True or False?

The New Commandment

Looking upon his disciples with divine love and the tenderest sympathy, Christ said, “Now is the Son of man glorified, and God is glorified in him. If God be glorified in him, God shall also glorify him in himself, and shall straightway glorify him.” Christ was striving to gain the confidence of his disciples; for he had important disclosures to make to them. Addressing them by the endearing term “little children,” he said, “Yet a little while am I with you. Ye shall seek me: and as I said unto the Jews, Whither I go, ye cannot come; so now I say to you. A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.”

In one sense this commandment is not new, and in another sense it is. The same principle is seen in the first four and the last six commandments. But to the disciples it was new; for they had not loved one another as Christ had loved them. Christ saw that new ideas and new impulses must control them, that new principles must be practised by them.

What a love it is that appeals to fallen men! “God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” God showed his love for us by adopting our nature, in the person of his Son. God himself inhabited humanity, making us partakers of the divine nature, that by the incarnation and death of his only begotten Son, our adoption as heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ might be fully accomplished. The origin of this wonderful achievement was his own spontaneous love.

The nature which Christ had taken upon himself he was now almost ready to carry on high, even to the throne of God. In so doing, he conferred on the human race an honor which we fail to estimate. Even the heavenly angels are not so honored.

The love of God was Christ’s theme when speaking of his mission and his work. “Therefore doth my Father love me,” he says, “because I lay down my life, that I might take it again.” My Father loves you with a love so unbounded that he loves me the more because I have given my life to redeem you. He loves you, and he loves me more because I love you, and give my life for you. “A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you.” Well did the disciples understand this love as they saw their Saviour enduring shame, reproach, doubt, and betrayal, as they saw his agony in the garden, and his death on Calvary’s cross. This is a love the depth of which no sounding can ever fathom. As the disciples comprehended it, as their perception took hold of God’s divine compassion, they realized that there is a sense in which the sufferings of the Son were the sufferings of the Father. From eternity there was a complete unity between the Father and the Son. They were two, yet little short of being identical; two in individuality, yet one in spirit, and heart, and character.

When our Redeemer consented to take the cup of suffering, in order to save sinners, his capacity for suffering was the only limitation to his suffering. But his humiliation as a man did not in the slightest degree take from his honored identity with the Father. While walking the earth in the form of a servant, he could still affirm, “I and my Father are one.”

The Saviour’s humanity elevates all humanity in the scale of moral value with God. It brings God and man very nigh together. “As many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God.” By giving his life to save fallen men, Christ gives all heaven to those that believe on him. By dying in our behalf, he gave an equivalent for our debt. Thus he removed from God all charge of lessening the guilt of sin. By virtue of my oneness with the Father, he says, my suffering and death enable me to pay the penalty of sin. By my death a restraint is removed from his love. His grace can act with unbounded efficiency.

For all who receive Christ as their personal Saviour, there is opened an ample channel, in which human and divine instrumentalities can co-operate to communicate to the world the tide of God’s love. All glory is of God and belongs to God. Yet in Christ also there is all power. In him divine power is combined with humanity. Faith in Christ holds the reins of eternal obligation. It settles upon the soul with a love that is the unfolding of divine mercy, and wins us back to God. “By grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God.” Salvation through Christ is an infinite gift. There is no possibility of our receiving it by any merit of our own.

Christ has set an exalted standard, to which men may attain by overcoming as he overcame. He desires us to be partakers of his divine nature, that he may present to the Father those whom he has given him, as more than conquerors through him that loved us. This view of the matter places us under an accountability to minister for our fellow men, even as Christ ministers. He shows his love by ministry. The word of God is surrounded by an atmosphere of inspired love. But this word is dimly comprehended and feebly appreciated. During every hour of the Saviour’s sojourn upon earth, the love of God was flowing from him, repeating its gift in irrepressible streams. Every hindrance he received in his work of revealing God’s love, every obstruction placed in his way, every talent that was not used to advance the work of God, inflicted a wound on Christ, and strengthened Satan’s kingdom. Even so, by cherishing malice and hatred in our hearts toward those who have been bought with an infinite price, we may crucify the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame.

As his disciples, Christ says to us, “A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.” These are the credentials that Christ’s followers bear, showing to the world that they are true disciples. By their unity and love for one another, they reveal to the world the love wherewith Christ has loved them. God would have us cherish love for one another, that he may be glorified in us. Love like Christ’s will bear the stress of circumstances. It will never abate nor change. As he loved us, even so are we to love one another.

Religion is founded upon love to God, which also leads us to love one another. It is full of gratitude, humility, long-suffering. It is self-sacrificing, forbearing, merciful, and forgiving. It sanctifies the whole life, and extends its influence over others. Those who love God cannot harbor hatred or envy. When the heavenly principle of eternal love fills the heart, it will flow out to others, not merely because favors are received of them, but because love is the principle of action, and modifies the character, governs the impulses, controls the passions, subdues enmity, and elevates the affections. This love is not contracted, so as merely to include “me and mine,” but is as broad as the world and as high as heaven. It is in harmony with that of the angel workers. This love, cherished in the soul, sweetens the entire life, and sheds a refining influence on all around. Possessing it, we cannot but be happy, let fortune smile or frown. And if we love God with all the heart, we must love his children also. This love is the Spirit of God. It is the heavenly adorning that gives true nobility and dignity to the soul, and assimilates our life to that of the Master.

The value of the cross of Calvary can only be seen and estimated by men and women who love God supremely and their neighbor as themselves. Just as far as we enter into the spirit of Christ’s ministry, so far shall we be able to fathom the depths of his love. If we are imbued with his Spirit, we shall find greater and still greater incentives to love as he loved. We shall no longer live for selfish purposes. The words of Paul will be true in us. “I live,” he writes, “yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.” The whole work of grace is one continual service of love, of self-denying, self-sacrificing effort. “The Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.” And when Christ lives in us, we shall minister to others for his sake.