1 John (8) | There's Something New About The Old (1 John 2:7-8)

Vs.7

John doesn’t write us a new commandment. (Be careful of strange and new doctrines)

Hebrews 13:9 “Be not carried about with divers and strange doctrines. For it is a good thing that the heart be established with grace; not with meats, which have not profited them that have been occupied therein.”

Ephesians 4:14 “That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive;”

When we look at the beginning, John tells us who it was that was from the beginning in 1 John 1:1, This is Jesus Christ.

John goes back in his mind and remembers one day when a lawyer asked about the greatest commandment. (Matthew 22:36-40)

The 1st and great commandment Jesus gives is cited from Deuteronomy 6:1-5.

These commands are not a means of salvation, for Israel has already been brought out of Egypt by the mighty hand of God. These commands are to be obeyed if they want to enter into and enjoy Canaan land (for the born-again Christian, this is a type of victorious Christian living).

Deuteronomy 10:12 “And now, Israel, what doth the Lord thy God require of thee, but to fear the Lord thy God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul,”

Deuteronomy 11:1 “Therefore thou shalt love the Lord thy God, and keep his charge, and his statutes, and his judgments, and his commandments, alway.”

Deuteronomy 11:13–14 “And it shall come to pass, if ye shall hearken diligently unto my commandments which I command you this day, to love the Lord your God, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul, That I will give you the rain of your land in his due season, the first rain and the latter rain, that thou mayest gather in thy corn, and thy wine, and thine oil.”

Our relationship to God is the most important commandment. Loving him with all your heart, soul, and mind will lead to living for him with all your heart, soul, and mind.

The 2nd commandment is like unto the first.

This commandment is citied from Leviticus 19:17–18 “Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thine heart: thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy neighbour, and not suffer sin upon him. Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am the Lord.”

This commandment deals with our relationship to man. Jesus says to love our neighbor as ourselves.

Ephesians 5:28-29

Nourisheth - to feed and cause to grow; to support; to supply; to comfort; to educate; to instruct to promote growth.

Cherisheth - to treat with tenderness and affection, to hold as dear; to embrace with affection; to protect; to aid

1 Thessalonians 2:5–8 “For neither at any time used we flattering words, as ye know, nor a cloke of covetousness; God is witness: Nor of men sought we glory, neither of you, nor yet of others, when we might have been burdensome, as the apostles of Christ. But we were gentle among you, even as a nurse cherisheth her children: So being affectionately desirous of you, we were willing to have imparted unto you, not the gospel of God only, but also our own souls, because ye were dear unto us.”

On these commandments hand all the law and the prophets.

Hang - to completely depend upon.

These two commandments are the foundation of all the law. The ten commandments are given in two parts.

The first four deal with our relationship to God.

Thou shalt have no other gods before me.

Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image.

Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.

Remember the sabbath day to keep it holy.

The last six deal with our relationship with man.

Honour thy father and thy mother. (Ephesians 6:1–2 “Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right. Honour thy father and mother; (which is the first commandment with promise;)”

Thou shalt not kill. (Galatians 5:21 “Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.” )

Thou shalt not commit adultery. (Galatians 5:19 “Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,” )

Thou shalt not steal. (Ephesians 4:28 “Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labour, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth.” )

Thou shalt not bear false witness. (1 Corinthians 15:13–15 “But if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen: And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain. Yea, and we are found false witnesses of God; because we have testified of God that he raised up Christ: whom he raised not up, if so be that the dead rise not.” )

Thou shalt not covet. (Ephesians 5:3 “But fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not be once named among you, as becometh saints;” )

Vs.8

John now begins to expound on this new commandment.

Again - This word as it is used here indicates another way of saying something (in another sense, or from another point of view)

God gave these commandments to Moses to give to the Jews so that Gentile nations would know that the Jews (if they obeyed the law) would see that they were God’s people. These laws would show the Jews how to worship God. Unfortunately, no one could completely obey this law. No one could truly love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, soul, and mind. No one could truly love their neighbor as themselves.

In Matthew’s Gospel, we have Jesus restating and reinforcing these two great commandments. While Jesus is still talking with Jews under the law, John goes back and says that we too should obey these commandments as well!

The old commandment lacked something. Fallen man cannot love God the way God commands him to love Him, and he cannot love his neighbor either the way God commands him. What we needed was an incarnation of these two great commandments. The Old Testament commandments embodied principles, precepts, propositions, statutes, judgments. When Jesus Christ came, all these were now personified. Now, people could see this love in action in everyday human life. We can now see the old commandment exemplified in Jesus Christ. He is our example! Since it was exemplified in Christ Jesus, it can now be experienced in us! (True in him and in you!)

Obviously this can understandably be true of Jesus Christ, because He came and fulfilled the law.

Matthew 5:17 “Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.”

Now that we have seen Him fulfill the law, and He is the embodiment of loving God with everything in Him and loving His neighbor as Himself, this can now be true of us. This is because the darkness is past, and the true light now shineth!

John 1:1-9

John 3:16-21

John 8:12

1 Peter 2:9

Philippians 2:14-16

Ephesians 5:1-14

Acts 26:14-18

Colossians 1:9-14

2 Peter 1:3-9