John 13:34

13:34 “I give you a new commandment – to love ¹  one another. Just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. ² 

John 12:49

12:49 For I have not spoken from my own authority, ³  but the Father himself who sent me has commanded me ⁴  what I should say and what I should speak.

John 14:31

14:31 but I am doing just what the Father commanded me, so that the world may know ⁵  that I love the Father. ⁶  Get up, let us go from here.” ⁷ 

John 10:18

10:18 No one takes it away from me, but I lay it down ⁸  of my own free will. ⁹  I have the authority ¹⁰  to lay it down, and I have the authority ¹¹  to take it back again. This commandment ¹²  I received from my Father.”

[13:34]  ¹ tn The ἵνα (Jina) clause gives the content of the commandment. This is indicated by a dash in the translation.

[13:34]  ² sn The idea that love is a commandment is interesting. In the OT the ten commandments have a setting in the covenant between God and Israel at Sinai; they were the stipulations that Israel had to observe if the nation were to be God’s chosen people. In speaking of love as the new commandment for those whom Jesus had chosen as his own (John 13:1, 15:16) and as a mark by which they could be distinguished from others (13:35), John shows that he is thinking of this scene in covenant terminology. But note that the disciples are to love “Just as I have loved you” (13:34). The love Jesus has for his followers cannot be duplicated by them in one sense, because it effects their salvation, since he lays down his life for them: It is an act of love that gives life to people. But in another sense, they can follow his example (recall to the end, 13:1; also 1 John 3:16, 4:16 and the interpretation of Jesus’ washing of the disciples’ feet). In this way Jesus’ disciples are to love one another: They are to follow his example of sacrificial service to one another, to death if necessary.

[12:49]  ³ tn Grk “I have not spoken from myself.”

[12:49]  ⁴ tn Grk “has given me commandment.”

[14:31]  ⁵ tn Or “may learn.”

[14:31]  ⁶ tn Grk “But so that the world may know that I love the Father, and just as the Father commanded me, thus I do.” The order of the clauses has been rearranged in the translation to conform to contemporary English style.

[14:31]  ⁷ sn Some have understood Jesus’ statement Get up, let us go from here to mean that at this point Jesus and the disciples got up and left the room where the meal was served and began the journey to the garden of Gethsemane. If so, the rest of the Farewell Discourse took place en route. Others have pointed to this statement as one of the “seams” in the discourse, indicating that the author used preexisting sources. Both explanations are possible, but not really necessary. Jesus could simply have stood up at this point (the disciples may or may not have stood with him) to finish the discourse before finally departing (in 18:1). In any case it may be argued that Jesus refers not to a literal departure at this point, but to preparing to meet the enemy who is on the way already in the person of Judas and the soldiers with him.

[10:18]  ⁷ tn Or “give it up.”

[10:18]  ⁸ tn Or “of my own accord.” “Of my own free will” is given by BDAG 321 s.v. ἐμαυτοῦ c.

[10:18]  ⁹ tn Or “I have the right.”

[10:18]  ¹⁰ tn Or “I have the right.”

[10:18]  ¹¹ tn Or “order.”