A NEW COMMANDMENT I GIVE YOU

When the one greater than the lawgiver speaks and issues a new law, all ears should perk up and listen. Moses was known for being the man who received the law of God from the top of Mt. Sinai and delivered it to the Jews. But he always said a greater prophet than he would come and that One would articulate a better law than the one he received from Sinai. “The Lord your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your midst from your brethren. Him shall you hear” (Deut 18:15). Moses was prophesying of his own replacement. One day that greater prophet, Jesus Christ, would come down from the Mount of Heaven, offer up Himself as the final sacrifice and deliver to His followers the eternal law of God. In every way this Messiah would fulfill every aspect of Moses’ Old Covenant and inaugurate a far superior Covenant sealed in His blood. As with any Covenant, this new one had stipulations. We read about them in John 13:34, “A new commandment I give to you that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another.” Dear reader, a new Lawgiver has come and has given us this New Commandment. The old has passed, the new has come. The identity, scope and beauty of this New Commandment will be the focus of this post.

It is important to first defend the necessity of a New Commandment. The Old Testament has given us a wonderful law code which we call the Mosaic Law. In it are moral elements (the Ten Commandments), civil elements (cultural and societal laws), and ceremonial elements (worship and priestly laws). The Bible is clear that this law given by Moses was ‘holy, just and good,’ perfect in every way. It was given by God and therefore had no intrinsic flaws. But as we read the New Testament we find that this law, though perfect, was inadequate to help mankind. It could only show them to be massive moral failures. The Old Commandment showed men the reality of perfection but could in no way help anyone get there. In the Book of Galatians Paul argues vehemently that this Old Law had no ability to bring a man closer to God. To preach this doctrine, was, in the mind of Paul to preach ‘another gospel.’ Paul further inferred that living under the delusion that the law can help anyone be acceptable with God would ultimately drive men away from Him. This startling conclusion anticipated the question everyone in Paul’s day was asking, “Why then the law?” Paul answers that question in an oft-misunderstood text in Galatians 3:19-25. Without getting too far into the weeds, Paul addresses this issue by looking at God’s purpose in giving the Law to Israel in history. If you understand why God gave the law to Israel at that particular time, you will understand the purpose of the law. Paul’s point is rather simple. God gave the law to Israel directly after their escape from Egypt as a national constitution that would give that chosen nation a separate identity in order to keep her from intermingling with the nations around. Since Israel would be surrounded by heathens on every side, God must build a fence around Israel to protect her so that the line of Messiah would be secured. As Paul said, the law served the role of a prison guard keeping Israel pure and holy for a certain period of time (see Gal 3:23). This purpose was an overarching purpose for the ENTIRE Mosaic Covenant. The moral portion kept Israel separated morally, the civic laws kept Israel separated culturally, and the ceremonial laws kept Israel separated with respect to worship. All three of these elements constituted one single law code that made Israel different and wholly consecrated to God. It would be unbiblical and arbitrary to separate this cohesive covenant. Paul compares this law code with the ancient pedagogue. The pedagogue was a trusted servant who watched over and protected a young heir until the day he could receive his inheritance. The pedagogue’s sole function was to keep the heir from harm, keep him from trouble, so to speak. The Mosaic Law was a pedagogue to Israel which kept her safe until the day of her maturity. In other words the law would only be relevant until Israel grew up. Paul identifies the age of maturity as the time when Messiah comes. That is the meaning of verses 24 & 25. The law was this pedagogue that brought Israel safe ‘until’ the time of Christ. But after the Messiah had come (designated by Paul as the time of faith) there is no longer any use of the pedagogue. Like the pedagogue of Greek culture, the law had a temporary function. Once its mission was accomplished it was no longer needed.

So Jesus comes and the new age, the age of faith is inaugurated. Everything surrounding His coming is marked by radical change. The kingship over the world has changed. The devil, the Prince of the Power of the air, has been cast out (John 12:31) and dethroned in favor of a New King. Psalm two tells us that the Messiah will rule the nations with a rod of Iron and will establish a kingdom of righteousness on earth called the church. Not only that but a New Priesthood will be installed. The Aaronic priesthood because it is part of the old system will cease to have usefulness. The Book of Hebrews makes it abundantly clear that this old priesthood had a temporary function in the life of Israel. One day it would be replaced by an eternal and efficacious priesthood that had always preceded it, namely the order of Melchizedek. Jesus, the Messiah, was the New High Priest according to this line and thus He continues on as a priest continually (see Hebrews 7:3). So in Jesus God has established a New King and a New Priest. But there is one last thing that must be changed. Hebrews 7:11-12 makes the point that priesthood precedes and governs a law covenant. When any priesthood changes its corresponding law must of necessity change also. So if there is a new law, what is that law? This brings us back to our initial point.

