Love One Another

'The new command is simple enough for a toddler to memorise and appreciate, profound enough that the most mature believers are repeatedly embarrassed at how poorly they comprehend it and put it into practice: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. The standard of comparison is Jesus' love, just exemplified in the footwashing; but since the footwashing points to his death, these same disciples but a few days later would begin to appreciate a standard of live they would explore throughout their pilgrimage. The more we recognise the depth of our own sin, the more we recognise the love of the Saviour; the more we appreciate the love of the Saviour, the higher his standard appears; the higher his standard appears, the more we recognise in our selfishness, our innate self-centredness, the depth of our own sin. With a standard like this, no thoughtful believer can ever say, this side of the parousia, 'I am perfectly keeping the basic stipulation of the new covenant.''

- Don Carson, The Gospel According to John, p. 484, commenting on John 13:35.