8The Supreme Standard of Sacrificial Love  (John 13:31–38)

Therefore when he had gone out, Jesus said, “Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in Him; if God is glorified in Him, God will also glorify Him in Himself, and will glorify Him immediately. Little children, I am with you a little while longer. You will seek Me; and as I said to the Jews, now I also say to you, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come.’ A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” Simon Peter said to Him, “Lord, where are You going?” Jesus answered, “Where I go, you cannot follow Me now; but you will follow later.” Peter said to Him, “Lord, why can I not follow You right now? I will lay down my life for You.” Jesus answered, “Will you lay down your life for Me? Truly, truly, I say to you, a rooster will not crow until you deny Me three times.” (13:31–38)

Throughout history people have identified themselves as followers of Jesus Christ by various external marks, such as special clothes or even distinctive haircuts. In more recent times some have worn lapel pins, crosses or other jewelry, donned clothing with a Christian theme, affixed Christian bumper stickers to their cars, or sipped their coffee out of mugs emblazoned with a Christian logo.

These external displays of loyalty to Christ are not necessarily wrong, and at times can be helpful in drawing attention to one’s Christian testimony. But it is not such superficial, outward symbols that ultimately mark a true follower of Jesus Christ; it is the internal attitudes of the heart (Matt. 5:8; Luke 8:15; Acts 15:9; 16:14; Rom. 2:29; 10:9–10; 2 Cor. 4:6; 2 Tim. 2:22; Heb. 10:22). Only those whose hearts have been transformed by the redeeming grace of God are His children (John 3:3–8; 2 Cor. 5:17; Titus 3:5; 1 Peter 1:3, 23).

That inner transformation results in a changed life, the external fruit of which is seen in a believer’s behavior, including both attitudes and actions. Such fruit is detailed in such passages as Galatians 5:22–23; Ephesians 5:9; and Colossians 3:12–15 (cf. Luke 6:43–45), but at its most basic level, this fruit can be summed up in one word: love. Because Christians have been regenerated by the power of the Spirit (Titus 3:5–7), they are those who truly love God and love others (cf. Rom. 12:9–21; 1 Cor. 13:3–8; 1 Peter 1:22–25; 1 John 4:7–11). They are those who are enabled to obey the greatest commandments— “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself’” (Mark 12:30–31). Unlike the unredeemed, who hate God and love themselves (cf. Eph. 2:1–3), Christians love the Lord (cf. John 8:42) and also love others (cf. Phil. 2:1–5).

Love for our triune God is most clearly demonstrated not through lip service, but through obedience. Jesus Himself explained to His disciples, “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments” (John 14:15), and later told them, “You are My friends if you do what I command you” (John 15:14). To a crowd of Jews who had purportedly believed in Him, Jesus said, “If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.”

Obedience is the visible demonstration of genuine love for Christ. Thus, as John wrote in his first epistle,

The Bible repeatedly warns of those who claim to be Christ’s disciples, but are not (cf. John 2:23–24;6:60–66; 12:25–26).

Jesus depicted false disciples as seed that fell by the roadside, on rocky soil, or among thorns (Matt. 13:3–7), tares growing alongside wheat (Matt. 13:24–30), bad fish that are thrown away (Matt. 13:47–48), goats condemned to eternal punishment (Matt. 25:33, 41), foolish virgins shut out of the wedding feast (Matt. 25:1–12), worthless slaves who bury their master’s talent in the ground (Matt. 25:24–30; cf. Luke 19:11–27), and those left standing outside when the head of the house shuts the door (Luke 13:25–27). The writer of Hebrews referred to them as those who manifest an evil, unbelieving heart by falling away from God (Heb. 3:12), who continue to sin willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth (Heb. 10:26), and who fall away from the truth to eternal damnation (Heb. 10:39). In his first epistle John described them as apostates who leave the fellowship of believers (1 John 2:19). Like Demas, they profess to love Christ, but in reality they love this present world (2 Tim. 4:10; cf. 1 John 2:16–17).

What makes false disciples so difficult to detect is that they often have the outward trappings of genuine disciples, such as visible morality, an intellectual knowledge of the Bible, and even a level of involvement in the outward life of the church.

