I am writing to remind you, dear friends, that we should love one another. This is not a new commandment, but one we have had from the beginning.

Why would the Apostle John feel the need to urge his readers to love one another? If you are going to take the time to write a letter to a church, why not focus on issues that are fresh and relevant? After all, the idea that we should love one another is central to the Christian way of life and it was, no doubt, taught in the churches from the very beginning. Even John himself says the commandment is nothing new.

The Apostle believed it was something that bears repeating, precisely because love is so central. It may not be new, but it is crucial to everything Christianity is all about. Jesus said that the love of God is the first and greatest commandment, and He said that the love of neighbor is equally important. Indeed, Jesus said that the “entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments,” (Matthew 22:37-40).

It follows, therefore, that every other commandment and principle of the Bible is just a specific way of expressing love to God or to people. We should not envy, for example, because to do so is a failure to love someone. We should not kill, obviously, for the same reason. Something similar can be said of every other moral principle of the Bible.

Given the central importance of love, this doctrine cannot be avoided. Its very centrality demanded that it be introduced at the beginning, AND be continued. The Apostles taught it to the churches, Jesus taught it to His disciples, and it was first articulated by Moses in the Old Testament (Deuteronomy 6:5; Leviticus 19:18).

So we also need to be reminded. We need to be reminded of the centrality and importance of love. We need to continuously re-orient and re-focus our lives as lives of love, since such love is indicative of our being in Christ. “Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples,” (John 13:35).

Today, friends, let us be sure to love one another.

By John Huisman, friend of Bible League International