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1 John 2:7-11

[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.

When I read this passage, 3 questions came to mind:

  1. What is the commandment? (v. 7)
  2. Why does John say it’s not new, it’s old, and then he seems to contradict himself by saying it is new? (v. 8)
  3. And who is my brother? (v. 9-11)

1. What is the commandment?

First, look at the very first word in this passage, verse 7:

Beloved

John uses this word 10 times in his 3 letters. It’s the kind of word that causes you to stop and ponder. What if John were talking to me today? Would he call me beloved? I believe he would. Me? Am I beloved? 

The Greek word is ἀγαπητός (agapétos). What other well known Greek word does that sound like? ἀγάπη (agapé) — the kind of unconditional love that the Father has for his children — for us. Yes, we are beloved! 

Because of what Jesus did for us, we are beloved. Jesus lived our life in our place and he died our death in our place… and we are beloved. The moment we put our trust in Jesus we are declared righteous… and we are beloved. It’s nothing we’ve done. We need to remind ourselves of this. Are you feeling lost right now? You are called beloved. Are you feeling lonely right now? You are called beloved by your Father in heaven. Are you feeling desperate, worn out, at the end of your rope? You are called beloved by your Father in heaven. 

Not only does our Father in heaven call us “agapétos” (beloved), but we are to call each other this. Agapé is the kind of love we are to have for each other. John calls us beloved. What would it look like if each of us looked at each other with those same eyes and feelings? Paul used it in his letters. At the end of Romans he said this:

Romans 16:8
[8] Greet Ampliatus, my beloved in the Lord.

When John starts verse 7, he models what it is to be a true believer and opens the door for further communication. 

With the very first word in this passage, John epitomizes the commandment he is about to mention. 

[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

The Commandment to Love

The commandment John references is simple: love God and love others, and it’s the same commandment that Moses gave the Israelites in the wilderness as they were about to take the promised land:

Deuteronomy 6:4–9
[4] “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. [5] You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. [6] And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. [7] You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. [8] You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. [9] You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

This command was so great that Jews have to recite it twice daily. 

You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.

The sums up everything. This is exactly what John has been saying in his letter so far: if you truly loved God, you would do the things that pleases God, you would “walk in the same way in which he walked.” (1 John 2:6)

The commandment is simple: we need to love God, not just with our words, but with our deeds as well. Our whole being, every part of our life ought to be giving glory to God and him alone. 

The Commandment: Love Others

There’s a second part to the commandment: we need to others. Love God and love others, that pretty much sums up the Christian life. 

It’s not a new commandment. God gave these words to Moses to give to the Israelites in the wilderness: 

Leviticus 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.

If we just got these two commandments right, life would be good! If my whole life was focussed on magnifying Jesus and giving glory to God every minute of every day, and if I looked at each of you with the same love that John displays here by calling us beloved, the church would be edified and encouraged, our mission of reaching the lost would be worked out and God would be glorified!

Beloved, we have an old commandment that we must always remember. This commandment is the “word/message you have heard.” John wrote in chapter 1, “we have heard him, we have seen him with our eyes, we have looked upon him, we’ve touched him — he is the word of life, the “λόγος (logos) of life”. And this commandment is the “λόγος (logos) you have heard.”

Jesus confirmed this commandment:

Mark 12:28–31
[28] And one of the scribes came up and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, asked him, “Which commandment is the most important of all?” [29] Jesus answered, “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. [30] And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ [31] The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”

The last few chapters of the Gospel of John happen fairly quickly as Jesus is preparing for his death. He spends some very personal and intimate time with his disciples teaching them about what’s about to happen. John 13:34–35, Jesus says this:

[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. [35] By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

What’s the mark of a disciple? “You have love for one another.”

If somebody were to watch your life without you knowing it, would they say, “this man/woman is a disciple?”

“By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

2. Why does John seem to contradict himself?

So what makes this a new commandment? Why does it seem like John might be contradicting himself with this?

[8] At the same time, it is a new commandment that I am writing to you…

This commandment to love God and love others wasn’t new; it had been around for 1000+ years. But what’s new about it is Jesus’ application of this law. He said:

[43] “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ [44] But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. (Matthew 5:43–44)

The old testament never actually said to hate your enemies, Jesus is simply correcting the traditions and misinterpretations of the command. It can be easy to love your friends. It can be easy to love people you’re around because you mostly hang around people you like and share common interests with. But your enemies — that person you’d hate to spend two minutes alone with, that person you avoid and pretend you didn’t see when when you’re walking or driving. That’s your enemy. Jesus says, “just as I have loved you, love them. I went to the cross for you, my enemy. Love and pray for your enemies.” God proved his love (agapé) for us in that while we were still sinners/sinful/depraved/detestable, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8)

[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. [14] You are my friends if you do what I command you. [15] No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you. [16] You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. [17] These things I command you, so that you will love one another. (John 15:12–17)

The commandment is to love as Christ loves. It’s old, yet Jesus makes it new.

