V. 1. — Let brotherly love continue. Brotherly love is Christ’ s new commandment. It is at once a new and an old commandment. It is old, as it was from the beginning. It is new, as it was enjoined by Jesus on his disciples. The love of believers to each other, which is implanted in them by Divine teaching, 1 Thessalonians 4:9; was shadowed forth by the preference which the children of Israel were commanded to cherish towards each other. Believers of every nation are to be the objects of our love. It is to continue. It is the perfect bond by which the subjects of the kingdom of God are knit together. They are heirs of God, and joint- heirs with Christ. Their inheritance is ample. However great the enjoyment of one, it does not impoverish others, so that there is no room for jealousy.