John 15:12

12 `This is my command, that ye love one another, according as I did love you;

John 15:12 Meaning and Commentary

John 15:12

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 ) .

John 15:12 In-Context

10 if my commandments ye may keep, ye shall remain in my love, according as I the commands of my Father have kept, and do remain in His love;

11 these things I have spoken to you, that my joy in you may remain, and your joy may be full.

12 `This is my command, that ye love one another, according as I did love you;

13 greater love than this hath no one, that any one his life may lay down for his friends;

14 ye are my friends, if ye may do whatever I command you;