Why Love Matters
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I John 2:7-11
I John 2:7-11
1 John 2:7–11 (ESV)
7 Beloved, I am writing you no new commandment, but an old commandment that you had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word that you have heard. 8 At the same time, it is a new commandment that I am writing to you, which is true in him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining. 9 Whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness. 10 Whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and in him there is no cause for stumbling. 11 But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.
John and Peter have two distinct different writing styles. Peter can be a little more direct and John.... Well not so much.
If we take a closer look at verse 7 and 8 we can see this, but John does something here to really make this verse or the meaning of it really stick out to the reader.
Repetition- Repetition is used to reinforce understanding of a topic.
Give learning example here.
7 Beloved, I am writing you no new commandment, but an old commandment that you had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word that you have heard. 8 At the same time, it is a new commandment that I am writing to you, which is true in him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining.
We see a bunch of repetition
I am writing to you 2x
New Commandment 2 x
Old Commandment 2x
Commandment 4x
True 2x
hates 2x
Brother 3x
whoever 3x
light 3x
darkness 5x
John is mulling this topic over as he writes it and he wants the reader to as well.
So what is so important that John is trying to stress?
So john talks about a commandment here but it takes a bit for him to even tell us what commandment it is. I would say it is safe to assume here that the target audience knows what Commandment he is writing about even before we get to verse 10.
SO what is this old and not new commandment?
Lets look at Lev 19:18
18 You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.
5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.
What is the new commandment?
Jesus takes the old commandment and reaffirms it in the new testament so now we have the old commandment that is now a new commandment.
34 But when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together. 35 And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. 36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” 37 And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
Notice here that Jesus answered the question what is the great commandment.
and repeat this is the great and first commandment. and the second is like it. So first love God second love your neighbor. forget all the other commandments because if your missing this one your missing the mark
I find it ironic that in the world of Christianity. there is such a focus on the other Commandments. Dont lie, dont steal, dont commit adultery, but how often do you hear someone stress the importance of the first and greatest Commandment and then the second one that is like the first.
34 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.
Why does Jesus say that this is a new commandment here? I have already shown that is was not. This commandment goes back to the old testament. Lets look at the next passage and see why.
12 “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.
The new Commandment isn't the love part it is to love as I have loved you. Jesus came to earth and has given us an example of what true love is. He has come to lay his perfect life down for us the sinner.
Lets go a little deeper on this. I will emphasize here is a great example why it is important to READ your bible not just read it.
We need to take a closer look at the word New. When going through the commentaries I see there are a couple of Greek words for new. Nea which would be the new like someone just got a new car.
However the word used here is Kaine New as in new and improved. A revision of the previous.
Putting this into a modern context, we can make a comparison between a 1910 automobile and a 1995 automobile. The 1995 automobile is a continuation of the same general kind as the 1910 automobile. Both have the same necessary parts: engine, wheels, steering wheel, seats, transmission, brakes, lights, and a nut behind the wheel. But the 1995 model has made the 1910 model obsolete as a viable mode of transportation.
So it is in the comparison between the Old commandment and the New. Both have the same necessary parts, so that they may be considered of the same "kind," but the New commandment is so much better and has so much more going for it that it has made the Old one obsolete.
To love as christ loved.
So now looks at love
We use the word love frequently, but often we don’t think clearly about what it is or what it means.
The English language doesn’t help us very much either.
We can love Chicago-style pizza, our new car, a movie star, a place, etc. and then use the same word to describe the deepest feelings we have toward the most important people in our lives, I love my mom, and I love my wife.
Love in the English language probably suffers from both overuse and under use.
Over use int hat we use it for everything but under use because we dont tell those that are important enough how we feel about them.
Unfortunately in the English language we have one word for love and that will probably never change. So While all of the ways we use it may be true, they mean very different things.
We find it awekward to tell someone we LOVE them because we only have the one word for love.