The New Commandment.

It doesn’t take long for us to discover this New Commandment as we read the New Testament. Jesus tells us what it is outright. In John 13:34-35 He says, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” in 1 John chapter 2:7-11 the same author identifies this New Commandment in different words;

7. “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. 8.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. 9.The one who says that he is in the Light and yet hates his brother or sister is in the darkness until now. 10.The one who loves his brother and sister remains in the Light, and there is nothing in him to cause stumbling. 11.But the one who hates his brother or sister is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going because the darkness has blinded his eyes.”

John is giving his audience the substance of the New Commandment. He says these believers always knew this commandment for the law had always pointed to it. But now that the light of the gospel has been revealed, this New Law is now displayed in more explicit ways. When an Old Testament Scribe came to Jesus and asked for the greatest law, Jesus gave him not a list of Old Covenant laws but he reduced all the law as loving God (quoting Deuteronomy 6:5) and loving neighbor (see Matt 22:36-39). This new law, John says, is ‘old’ in the sense that it had always been present in the Old Covenant. In fact Jesus emphasizes the fact that within the scope of the New Commandment ‘hangs all the law and the prophets.’ All the laws in the Old Covenant were pointing forward to a grander and more glorious law, a law which could now be clearly seen in the ministry of Jesus. If you love God and neighbor, said Jesus, you have obeyed all of God’s laws perfectly. The Apostle Paul will say the same thing in Galatians 5:13b-14. “Through love serve one another for all the law if fulfilled in one word, even in this, you shall love your neighbor as yourself.” What a radical change of thinking for a Jewish man! In the Old Covenant the laws were over 600 in number and were meticulously obeyed. Now, in the New Covenant they were all reduced to loving God and loving neighbor. In one place Paul will call it the ‘law of Christ.’ When speaking of evangelizing the lost in 1 Corinthians 9, Paul said he acted ‘to those who are without law, as without law (not being without law toward God, but under law toward Christ), that I might win those who are without law.’ Paul lived his life before unbelievers without bending to the scruples of the Old Covenant Law in order to reach them. But does that mean Paul was lawless, independent of all laws? Not in the least. He was still bound to the higher Law of Christ which is the Law of Love.

So when Christ came He became a New King, performing the New Priesthood, and issuing a New Law. But one might ask, “What is so advantageous about the New Covenant? If it has a law just like the Old Covenant then why is it so much better?” This is an excellent question. The answer is comforting. First, the New Commandment is a law written on one’s heart not on tablets of stone. It embeds itself into one’s nature and does not stand outside man as an external warning. Jeremiah 31:33 and Ezekiel 36:26 both speak of this new law being written on man’s heart. Paul makes a similar comparison between the two covenants in 2 Corinthians 3:7-18. This makes the New Covenant superior in that it produces in men the internal ability to obey God. Second, failure to keep the Old Covenant Law demanded a consistent payment to God. Never did the Old Covenant Jew have a chance to rest spiritually. He must always perform the next sacrifice. But in the New Covenant, the penalty for all sins committed has already been paid in full so that one is never required to make continual payment every time he sins. Instead the New Covenant believer operates out of a state of complete forgiveness and thus has the freedom to work out his salvation without fear of divine reprisal. Thirdly, under the Old Covenant Law much fear attached itself to the life of the Jew. There were so many laws to keep that one could easily slip into a transgression unknowingly. In the New Covenant there is but one law of love and this gives the New Covenant believer a single focus. And fourthly, though neither the Old or New Covenant laws can be kept by anyone, the New Covenant law fully understands that perfection is impossible and only asks the believer to pursue love by the grace and mercy of God. This, says the Bible, becomes the life pleasing to God. At the end of the day the New Covenant Law is so vast, so open-ended, so infinite, that no well meaning believer ever keeps it perfectly. This keeps the New Covenant believer humble and forward moving. The Old Covenant Law, however, is subject to luring people into a deceitful trap. Because it is on stone some believe they have actually kept it. The Rich Young Ruler of Matthew 19 and Paul the Pharisee in Philippians chapter 3 both thought they kept the law perfectly. In this they deceived themselves. But the New Testament Law is a continual duty. Romans 13:8 says that we owe our neighbors ‘the continuing debt of love.’ In other words the New Commandment can never be fulfilled in ourselves. One can always love someone better. The beauty is that in the New Covenant we have One who did love God and man perfectly. And part of the New Covenant message is that Jesus’ perfect life is imputed to anyone who believes that He is the Savior and casts himself upon that Savior for mercy. So the New Covenant believer’s life is enjoying that forgiveness and remaining in that enjoyment as we learn to love others. There, in a nutshell, is the beauty of the New Commandment.