During the last Passover supper with His disciples, Jesus washes the disciple’s feet revealing that the character of God is that of a servant. He then says to His disciples, "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another” (John 13:34 NASB).

This statement takes on a chiastic structure. A Chiasm is a literary structure found in the Bible where the beginning of the thought mirrors the end of the thought, with the most important point in the middle. The literary pattern could look something like this: A, B, C, B’, A’. Jesus, speaking of the newcommandment, says, “that you love one another [A], even as I have loved you [B], that you also love one another [A’]” (ibid). The pattern being A, B, A’, makes this a perfect Chiasm, revealing Jesus’ main point “even as I have loved you”. This is how we can understand how to “love one another”.

In context He just performed the task of a servant, washing each of His disciple’s feet. Jesus has loved us by serving, so we are to love our brother. This has always been the hierarchy of heaven. The greater someone is, the more he will bear burdens and serve; God, being the head of the hierarchy, is the greatest servant. “He that is greatest among you shall be your servant” “and whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant” (Matthew 23:11; 20:27).

So, Jesus gives us His new commandment, that we may love others as He has loved us (John 13:24). But what is so new about this? Hasn’t this always been true? When the Lawyer asked the question: “Master, which is the greatest commandment in the law?” – “Jesus said unto him, thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets” (Matthew 22:36-40).

Here Jesus is quoting from the Old Testament: “And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might” (Deuteronomy 6:5)

“Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thine heart: thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy neighbour, and not suffer sin upon him. Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am the LORD” (Leviticus 19:17, 18)

So, is loving one another an idea unfamiliar to scripture?

The “New” in Jesus’ “New Commandment” is not a new concept, or new law to be tacked on, but a “new” revelation of an old commandment or concept! It has always been true to love God and love man “because the LORD loved you and kept the oath which He swore to your forefathers, the LORD brought you out by a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery” (Deuteronomy 7:7-9 NASB)

By using more scripture, we can come to a more clear understanding. John uses the idea of a “new commandment” the same way Jesus does. Being a new revelation of the old. He writes, “Beloved, I am not writing a new commandment to you, but an old commandment which you have had from the beginning; the old commandment is the word which you have heard. On the other hand, I am writing a new commandment to you, which is true in Him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true Light is already shining” (1John 2:7-8 NASB)

And in 2 John ... “And now I beseech thee, lady, not as though I wrote a new commandment unto thee, but that which we had from the beginning, that we love one another. And this is love, that we walk after his commandments. This is the commandment, That, as ye have heard from the beginning, ye should walk in it. ... Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son” (2John 1:5-6, 9).

The context of this is John’s instruction to keep the commandments of Jesus. (Read 1 and 2 John). He is making the point that this is an old commandment that has existed since the beginning of the world, but it is now a new commandment in Jesus because we now understand the full character of God as a loving servant, and now have a propitiation for sin. That is why Jesus tells us, “He who has seen Me has seen the Father; how can you say, 'Show us the Father'?” (John 14:9 NASB). There is no more mystery to the naked character of God, “for in Him [Jesus] dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily” (Colossians 2:9). Jesus was fully man and fully God. He was God in character but His glory and power was cloaked by His flesh, limiting Him to the human experience.

It won't be until that Day when we will “see Him as He is” (1John 3:2)... It was told to us in the law and the prophets to love God and to love our neighbor, but now we understand WHO Love is, and what love now means! It is an old commandment, but how this is true in Christ makes it alive, fresh and new.

Following John’s thoughts on the commandments of Jesus, he writes, “If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him”. We are either in love with God and obedient to Him, or love the world and are obedient to Satan. Consider this verse:

“Know therefore that the LORD thy God, he is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations; (10) And repayeth them that hate him to their face, to destroy them: he will not be slack to him that hateth him, he will repay him to his face. (11) Thou shalt therefore keep the commandments, and the statutes, and the judgments, which I command thee this day, to do them” (Deuteronomy 7:9-11).

There is no middle ground with God. If you truly love Jesus you will follow Him wherever He leads. The same is true with the world. You will end up in this life, either hating God or loving Him, setting your eternal destiny. It’s a relationship God is looking for, and we are not God’s “ex-girlfriend, but still friends”. If we search the scriptures, nowhere in the Bible will we find love for God with an indifference to obedience.

That is why Righteousness and Love are always tied together in the New Testament. Consider these verses:

“But flee from these things, you man of God, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, perseverance and gentleness” (1Timothy 6:11)

“Now flee from youthful lusts and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart” (2Timothy 2:22)

“By this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious: anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor the one who does not love his brother” (1John 3:10)

“If ye know that He [[Jesus]] is righteous, ye know that every one that doeth righteousness is born of Him” (1John 29).

The Book of first John is basically an expansion on "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another” (John 13:34 NASB). John writes: “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” (1John 3:23).

“And this commandment we have from Him: that he who loves God must love his brother also” (1John 4:21).

In the same thought process John writes, “Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God: and every one that loveth him that begat loveth him also that is begotten of him. By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous. For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?” (1John 5:1-5).

There is no one that can overcome the judgement of God unless they are covered in the infinite Righteousness of Jesus. “Everyone who practices righteousness is born of Him” “for God is love” (1John 2:29; 4:8). Jesus showed us that only perfect love can enter into heaven and we all fall short of this. To say Jesus showed us that only perfect obedience or perfect righteousness can enter into heaven, is to say the same thing. We fall short. But He did not. By faith we believe that Christ took the full wrath of God upon himself in our place and in His resurrection gave us His perfect obedience. Thus making us heirs to the eternal kingdom of God!

“And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together” (Rom 8:17).

“And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise” (Gal 3:29).

“That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life” (Titus 3:7).

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved” (John 3:16-17).

The law came to condemn the world, and because of this we know, not only our sin, but our need of a Savior. Here He is. I present to you the only truly Righteous man to walk the earth: Jesus the Messiah.

Before you follow Him know this:

"Now large crowds were going along with Him; and He turned and said to them, "If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple. "Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple. "For which one of you, when he wants to build a tower, does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if he has enough to complete it? "Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who observe it begin to ridicule him, saying, 'This man began to build and was not able to finish.' "Or what king, when he sets out to meet another king in battle, will not first sit down and consider whether he is strong enough with ten thousand [men] to encounter the one coming against him with twenty thousand? "Or else, while the other is still far away, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace. "So then, none of you can be My disciple who does not give up all his own possessions. [Luke 14:25-33 NASB]

Jesus wants all of you, unreserved. He loves you and has a plan to mold you into a mighty man/women of God. It is up to you, if you will hold onto to Him by faith, and then... BECAUSE YOU ARE SAVED follow Him in obedience. Righteousness is something to pursue; our obedience is but filthy rags, but disobedience is to hate God. The standard is set. The Moral Law is to be lifted up, and Christ to be lifted higher. The Law will condemn, so that true faith in Christ may be realized unto salvation.