Fortunately in Greek, the language most of the N.T. was written in, we can see 4 words for love:
Phileo or brotherly/ friendship love Give example
10 Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor.
Storge or familial love refers to natural or instinctual affection, such as the love of a parent towards offspring and vice versa.
We see an example of this love int he story of Lazarus. Mary and Martha loved their brother and had Storge love for him.
Eros is erotic and passionate love
This is the love that is reserved for marriage. We wont go any further here but if you would like to read an example try the Song of Solomon. Enough said there
Agape or divine love. God’s love is a passionate commitment to uphold His glory for our good. God is committed to you. God is passionate about you. God will uphold and gain glory in your life. God’s plan for your life is good. God’s love for us is the means through which we love one another. He is the source of love, as its creator and first one to show and partake of it. He invented love. He was the first one to love another. He was the first one to receive love.
Agape love is being unconcerned about ones self and concerned with the greatest good of others. This love doesnt come from emotions, feelings, familiarity or attraction but from Will and as a choice. Agape love requires faithfulness, commitment and sacrifice without expecting anything in return.
If we look at the 4 types of love three of them just happen. When you have family you love them… well just simply because they are your family. Your spouse we have eros love for them because of a God given instinct that is it wasn't there civilization would cease to exist, and brotherly love happens because we allow it to grow when we spend time with others and have similar interest. All three of these happen just because. But agape love is a choice. Its intentional love.
Agape love is being unconcerned about ones self and concerned with the greatest good of others. This love doesn't come from emotions, feelings, familiarity or attraction but from Will and as a choice. Agape love requires faithfulness, commitment and sacrifice without expecting anything in return.
This is a pretty tall order. We are to love others with Agape love. Most people have a hard enough time showing agape love for a spouse or other family members let alone a complete stranger. And as we saw when Jesus answered the pharisees in Matthew 22 that this is the first, second and greatest commandment.
So how can we have agape love for others?
Practice, repetition and through a divine miracle.
As a child I was part of a quiz team(Acts 29) and we got together with other youth groups and quizzed regularly on certain sections of the Bible. Our team used memorization for our secret weapon and we would assign one chapter to each member to memorize. I have always remembered that the year we worked our way through I Corinthians my chapter was 13. And it has always been in the back of my mind since then. what a perfect chapter for me to get even way back then. I guess someone would know that it would be my biggest struggle.
So lets look at part of the “Love Chapter”
4 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6 it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. 7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
This Love is what being a Christian is all about. Its the gospel, the good word.
So now the second part of Vs 8
1 John 2:8 (ESV)
8 At the same time, it is a new commandment that I am writing to you, which is true in him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining.
The darkness that is passing away and the true light is already shining is the growth of the church. And the darkness or hatred leaving because the light (the Love) is spreading.
1 John 2:9–11 (ESV)
9 Whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness. 10 Whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and in him there is no cause for stumbling. 11 But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.
Whoever says or whoever claims. this broadens the understanding that anyone that claims including those claiming to be Christians.
We see John using a black and white comparison and the nice thing with black and white comparisons there is no gray. Or in math there is no mean. No middle ground. Light and dark, love and hate, life and death. You cant be between any of those your either on one side or the other.
Johann Bengel said that “Where love is not, there is hatred, for the heart can not remain void.
You can walk in the LIGHT if you do not have AGAPE love for for others. And If you have hatred for others you it actually says you are blind and do not know where you are going.
Have you ever been in the dark? I don’t mean dark I mean DARK.
If you cant see you stumble, run into things and you cant get to where you are trying to go.
9 Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours in the day? If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world. 10 But if anyone walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him.”
Now that we know that the First and greatest commandment is to Love God, and the second is just like the first but it is to love others. And if we do not have love for others we are not walking in light. The way I read this is as Christians our first and main goal is to love others. So I want to leave you with this last verse.
16 You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? 17 So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. 18 A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Thus you will recognize them by their fruits.
Is your fruit Love?
