What Exactly is New about "Love One Another"?

In John, Jesus gives a new commandment to love each other as he loved his disciples. It's a really nice commandment, but the problem is, why exactly is this different from love God and love your neighbor? What's the newness in the former versus the latter?

Here's the text in John 13:34-35
"34 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. 35 By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another."



(Image: The Good Samaritan Domenico Fetti 1618-1622)

​Compare with Luke 10:27
"He answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.”"

Jesus in the Luke verses summarizes the Mosaic law as essentially love of God and love of neighbor. He then gives the Good Samaritan story (Lk 10:25-37). In that story, a man is robbed on the road between Jerusalem and Jericho. He is beaten and left to die. At separate times, a priest and a Levite walk by but do not help the man. Then a Samaritan, who is a cultural enemy of the Jews, sees the man, has compassion, risks his life, and saves the man. He even promises an innkeeper that he will return and settle up any further debts incurred by the recovering victim. Jesus then says to go and do likewise.

This kind of love seems pretty comprehensive. Why is this not enough? Why do we need a new commandment of love? Maybe one might say that self-sacrifice is the distinctively Christian element and thus new. I agree with this, although it's not clear how this is not present as such in the Good Samaritan story. The Samaritan risks his own life by stopping to help the victim. That act seems self-sacrificial.

Back to the question of what is new about Jesus' commandment. The command to love each other goes beyond love of neighbor, so admirably displayed by the Good Samaritan. Jesus is not speaking about love of neighbor, but love of Christian family--"Love one another." So if we project "love one another" into the Good Samaritan story, what else would the Samaritan have done to meet the threshold of this new commandment? 

Let's say we asked the Samaritan before his trip, "If you come across a man beaten and half-dead on the dangerous road to Jericho, would you stop to help him, even at great risk to yourself?" The Samaritan's answer would be yes. He passes the love your neighbor test. Now the love-one-another test, "Mr. Samaritan, a man is going to be beaten to within an inch of his life. Would you take his place and be the victim?" Yes, the Samaritan might do this, but by the Law, he is not required to. The Christian, though, is commanded to sacrifice to this extent for a Christian brother or sister.

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