John continues in verse 8: “which is true in him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining.”

The whole purpose of John’s letter is to commend the church and confirm that they are in Christ and that they indeed know the Father. In chapter 5, John says: “I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life.” It wasn’t the opposite, he wasn’t writing so that you know you don’t have life. He was saying, ‘I write these things to you so that you may know that you have eternal life.’

Dawn is Breaking

In verse 8, there’s a feeling that dawn is breaking. The snow is beginning to melt. The clouds are slowly beginning to clear. John says “the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining.” There’s hope in these words. 

  1. There’s hope because your life, as a believer, is day-by-day beginning to look more like Christ’s.
  2. There’s hope because our church, the bride of Christ, is one day closer to meeting Jesus in the sky. All the tears and sadness and darkness of this world will soon pass away. 

The darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining.

We live in a world of darkness, a world where, like Narnia (if you’ve read those books) it’s always winter and never Christmas, but the darkness is passing away, and in fact, the true light is already here! Just like in the land of Narnia, there will be a deep thaw. John, in Revelation, describes a final battle that ultimately lands the enemy in the lake of fire (Revelation 20:10).

When the land of Narnia was beginning to thaw, the white witch had trouble traveling in her sledge that was meant for traveling over snow: “‘It’s no good, your Majesty,’ said the dwarf. ‘We can't sledge in this thaw.’”

The darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining.

Jesus said, “I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33)

The darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining.

3. Who is my brother?

Look at verse 9. My next question is, who is my brother?

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.

Whoever my brother is, if I hate him, John says I’m blind; I’m like a man in complete darkness not knowing where he’s going. I mentioned this a few weeks ago, but I need to have lights on in order to function. I can’t walk around in a dimly lit building, let alone one in darkness. Even in my own home where I know where everything is, I need to have all the lights on. But if I hate my brother, I’m a man walking around with the lights off, tripping over things and stumbling.

I’m not seeing clearly. 

As human beings, we don’t have the capacity to see everything and everyone clearly. This means whatever offence or anger that’s in our hearts toward someone else is probably not valid.

Brant Hansen, who wrote the book Unoffendable, says this:

We should forfeit our right to be offended. That means forfeiting our right to hold on to anger. When we do this, we’ll be making a sacrifice that’s very pleasing to God. It strikes at our very pride. It forces us not only to think about humility, but to actually be humble… 

Anger is extraordinarily easy. It’s our default setting. Love is very difficult. Love is a miracle…

The cross simultaneously stands as a constant reminder of [Jesus’s] willingness to pay the bill, and as an indictment on us when we are unwilling to do the same for others.

When you hate your brother, you’re actually proving to yourself that you have no ability to see clearly and you’re walking in darkness. In fact, later in chapter 3, John says that “everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.” (1 John 3:15)

So who is my brother?

Is he:

  • my biological brother?
  • a fellow brothers and sisters in Christ?
  • what Jesus calls my neighbours? (My fellow man, my fellow descendent of Adam and Eve?)

Let’s rule out our biological brothers. Looking at the context of John’s writing, it’s unlikely that he’s only referring to my actual brothers. Out of the 10 times in 1 John where he mentions “brothers,” only one is in reference to an actual biological brother (Cain and Abel).

Is John talking about just our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ — fellow Christians? This might sound likely, especially in chapter 5 when John says things like “if anyone sees his brother committing a sin, we are to ask God to help them.” Perhaps John has our Christian brothers and sisters in mind.

But I’d like to propose that because John is referring to the new commandment that Jesus gave his disciples moments before he was to go to the cross, Jesus said “just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.” Jesus didn’t stop at fellow Christians. He didn’t say you ought to love the Christians in the world and hate everyone else. On the contrary, Jesus commanded us to go to the world, to love them, make disciples of all nations.

When it comes to doing good, my brother is everyone I encounter today. When it comes to loving others, my brother is everyone I see today, whether that’s my server at a cafe, the slow driver in front of me, or my immediate family members.

Conclusion

Let me close by going back to that first word in the passage, beloved.

Jesus is The Beloved. Jesus is the “beloved Son, with whom [God] [is] well pleased.” (Matthew 3:17)

Jesus is the one that John saw and heard and touched and looked upon. The same fellowship that John shared with Jesus, we can share with Jesus. And that is what unites us together. If we take these words to heart, if we look at each other through the lens of the beloved, if we see each other as beloved, then joy is made complete. 

Brothers and sisters, beloved, we have 1 John so that we may know we have eternal life.