He didn't say, "I'm giving you an additional commandment".
He didn't say, "I'm reducing the commandments".
He didn't say, "Here's my summary of the commandments".
He said, "A new commandment I give unto you..."
New replaces the old - or else it's not new,
If the old remains, then it's just an add-on, or a subtraction from, or a rewording of the same.
It's not just a new way of keeping the old.
It's really a new commandment, which replaces the old.
It's different to the two great commandments upon which all the other commandments in the Law and prophets hung. Otherwise if it is the same, then it wouldn't be new.
The two great commandments didn't suffice for the Law and Prophets - they were the pegs that hung all the other commandments which were also indispensable.
"These ought ye to have done, and not to have left the other undone".
This new commandment is not merely a new way of summarizing the Law.
It's not a new hinge for the Law, for if it was, it wouldn't be new, for it's worded so similarly to the two great commandments.
It's a totally new commandment. It replaces the old.
Otherwise it's not new.
But it is entirely new.
And yet it's the same as the old.
The only way it can be entirely new yet the same, is if it's entirely new and stands alone - but yet fulfils the old in every way.
It's a brand new covenant. Totally.
And yet it fulfils the Old.
Hallelujah!
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