them, upon the first sign of repentance, we should forgive, even as we hope to be forgiven. But if those who do evil are allowed to remain in the church, the world’s people consider that we encourage and abet them in99their wrong doings, and the usefulness of the church will be utterly destroyed. If you have real or imagined cause of grievance against any one in the church, how should you act? Should you nurse your grievance, tell it over in pretended confidence to this one and that one, misrepresent, indulge all kinds of evil surmisings, bear false witness, seek to injure, to excite distrust and prejudice against such a one? The new commandment enjoins us to love. When those we dearly love do wrong, we are very loth to believe it, are very zealous in their defense. Only with great reluctance and true sorrow do we yield belief to the proved facts of their unworthiness. Even then we seek eagerly to find for them some excuse or palliation of their guilt. What says Jesus?—“Moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone; if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother. But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established. And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church; but if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as a heathen man and a publican. Verily I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in Heaven; and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in Heaven.” Matt. 18:15–18. This is Christ’s instruction to his true disciples,—those who are obeying the new commandment, loving as he loved. Such would never go to an erring brother with pride and wrath, surlily or tauntingly denouncing his fault. We should first, realizing our own weakness and proneness to err, in deep humility examine our own hearts—confess our sins to God, entreating pardon in Jesus’ name, till remembrance of the long-suffering, forbearance, and pitying mercy of our Heavenly Father toward us shall make us more lenient and forgiving toward our erring brother. If you are actuated by the spirit of Christ, the greater your brother’s error, the greater reason there is that you should pray for him. You should pray that God may give words of wisdom and love that shall recall him to the straight and narrow way. If guilty, he demands your pity, compassion, and help. He is on the road to eternal death; then agonize before God in his behalf, as you would were he your dearest earthly friend in like peril of mortal death. “But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more.” Seek those most likely to have influence with him; and with love in your heart, and the earnest desire that the erring one may be saved, won back to God, help plead with him. It seems that if such a course were pursued, the hardest heart would be softened, the most wilful and obdurate would be melted to repentance; but should one remain unmoved, then tell it to the church. If he will not hear the church, then there must be no shirking duty. The world knows the wrong, knows that love has failed to win to repentance. You cannot defend him. He must be to you as a heathen man and a publican. Ah! now you are done with him! Now you can despise him, hate him, refuse to speak to him! No; the new commandment forbids such a course; every teaching, every example of Jesus forbids it. He is justly punished, but you are bound to love him, notwithstanding. You are not to sympathize with him in his wrong-doing, nor to so seek his society, that it could possibly appear that you countenance in the least his evil course. Some acts of seeming kindness would look like rewarding vice and offering a premium to sin. You are to regard him just as you would a heathen man or a publican; but if you would enter into the joy of our Lord, you must seek to win heathen men and publicans to repentance and the cross. And you must make constant, prayerful effort for the conversion of your erring brother. Is it less a gain to the army of Immanuel to win back the veteran than to enlist the young recruit? Christ says, “Verily I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in Heaven; and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in Heaven.” Matt. 18:18. Then here is double need to use every means to win this lost one back, lest his blood be demanded at your hands. “Brethren, if any of you do err from the truth, and one convert him, let him know that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins.” James 5:19, 20. What a blessed privilege, to have saved a soul from death! All the fame, honor, and riches of the whole world were naught in comparison. May God help us prayerfully to meditate upon, and seek grace to obey, the new commandment,—to love one another even as Jesus loved us. “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. 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.” 1 John 2:7, 8.