The Word of Life- Part 3

Introudction- I John 2:7-11

Last week we considered the scriptural challenge that we “sin not”— a challenge which through the power of the Holy Spirit of God we can meet!

Yet the reality is that at times we lapse from yielding to the Spirit and instead yield to the flesh and thus find ourselves committing sin.

The good news in such cases is that we have an advocate with the Father who comes to our defense—Jesus Christ the righteous!

How thankful we ought to be for His advocacy on our behalf before the Father!

We also considered the fact that the assurance of our salvation is directly connected with our obedience to Christ—we shall know that we know Him as we keep His commandments.

It is foolish to say that we know Him while exhibiting no real desire to obey what He has said—this makes us a liar devoid of the truth.

The previous passage closed with the simple statement that those who say they are abiding in Christ ought to walk as He walked—the evidence that we are indeed abiding in Christ is that we live and act as He did.

This truth will carry over into the passage that is before us today where the primary theme is our love for one another.

An Old Commandment Made New (Vs. 7-8a)

This passage opens with an insistence from the author John (of course writing under the inspiration of God) that what he writes is no new commandment.

The commandment which he speaks in reference to is the commandment to love one another as will become evident in the verses that follow.

1 John 3:11 “For this is the message that ye heard from the beginning, that we should love one another.”

This commandment to love one another is in the most basic sense not a new commandment for it is found in the law which was given long before.

Leviticus 19:18 “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 had been in place from the beginning and yet it was essentially one among many commandments and received no greater emphasis than any other commandment.

It was not a commandment which they had never heard before but it was one which had always been part of God’s law.

Yet John goes on to write— “Again, a new commandment I write unto you”—in reference to this same commandment.

This is essentially what Jesus declared during the course of His earthly ministry as He spoke on this topic.

John 13:34–35 “A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.”

Though the commandment was not new in the sense that it had been part of God’s law from the beginning—it is evident that in the present moment it is given a new emphasis and priority.

In the old system the commandment to love one another was considered just one of many commandments given in the law, equal in importance to any other from man’s perspective.

In the new system, the commandment to love one another is considered central to the Christian faith and is given a place of prominence as a commandment which—if properly obeyed—will be an identifying characteristic of those who are followers of Christ.

Jesus indicated that obedience to this command and to the command to love God supremely would ensure obedience to every other commandment.

Matthew 22:36–40 “Master, which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”

It is apparent here that John is merely echoing the sentiments of the Lord Jesus in emphasizing this commandment.

This same idea is communicated in many other places in the scripture—for example in Romans 13:8-10

Romans 13:8–10 “Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law. For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.”

This commandment to love one another is foundational to our Christian faith and should be one of the first principles which we learn upon coming to faith in Christ.

True in Him and In You (Vs. 8b)

Another element which makes this commandment new in some sense is that have now had the opportunity to see this love demonstrated in the person of Jesus Christ.

This is what John means when he writes “which thing is true in Him”—Jesus came as the living embodiment of this commandment to love one another.

In Jesus we see a practical example of what it looks like to love as God intends for us to love—this connects back to verse 6 and the idea that if we are abiding in Christ we should walk as he walked—we might also say that we should love as he loved.

The “true light which now shineth” evidently speaks of Jesus Christ as the one who has revealed to us the true nature of this love which we ought to have for one another.

Before Christ came the commandment to love one another was somewhat of an abstract concept, but when Jesus came He gave light where once there was darkness.

He was a living revelation of what it means to love our brother, for He did so in the most perfect sense.

We are no longer left wondering what exactly it means to love our brother, for Christ has come and has demonstrated this love for us so that we may then follow His example.

It is true in Him and it ought to be true in you if you profess to be His disciple.

Again this is not possible apart from His enablement through the power of the Holy Spirit which resides within each of those who have believed on Him—but if we will yield to Him, we can love just as Jesus loved.

Walking in Darkness or in Light (Vs. 9-11)

This final section is quite similar to the earlier passage with regard to those who merely say they know Christ and those who demonstrate their knowledge of and relationship to Him by keeping His commandments.

In this section a person who says that he is in the light but who also hates his brother is said to remain in darkness.

The light is representative of the presence of God and the knowledge of His revelation, and to say that we are in the light and yet have hatred for our brother is to reveal that we are actually yet walking in darkness—which is the absence of the presence of God and ignorance of His revelation.

It is clearly communicated that hatred for one’s brother is wholly incompatible with walking in the light of God.

If one harbors hatred for his brother (this being a brother in the spiritual sense) then he demonstrates that he is walking in darkness at this very moment.

On the other hand, the one who loves his brothers shows that he is abiding in the light and as a result there is no occasion of stumbling in him.

This is true in a physical sense in that where there is light we can clearly see the obstacles that would cause us to stumble—in the spiritual sense it is true as well—when we walk in the light of God’s presence and revelation we can clearly see and we shall not stumble spiritually.

Much sin is the product of a lack of love (hatred) for our brother and thus a willingness to treat him unjustly.

Much sin would be avoided if we simply loved one another as we ought.

Once again John now speaks of the reverse—the individual who hates his brother is in darkness and walks in this darkness which means that he cannot clearly see and thus cannot be confident where he is going.

Hatred for a brother will blind us to the way that we ought to go, and as long as we harbor this hatred, we cannot possibly walk in the light but we shall remain in darkness still.

Conclusion

The point of this passage is to emphasize the importance of love in the life of believers.

If we claim to be followers of Christ we ought to love as He loved—this is especially true with regard to our brothers/sisters in Christ.

Galatians 6:10 “As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith.”

One thing that ought to be a point of distinction among the believing in contrast to the unbelieving is the love that we have for one another.

It is true that among any group of believers there will be vast differences in culture, background, opinions, personal convictions, etc… and yet we are called to love one another.

This was so critical that the scripture says that this should be a point of identification for followers of Christ that would be evident to the unbelieving world.

This love that we have for one another also serves to attract others to Christ because of the love that they see among us.

1 John 3:14 “We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death.”