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1 John 2:7-14
Introduction
Last week we learned that sin is not normal in the Christian.
The Christian’s sin does not affect just that person, but the entire body of Christ.
We saw from the plural "we have an advocate" that there has to at least be a sense in which the whole body intercedes for the individual who sinned.
The word here was the same used by Jesus to describe the operation of the Holy Spirit, paraclete.
In Christ alone and in His atoning sacrifice do we find forgiveness of our sin.
We were also reminded that this epistle has a high theology of the church or body of Christ.
We all together are Christ’s body.
We cannot have fellowship with the Father or the Son if we are not in fellowship with His body. the church.
The ones who had left thought they could do Christianity on their own as though it was a "survival of the fittest" race for salvation.
Instead, we must see this race as a group effort in which the church is not crowned until the weakest of the brethren cross the finish line.
The “we” sections accent this as contrasted to the approach of the ones who thought themselves above the fellowship of the church are introduced by the singular.
If we see that we cannot achieve the crown until the "least of these my brethren" finish the race, how much the more should we intercede, encourage, and assist them!
Exposition of the Text
v. 7. Beloved, This is not a new commandment I am writing you BUT an old one which you have been holding from the beginning.
The old commandment is the word which you heard.
John is about to give the church a new commandment which is not really new at all.
We all know how sometimes our walk in Christ gets stale and suddenly something new pops up that refreshes us.
But when we think about it, we remember that we have heard it before but had forgotten it.
The Greek word êáéíὴ, keh-knee, which is translated "new" does not mean "new" in the sense of "novel" or something entirely new and different.
It instead has the idea of a commandment which is of the same substance as the old, but new in application or deeper in meaning.
In fact, êáéíὴ is used in the Greek for "New" in the title "New Testament".
The New Testament is not something entirely new or novel as it is founded upon the Old Testament and the promises of the Old.
The New Testament stands out in relation to the Old in the sense that while it has its foundation in the Old Testament, it also goes richer and deeper.
The commandment they are about to receive is the same one which they heard from the very beginning of their faith journey.
But there is growth in the understanding and application of this commandment.
We know in John 15:12 and John 15:17 and in other places in Jesus’ final sermon to His disciples before the crucifixion talked about the vital importance of loving one another.
It was the proof to the world that they were disciples of Jesus (John 13:35).
John earlier in this epistle talked about the twofold manner of our witness.
The one was the proclamation of the good news in human speech.
The other was the witness of character or who one is.
If we belong to Jesus, our lives will reflect this testimony by the love we have for each other.
What we say, what we do, and who we are must all agree.
The perfect testimony is the complete integration of sound doctrine, sound living, and a sound heart.
Jesus told the disciples many times that the world would be hostile to the message of Jesus Christ.
Therefore, it was all the more important that the church be united in love.
the church would also need to respond to persecution from outside with the same forgiving love that Jesus had shown the world on the cross.
We can take the church of Antioch mentioned in the book of Acts for an example.
That church was a church made up of people of various economic and social statuses.
Not only this, it was interracial.
In the world, these people would certainly not have mixed.
In fact, the only way you could have gotten them together was by spear point.
This does not mean the task of uniting the church in love was an easy one.
But what a testimony it must have made to the world who saw them worshipping together!
"Surely God is in this place" must have been the reaction of many who saw them.
Who knows how many were won to Christ because of this love.
v. 8. Again, a new commandment I am writing you, which is true in Him and you, because the darkness is passing and the true light already shines.
I have provided a more or less literal translation of the verse to show that it is a difficult verse to interpret.
He had just called it an old commandment.
But now he calls it a new one.
And although it becomes clearer later, he does not even say what that commandment is.
All we know is that it is the same word or commandment they had received from the beginning.
It seems what is new here is the making the practical application of what the commandment to love means.
It is the putting of the doctrine of love into practice.
It is vitally important to have a solid grounding in the Word of God.
You cannot live what you do not know and understand.
It is important to know how the Holy Spirit and the Scriptures define "love."
But on the other hand, it is just as vital to put faith into practice.
The middle part of this verse "which is true in Him and You" has given commentators fits.
There seems to be something missing to complete the idea here, and commentators do not agree on what to add to make sense of this.
Some want to change the adjective "true" to the adverb "truly" making it read, "which is truly both in Him as well as you."
This is grammatically possible in Greek although unusual.
Others would translate it "which is the truth that is both in Him and you."
The trouble with the pronoun translated "which" is that it is in the neuter gender in Greek, whereas "commandment" in Greek is feminine.
This means that "which" refers to something other than the commandment.
Because it is the same neuter pronoun which starts off the Epistle of John, I tend to think that it refers to the totality of the Christian experience ("that which we have heard, that which we have seen") .
Another thing to note is that in Hebrew, truth is a relational concept as we have noted.
The Hebrews saw this in a sense as being true to God (being faithful).
If we look at it this way, this part of the verse describes the Christian experience as a true relationship which exists between Jesus and His church.
Jesus is always faithful, to the Father, and to His bride, the church.
We should reflect this first love and faithfulness by being true in love to each other and being true to the Father and the Son.
John goes on to compare this change from old to new by comparing darkness to light.
When the sun starts to rise in the east, darkness has to fade away.
This is a gradual process as we know in the morning.
It does not get bright right away, but everything has been provided for it to do so.
So even if the early dawn appears murky, we know that as the sun rises, the darkness will pass.
The same can be said spiritually.
Because of the work of Christ, the light of God is dawning on the world.
Sin and evil have been abolished by the cross.
We just need to wait a little longer.
The Lord is even more dependable than the sun which He made anyway.
What would happen on the day the sun refuses to shine.
What gloom and doom would pervade the news media!
Yet, the prophet Joel says that on the Day of the Lord, the sun will be turned to darkness, and the moon to blood.
Jesus commands that our light shine before the world.
We are not the source of this light, but the gracious recipients of the light which comes from God.
This light is characterized by the love of God which shines to the world through us.
The proof that we have God’s light and love in us is our love for each other.
As far as evil is concerned, it is compared to darkness.
No Christian can walk in the darkness.
The power of darkness is broken in the Christian.
It might not be perceptible for a while.
The Christian may and will sin.
But as God’s light and love fill the Christian, sanctification will have its perfect work.
The old sinner is like a tree that has been cut down.
The leaves might still be green for a while, but they shall wither up and die.
v. 9.
The one who says that he is in the light but hates his brother is still in darkness.
Note that John goes back to the singular which indicates that this was the claim of those who had left.
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