But such things are neutral; they neither prove nor disprove the genuineness of a person’s faith. The rich young ruler was outwardly moral (Matt. 19:16–21), but went away from his encounter with Christ grieving and unsaved (v. 22). Jesus denounced the Pharisees as “whitewashed tombs which on the outside appear beautiful, but inside they are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness” (Matt. 23:27). “So you, too,” He continued, “Outwardly appear righteous to men, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness” (v.28). Paul pointed out that both Gentiles (Rom. 1:21) and Jews (Rom. 2:17ff.) can have an intellectual knowledge of God’s truth and yet be unsaved. Nor is active involvement in ministry a reliable indicator of saving faith. In Matthew 7:22–23 Jesus warned, “Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.’” Both Judas (Matt. 27:3) and Felix (Acts 24:25) experienced conviction of sin, but remained unsaved. Making a decision to follow Christ is not necessarily a mark of genuine, saving faith either. The rocky soil in the parable of the soils pictures “those who, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no firm root; they believe for a while, and in time of temptation fall away” (Luke 8:13). Similarly, “the seed which fell among the thorns, these are the ones who have heard, and as they go on their way they are choked with worries and riches and pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to maturity” (v. 14).

John the Baptist challenged his hearers to “bear fruit in keeping with repentance” (Matt. 3:8) and Paul preached that people should perform “deeds appropriate to repentance” (Acts 26:20)—demonstrating a love for God (Luke 10:27; Rom. 8:28) that evidences itself in turning from sin (Prov. 28:13; 2 Cor. 7:10), portraying genuine humility (Ps. 51:17; Matt. 5:3), being committed to prayer (Luke 18:1; 1 Thess. 5:17), exhibiting selflessness (1 John 2:9–10; 3:14–18), separating oneself from the world (James 4:4;1 John 2:15–17), growing spiritually (Luke 8:15; John 15:1–2), being obedient (Matt. 7:21; 1 John 2:3–5), and cultivating a desire for God’s Word (1 Peter 2:1–3).

Beginning in 13:31 and running through the end of chapter 16, Jesus gave a farewell address to the eleven apostles (Judas having been dismissed [13:27, 30]). The Lord’s final charge to the men who would carry on His work included instruction, promises, warnings, and commandments. In this opening section of that address, the Lord highlights the premier mark of those who are His true disciples—namely, sincere, selfless love.

This passage emphasizes the supreme standard of that love by focusing on the person and work of Christ Himself. The profound expression, preeminent example, and powerful extent of Christ’s sacrificial love are each displayed in these verses. They illustrate the quality of love that is to characterize those who call themselves His disciples.

THE PROFOUND EXPRESSION OF CHRIST’S LOVE

Therefore when he had gone out, Jesus said, “Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in Him; if God is glorified in Him, God will also glorify Him in Himself, and will glorify Him immediately. Little children, I am with you a little while longer. You will seek Me; and as I said to the Jews, now I also say to you, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come.’” (13:31–33)

Love’s highest expression is self-sacrifice. As the Lord would later say to His disciples, “Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13; cf. 10:11). Along these same lines, the apostle John wrote in his first epistle, “We know love by this, that He laid down His life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren” (1 John 3:16). Jesus, therefore, pointed to His imminent crucifixion in order to underscore what He was about to teach the disciples concerning love.

In this passage, Jesus viewed His death in terms of the glorification that would result from it. Though the crucifixion was the point of His greatest humiliation (Phil. 2:8), it was also the event by which He is most glorified (cf. John 17:4–5; Phil. 2:9–11). His entire ministry pointed to the cross (Mark 10:45), making it the glorious climax of the life He lived perfectly in keeping with His Father’s will.

With Judas irrevocably committed to betraying Him, Jesus dismissed him (v. 30). Only then, when he had gone out, did the Lord begin His farewell address to the eleven remaining apostles. With the cross only hours away, Jesus’ thoughts turned to the fullness of glory that awaited Him in the Father’s presence (John 17:5). He made three statements regarding that glory, which He would soon reassume.

The first statement, “Now is the Son of Man glorified” (cf. Dan. 7:13–14), refers to His death on the cross the next day. The cross appeared to be a shameful, disastrous defeat for Jesus. Yet it was through the cross, where He gave His life for sinners, that Christ’s glory was displayed most clearly. In Acts 3:13 Peter declared to the very people who had crucified Jesus, “The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified His servant Jesus, the one whom you delivered and disowned in the presence of Pilate, when he had decided to release Him.”

Jesus was glorified through the cross in several ways. First, His death purchased salvation by satisfying the demands of God’s justice for all who would believe in Him. Paul wrote to the Colossians that God, “having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us … has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross” (Col. 2:14; cf. 1:19–22; Rom. 3:25; 5:8–9; Eph. 2:16; Heb. 2:17; 1 John 2:2; 4:10). The death of Jesus Christ also destroyed the power of sin; by “sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, [God] condemned sin in the flesh” (Rom. 8:3; cf. 6:6). Finally, His death destroyed the power of Satan, ending the reign of terror of “him who had the power of death” (Heb. 2:14; cf. Isa. 25:8; Hos. 13:14; 1 Cor. 15:54–57; 2 Tim. 1:10; 1 John 3:8).

