Commentaries:
No entry exists in Forerunner Commentary for John 13:31.
John 13:31-35
Excerpted from: Love's Basic DefinitionSo understand this! The love of God is going to involve a cost to the individual who does the act—whatever it might be. We might say, then, that this 'costliness' is its vital, or essential, part. Now, it is not the only one. There is another one that has to be fit into this, if the love of God is going to really be there.
Even as God is manifested by what He does, His children will also be manifested by what they do, because they will be doing acts that are similar. Maybe not in scope, maybe not in size, but in kind—in terms of they will be things that will be done for the benefit of others; acts that will cost them something.
We also find from this series of verses that what the Father did and what the Son did, most specifically, what the Son did here in John 13, is going to be the standard against which all acts of love are to be measured. I am not thinking here of what Jesus specifically did in that period of time right after this episode in John 13 took place—that is, the crucifixion. I am talking about Jesus' entire life being the example, the standard, against which all acts of love are going to be measured.
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