Tim Maas Retired Quality Assurance Specialist with the U.S. Army

The verse that comes most readily to my mind in response to the question is John 13:34, in which Jesus said, "A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another."

Although God had long before given the commandment, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself" (Leviticus 19:18), Jesus' command was new in the sense that He did not command His followers merely to love others from a general or abstract standpoint, but to love them in the same concrete, practical, "real-world" way that His disciples had observed and experienced His love for them, which extended even to the point of dying on their behalf.

Aside from that command, other instances that occur to me would have been Jesus' expanded definitions of Old Testament commandments as contained in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:21-48); as well as His commands to believe in Him (John 14:1); to repeat the sacrament of the Eucharist in remembrance of Him (Matthew 26:26-28, Luke 22:17-20, and also as recounted by Paul in 1 Corinthians 11:23-25); and His final command to His followers prior to His ascension to make disciples of all nations, and to teach them to observe all things that He had commanded (Matthew 28:19-20).

May 31 2020 • 0 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report