Not only was Jesus glorified through His death, God also was glorified in Him. Through the cross, God’s glorious nature was supremely put on display.

First, Christ’s death displayed God’s power. The fiendish hatred of Satan and the desperate wickedness of the world tried with all their might to destroy Jesus Christ, but failed. God manifested His power by raising Him from the dead (Acts 3:15; 4:10; 13:30; Rom. 10:9; Gal. 1:1; Col. 2:12;1 Peter 1:21), thus destroying the power of Satan, sin, and death.

Second, Christ’s death declared God’s justice. The penalty for sinners’ violation of His holy law had to be paid, and since “the wages of sin is death” (Rom. 6:23), someone had to die. Therefore “the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on [Christ]” (Isa.53:6; cf. v. 11; Heb. 9:28; 1 Peter 2:24). It was only through the sacrifice of His Son that God could “be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus” (Rom. 3:26).

Third, Christ’s death revealed God’s holiness. Never did God so clearly manifest His holy hatred for sin than in the suffering and death of His Son. The Father loves the Son with an infinite love. Yet when Jesus became a curse for believers on the cross (Gal. 3:13), the Father, whose “eyes are too pure to approve evil, and … can not look on wickedness with favor” (Hab. 1:13), turned away from Him. That caused Jesus to cry out in agony, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” (Matt. 27:46).

Fourth, Christ’s death expressed God’s faithfulness. From the moment Adam’s and Eve’s disobedience plunged the human race into sin, God promised a redeemer (Gen. 3:15; cf. Isa.52:13–53:12; Matt. 1:21). Even though it cost Him His only Son, He kept that promise.

Finally, in keeping with the overall theme of this passage, Christ’s death was the most powerful demonstration of God’s love in all of history, To the Romans Paul wrote, “God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom. 5:8). “In this is love,” John added, “not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins” (1 John 4:10; cf. vv. 9, 14; Gal. 4:4–5).

The last statement Christ made regarding His glorification, if God is glorified in Him, God will also glorify Him in Himself, looks beyond the cross to His exaltation to the Father’s right hand (Matt. 26:64; Acts 2:33;5:31;7:55–56; Rom. 8:34; Eph. 1:20; Col. 3:1; Heb. 1:3, 13;8:1; 10:12; 12:2; 1 Peter 3:22). Paul had this aspect of Christ’s glory in mind when he wrote to the Philippians, “For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name” (Phil. 2:9; cf. Acts 2:33; 7:55; Rom. 8:34; Col. 3:1; Heb. 1:3; 10:12). It was to this glory that Jesus longed to return (John 17:5). The Lord could say that the Father would glorify Him immediately because His resurrection and ascension would shortly follow the cross. This was “the joy set before Him” for which He willingly “endured the cross, despising the shame;” His coronation when He “sat down at the right hand of the throne of God” (Heb. 12:2).

But Jesus’ glorification meant that He would have to leave the disciples—a truth they found difficult to understand and accept (cf. 14:1; 16:16–18; Matt. 16:21–22; Acts 1:9–11). A few days earlier they had heard Him warn the Jews, “For a little while longer the Light is among you. Walk while you have the Light, so that darkness will not overtake you; he who walks in the darkness does not know where he goes. While you have the Light, believe in the Light, so that you may become sons of Light” (12:35–36). Now gently, using the affectionate term teknia (little children), the Lord reminded the disciples of that reality, telling them, “I am with you a little while longer.” After He was gone, they would long for His visible presence, but as He had said to the Jews (cf. 7:34; 8:21), He now … also said to them, “Where I am going, you cannot come.” Not only was the Lord leaving the disciples, He was also going where they would be unable to immediately follow Him. Unlike the unbelieving Jews (7:34), however, the disciples would one day see Jesus again (v. 36; 16:16).

The disciples loved Christ deeply and depended on Him totally. Knowing that He soon would be leaving them was both painful and frightening. His imminent death was certainly not what they would have chosen. And yet, it was both the most necessary and the most loving act Christ could perform on their behalf. As the Lord had taught them earlier, “I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep” (John 10:11). He had come to die for them, and for all who would believe in Him.

At the cross, the love of God through Christ was put on display in an unsurpassable and eternally unique way (cf. John 3:16). Earlier in this chapter, the Lord had illustrated His humble, sacrificial love by washing the disciples’ feet (13:5–15). Now He pointed to the far greater demonstration of His sacrificial love—the cross. It is this infinite expression of love that under girds the Lord’s subsequent command.

