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What the Fathers say
Eastern Fathers
Cyril of Alexandria
He now makes clearer by the illustration here given the meaning of the preceding passage; that is, the necessity of His disciples having His joy in them; and clearly says, "I give you this injunction, and teach those who think they ought to follow Me to do this, and be thus minded to practise such manner of love towards one another as I have heretofore shown and fulfilled." How great a measure can a man then find to the love of Christ, He Himself shows when He says that nothing can be greater than such love, which excites to forsake …
Theophylact of Ohrid
Above He said: "You will then abide in Me when you keep My commandments." Now He shows which commandments they must keep, and sets before them love: "That you love one another, as I have loved you." He desires that we love one another not simply and haphazardly, but in the way that He loved us. Note that He said above in the plural "commandments," but here He says in the singular "this is My commandment." In my opinion, love is called both commandments and commandment because it embraces all the commandments and is their chief. …
Cyprian
Discord cannot attain to the kingdom of heaven. The one who has done violence to the love of Christ by faithless dissension will not attain to the reward of Christ, who said, "This is my commandment, that you love one another." Whoever does not have charity does not have God.
Western Saints
Augustine of Hippo
"This," He says, "is my injunction, that ye love one another, as I have loved you." Whether we call it injunction or commandment, both are the rendering of the same Greek word, entole. But He had already made this same announcement on a former occasion, when, as ye ought to remember, I expounded it to you to the best of my ability. …
Gregory the Dialogist
While all of sacred Scripture is full of the Lord's commandments, why does the Lord speak of love as if it were a singular commandment, saying: "This is my commandment, that you love one another," unless it is because every commandment concerns love alone, and all commandments are one, since whatever is commanded is grounded in charity alone? For just as many branches of a tree proceed from one root, so many virtues are generated from one charity. …
Thomas Aquinas
2005 Now our Lord states what his precepts are: first, he states his commandment; secondly, he presents an example (v 12b); thirdly, he recalls a benefit (v 14). 2006 The commandment he gives is the commandment of charity, which he wants us to keep: This is my commandment, that you love one another. Since there are many other commandments of the Lord in the sacred writings, why does he say that his commandment is only the practice of charity? The answer, according to Gregory, is that charity is the root and end of all the virtues. …
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