1 John 2:7-8
"Dear friends, I am not writing you a new command but an old one, which you have had since the beginning. This old command is the message you have heard. Yet I am writing you a new command; its truth is seen in him and in you, because the darkness is passing and the true light is already shining."
The command the Lord gives us is both an old one and a new one. First, the old command the Lord gives us is in Mark 12:30, where he summarized the laws in the Old Testament into two: first "love your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength", second "love your neighbors as yourself". The gist of the old command is to love your neighbors as yourself, and love others the way you love yourself. Everyone loves himself. It is hard to feel others' pains no matter how great the pains are. But we can always feel our own pain. Therefore, Jesus tells us to love our neighbors as ourselves, which is the ultimate love among human beings. This kind of love includes what the Chinese would say like "Don't impose anything you dislike on others". Don't impose anything you don't like on others, for you have to love others as yourself. This kind of love also includes what is said in the Beatitudes: "You need to treat others the way you like to be treated." This is how Christians should treat others, which is also the gist of the laws in the Old Testament.
The Lord gives us the new command in John 13:34-35: "I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another." This is the command the Lord gives us in the New Testament. This new command is not supposed to revoke or replace the old one. Rather, God's command is promoted to a new level. The new command the Lord gives us is no longer about loving our neighbors as ourselves, but loving one another just like Jesus have loved us instead. How did the Lord love us? He sacrificed himself by coming to this world for us. Therefore, we should renew ourselves to love others, even more than we love ourselves, under this command. This love cannot be lived out by our sinful nature. Rather, it can only come from the Lord.
During the Cultural Revolution in China, many believers were persecuted and put in jail. But they still tried to bear witness out of their love for the Lord. Many people even saved the last piece of bread for those who were needy, when they barely had anything to feed themselves. This kind of testimony touched a lot of people, so that the gospel was spread more rapidly even during the Cultural Revolution. Since the believers lived out the sacrificing love of Christ, this kind of testimony of love carried power. May God help us, so that we not only receive the love of Christ, but also can live out the sacrificing love of Christ.
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