Jesus told the apostles that he gave them a new commandment to love one another as he loved them (John 13:34-36).
This is different then from the Old Testament commandment, “Love your neighbour as yourself” for it was an old commandment. Jesus accepted the Old Testament command so it seems that he meant we have to love one another enough to die for one another. The preceding sentence has Jesus saying he will only be around a little while so that was probably what he had in mind.
The line after also says that Jesus will sacrifice himself to death and Peter says he will sacrifice himself too.
The Law also commanded people to die for others say in war. So why does Jesus say it’s a new commandment?
Could it be that the gospel is obliquely saying that Jesus wants people to die UNNECESSARILY for others? That is the only explanation. If the apostles committed suicide by getting themselves martyred then we cannot rely on them at all. Jesus said that the whole world would know they are his disciples by their love and obedience to the new commandment. But the apostles lived obscure lives and died deaths that are masked in legend. This prophecy proved false. It was only in the second century that stories of this remarkable suicidal fanatical love of the apostles appeared which tell us plenty about when this gospel was written.
APPENDIX
Argument: Love of God and Neighbor as Integrated Commands
Premise 1: Jesus stated that the greatest commandment is to love God with all your heart, soul, and mind (Matthew 22:37).
Premise 2: Jesus stated that the second greatest commandment is to love your neighbor as yourself (Matthew 22:39).
Premise 3: Loving God fully implies obeying His commandments, because obedience and love are inherently linked in the biblical context.
Premise 4: God commands us to love our neighbor (as indicated in the second commandment).
Conclusion 1: Therefore, loving your neighbor is not a separate, independent act but a direct expression of your love for God.
Premise 5: This framework does not prohibit natural love for one’s children, family, or others.
Premise 6: Such natural love, when understood as part of obeying God’s commands, becomes a rippling manifestation of love for God.
Conclusion 2: In sum, the command to love God first and neighbor second integrates all love. Loving others—family, friends, strangers—is morally and spiritually meaningful because it reflects and pleases God.
Summary Statement: Loving God with all one’s being includes loving others, since God commands it. Natural affections (like parental love) are expressions of this love when consciously aligned with God’s will. Therefore, the greatest and second-greatest commandments are not in tension but fully harmonized: love for neighbor flows from love for God.
The [ALLEGED] Defectiveness of Love Without God
Premise 1: Jesus teaches that the greatest commandment is to love God with all your heart, soul, and mind.
Premise 2: Loving your neighbor is commanded by God and flows from your love for Him.
Premise 3: If a person loves others but does not love God, their love is disconnected from its proper source.
Premise 4: Love that is disconnected from God tends to become self-centered, possessive, or misdirected because it is not guided by divine truth or moral wisdom.
Conclusion 1: Therefore, love for others, when not rooted in love for God, is inherently defective, even if it appears affectionate or kind.
Explanation:
Loving someone without loving God treats the other person as an end in themselves or as a source of personal satisfaction, rather than as a reflection of God’s image.
This misdirected love risks becoming selfish, controlling, or idolizing the loved one instead of seeing them rightly—as a person to be loved in accordance with God’s will.
True love for others is fully ordered when it flows from love for God: it honors God, seeks the good of the loved one, and maintains proper perspective and humility.
Summary Statement:
Without loving God, human love—even for children, family, or friends—is incomplete and potentially distorted. Loving God first ensures that all our other loves are rightly directed, healthy, and pleasing to Him.
Love and the Question of God’s Existence
Premise 1: The biblical commandments to love God and neighbor assume that God exists and is loving.
Premise 2: If there is no God, or God does not exist as loving, then treating oneself or others as “children of God” is misguided, because it attributes a relationship or authority that is not real.
Premise 3: Love directed toward a nonexistent or indifferent God cannot meaningfully motivate or justify moral action; it is based on an illusion rather than reality.
Premise 4: In the absence of a loving God, the proper purpose of love is for the well-being of oneself and others, rather than to please a supernatural being.
Conclusion 1: Therefore, if there is no God, love should be grounded in human needs, flourishing, and relationships—not in devotion to a nonexistent or uncaring deity.
Premise 5: Treating someone as a “child of God” when God does not exist can distort understanding of human relationships, leading to misplaced obligations or expectations.
Conclusion 2: Ethical love in a godless framework is best conceived as mutual care and respect among humans, rather than as a ripple effect of love toward God.
Summary Statement:
From a secular or atheist standpoint, love loses its theological function if God is absent or uncaring. It should instead be oriented toward human well-being, grounded in reality, and focused on relationships that genuinely exist. Attempting to live as if one’s love is for God in this context risks misdirection and misunderstanding of the true nature of human connection.
NOTE: If God exists but must tolerate human free will and a universe that is chaotic or harmful, His love might not actively prevent suffering or injustice in the world. It might bear no importance to us.
APPENDIX: LOVE OF NEIGHBOUR AS ONESELF
The command to love your neighbour as yourself does not say if you should or should not love yourself. It only says that you do and should love your neighbour as if they were you. Jesus taught that whoever loves his life will lose it but whoever loses his life will find it. This warns of the danger of self-love.