New Commandment

NEW COMMANDMENT.—The definition of the Christian law of love as a ‘new commandment’ is peculiar to the Johannine writings (Joh 13:34; Joh 15:12, 1Jn 2:7-8, 2Jn 1:5). In the Fourth Gospel the Supper is regarded as the prototype of the Agape rather than of the Eucharist, and the institution of the ‘new covenant’ gives place to that of the ‘new commandment’ of brotherly love. The commandment, like the covenant, is inaugurated by a symbolical act, the washing of the disciples’ feet.

In the Synoptic Gospels our Lord repeatedly insists on love for one’s neighbour as the paramount ethical duty (cf. Mat 5:43-48, Mar 12:31, Luk 10:30-37); He contrasts this new conception of the Moral Law with the rule that held good ‘in old time’ (Mat 5:43-44). The words in the Fourth Gospel thus sum up with an exquisite simplicity the authentic substance of the social teaching of Jesus. At the same time there are elements in the Johannine idea which differentiate it from the apparent parallels in the Synoptics.

(1) Jesus in His teaching, as given in the Synoptics, does not impose His ethic under the form of ‘commandment.’ Accepting the moral code of the Decalogue as Divinely given, He contents Himself with ‘fulfilling’ it by a deeper and more inward interpretation. The effect of His ‘fulfilment’ is indeed to replace the ancient Law by a new one, but in this Christian law the idea of commandment is altogether transcended. It is a ‘law of liberty,’ which the enlightened conscience originates for itself. The Fourth Gospel reverts to the idea of ‘commandment’—of a moral law enforced from without. Jesus as the Son of God has power to impose a new law, equally binding with that of the Decalogue; and it is henceforth valid in virtue of His authority.

(2) The divergence from the Synoptics is still more marked in regard to the scope of the ‘new commandment.’ The love which it requires is the φιλαδελφία that found expression in the Agape; not love to one’s neighbour in the universal sense, but love of Christians to one another. Here more signally than elsewhere the Fourth Evangelist betrays the influence of the later Church-idea which had narrowed the original intention of the teaching of Christ. A sharp distinction had grown up between the community of believers and the ‘world,’ and the duty of Christians was primarily, if not exclusively, to their brethren. The passage in the Fourth Gospel already contemplates a time when mutual love within the Church was the γνώρισμα τῶν Χριστιανῶν (Joh 13:35, cf. Tert. Apol. 39). There is no indication of a wider demand, in the spirit of the Sermon on the Mount and the parable of the Good Samaritan.

The commandment is expressly called a new one, although in its Synoptic form it appears as a direct quotation from the ancient Law (Mat 22:39 || Mar 12:31 = Lev 19:18). The newness has been explained in various ways. (a) According to the Greek commentators (Cyril, Theod. [Note: Theodotion.] Mops. etc.) it consists in the higher degree of love implied in καθὼς ἠγάπησα ὑμᾶς—not ‘as thyself, but ‘more than thyself’ with the self-forgetting love of Christ. This, however, overstrains the meaning of καθώς, which says nothing of the quality of Christ’s love, but states the simple fact of His example. (b) Several modern commentators (e.g. Meyer, Godet, Bugge) have still sought the explanation in the words ‘as I have loved you.’ The love of Christ experienced by the believer is to be the motive power to a new and higher kind of love. Our love to one another is henceforth to be Christian love—not grounded in a mere natural instinct, but in an inward fellowship with Christ. This idea is certainly present in the Gospel, and in the Epistle it comes to definite expression. ‘Hereby we know love, because he laid down his life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren’ (1Jn 3:16). The love required in Christians is the greater love which was revealed for the first time in the Cross of Christ. This, however, does not seem to be the idea involved in the ‘new commandment.’ The newness is ascribed to the commandment itself, not to the motive or the quality of the love enjoined in it. (c) An attractive explanation is that suggested by Olshausen. The commandment of love is new in the sense that it is for ever fresh, always renewing itself. Such a meaning seems to be plainly implied in the beautiful antithesis in the Epistle (1Jn 2:7-8), ‘I write no new commandment unto you, but an old commandment. Again, a new commandment I write unto you.’ This passage, however, is a kind of poetical expansion of the idea of a ‘new commandment,’ and cannot be construed as an exegesis. (d) The simplest and most natural explanation is that Christ has in effect established a new morality by His insistence on love as the fulfilment of the Law. In outward form the demand was an old one, and this is acknowledged in the Synoptic parallels by the quotation from Leviticus. But the place assigned to it by Jesus as the sum of the Law, the sovereign principle of the moral life, invests it with a new significance. The ancient morality is superseded by the Christian law of love. The words in the Fourth Gospel thus give expression to the truth which had emerged ever more clearly in the course of later reflexion,—that the teaching of Jesus, based as it was on the religion of the OT, was something radically new. The Law had been not only fulfilled but abrogated. In its place there was a new commandment, a new determining principle for the moral life.

