It is true that many times we live under the shadow of the Old Testament. In the Old Testament we see a group of laws to fulfill, of people judging by everything you do, but in the New Testament we see a waste of mercy and love. The New Testament presents the church as a community of people who feel great brotherly love for one another, this means that if our churches are not expressing that love, then they are not communicating to the world the true biblical community that represents the love of Jesus.
The Old Testament mentions expressions in the law of Moses such as: “An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth”. Instead, the New Testament commands us to love our enemies. I believe that a part of the church today prefers an “eye for an eye” or to judge the brother and trample him.
We read so much the Bible, but often we take those things that suit us. Jesus once said:
34 “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.
35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
John 13:34-35
In the first place, Jesus says that He gives us a new commandment, which annuls the phrases we have mentioned in the Old Testament. In the second place He says that we should love one another, and this means that we should forgive ourselves, that we should serve ourselves, that we should cheer up, etc. In the third place, He does not command us to love with any love, but He says: “As I have loved you, so also love one another.”
Christ commands us to love ourselves as He loved the church that He gave his life for it. That is why John also says in chapter 15: 13: “No one has greater love than this, that one lay down his life for his friends”. This means that true love within the church is represented in its maximum expression, to the point of giving our lives for our brothers.
And finally, Jesus says: “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” He does not say that will know that we are his disciples because we are famous, arrogant, philosophical, critical, etc. He tells us that the world will know that we are Christians because of the love we represent in front of the world, because of the extreme difference we show in love towards a brother.
As a church we still have a lot to learn. Remember, Christ has given us a new commandment: “Let us love one another as He has loved the church.”
