John 13:35
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The context
John 13 begins the farewell discourse, after the foot washing and the departure of Judas. Jesus gives a new commandment to love one another as he has loved them, and then names the mark by which outsiders will recognize the group. The prediction of Peter's denial follows immediately.
What it establishes
The verse makes mutual love the public identifier of discipleship, and it ties that love to the example just given in the washing of feet. The visibility is explicit: the recognition is by outsiders, not by the group itself.
What it does not establish
It does not make love a substitute for doctrine. The command sits inside a discourse that also insists on keeping his word and on the Spirit of truth. Nor does it specify the form love takes; the standard is Jesus' own self-lowering.
Short note, first pass, October 2026. Corrections welcome.
Cited in these answers
- I am homosexual and I was born homosexual – don't homosexuals have the right NOT to be hated and persecuted by the church?
- I tried Christianity but failed when the church bouncer told me to check my intelligence in at the door. Christians are stupid – ignorant, dumb, money-grubbing gay-bashing idiot bigots.
Part of Scripture, Opened — the exegetical layer behind every citation on this site. Scripture quotations are from the ESV.