Sermon Tone Analysis
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Prayer
So far in 1 John, we have seen John address the person of Jesus, sin in the life of the believer, and the character of Christ.
And as we saw last week, John is turning a corner and addressing believers in how they are to love.
John expressed that the one who abides in God will walk in the same way that Christ walked.
But this week, he further clarifies what he has already spoken to us and furthers the conversation.
This week we are continuing to look at the command to love.
If I were to ask you to sketch out to me someone who lacks love, I wonder what would they be like?
What would be look like?
Would they have a big handle bar mustache?
Would there be a certain kind of characteristic to them?
Would they dress in a certain fashion?
Would they speak in a certain way?
Would they be harsh?
Would they just ignore?
What does a person who lacks love do for a living?
Do they have a terrifying job?
Or are they someone with a normal job in a normal place and time?
How we think about someone who lacks love is important because it will determine how we recognize a lack of love in our own life.
See what happens oftentimes is we will hear a message and we will immediately think, this message would have been so good for “so and so”
This message would be something my sibling, or spouse, or coworker should hear.
But really, it must be something that we hear first and foremost.
1 John 2:7 (ESV)
Beloved, I am writing you no new commandment, but an old commandment that you had from the beginning.
John is continuing to clarify why he is writing to them.
We can break today’s message into two sections, the first section being on the Law of Love.
The Law of Love
The law of love is the commandments which God has given to His people that demands love.
1 John 2:7 (ESV)
Beloved, I am writing you no new commandment, but an old commandment that you had from the beginning.
The New-Old Commandments
This commandment for John is NOT something new to these believers.
The word there for “old” is actually the same root word (paleo) which we get the word, paleontologist.
John is saying that this command is extremely old.
This first section (verses 7-8), John does not even mention the word love.
Why am I assuming that is he is talking about love?
Well from the context we see that John just finished talking about the man who walks as Jesus walked in 1John 2:5.
What John is clearly referring to here also brings to mind what Jesus said to His disciples in the upper room.
SO when John wrote this, this commandment is NOT new to the community.
It is the command which has governed them since they first called themselves Christians.
But it is also much older than that...
Even Jesus says that this was NOT something NEW in kind.
In Matthew 22, Jesus is being challenged by a lawyer to question him and ask “Which commandment is the greatest in the law?”
And Jesus quoting from Deuteronomy 6 and Leviticus 19 responds to the scribe.
Even for Jesus’ day, this was NOT a new kind of commandment.
This was not something radically different than they have heard before.
The command was to love God and love people.
So John picks up on these ideas for the believers.
1 John 2:7–8 (ESV)
Beloved, I am writing you no new commandment, but an old commandment that you had from the beginning.
But then immediately turns around and says in 1 John 2:8
1 John 2:8 (ESV)
At the same time, it is a new commandment that I am writing to you...
What does John mean by “a new commandment”?
Now there are several ways we understand the word “new” in the english language.
1.
Time oriented understanding - newly created
2. Quality of newness
3. New in the aspect of being different altogether
What does John have in mind here?
1 John 2:7 (ESV)
Beloved, I am writing you no new commandment....
He is saying that he is a writing them a new command which is new in quality.
The newness of the command depended on the “the extent to which it reached”
Meaning that John was heightening the commands already spoken.
Bringing new depth or to the “degree to which it was realized”.
The new commandment was different to the degree it reached.
John is not writing them an entirely new commandment.
John is saying that this new commandment was different because of how far it required you to go in the field of love.
Jesus is upping the ante.
He is raising the stakes.
He is raising the standard of love.
He is saying that you aren’t just to love others as you would yourself.
The Law of Love is simply this....
You must love your brother as Christ has loved you.
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