THE PREEMINENT EXAMPLE OF CHRIST’S LOVE

“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” (13:34–35)

The Lord’s charge to the eleven apostles in one sense was not new. The Old Testament prescribed love for God (Deut. 6:5) and people (Lev. 19:18), as Jesus Himself affirmed (Matt. 22:34–40). But it was a new commandment (cf. 1 John 2:7–8; 3:11; 2 John 5) in the sense that it presented a higher standard of love—one based on the example of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. Believers face the daunting challenge of loving one another even as Jesus loved them (cf. 15:12–13, 17). Of course, to love like that is impossible apart from the transforming power of the new covenant (Jer. 31:31–34). It is only “because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us” (Rom. 5:5; cf. Gal. 5:22) that believers can love as Jesus commanded.

Christ’s example of selfless, sacrificial love sets the supreme standard for believers to follow. D. A. Carson writes,

In Ephesians 5:2 Paul exhorted, “Walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us.” Such love is “patient, … is kind and is not jealous; … does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things” (1 Cor. 13:4–7). If the church ever consistently loved like that, it would have a powerful impact on the world.

In his book The Mark of the Christian, Francis Schaeffer listed two practical ways Christians can manifest love for each other. They can do so first by being willing to apologize and seek forgiveness from those they have wronged. What causes the sharpest, most bitter disputes in the body of Christ are not doctrinal differences, but the unloving manner in which those differences are handled. Being willing to apologize to those whom we have offended is crucial to preserving the unity of the body of Christ. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus taught that reconciliation with other people is a prerequisite to worshiping God: “Therefore if you are presenting your offering at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your offering there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and present your offering” (Matt. 5:23–24).

A second practical way to demonstrate love is to grant forgiveness. In light of the eternal forgiveness that comes through the cross, Christians should be eager to forgive the temporal offenses committed against them (Matt. 18:21–35; cf. 6:12, 14–15). Because God’s love has transformed believers’ hearts, they are able to extend that love to others in forgiveness. “In this is love,” wrote John in his first epistle, “not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another” (1 John 4:10–11). In Luke 17:3–4 Jesus commanded, “Be on your guard! If your brother sins, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him. And if he sins against you seven times a day, and returns to you seven times, saying, ‘I repent,’ forgive him.” In Ephesians 4:32 Paul wrote, “Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you” (cf. Col. 3:13).

The Lord’s command to love extends beyond the church to embrace all people. Paul’s prayer for the Thessalonians was that they would “increase and abound in love for one another, and for all people” (1 Thess. 3:12). He exhorted the Galatians to “do good to all people, and especially to those who are of the household of the faith” (Gal. 6:10). The writer of Hebrews charged his readers, “Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by this some have entertained angels without knowing it” (Heb. 13:2).

The Lord’s statement, “By this all men will know that you are My disciples” reveals the effect of believers’ having love for one another: the world will know that we belong to Him. The church may be orthodox in its doctrine and vigorous in its proclamation of the truth, but that will not persuade unbelievers unless believers love each other. In fact, Jesus gave the world the right to judge whether or not someone is a Christian based on whether or not that person sincerely loves other Christians. Francis Schaeffer writes,

One’s love for other believers also assures that believer that his faith is genuine. As John wrote, “We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brethren” (1 John 3:14; cf. 2:10;4:12).

THE POWERFUL EXTENT OF CHRIST’S LOVE

Simon Peter said to Him, “Lord, where are You going?” Jesus answered, “Where I go, you cannot follow Me now; but you will follow later.” Peter said to Him, “Lord, why can I not follow You right now? I will lay down my life for You.” Jesus answered, “Will you lay down your life for Me? Truly, truly, I say to you, a rooster will not crow until you deny Me three times.” (13:36–38)

Jesus’ dialogue with Peter doubly illustrates the extent of Christ’s love, made possible through His sacrifice on the cross. On the one hand, their conversation demonstrated the eternal significance of Christ’s love—because He guaranteed the eternal life of His disciples. On the other hand, it also evidenced the power of Christ’s love, since it would prove greater than the disloyal cowardice of Peter (and the other disciples).

Disturbed by the Lord’s declaration that He was leaving them (cf. the discussion of v. 33 above), Peter asked, “Lord, where are You going?” His anxious question reflects the disciples’ continual inability and unwillingness to accept that Jesus was to leave them. Not long after his magnificent confession that Jesus is “the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Matt. 16:16), Peter rashly “took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, ‘God forbid it, Lord! This [His death; v. 21] shall never happen to You’” (v. 22). The disciples were unable to harmonize Jesus’ repeated statements that He was going to die (e.g., Matt. 16:21; 17:22–23; 20:17–19; Mark 9:31–32; Luke 18:31–34; 24:6–7, 26) with their preconceived concept of the establishment of the kingdom and the fulfillment of the Old Testament covenants and promises by the Messiah.

