Title: The New Commandment and Brotherly Love
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Beloved, I am not writing a new commandment to you, but an old commandment which you have from the beginning, which you have heard, but again I write to you a new commandment, which is true to him and to you, that the darkness has passed and the truth is true. The light is already shining; he who says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness; he who loves his brother lives in the light and has no hindrance in himself; but he who hates his brother is in darkness and walks in darkness and knows where to go. do not know, for darkness has blinded his eyes (1 John 2:7-11).
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The reason we tell believers to ‘love our brothers’ is because they are loved by God. Brotherly love is a characteristic of the believer that can be seen only in those who are loved by the Father. Brotherly love can never be shown to those who do not know the Father's love. After all, if you have received your father's love, that love is meant to be revealed as loving your brother. Therefore, brotherly love is also an expression of the integrity of our relationship with God.
As I said last time, brotherly love is neither ethical nor mechanical. We just need to love our brothers as the Father loved us. Therefore, there is no high or low in love. There is no superiority and no comparison.
In John 13, Jesus washed the disciples' feet and asked, "Do you know what I have done to you?" It was not because the disciples' feet were dirty, so they washed them. It was washed to teach you something. In John 13:14-15 we read, “I have washed your feet, both as Lord and as Teacher, and you also ought to wash one another’s feet. I have set an example for you to do as I have done for you.” do.
When Jesus washed the feet of his disciples, rather than showing the humility of the high man washing the feet of the lowly, the disciples in Jesus teach each other that there is no high or low. This is what it means to wash each other's feet. This has absolutely nothing to do with the foot-washing ceremony commonly practiced in the modern church. Even if we do not have a foot washing ceremony, when we meet brothers, there is no high or low, but when we meet as brothers who abid in the grace of Christ, that is washing each other's feet.
Then, in John 13:16-17, it says: “Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, and the one who is sent is not greater than the one who sent him.
We are only servants of Jesus. Even if you meet any brother, you meet as a servant of Jesus, and just because the other person has worse conditions than you do not mean that you meet him in a superior position. Only Jesus exists as a master to us, and I cannot exist as someone else's master. This is the relationship of the believer. He is saying that those who know this and do it are blessed.
Why do you say this is a blessing? It is because meeting a brother as a servant of Jesus is the proof of knowing Jesus. Knowing Jesus is to know that as a servant of Jesus, it is evil to dare to become your brother's master. Wouldn't this be a blessing soon?
Humans are all sinners by the same nature. The rich and the poor, the more educated and the little educated, this is by no means a criterion for distinguishing human beings. Rather, you should know that they are instruments of human wickedness. We must not forget that the Bible views all human beings the same in sin. Therefore, believers should not try to reveal their superiority by putting worldly things first when meeting each other. However, we must testify to each other that we are the ones who have received new life by the grace of God, and it must be an encounter in a relationship without high or low.
If there is anything I have done better than others, it is simply the gift of serving and serving my brother. Therefore, you should know that using your deeds to elevate yourself as a worthy being is also just a form of dwelling in darkness.
God does not judge people by their actions. Romans 2:28-29 says, “For he is not a Jew outwardly, and circumcision in the flesh is not circumcision, but he is a Jew inwardly, and circumcision, which is in the heart, in the Spirit and not in the ceremonies, whose praise is from men. not, but from God.” By saying that we do not see the circumcision of the body as circumcision, but the circumcision of the heart as true circumcision, this is proof of what God sees.
This also reveals the same idea in the Old Testament. In other words, it means that the circumcision of the body was important in the Old Testament, but in the New Testament, circumcision of the heart is important. This can be clearly seen by the words of Deuteronomy 10:16, “Therefore, circumcise your hearts and stiffen your necks no more.”
This emphasis on circumcision of the heart is because true works come from the heart. If the heart is directed toward God, and if it is a heart that knows God and understands God, actions will be formed naturally. I am saying these words to tell you that we cannot exalt ourselves by any religious act that we have. This is because, as so-called religious acts, there are many cases of comparing each other and revealing a sense of relative superiority, which breaks down the relationship of believers.
Circumcision of the heart is knowing that all righteousness and merit belong to the Lord. To deny human potential and power is to circumcise the heart. This kind of heart does not see their own deeds, and those who do not see their own deeds do not compare and differentiate between their brothers and can testify of the Father's love.
Therefore, if you are a believer who knows God's love and grace, do not forget that you are supposed to love your brother. The value of everything is in brotherly love. As in 1 Corinthians 13, no matter how much we speak the gospel, the Bible, and even if we have faith to move mountains, if we do not have love, we are nothing. If you say you have faith and do not love your brother, then your faith is in vain.