One of the best encouragements I ever had in studying the Old Testament was the realization that God uses different words to refer to the same thing. For example, the Battle of Armageddon is also referred to as the Battle of Megiddo, or Bozrah, or the wine vat. After I understood this, I only had one battle to learn about not four or five!

The same with Jacob, aka Israel, aka Jeshurun, aka the wife of Jehovah. It's all the same nation!

This simplifies things tremendously. It's almost like the Lord purposefully complicated things, so that the lazy wouldn't get it. "Study to shew thyself approved unto God." But once you start to study, He gives you a key here, or a key there, and everything gets easy once again.

Now, let's take this principle of Bible study and apply it to a subject in the New Testament.

In the Upper Room, the Lord Jesus tells his disciples, "A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another." (John 13:34) The Lord Jesus knows that the Law of Moses is about to be fulfilled, the handwriting of ordinances is about to be blotted out; the Law will no longer apply after that night. (The rending of the veil of the Temple at the death of Christ was God's divine declaration that the Old Covenant was over!)

Love one another. Is this new commandment a replacement law? A law to take the place of the Old Testament's 613 precepts and commandments?

No, this is not a replacement for the Law but rather, it is the introduction of a new mode of living. Paul will later refer to it as 'walking in the Spirit.' In his first epistle, John writes, "God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him." That is, if we love one another, we will be living in God, and God will be living in us.

Love is the opposite of self-living. It is the opposite of pride, ego and lust.

Walk in the Spirit. Paul wrote to the Galatians, "This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh." Walking in the Spirit is walking in love; it's not some super-spiritual, mystical thing - it's love. The opposite of loving others is serving self; the Spirit opposes the flesh. The flesh opposes the Spirit.

"If we live in the Spirit, let us walk in the Spirit" (Galatians 5:25) Since you are saved, live like it. Since the Spirit does dwell in you, then walk in him. Paul re-states this again as 'putting on the new man.'

Put on the New Man. In Galatians 3:27, Paul informs us, "For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ." That's past tense! That is, if you are saved, you have put on Christ. Again, if you are saved, "ye live in the Spirit", NOW therefore, he urges, ". . . put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof." (Romans 13:14)

You are saved, act like it. You are in the Spirit, therefore walk in the Spirit. You dwell in Love, therefore live in love. You have put on Christ, therefore put on Christ!

Be Ye Perfect. "And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness." (Colossians 3:14) Charity is love. Love is perfect. "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect." (Matthew 5:48)

And again, "Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded:" Let those among us who are perfect BE perfect. Past tense! "as many as be perfect"!

We don't strive to be perfect; we are perfect. And because we are perfect, we are urged to be perfect. That is, bear fruit which is the overflow of abiding in Christ (John 15).

Abide in Me. "Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing." (John 15:4-5)



Are you beginning to see it? Abide in Me, love one another, put on the new man, be ye perfect, walk in the Spirit - it's all the SAME thing! It's our new mode of living under the New Covenant!

So, the question is: Is the Upper Room commandment to "Love one another" a restatement of Matthew 22:34-40? Is this "Love one another" a retelling of the same old Law but in a condensed version?

Absolutely not! The Law was given so that the Flesh had something to attempt and fail at. The Law was given to reveal the sinfulness of Self, and the insufficiency of the Flesh.

This new commandment to "Love one another" is given to the spirit, and is not a working but a resting. It is not a striving but an abiding. It is an overflow of faith. It is not meant to reveal our insufficiency; it is meant to reveal HIS sufficiency.

God is Love. Love one another.