"The commandment to love one another summarizes the Second Table of the Moral Law (the last six
Commandments) generally speaking and is applied here by Christ to believers for one another specifically speaking.
Jesus summarizes the Moral Law in TWO Commandments, loving God (the First Table) and loving neighbor (the Second Table) in Matthew 22:36-40.
What is actually “new” about the “new commandment?” Well, it was not new in its substance. Loving others is the foundation of the last 6 of the Ten Commandments. The command to “love your neighbor as yourself” was first given in Leviticus 19:18. There was nothing new whatsoever about the command to love our neighbors.
So then, what did Jesus mean? What was new?
Their motivation for fulfilling the Law’s command was new. Jesus emphasized, “As I have loved you, so you must love one another.”
Ellicott’s Commentary says, “There is no reference in the context to the Ten Commandments, and we are not therefore to seek the meaning of the ‘new commandment’ in any more or less full contrast with them.”
The Cambridge Bible for Colleges and Schools says, “The commandment to love was not new, for ‘thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself’ (Leviticus 19:18) was part of the Mosaic Law. But the motive is new; to love our neighbor because Christ has loved us.”
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Jesus summarizes the Moral Law in TWO Commandments, loving God (the First Table) and loving neighbor (the Second Table) in Matthew 22:36-40.
What is actually “new” about the “new commandment?” Well, it was not new in its substance. Loving others is the foundation of the last 6 of the Ten Commandments. The command to “love your neighbor as yourself” was first given in Leviticus 19:18. There was nothing new whatsoever about the command to love our neighbors.
So then, what did Jesus mean? What was new?
Their motivation for fulfilling the Law’s command was new. Jesus emphasized, “As I have loved you, so you must love one another.”
Ellicott’s Commentary says, “There is no reference in the context to the Ten Commandments, and we are not therefore to seek the meaning of the ‘new commandment’ in any more or less full contrast with them.”
The Cambridge Bible for Colleges and Schools says, “The commandment to love was not new, for ‘thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself’ (Leviticus 19:18) was part of the Mosaic Law. But the motive is new; to love our neighbor because Christ has loved us.”
P&P