As indicated above, the definition of the Christian ethic as a ‘new commandment’ is in one respect inadequate, and even involves a self-contradiction. The true originality of the moral demand of Jesus consisted in its breaking away from the idea of outward requirement. The Law imposed from without was replaced by the inward spirit of faith and love and obedience. In the Fourth Gospel we have probably the earliest phase of the reaction which ended in the formulation of Christianity as nova lex. The development of the Church as an institution was accompanied by a certain externalizing of moral and religious ideas, while at the same time the influence of the OT favoured the relapse into a modified legalism. Thus where St. Paul, in full accordance with the Synoptics, demanded a new spirit (cf. Rom 12:2, Gal 5:16), the later Church was satisfied with obedience to a ‘new law.’ The Fourth Gospel appears to mark the transition between these two conceptions of Christian morality. The true character of the ‘commandment’ is still safeguarded by the profound religious spirit of the Gospel, but the idea of outward ordinance has begun to re-establish itself. In a subsequent age, which had drifted out of sympathy with the original teaching of Jesus, the ‘new commandment’ became literally the nova lex.

Literature.—The Comm. on Joh 13:34 f., 15:12, e.g, Holtzmann, Hdcom. (1893); Godet (English translation 1892); Oscar Holtzmann (1887); Bugge (Germ. translation 1894); Loisy, Le Quatrième. Évangile (1903); J. Réville, Le Quatrieme Évangile, 245 f. (1901); cf. also H. J. Holtzmann, NT Theol. i. 494 f., ii. 344 f., 389 f. (1897); Stevens, Johannine Theol. 266 f. (1900); R. F. Horton, The Commandments of Jesus, 319; F. W. Robertson, Ser. i. 234; T. T. Carter, Spirit of Watchfulness, 206.

E. F. Scott.

See BROTHERLY LOVE.

The “new commandment” is Christ’s instruction for Christians to love one another. The phrase appears four times in the New Testament, all in the writings of John (John 13:34; 1 John 2:7, 8; 2 John 1:5). Jesus first gave this command to his disciples on the night he was arrested: “A new commandment I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you also must love one another” (John 13:34). This command appears in other places in the Bible (John 15:12, 17; Romans 13:8; 1 Peter 1:22; 1 John 3:11, 23; 4:7, 11–12), but is not called “new” in those passages.

Love as a Commandment

Jesus had already told his disciples to love their enemies (Matthew 5:43–45) and to love their neighbors as themselves (Luke 10:25–37). The “new commandment” demanded that Christians love each other. It did not replace the other two love commands. Jesus intended this command to create a strong and convincing testimony for those outside the church. This would clearly show three things:

1. that his followers lived like Christ by loving one another;

2. that true human community is built on Christ; and

3. that this love confirms that what Jesus said about himself and his work is true (John 13:35; 17:21–23).

Jesus chose the word used to describe the Old Testament law. By doing this, he gave his new commandment the same level of authority. The Old Testament law also included commands to love (Leviticus 19:18, 34; Deuteronomy 10:19). The apostle Paul referred to love as the “law of Christ” (Galatians 6:2), and James called the love command the “royal law” (James 2:8) and “the perfect law of liberty” (1:25; 2:12).

The word “commandment” had another meaning as well. Many Jews in the time of Jesus wrongly thought that obeying commandments would make them worthy of God’s blessing (Romans 8:3; Galatians 3:2). Jesus made it clear, however, that love was a natural result of God’s blessing, not a necessary condition for it. For Jesus, the commandment showed how the blessed should behave. Disciples were commanded to love in the same way that branches are “commanded” to bear fruit: by staying connected to the vine (Jesus), Christians can love (John 15:4).

What Made the New Commandment New?

The new commandment gets its special character from the new covenant (Jeremiah 31:31–34; Luke 22:20; 1 Corinthians 11:25). Jesus established the new covenant at the Last Supper. Under the new covenant, God “writes” his law on the hearts of believers (Hebrews 10:16). This means he actively works in them through the Holy Spirit (Ezekiel 36:27; 2 Corinthians 3:3). God gives them a new desire to obey him (Romans 8:4; Galatians 5:16).

The new commandment to love is the main part of the new covenant (Romans 13:8, 10; Galatians 5:14). Obedience is therefore a gift, because “love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God” (1 John 4:7). Love is the result of faith (1 John 3:23) and is part of the gospel itself (1 John 3:11).

The close relationship between the new covenant and the new commandment helps explain why the command to love is called new. Christ’s incarnation inaugurated a new age. As John writes, “The darkness is fading and the true light is already shining” (1 John 2:8). In the context of his departure (John 13:33–35), Jesus gave his disciples a defining commandment (mutual love) that would characterize life in this new age. Obedience to this commandment was to identify them as the disciples of Jesus during his absence (John 13:35; 17:21–23). In this sense, the love commandment is new not because love itself was previously unknown, but because it now functions as the central mark of allegiance to Christ in the inaugurated new age, oriented toward its final consummation

What made the era new was that Jesus Christ’s coming revealed God the Father in a way that had never been seen before (John 1:18; 10:30; 17:6–8). No prophet had ever been able to say, “Anyone who has seen Me has seen the Father” (John 14:9). Therefore, the command from Jesus that his disciples love each other “as I have loved you” (John 13:34) was new and shocking by any human standard. No one had ever loved perfectly as Jesus did (John 13:1). Following his example of love was a new commandment.

The greatness of the love of Jesus led him to “lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13). Similarly, John concluded that “we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers” (1 John 3:16). Love means not refusing to help a fellow Christian who is in need (1 John 3:17). Love means gladly sacrificing one's own good for another's benefit.

See also Ten Commandments; Biblical Concept of Law.

Aquifer Open Bible Dictionary © 2026 Mission Mutual, an adaptation of the Tyndale Open Bible Dictionary © 2023 Tyndale House Publishers. Licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.