This is my commandment - The special law of Christianity, called hence "the new commandment." See the notes at John 13:34.

As I have loved you - That is, with the same tender affection, willing to endure trials, to practice self-denials, and, if need be, to lay down your lives for each other, 1 John 3:16.

That ye love one another - See on John 13:34 (note). So deeply was thus commandment engraved on the heart of this evangelist that St. Jerome says, lib. iii. c. 6, Com. ad Galat., that in his extreme old age, when he used to be carried to the public assemblies of the believers, his constant saying was, Little children, love one another. His disciples, wearied at last with the constant repetition of the same words, asked him, Why he constantly said the same thing? "Because (said he) it is the commandment of the Lord, and the observation of it alone is sufficient." Quia praeceptum Domini est, et, si solum fiat, sufficit.

This is my commandment, that ye love one another,.... Christ had been before speaking of his commandments; and he mentions this as the principal one, and to which all the rest may be reduced; for as the precepts of the second table of the moral law may be briefly comprehended in this one duty, love to our neighbour, so all the duties of Christianity, relative to one another, are reducible to this, by love to serve each other. This was the commandment which lay uppermost on Christ's heart, and which he knew, if attended to, the rest could not fail of being observed. The argument by which, and the manner in which, he presses it, is as before:

as I have loved you; than which nothing can be more strong and forcible; see John 13:34.

My commandment (ἡ ἐντολὴ ἡ ἐμὴ)

The commandment which is mine.

That ye love (ἵνα)

Indicating not merely the nature of the commandment, but its purport.

This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.

15:12 Your joy will be full, if ye so love one another.

12-16. That ye love one another, &c.-(See on [1858]Joh 13:34, 35).

15:9-17 Those whom God loves as a Father, may despise the hatred of all the world. As the Father loved Christ, who was most worthy, so he loved his disciples, who were unworthy. All that love the Saviour should continue in their love to him, and take all occasions to show it. The joy of the hypocrite is but for a moment, but the joy of those who abide in Christ's love is a continual feast. They are to show their love to him by keeping his commandments. If the same power that first shed abroad the love of Christ's in our hearts, did not keep us in that love, we should not long abide in it. Christ's love to us should direct us to love each other. He speaks as about to give many things in charge, yet names this only; it includes many duties.