<strong>COMMANDMENT, THE NEW</strong> (<span class="greek">ἐντολή</span>, <span class="gknumber">G1953</span>, <em>commandment, order</em>). That commandment given in the NT which emphasizes the substance and spiritual power of love involved in the moral law, the <span class="auto-link">[[Ten Commandments]]</span>.<br /><br />

Although not stated formally as the new commandment, the message of Jesus to the rich young man who claimed he had kept the Ten Commandments (<bibleref ref="Matt.19.16-Matt.19.22">Matt 19:16-22</bibleref>; cf. the parallels, <bibleref ref="Mark.10.17-Mark.10.22">Mark 10:17-22</bibleref>; <bibleref ref="Luke.18.18-Luke.18.23">Luke 18:18-23</bibleref>) that he should sell all his goods, give to the poor and follow Jesus, stresses the new commandment principle of love toward God and men. The kernel of this thought is also imbedded in <bibleref ref="Matt.22.37-Matt.22.40">Matthew 22:37-40</bibleref> in Jesus’ summary of the Ten Commandments as teaching love to God and to one’s neighbor.

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In <bibleref ref="1John.2.5-1John.2.10">1 John 2:5-10</bibleref> the commandment is called old in that the readers knew from the OT and from John’s presentation of Jesus’ teaching that they should love one another (cf. <bibleref ref="John.15.12">John 15:12</bibleref>), but it was new in that there was renewed and continual emphasis to be placed on the Christian loving his brother through the power of God’s own love (cf. the same message in <bibleref ref="2John.1.5">2 John 5</bibleref>, <bibleref ref="2John.1.6">6</bibleref>).<br /><br />

<h2>Bibliography</h2>

G. G. Findlay, <em>Fellowship in the Life Eternal</em> (1955), 162-173; R. S. Wallace, <em><span class="auto-link">[[The Ten Commandments]]</span></em> (1965).<br /><br />

The New Commandment