THE NEW COMMANDMENT

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Jan 13, 1887

THE NEW COMMANDMENT.

CHRIST said to his disciples, "A new commandment I give unto you that ye love one another as I have loved you." Again he says, "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." These words were spoken to his disciples in connection with his instructions to them, preparatory to his leaving them, before that unparalleled event so soon to take place,—even his sacrificial death on the cross, as the expression of his love for them.

In what sense are we to understand that this was a new commandment? Our Lord answers this question: "Even as I have loved you." Christ more than fulfilled the precept to love his neighbor as himself; he loved him more than himself, for he laid down his life for man. In this he calls upon the disciples to imitate him, to be ready to lay down their lives for each other. This was strictly a new commandment. No system of morality ever presented anything so pure and disinterested as this. This is the distinguishing grace by which we give evidence to the world that we are the disciples of Christ—the love we have for each other, which will show its fruitage in our acts toward each other.—Selected.