Online Resource Library
Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comVincent Word Studies - John 13:34 - 13:34
(Show All Books | Show All Chapters)
This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
New (καινὴν)
See on Mat 26:29.
Commandment (ἐντολὴν)
The word for a single commandment or injunction, but used also for the whole body of the moral precepts of Christianity. See 1Ti 6:14; 2Pe 2:21; 2Pe 3:2. See also on Jam 2:8. This new commandment embodies the essential principle of the whole law. Compare also 1Jo 3:23. Some interpreters instead of taking that ye love one another, etc., as the definition of the commandment, explain the commandment as referring to the ordinance of the Holy Communion, and render, “a new commandment (to observe this ordinance) I give unto you, in order that ye love one another.” It is, however, more than improbable, and contrary to usage, that the Holy Supper should be spoken of as ἐντολὴ a commandment.
That (ἵνα)
With its usual telic force; indicating the scope and not merely the form or nature of the commandment.
As (καθὼς)
Rev., better, even as. Not a simple comparison (ὥσπερ), but a conformity; the love is to be of the same nature. There are, however, two ways of rendering the passage. 1. “I give you a new commandment, that ye love one another with the same devotion with which I loved you.” 2. “I give you a new commandment, that ye love one another, even as up to this moment I loved you, in order that you may imitate my love one toward another.” By the first rendering the character of the mutual love of Christians is described; by the second, its ground. The Rev. gives the latter in margin.