John 13:34-35
Bible verses · Also called: John 13:34-35, A new commandment I give unto you, Love one another, As I have loved you, The New Commandment, Mandatum novum
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34 A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.
35 By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.
The text is the New Korean Revised Version (1998), shown under a licence from the Korean Bible Society. Wording may differ slightly from the Korean Revised Version and the Revised New Korean Standard Version. Read in the Korean Revised Version
The passage in which Jesus, at the Last Supper, gives his disciples the new commandment to "love one another." He says that their love for one another is the mark by which others will know they are his disciples. Discussion centers on what is "new" about the commandment and whether the scope of this love is limited to the church.
Context
John 13 opens before the Passover with Jesus washing his disciples' feet. He then foretells his betrayal, and after Judas Iscariot goes out into the night (v. 30), Jesus declares that the time of his glorification has come and that the disciples cannot yet come where he is going (v. 33). Verses 34-35 are a commandment given by the departing teacher to the disciples he is leaving behind, and they mark the beginning of the Farewell Discourse of chapters 14-17.
Interpretation
- What is new: The command to love one's neighbor already appears in Leviticus 19:18. Many interpreters therefore locate the newness not in the content of the commandment but in its standard: "as I have loved you," that is, the love of Jesus, who washes feet and lays down his life, becomes the new measure (15:13). Another view holds that the commandment is new because it is given to the community of the new covenant.
- Love as witness: Verse 35 states that the disciples' love for one another becomes a witness to the world. The verse is read to mean that the life of the church community is itself a form of evangelism.
Questions of Application
Because "one another" refers to the community of disciples, some interpreters hold that the commandment focuses on love within the church. The more common view, however, is that this does not narrow the love of enemies (Matthew 5:44) or the love of neighbor; rather, love within the church is the starting point for love directed outward. Amid frequent denominational divisions and church conflicts, the passage is also often cited as grounds for self-examination.
In the church calendar, Holy Thursday is called "Maundy Thursday" in English; the name is generally understood to derive from mandatum novum ("a new commandment"), the opening words of this commandment in Latin.
In Korean Churches
The passage is read at the foot-washing service and the Communion service held on the Thursday of Holy Week, and it is frequently used for church mottos and in wedding sermons.
Related Passages
- Leviticus 19:18
- John 15:12-13
- 1 John 4:7-11
- 1 Corinthians 13:4-7
See also 6
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