The fourth part of my series on 1 John.
“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. 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. Whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness. Whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and in him there is no cause for stumbling. 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.” (1 John 2:7–11 ESV)
John commands his audience to love one another. This is not a new commandment. It is in the Old Testament that we find, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” There are many passages in the Old Testament that speak of the importance of caring for the poor, of being generous and helping those in need. This is not new.
But in another way, it is new. The coming of Jesus transformed what love is. He did not contradict Old Testament love, but he did infuse it with new meaning and power. When Jesus taught people to love, he had a much wider group in mind than many people were comfortable with.
How is this commandment new? It is not the words. Rather it is the role of love. In the Old Testament, love was good but it was not the core of the faith. In fact there is no other religion that has love as the core. Christianity is the only one. 1 Corinthians 13 tells us that we can be active in many religious activities but if we do not have love, it is a waste of time. John agrees.
John is still talking about the difference between light and darkness. We need a measure to determine who is where. That measure is love. No matter how spiritual a person may sound, if they hate their brother or sister, they are in the darkness.
- 1 John
- John
- Love