34 A new commandment I give to you, that ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.
Thou shalt not avenge thyself, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am Jehovah.
and walk in love, even as the Christ loved us, and delivered himself up for us, an offering and sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savour.
And if one member suffer, all the members suffer with [it]; and if one member be glorified, all the members rejoice with [it]. Now *ye* are Christ's body, and members in particular.
Bear one another's burdens, and thus fulfil the law of the Christ.
Beloved, I write no new commandment to you, but an old commandment, which ye have had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word which ye heard. Again, I write a new commandment to you, which thing is true in him and in you, because the darkness is passing and the true light already shines. He who says he is in the light, and hates his brother, is in the darkness until now. He that loves his brother abides in light, and there is no occasion of stumbling in him.
And this is his commandment, that we believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and that we love one another, even as he has given us commandment.
For this is the message which ye have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another:
But you, may the Lord make to exceed and abound in love toward one another, and toward all, even as we also towards you,
*We* know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love [his] brother abides in death. Every one that hates his brother is a murderer, and ye know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him. Hereby we have known love, because *he* has laid down his life for us; and *we* ought for the brethren to lay down [our] lives. But whoso may have the world's substance, and see his brother having need, and shut up his bowels from him, how abides the love of God in him? Children, let us not love with word, nor with tongue, but in deed and in truth.
Beloved, let us love one another; because love is of God, and every one that loves has been begotten of God, and knows God. He that loves not has not known God; for God is love. Herein as to us has been manifested the love of God, that God has sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son a propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God has so loved us, we also ought to love one another.
If indeed ye keep [the] royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well.
Finally, [be] all of one mind, sympathising, full of brotherly love, tender hearted, humble minded; not rendering evil for evil, or railing for railing; but on the contrary, blessing [others], because ye have been called to this, that ye should inherit blessing.
Love has long patience, is kind; love is not emulous [of others]; love is not insolent and rash, is not puffed up, does not behave in an unseemly manner, does not seek what is its own, is not quickly provoked, does not impute evil, does not rejoice at iniquity but rejoices with the truth, bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
Put on therefore, as [the] elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of compassion, kindness, lowliness, meekness, longsuffering; forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any should have a complaint against any; even as the Christ has forgiven you, so also [do] *ye*.
Now concerning brotherly love ye have no need that we should write to you, for ye yourselves are taught of God to love one another. For also ye do this towards all the brethren in the whole of Macedonia; but we exhort you, brethren, to abound still more,
As one born among you shall the stranger who sojourneth with you be unto you; and thou shalt love him as thyself; for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am Jehovah your God.
To the saints that are on the earth, and to the excellent [thou hast said], In them is all my delight.
We ought to thank God always for you, brethren, even as it is meet, because your faith increases exceedingly, and the love of each one of you all towards one another abounds;
having heard of your faith in Christ Jesus, and the love which ye have towards all the saints,
If then [there be] any comfort in Christ, if any consolation of love, if any fellowship of [the] Spirit, if any bowels and compassions, fulfil my joy, that ye may think the same thing, having the same love, joined in soul, thinking one thing; [let] nothing [be] in the spirit of strife or vain glory, but, in lowliness of mind, each esteeming the other as more excellent than themselves; regarding not each his own [qualities], but each those of others also. For let this mind be in you which [was] also in Christ Jesus;
So then, as we have occasion, let us do good towards all, and specially towards those of the household of faith.
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, fidelity,
as to brotherly love, kindly affectioned towards one another: as to honour, each taking the lead in paying it to the other:
This is my commandment, that ye love one another, as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this, that one should lay down his life for his friends.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on John 13
Commentary on John 13 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 13
Our Saviour having finished his public discourses, in which he "endured the contradiction of sinners,' now applies himself to a private conversation with his friends, in which he designed the consolation of saints. Henceforward we have an account of what passed between him and his disciples, who were to be entrusted with the affairs of his household, when he was gone into a far country; the necessary instructions and comforts he furnished them with. His hour being at hand, he applies himself to set his house in order. In this chapter
Jhn 13:1-17
It has generally been taken for granted by commentators that Christ's washing his disciples' feet, and the discourse that followed it, were the same night in which he was betrayed, and at the same sitting wherein he ate the passover and instituted the Lord's supper; but whether before the solemnity began, or after it was all over, or between the eating of the passover and the institution of the Lord's supper, they are not agreed. This evangelist, making it his business to gather up those passages which the others had omitted, industriously omits those which the others had recorded, which occasions some difficulty in putting them together. If it was then, we suppose that Judas went out (v. 30) to get his men ready that were to apprehend the Lord Jesus in the garden. But Dr. Lightfoot is clearly of opinion that this was done and said, even all that is recorded to the end of ch. 14, not at the passover supper, for it is here said (v. 1) to be before the feast of the passover, but at the supper in Bethany, two days before the passover (of which we read Mt. 26:2-6), at which Mary the second time anointed Christ's head with the remainder of her box of ointment. Or, it might be at some other supper the night before the passover, not as that was in the house of Simon the leper, but in his own lodgings, where he had none but his disciples about him, and could be more free with them.
In these verses we have the story of Christ's washing his disciples' feet; it was an action of a singular nature; no miracle, unless we call it a miracle of humility. Mary had just anointed his head; now, lest his acceptance of this should look like taking state, he presently balances it with this act of abasement. But why would Christ do this? If the disciples' feet needed washing, they could wash them themselves; a wise man will not do a thing that looks odd and unusual, but for very good causes and considerations. We are sure that it was not in a humour or a frolic that this was done; no, the transaction was very solemn, and carried on with a great deal of seriousness; and four reasons are here intimated why Christ did this:-
Jhn 13:18-30
We have here the discovery of Judas's plot to betray his Master. Christ knew it from the beginning; but now first he discovered it to his disciples, who did not expect Christ should be betrayed, though he had often told them so, much less did they suspect that one of them should do it. Now here,
Jhn 13:31-35
This and what follows, to the end of ch. 14, was Christ's table-talk with his disciples. When supper was done, Judas went out; but what did the Master and his disciples do, whom he left sitting at table? They applied themselves to profitable discourse, to teach us as much as we can to make conversation with our friends at table serviceable to religion. Christ begins this discourse. The more forward we are humbly to promote that communication which is good, and to the use of edifying, the more like we are to Jesus Christ. Those especially that by their place, reputation, and gifts, command the company, to whom men give ear, ought to use the interest they have in other respects as an opportunity of doing them good. Now our Lord Jesus discourses with them (and probably discourses much more largely than is here recorded),
Jhn 13:36-38
In these verses we have,