February 22nd 2026
Everyone Will Know That You Are My Disciples If You Love One Another.
John 13:34-35 (NIV)
“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
When Jesus walked this earth as the Son of Man, He associated with and loved people who at that time were not to be associated with by the people who were the religious leaders. Believers of that time believed to associate with such people would cause them to be marked as unclean, and thus, they would not be allowed to go to the temple, until they were proclaimed as being clean by their rabbi. It seems today Christians have continued in some ways to still look at other church attendees as being unacceptable to them, because of their belief system and the sacraments they observe. When Jesus returns to this cursed world, will He be able to recognize us as His disciples?
John wrote about what we were taught that caused us to become a person professing themselves to be a Christian. For this is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another. (1 John 3:11). Did you get that message of love for your brothers and sisters who profess to be Christians when you learned about your need to work on becoming more Christ-like every day as a new Christian?
Paul wrote about the power we gain when we become born again to be able to love other followers of Jesus Christ. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:38-39). So far, this commentary is only dealing with some difficulty of loving other followers of Jesus Christ. Jesus taught His disciples that we needed to love everyone, even those who choose to hate us and be our enemies in this cursed world!
James wrote about the freedom that showing mercy will give you, as a follower of Jesus Christ. Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom, because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment! (James 2:12-13). If we show mercy to everyone especially those who are non-believers because their destiny is to end up in hell, separated from God’s love forever! Judge not lest you be judged has been taught to believers, because we cannot know if anyone is a believer, we can only know that we have accepted our salvation by following Jesus Christ!
James then writes about the uncertainty of your life living in this mortally cursed world. Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. (James 4:14). We know that someday we will die, and our immortal soul will leave our mortal body, and if we have been born again, our soul will go to a waiting place that Jesus Christ prepared for us (you) to wait for creation of the new earth, AKA heaven. If, however, you did not come to be a follower of Jesus Christ in this cursed world your immortal soul will go to waiting place until the time comes for it to be cast into hell.
The writer of Job tells about the testing of Job by God, seeing how he would react to losing everything he had gained through toil in this cursed world. When Job was made aware that everything he had worked for was lost! And that his children and their families had been killed by a storm. At this, Job got up and tore his robe and shaved his head. Then he fell to the ground in worship and said: "Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I shall depart. The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; may the name of the LORD be praised." In all this, Job did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing. (Job 1:20-22). Job is grieving his loss, but he is not angry with God for taking away his earthly possessions and his family, as Job believes that God had blessed him with all of it!
From the Old Testament book of Nehemiah, we can get a picture of how everything in the universe came from God. You alone are the LORD. You made the heavens, even the highest heavens, and all their starry host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them. You give life to everything, and the multitudes of heaven worship you. (Nehemiah 9:6). This of course is in the time before Jesus came into the cursed world at this time Jesus was only prophesied to be coming into this world some day in the future. Here Nehemiah gives credit to God for creation of all living beings including mankind, where is says, “You give life to everything, and the multitudes of heaven worship you.”
We can read about the creation of mankind in the book of Genesis and know that humans are not now or never were evolved animals as evolution teaches. For we were created with an immortal soul first, and then when sin entered God creation, we then received a sinful nature. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. (Genesis 1:27). The god-like part of every human being is the immortal soul, which was created first, and then we inherited a sinful nature and live in this cursed world. Animals do not have an immortal soul, they live in this world and die, and that is the end of all life for them. That is why it is okay to kill and eat animals! However, humans were put in charge of them, and we were given responsibility to protect and to care for them.
This is why God desires for any human who takes the life of another human to be destroyed by humans, which is why we have capital punishment. God has ordered, “Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed; for in the image of God has God made man.” (Genesis 9:6). In murder a human being is destroying a god-like being, and only God has that authority. That is also why it is a form of murder when a human being decides to end the life, God created, when they abort a human baby before it is born into this cursed world!
Some people may say that God could have used evolution as His method of creation, but then why didn’t He tell us that in His Book, we call our Bible? Plus, if there was no original sin that brought death into this world then there would be no need for a Savior to end death! The death that salvation stops is the second death, or separation from God, of our immortal soul! We all know and believe that we will all die in the mortal world! If we really are followers of Jesus Christ, then we know our immortal soul is saved from the second death. If animals were dying for millions of years before sin entered this world and caused death, then sins entry did not cause death to be consequence of that sin! "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16).
Your brother in life through Adam, your brother in eternity through Jesus,
Bob Moak
John 13:34-35 (NIV)
“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
When Jesus walked this earth as the Son of Man, He associated with and loved people who at that time were not to be associated with by the people who were the religious leaders. Believers of that time believed to associate with such people would cause them to be marked as unclean, and thus, they would not be allowed to go to the temple, until they were proclaimed as being clean by their rabbi. It seems today Christians have continued in some ways to still look at other church attendees as being unacceptable to them, because of their belief system and the sacraments they observe. When Jesus returns to this cursed world, will He be able to recognize us as His disciples?
John wrote about what we were taught that caused us to become a person professing themselves to be a Christian. For this is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another. (1 John 3:11). Did you get that message of love for your brothers and sisters who profess to be Christians when you learned about your need to work on becoming more Christ-like every day as a new Christian?
Paul wrote about the power we gain when we become born again to be able to love other followers of Jesus Christ. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:38-39). So far, this commentary is only dealing with some difficulty of loving other followers of Jesus Christ. Jesus taught His disciples that we needed to love everyone, even those who choose to hate us and be our enemies in this cursed world!
James wrote about the freedom that showing mercy will give you, as a follower of Jesus Christ. Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom, because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment! (James 2:12-13). If we show mercy to everyone especially those who are non-believers because their destiny is to end up in hell, separated from God’s love forever! Judge not lest you be judged has been taught to believers, because we cannot know if anyone is a believer, we can only know that we have accepted our salvation by following Jesus Christ!
James then writes about the uncertainty of your life living in this mortally cursed world. Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. (James 4:14). We know that someday we will die, and our immortal soul will leave our mortal body, and if we have been born again, our soul will go to a waiting place that Jesus Christ prepared for us (you) to wait for creation of the new earth, AKA heaven. If, however, you did not come to be a follower of Jesus Christ in this cursed world your immortal soul will go to waiting place until the time comes for it to be cast into hell.
The writer of Job tells about the testing of Job by God, seeing how he would react to losing everything he had gained through toil in this cursed world. When Job was made aware that everything he had worked for was lost! And that his children and their families had been killed by a storm. At this, Job got up and tore his robe and shaved his head. Then he fell to the ground in worship and said: "Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I shall depart. The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; may the name of the LORD be praised." In all this, Job did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing. (Job 1:20-22). Job is grieving his loss, but he is not angry with God for taking away his earthly possessions and his family, as Job believes that God had blessed him with all of it!
From the Old Testament book of Nehemiah, we can get a picture of how everything in the universe came from God. You alone are the LORD. You made the heavens, even the highest heavens, and all their starry host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them. You give life to everything, and the multitudes of heaven worship you. (Nehemiah 9:6). This of course is in the time before Jesus came into the cursed world at this time Jesus was only prophesied to be coming into this world some day in the future. Here Nehemiah gives credit to God for creation of all living beings including mankind, where is says, “You give life to everything, and the multitudes of heaven worship you.”
We can read about the creation of mankind in the book of Genesis and know that humans are not now or never were evolved animals as evolution teaches. For we were created with an immortal soul first, and then when sin entered God creation, we then received a sinful nature. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. (Genesis 1:27). The god-like part of every human being is the immortal soul, which was created first, and then we inherited a sinful nature and live in this cursed world. Animals do not have an immortal soul, they live in this world and die, and that is the end of all life for them. That is why it is okay to kill and eat animals! However, humans were put in charge of them, and we were given responsibility to protect and to care for them.
This is why God desires for any human who takes the life of another human to be destroyed by humans, which is why we have capital punishment. God has ordered, “Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed; for in the image of God has God made man.” (Genesis 9:6). In murder a human being is destroying a god-like being, and only God has that authority. That is also why it is a form of murder when a human being decides to end the life, God created, when they abort a human baby before it is born into this cursed world!
Some people may say that God could have used evolution as His method of creation, but then why didn’t He tell us that in His Book, we call our Bible? Plus, if there was no original sin that brought death into this world then there would be no need for a Savior to end death! The death that salvation stops is the second death, or separation from God, of our immortal soul! We all know and believe that we will all die in the mortal world! If we really are followers of Jesus Christ, then we know our immortal soul is saved from the second death. If animals were dying for millions of years before sin entered this world and caused death, then sins entry did not cause death to be consequence of that sin! "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16).
Your brother in life through Adam, your brother in eternity through Jesus,
Bob Moak
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