and his impending death. The love commandment is not new, for Jesus quotes Deuteronomy 6:5 and Leviticus 19:18 in Mark 12:28–34. The author of the Johannine letters admits as much (1 John 2:7; 3:11); it has been told from the beginning. Its newness here is its eschatological nature and its radical definition: laying down one’s life for others. This is the guiding principle for the dawning messianic age. Love in John is not emotion, sentiment, or personal attraction, but very practical, dynamic, and