Jesus had told the unbelieving Jews, “I go away, and you will seek Me, and will die in your sin; where I am going, you cannot come” (8:21; cf. 7:34). In contrast, His reply to Peter, “Where I go, you cannot follow Me now; but you will follow later,” offered the disciples hope. It was not yet the time in God’s eternal plan for Peter (and, by implication, the rest of the eleven) to follow Jesus to heaven; that would come later (cf. 21:18–19).

Though Peter was not satisfied with the Lord’s answer (as his hasty reply indicates), the power of Christ’s love is displayed in Jesus’ response. Because He had set His love upon them, choosing them as His disciples (cf. John 15:16) and loving them enough to die for them (cf. John 13:1), they would one day join Him in His heavenly glory (cf. John 14:2). Nothing, not their coming defection and denial nor even their own future deaths, would be able to separate them from the love of their Lord.

As Paul explained in Romans 8:38–39: “For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Unwilling to let the issue go, Peter impulsively demanded, “Lord, why can I not follow You right now?” Then, vastly overestimating his strength, he added, “I will lay down my life for You.” The parallel accounts in the Synoptic Gospels reveal just how vehement Peter’s boast really was: “But Peter said to Him, ‘Even though all may fall away because of You, I will never fall away’” (Matt. 26:33); “But Peter kept saying insistently ‘Even if I have to die with You, I will not deny You!’” (Mark 14:31); “But he said to Him, ‘Lord, with You I am ready to go both to prison and to death!’” (Luke 22:33). Following Peter’s lead, the rest of the disciples “all were saying the same thing also” (Mark 14:31). Events would prove them all to be drastically overestimating themselves (Matt. 26:56, 69–75); tragically Jesus’ solemn prediction, “Will you lay down your life for Me (an ironic statement; it was the Lord who would lay down His life for Peter)? Truly, truly, I say to you, a rooster will not crow until you deny Me three times,” would be fulfilled. “Sadly, good intentions in a secure room after good food are far less attractive in a darkened garden with a hostile mob. At this point in his pilgrimage, Peter’s intentions and self-assessment vastly outstrip his strength” (Carson, John, 486). Evidently Christ’s words subdued Peter, who remained uncharacteristically silent through the rest of the Lord’s farewell discourse (Peter does not reappear in the narrative until 18:10).

Peter’s foolish, though well-intentioned boast was the first thing that led to his failing the test of loyalty to Christ. Another contributing factor was his failure to “keep watching and praying that [he might] not enter into temptation” (Matt. 26:41). Those two manifestations of his pride and overconfidence plunged Peter into the depths of cowardice and remorseful despair (Luke 22:61–62).

But that was not the end of the story for Peter. Christ’s love for him would not let Peter slip away (cf. John 6:37, 39; 10:28–29). After being restored by Jesus (John 21:15–17—note the emphasis on love in Christ’s restoration of Peter) and filled with the Spirit (Acts 2:1–4), Peter became the leader of the early church. He fearlessly preached the gospel (Acts 2:14–36; 3:12–26), and wrote two epistles in which he distilled some of the painful lessons he had learned (cf. 1 Peter 4:7; 5:5).

Before the end of his life, Peter had come to understand the supreme standard that Christ’s love set for him personally and for all those who love the Lord. He willingly died for his Lord (21:18–19). Having been profoundly impacted by Christ’s example and been the direct beneficiary of Christ’s sacrifice, Peter instructed his readers to “love one another from the heart” (1 Peter 1:22), since they had been redeemed “with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ” (1:19). They were those who had “tasted the kindness of the Lord” (2:3), and who had Christ as “an example for [them] to follow in His steps” (2:21). Thus, they were to “above all, keep fervent in [their] love for one another, because love covers a multitude of sins” (4:8).

Through His death on the cross, Christ not only exemplified perfect love, He also made it possible for those who were once sinners to be made right before God. Only those who have been regenerated and given the Holy Spirit can love like He loved (cf. 1 Peter 1:22–23; 1 John 2:7–9; 4:7–11). For those who are believers, the sacrificial love of Christ is the supreme standard of what genuine love looks like. It marks His true disciples, and it guarantees both their future salvation and present sanctification. The love of Christ is indeed a glorious truth. As the hymn writer appropriately wrote: