Miles de Libros Cristianos Gratis. Accede a nuestra Biblioteca Virtual

Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 1 John 2:7

Para un estudio avanzado de: “Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 1 John 2:7” utilice nuestra app.

Brethren, I write no new commandment unto you, but an old commandment which ye had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word which ye have heard from the beginning.

7. Brethren ] The true reading is Beloved. This form of address is specially suitable to this section ( 1Jn 2:7-11), in which the subject of love appears. In the second part of the Epistle, in which love is the main topic, this form of address becomes the prevailing one (1Jn 3:2; 1Jn 3:21, 1Jn 4:1; 1Jn 4:7; 1Jn 4:11).

I write no new commandment ] The order of the Greek is worth keeping: not a new commandment do I write. What commandment is meant? To imitate Christ ( 1Jn 2:6)? Or, to practise brotherly love ( 1Jn 2:9-11)? Practically it makes little matter which answer we give, for at bottom these are one and the same. They are different aspects of walking in the light. But a definite command of some kind is meant, not vaguely the whole Gospel: had he meant the latter, S. John would rather have said ‘the word’ or ‘the truth’. See on 1Jn 2:11.

from the beginning ] As already noticed on 1Jn 1:1, the meaning of ‘beginning’ must always depend upon the context. Several interpretations have been suggested here, and all make good sense. (1) From the beginning of the human race: brotherly love is an original human instinct. Christian Ethics are here as old as humanity. (2) From the beginning of the Law: ‘Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself’ (Lev 19:18) was commanded by Moses. Christian Ethics are in this only a repetition of Judaism. (3) From the beginning of your life as Christians: this was one of the first things ye were taught. On the whole this seems best, especially as we have the aorist, which ye heard, not the perfect, as A. V., ye have heard (see on 1Jn 2:18): comp. 1Jn 2:24 and especially 1Jn 3:11; 2Jn 1:5-6. The second ‘from the beginning’ is not genuine.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

7 11. Love of the Brethren

7 11. Walking in the light involves not only fellowship with God and with the brethren (1Jn 1:5-7), consciousness and confession of sin (1Jn 1:8-10), obedience by imitation of Christ (1Jn 2:1-6), but also love of the brethren. In nothing did Christ more express the Father’s Nature and Will than by His love: therefore in obeying the Father by imitating Christ we also must love. “This whole Epistle which we have undertaken to expound to you, see whether it commendeth aught else than this one thing, charity. Nor need we fear lest by much speaking thereof it come to be hateful. For what is there to love, if charity come to be hateful?” (S. Augustine). Comp. 1Jn 3:10 , 1Jn 4:7.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

Brethren, I write no new commandment unto you – That is, what I am now enjoining is not new. It is the same doctrine which you have always heard. There has been much difference of opinion as to what is referred to by the word commandment, whether it is the injunction in the previous verse to live as Christ lived, or whether it is what he refers to in the following verses, the duty of brotherly love. Perhaps neither of these is exactly the idea of the apostle, but he may mean in this verse to put in a general disclaimer against the charge that what he enjoined was new. In respect to all that he taught, the views of truth which he held the duties which he enjoined, the course of life which he would prescribe as proper for a Christian to live, he meant to say that it was not at all new; it was nothing which he had originated himself, but it was in fact the same system of doctrines which they had always received since they became Christians. He might have been induced to say this because he apprehended that some of those whom he had in his eye, and whose doctrines he meant to oppose, might say that this was all new; that it was not the nature of religion as it had been commonly understood, and as it was laid down by the Saviour. In a somewhat different sense, indeed, he admits 1Jo 2:8 that there was a new commandment which it was proper to enjoin – for he did not forget that the Saviour himself called that new; and though that commandment had also been all along inculcated under the gospel, yet there was a sense in which it was proper to call that new, for it had been so called by the Saviour. But in respect to all the doctrines which he maintained, and in respect to all the duties which he enjoined, he said that they were not new in the sense that he had originated them, or that they had not been enjoined from the beginning.

Perhaps, also, the apostle here may have some allusion to false teachers who were in fact scattering new doctrines among the people, things before unheard of, and attractive by their novelty; and he may mean to say that he made no pretensions to any such novelty, but was content to repeat the old and familiar truths which they had always received. Thus, if he was charged with breaching new opinions, he denies it fully; if they were advancing new opinions, and were even making capital out of them, he says that he attempted no such thing, but was content with the old and established opinions which they had always received.

But an old commandment – Old, in the sense that it has always been inculcated; that religion has always enjoined it.

Which ye had from the beginning – Which you have always received ever since you heard anything about the gospel. It was preached, when the gospel was first preached; it has always been promulgated when that has been promulgated; it is what you first heard when you were made acquainted with the gospel. Compare the notes at 1Jo 1:1.

The old commandment is the word which ye have heard from the beginning – Is the doctrine; or is what was enjoined. John is often in the habit of putting a truth in a new form or aspect in order to make it emphatic, and to prevent the possibility of misapprehension. See Joh 1:1-2. The sense here is: All that I am saying to yea is in fact an old commandment, or one which you have always had. There is nothing new in what I am enjoining on you.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

1Jn 2:7-11

Brethren, I write no new commandment unto you, but an old commandments

The old and new commandments

He had been telling them that they were to keep the commandments if they would know God.

Now those people who boasted that they had discovered quite another road to the knowledge of God than this had an especial dislike to the Old Testament. So they would be sure to turn upon him and say, The commandments! What commandments do you mean? Not those old commandments, surely, which were given to the Jews! You would not bring us back to the law, would you? He faces them boldly. I do mean those old commandments, he says; I write no new commandment unto you, but an old commandment which ye had from the beginning. I mean, distinctly, that I look upon those old commandments, if they were faithfully kept, as a way to the knowledge of God. But how? He does not say for a moment that a person merely regarding the commandments as written on stone could keep them. But he says, The old commandment is the Word which ye have heard from the beginning. Here is the secret of the whole matter. The commandments were a word proceeding from a living God; a word addressed to the hearts of human beings. As long as the commandments were looked at only as written and graven in stone they belonged to Israelites. When they were regarded as the words proceeding from the Word which was from the beginning it was intelligible how God had been speaking to other nations; how, though they had not the law, they did by nature the things contained in the law; how they showed the work of the law written in their hearts; how they, as well as the Jews, might seek by patient continuance in well-doing for glory, honour, and immortality. But was there nothing gained by this revelation of the Word in the flesh, by this gospel of His life? Was it not a good thing to be born under the New Testament instead of the Old? Again, says St. John, a new commandment I write unto you; which thing is true in Him and in you, because the darkness is past, and the true light now shineth. He is a teacher of progress much more truly than those who treated all the past as worthless or evil. He had brought forth a new commandment, not inconsistent with the old, scarcely an addition to it, rather the very essence of it, which yet it was unable to express. He that saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother, is in darkness even until now. What was there new in this statement? There was nothing new in the commandment, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. That was old; that St. Paul declares, that St. John declares, that our Lord declares, is implied in all the commandments. Men knew that they ought not to hate their neighbours; that is, men who dwelt near them, who belonged to their own tribe or nation; however often they might do it in spite of their knowledge. The code could not bid them to do more than this. We may say it boldly, no mere code can. But there must be a bond between man and man; there must be a power to make that bond effectual, or the law concerning neighbours will be most imperfectly heeded. The revelation of Christ explains the secret. When He came forth, when His light shone upon men, then it was seen that there is a common Brother of Men; of men, I say, not of Israelites merely. He is the Universal Brother. Therefore, says John, this thing is true in Him and in you, because the darkness is past and the true light now shineth. As if He had said, Now we are come into a new and higher state; the state not only of neighbourhood but of brotherhood. Are we no more under an obligation? Nay, verily, we come under a new commandment, under a wider and deeper obligation. It is a sin; a sin which punishes itself. For to hate a brother is to walk in darkness. It is to hide ourselves from Him who is our great common brother. It is to live as if the Lord had not appeared. For us to hate our brother–to hate any man–is nothing less than to deny the man, the Son of Man; the common light of men. For us to love our brother is nothing less than to walk in the light of Christs presence, nothing less than to be free from all occasion and danger of stumbling. He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is none occasion of stumbling in him. (F. D. Maurice, M. A.)

Brotherly love

I. Brotherly love is an old commandment (verse 7) This verse is often represented as though it referred to what the apostle had before said, and not to that which he was about to utter. To me it seems clear that he speaks by anticipation. He adopts a manner of writing which suggests the introduction of a new topic–Brethren, I write (or am about to write) no new commandment. Besides, brotherly love is a subject of which such a declaration might with great propriety be made. In making it the apostle imitates the example of his beloved Master, when, in His memorable Sermon on the Mount, He warned His hearers against supposing He was introducing any new doctrine (Mat 5:17). Brotherly love was no novelty. It arose of necessity out of the relation in which men stood to God and to one another. He was their Creator and they were brethren. Brotherly love was the doctrine of the Old Testament as well as of the New. It need not be added how powerfully these views are enforced when men are regarded as the subjects of grace. They become thus doubly the children of God and brethren one of another.

II. Yet there is a sense in which it is a new commandment (verse 8). The apostle delights to imitate his Master. He does so not only in his own conduct, but in his very manner of teaching. Of this there is an interesting example in the subject now before us. Of it Jesus said (Joh 13:34-35). It is after this model John says of brotherly love, A new commandment I write unto you. How is this saying to be understood? In one sense it was an old commandment, and in another it was new. It was old, necessarily arising out of the relation of men to one another, and required by the oldest revelation of the Divine will. But it was also new, as it was republished under the Christian economy. It should be more intense than it ever had been. It was hereafter to be formed on the model of Christs love. It should be wider in extent as it should be deeper in feeling. Hitherto the Jew confined his regards to his own nation. But in future all such national and sectarian distinctions were to be done away. It should be as high in its motives and aspirations as it was deep in feeling and wide in extent. Both would bring it into fellowship with heaven. Thus it should become the badge of the Christian economy. Judaism had been distinguished by its formal ceremonies, but Christianity would be distinguished by its generous and enlarged catholicity. Taking hold of a few hearts it would bind them together as one man. Thus united, they would operate on the mass of society around them.

III. Such love is a reality, and is exemplified in Christ and in them that are his (verse 8) As for Christ, His whole life was one burning flame of holy love. And be it observed, all this is summed up by the apostle as an argument for brotherly love in us (Php 2:4-11). If we have the mind of Christ it is clear what that must be. A similar account may be given of His early disciples. Like their Master, they denied themselves that they might benefit others. How incredible the hardships they endured! This was the spirit that pervaded the early Church. No other could have sustained it in those days. It was full of the tenderest sympathy, the most ardent love, and the severest self-denial.

IV. It ought to be so, considering the light we enjoy (verse 8).

1. The darkness is past.

(1) The darkness of Judaism. It served its purpose.

(2) The darkness of heathenism. The address of the prophet has been made to us (Isa 60:1-2).

(3) The darkness of unaided and perverted human reason (1Co 1:21).

2. The true light now shineth.

(1) The light of the Word shineth, a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path.

(2) The light of the spirit shineth (2Co 3:18).

(3) The light of ordinances now shineth, so that, as of old, of many places it may be said (Mat 4:16).

(4) The light of Christ shineth (Joh 12:36). These are our privileges. What then must be our responsibilities?

V. The apostles enforcement of brotherly love by a strong denunciation of its violation and a high commendation of its excellence. (James Morgan, D. D.)

The commandment of love–its oldness and its newness

These words stand between two commandments–that in the sixth verse of the chapter from which my text is taken, to walk as Christ walked, and the commandment of brotherly love contained in verse the ninth. To which of these does the apostle refer here? To both, for in their deepest meaning the two are one. If we walk in the light as Christ walked, then shall we love our brethren, for He loved us and gave Himself for us. Having ascertained what the commandment is, let us consider the two things mentioned concerning it its oldness and its newness. The law of love is as old as human nature itself. First, the faculty of love belongs to man as man–is part of his nature. Second, man has the sense or feeling that love is right, that it is a duty; and that to hate others, or even to be indifferent to them, is wrong. This is the Divine testimony in mans conscience, a silent commandment which makes itself heard and felt without the use of words. But the precept of love is new as well as old. It was Christ Himself that first called it new. A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.

1. The prominence and oneness which our Lord gave to it made it new.

2. The perfect realisation of the precept of love in the life of Christ was new. It filled His Spirit, possessed His soul, appeared in His words and works, and was made manifest forever in His passion and death. He did justice to love, honoured it, and showed how beautiful, how noble, and how divine a quality it is; and thus the old commandment was arrayed in new glory.

3. The old precept of love has also a new inspiring power, as seen in the life and character of our Lord.

4. Again, Christ made love the symbol or badge of the Christian Church. It is not by any system of theology, forms of worship, learning, or social position that the true Church is known; but by all that is implied in the great word love as it is used in the New Testament.

5. There is an undying freshness in love which makes it ever new. Consider the working of love anywhere, and you will find in it a beauty that never fades, a newness that never withers, a fragrance that never departs. (T. Jones.)

No new commandment

It is scarcely too much of a paradox to say that new knowledge is for the most part a discovery of old truth; we talk in popular language of the discovery of electricity, but the electric power lurked in those same substances since the world began; we talk with delight of the wonderful discoveries made by the spectroscope, but after all those colours were in the sunlight, those elements in the starlight, long before; we discover the marvellous power of steam, but many an earthquake and volcano might have told us something of the power of steam centuries ago; no new law I write, the steam engine, the electric current, the light seem to say as they pass on their rapid flight, but an old law which ye had from the beginning. And yet as we watch them at work it is a new one; the steam engine is changing the course of commerce and the face of society; the electric current puts a girdle round the world; we know something of the stars and the sun now we never knew before; our ignorance, our darkness is passing away, and the true light is beginning to shine. Can we wonder, then, when we turn from the physical to the moral world, the same truth holds good? But our paradox carries us further than this; it is not only true that new knowledge is often only a discovery of old truth, but surely it is also true that not infrequently progress in the worlds best life is only made by the rediscovery of old knowledge. What are we doing in sculpture, except trying to discover how to reach the perfect outline of the Greeks? In painting we still study the old masters; and old inscriptions are showing us how much the ancients knew which we thought once we were discovering for the first time. So also in the moral and religious sphere, what have all the great Christian movements been except re-proclamations of forgotten truths? The Wesleyan movement was but the re-proclamation of the necessity of conversion; the so called Oxford movement was but the calling emphatic attention to the neglected Sacraments; and this at least can be said of the Salvation Army, that it does remind us in the midst of our culture and education of the fact of perishing souls. What, then, is the upshot of all this? First, that we should expect to find Gods final word for the world no new one; we should expect to find His great revelation something which focussed into a new force the scattered rays of old truth; and secondly, we should expect to find that in course of time, from human frailty, fragments even of this great revelation should be forgotten, and that consequently, welling forward, as it were, from its central depths, would have from time to time to shine the forgotten truth.

I. Now the great commandment, ever old and ever new, is the law of love.

1. Is it true to history; is it true that Christianity gathers together and focuses scattered rays of old truth? In dealing with sceptics it is often found that if a saying of our Lords can be shown to distantly resemble the saying of some philosopher centuries ago, if the teaching of Plato, or of Seneca, or of Epictetus can be quoted as anticipations or echoes of the Sermon on the Mount or the letters of St. Paul, if sentences of the Lords Prayer can be shown to be embedded in Jewish liturgies, therefore it is supposed that a damaging blow has been dealt to His uniqueness and originality. Why! on the contrary we glory in it; we trace in it the action of the Incarnate Word before He is Incarnate; we see Him immanent in the world from the beginning, teaching, controlling, guiding: it is the very thing we are looking for to confirm our faith; and if one thing more than another could be discovered to send home this teaching of brotherhood into our hearts, it is to find that it is no new commandment He gave us when Be came in the flesh, but an old one He had given us from the beginning.

2. It is true to human nature. A planet in our system, says Bishop Barry, has three influences playing upon it–it has first its own centrifugal force which bears it on its way, and which if left unbalanced would carry it forward in a straight line; it has on it next the great central influence of the sun, and thirdly it has on it the influence of the other planets, and he goes on to remind us of the remarkable fact that the planet Neptune was discovered not at first by immediate observation, but by the effect which it had, though unseen, on the orbit of another planet. Now with that picture before us it is not difficult to see that Christianity recognises self. Not afraid of the shallow taunt of selfishness it tells man plainly that his own personality is a treasure committed to his charge, and that he simply fulfils a law of his being in educating it to perfection, and therefore to happiness in this world and the world beyond the grave. In other words, we are called by Christianity to self-sacrifice, but we must have a self to sacrifice. A question was asked the other day after an address to some Oxford undergraduates which goes to the root of the matter. Was it wrong to educate a taste for art? was it wrong to go to Venice in the vacation? or to buy a beautiful picture for ones room? The sincerity of the question was beyond dispute. Putting aside all obvious cautions about extravagance or over-indulgence of taste or cases where, on account of the present distress, it becomes right to waive our rights, as a broad principle, is self-development right or wrong? And we may surely venture most emphatically to answer that it is a duty; that balanced duly by the other influences, the instinct of self-development–the centrifugal force of the planet–must have its place; that it is a short-sighted policy even looked at from the point of view of the human race to crush individuality; that mind and powers developed will have more to give, not less, in the days to come; and that we shall be untrue to history and human nature if we ignore the last revelation we have received–worked out too by human sacrifice and human effort–of personal and individual freedom, for which martyrs have fought and died. But does this contradict or interfere with the law of love? Not for a moment, if we remember whose we are and whom we serve.

3. But is it practicable? Does the law work? And it is a relief to turn away from general principles to reporting of the thing in action; after all, the only true gospel is the gospel of life. Now in obedience to the law of love a certain number of the sons of the Universities of Cambridge and Oxford come each year to live in the centre of East London; they do it simply and naturally; they make no parade of virtue in doing it; their labour is a labour of love. What is the effect? Does it destroy self? By Gods blessing it helps to destroy selfishness, but not self; it develops self; it transfigures self. It makes men of them; the calls upon their judgment, the claims upon their sympathy, the education of their powers of government, insensibly and slowly make character; they lose their lives only to find them. Has it any effect on their belief in God? We know the dreamy haze in which many of us leave the University: is the old gospel true after all, we ask ourselves, or have we lost it among the maze of modern speculations? What effect upon this haze has obedience to the law of love? It gives a man back his faith in God; the darkness passes away and the true light begins to shine; and he finds by practical experience the truth of the old saying, He that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen? And if it ennobles self and clears the vision of God, what has it to say to man? It wins man; man is unable to resist it; it makes him believe in a brotherhood of which he has heard but never seen before; this is a music he can understand.

II. This brings us to the second thing we might expect to find; we saw that we might expect to find from time to time forgotten depths of even a final revelation swelling forward into the light of day. So weak is human nature, so small its capacity to hold infinite truth, that it has from time to time to relearn piecemeal the faith once delivered to the saints; just as clouds keep gathering round the sun, and then being dispersed, so the darkness of prejudice and selfishness keeps gathering round the sun of revelation; again and again that darkness has to be dispersed, and the true light again and again to shine. Now as we look out upon the world, it is perfectly certain that something has begun to shine which was not there before. Ask people who have been abroad for fifteen or twenty years, and then come back to England, and they will tell you that they are perfectly astonished at what they see. But these things, they will tell you, are but symptoms of an inner change; they find the whole tone different; they find the old class feeling vanishing; they find the heart of one half of the world has begun to go out towards the other. What is the meaning of it? It fronts us, it judges us, it is a fact; and the question is this, Is it to be sneered down as a passing whim or is it part of the life of God? And in upholding that it is part of the life of God which has again found its way through the mists of human selfishness, we may take our stand on three grounds.

1. It was time for it to come; we had learnt the last lesson, we understand the freedom of the individual.

2. It is too strong to be a whim; the true diamond and the diamond of paste are like enough to look at, but you can cut with the one and not the other; this diamond cuts.

3. The colour of the light bears witness to its source; we all may mistake many things at times and many colours, but when we see it in action there is no mistaking the white light of love. And so, in conclusion, we have to ask ourselves, What is to be our attitude towards this brightening light?

(1) And first, surely at any rate, not an attitude of opposition; the most cautious of us can hardly refuse to accede to the counsel of the cautious Gamaliel.

(2) But secondly, the very words of Gamaliel show us that we cannot stop there; if it is of God, and we as Christians are fellow workers with God, then God expects us, He must expect us to help it on. (A. F. W. Ingram, M. A.)

Which thing is true in Him and in you—

The law of love true to the requirements of life

What does he here mean by true? In Scripture, as in our daily speech, the word stands not merely for the giving over unchanged by our mind to the mind of another, by words or otherwise, of something we know, so that he shall get it just as we have it. It means often the real instead of the seeming–that which is, not that which we think to be. Not so often it must be taken, as in this place, for that which fits, as a key the lock which it opens, or a medicine the disease which it heals, or a plan the difficulty it solves. That, in short, which puts things right which are wrong, which, disentangling confusion brings about order, supplying wants, stopping gaps, knitting together broken links, making useful that which without it is useless, or beautiful that which by itself is uncomely. That which does this in each case is the true. What the apostle, therefore, here means is that the great law of love fits into the facts, the realities, of human nature in the best way, giving it a finished beauty, and putting into it what it lacked for its smooth working. Nothing else, the apostle would tell us, could bring about so much good; and he is sure that we can see this clearly to be the case in Christ and in ourselves. This law of love, he says, is true in Him and in you. Without this love all the glory of the life of Christ would be gone. We see how it was needed to make perfect all that He was and did. We see the boundless usefulness of that life to us and to the world. But what good could that life or that death have done but for the love which ruled Christ in both? Think next of yourselves, saith St. John; think how your thoughts, your feelings, your lives, your treatment of others, are all changed. You are happier, you are in all ways better than you were; your old difficulties in dealing with others you now no longer feel. Doubts as to the things it were best for you to do are gone. Whence the change? Has it not clearly followed on your obedience to the law of love? (C. Watson, D. D.)

The darkness is past, and the true light now shineth—

The darkness passing–the light shining

I. In Christ personally this is true, that the darkness is passing and the true light is shining. In so far as this is a continuous process, or progressive experience, it is true of Christ only as He walked on earth. Darkness is upon Him, around Him, in Him; the darkness of the sin with which He comes in contact, the sin which, in its criminality and curse, He makes His own. But, on the other hand, the true light is ever shining upon Him, around Him, in Him; the light of the Fathers loving eye bent upon His suffering Son; the light of His own single eye ever bent upon the Fathers glory. In Him this darkness and this light are incessantly meeting; present always, both of them, vividly present to His consciousness; felt to be real, intensely real–the darkness, however, always as passing; the true light always as now shining.

II. What is true in Him: should be true in us, and should be realised by us as true in us as in Him. That is the apostles new commandment. For we enter into the position of Him in whom, in the first instance, that is true. The commandment to us is to enter into His position. And it is a new position. It is new to everyone with whom the commandment finds acceptance and in whom it takes effect.

1. The darkness is passing. Is it so with me, to me, in me? Then all that pertains to the darkness, all that is allied to it, is passing too. It is all like a term in course of being worked out in an algebraic question; a vanishing quantity; a fading colour. Plainly there is here a thoroughly practical test. This darkness is the absence of God. Now I come into contact with this darkness on every hand, at every point. Places, scenes, companies, from which God is shut out; works and ways from which God is shut out; people from whose minds and hearts God is shut out–I am in the midst of them all. Worse than that, they are in me, as having only too good auxiliaries in my own sinful bosom. How do I regard them? Do I cleave to them, to any of them? Would I have them to abide, at least a little longer? Would it pain me to part with them and let them pass? The darkness is passing. Is that true in me, as in Christ, with reference not merely to the darkness of this world that has such a hold on me, but also and chiefly to the darkness of my own shutting out of God; the darkness of my shutting out of God from my own conscious guilt and cherished sin? That is darkness indeed. Is it passing? Am I glad of its passing? Or am I in some measure so loving it that I would not have it all at once pass?

2. The true light is now shining. This is not represented as a benefit to be got, or as a reward to be reached, after the darkness shall have passed. It is a present privilege or possession. It is true, as a great fact, in you as in Christ, that the true light now shineth. And the fact of its now shining while the darkness is passing is the thing which is to be recognised as true in you as in Christ. That is the new commandment; a commandment always new; conveying in its bosom an ever-fresh experience, pregnant with ever-fresh experimental discoveries of Him who is light and who dwells in light. Only act up to this commandment; be ever acting up to it more and more. Enter into the spirit of it, and follow it out to its fair and full issues. (R. S. Candlish, D. D.)

Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell

Verse 7. Brethren, I write no new commandment] There seems a contradiction between this and the next verse. But the apostle appears to speak, not so much of any difference in the essence of the precept itself, as in reference to the degrees of light and grace belonging to the Mosaic and Christian dispensations. It was ever the command of God that men should receive his light, walk by that light, and love him and one another. But this commandment was renewed by Christ with much latitude and spirituality of meaning; and also with much additional light to see its extent, and grace to observe it. It may therefore be called the OLD commandment, which was from the beginning; and also a NEW commandment revealed afresh and illustrated by Christ, with the important addition to the meaning of Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye shall love the brethren so as to lay down your lives for each other. See Clarke on Joh 13:34.

Instead of , brethren, ABC, thirteen others, with both the Syriac, Erpen’s Arabic, Coptic, Sahidic, Armenian, Slavonic, and Vulgate, with several of the fathers, have , beloved. This is without doubt the true reading.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

This commandment must be that which he insists on, 1Jo 2:9-11, and which in different respects he calleth both old and new. Not new, he says, in opposition to their Gnostic seducers, to intimate he was not about to entertain them with vain novelties, as they did; all whose peculiar doctrines were no other than innovations upon true Christianity: but old, viz. a part of original Christianity, as it came pure first from our Lord Christ himself; the commandment, or word, which they had, or had heard, from the beginning. This phrase, from the beginning, being here put in conjunction with some act of theirs, ye had, or have heard, as also 2Jo 2,5,6, shows it to intend a much later term of commencement than 1Jo 1:1. Though also, considering them as Jews, whom he here writes to, it might run up as high as the law given by Moses; or, even as men, to the creation, and the first impression of the law of nature (whereof this was a very noble part) upon the heart of man.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

7. BrethrenThe oldestmanuscripts and versions read instead, “Beloved,”appropriate to the subject here, love.

no new commandmentnamely,love, the main principle of walking as Christ walked(1Jo 2:6), and that commandment,of which one exemplification is presently given, 1Jn 2:9;1Jn 2:10, the love ofbrethren.

ye had from thebeginningfrom the time that ye first heard the Gospel wordpreached.

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

Brethren, I write no new commandment unto you,…. Some understand this of faith, which this apostle calls a commandment, 1Jo 3:23; but it rather intends the commandment of love, especially to the brethren, of which the apostle says the same things as here in his second epistle, 1Jo 2:5; and this sense agrees both with what goes before and follows after, and is a considerable branch of the commandments of Christ to be kept, and of walking as he walked; and the word “brethren”, prefixed to this account, may direct to, and strengthen this sense, though the Vulgate Latin and Syriac versions read, “beloved”; and so the Alexandrian copy, and others: and this commandment is said to be not a new one,

but an old commandment, which ye had from the beginning; it being in its original a part of the eternal law of truth, founded upon the unalterable nature and eternal will of God, who is love itself, and requires it in all his creatures; being what was written on Adam’s heart in a state of innocence, and a branch of the divine image stamped upon him; and is what was delivered in the law of Moses, for love to God and men is the sum and substance of that; and was taught by Christ and his apostles from the beginning of the Gospel dispensation; and was what these saints had been acquainted with, and influentially instructed in from their first conversion, being taught of God in regeneration to love one another; so that this was no novel doctrine, no upstart notion, no new law, but of the greatest and most venerable antiquity, and therefore to be regarded in the most respectful manner.

The old commandment is the word which ye have heard from the beginning; or this ancient law of love is contained in, and enforced by that word or doctrine which was delivered from the beginning of time; and which these saints had heard of, concerning the seed of the woman’s bruising the serpent’s head, which includes the work of redemption and salvation by Christ, atonement by his sacrifice, forgiveness of sin through his blood, and justification by his righteousness, than which nothing can more powerfully engage to love God, and Christ, and one another; and which is also strongly encouraged by the word of God and Gospel of Christ, which they had heard, and had a spiritual and saving knowledge of, from the time they were effectually called by the grace of God: the phrase, “from the beginning”, is left out in the Alexandrian copy, and others, and in the Vulgate Latin, Syriac, and Ethiopic versions; it is omitted in both clauses of the text in the latter.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

The Law of Love.

A. D. 80.

7 Brethren, I write no new commandment unto you, but an old commandment which ye had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word which ye have heard from the beginning. 8 Again, a new commandment I write unto you, which thing is true in him and in you: because the darkness is past, and the true light now shineth. 9 He that saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother, is in darkness even until now. 10 He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is none occasion of stumbling in him. 11 But he that hateth his brother is in darkness, and walketh in darkness, and knoweth not whither he goeth, because that darkness hath blinded his eyes.

The seventh verse may be supposed either to look backward to what immediately preceded (and then it is walking as Christ walked that is here represented as no new, but an old commandment; it is that which the apostles would certainly inculcate wherever they brought Christ’s gospel), or to look forward to what the apostle is now going to recommend, and that is the law of fraternal love; this is the message heard from the beginning (ch. iii. 11), and the old commandment, 2 John 5. Now, while the apostle addresses himself to the recommendation of such a practice, he is ready to give an instance thereof in his affectionate appellation: “Brethren, you who are dear to me in the bond of that love to which I would solicit you;” and so the precept of fraternal love is recommended,

I. As an old one: I write no new commandment unto you, but an old commandment, which you had from the beginning, v. 7. The precept of love must be as old as human nature; but it might admit divers enactions, enforcements, and motives. In the state of innocence, had human nature then been propagated, men must have loved one another as being of one blood, made to dwell on the earth, as being God’s offspring, and bearing his image. In the state of sin and promised recovery, they must love one another as related to God their Maker, as related to each other by blood, and as partners in the same hope. When the Hebrews were peculiarly incorporated, they must accordingly love each other, as being the privileged people, whose were the covenants and the adoption, and of whose race the Messiah and head of the church must spring; and the law of love must be conveyed with new obligations to the new Israel of God, to the gospel church, and so it is the old commandment, or the word which the children of the gospel Israel have heard from the beginning, v. 7.

II. As a new one: “Again, to constrain you to this duty the more, a new commandment I write unto you, the law of the new society, the Christian corporation, which thing is true in him, the matter of which was first true in and concerning the head of it; the truth of it was first and was abundantly in him; he loved the church, and gave himself for it: and it is true in you; this law is in some measure written upon your hearts; you are taught of God to love one another, and that because” (or since, or forasmuch as) “the darkness is past, the darkness of your prejudiced unconverted (whether Jewish or Gentile) minds, your deplorable ignorance of God and of Christ is now past, and the true light now shineth (v. 8); the light of evangelical revelation hath shone with life and efficacy into your hearts; hence you have seen the excellency of Christian love, and the fundamental obligation thereto.” Hence we see that the fundamentals (and particularly the fundamental precepts) of the Christian religion may be represented either as new or old; the reformed doctrine, or doctrine of religion in the reformed churches, is new and old–new, as taught after long darkness, by the lights of the reformation, new as purged from the adulterations of Rome; but old as having been taught and heard from the beginning. We should see that that grace or virtue which was true in Christ be true also in us; we should be conformable to our head. The more our darkness is past, and gospel light shines unto us, the deeper should our subjection be to the commandments of our Lord, whether considered as old or new. Light should produce a suitable heat. Accordingly, here is another trial of our Christian light; before, it was to be approved by obedience to God; here by Christian love. 1. He who wants such love in vain pretends his light: He that saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother, is in darkness even unto now, v. 9. It is proper for sincere Christians to acknowledge what God has done for their souls; but in the visible church there are often those who assume to themselves more than is true, there are those who say they are in the light, the divine revelation has made its impression upon their minds and spirits, and yet they walk in hatred and enmity towards their Christian brethren; these cannot be swayed by the sense of the love of Christ to their brethren, and therefore remain in their dark state, notwithstanding their pretended conversion to the Christian religion. 2. He who is governed by such love approves his light to be good and genuine: He that loveth his brother (as his brother in Christ) abideth in the light, v. 10. He sees the foundation and reason of Christian love; he discerns the weight and value of the Christian redemption; he sees how meet it is that we should love those whom Christ hath loved; and then the consequence will be that there is no occasion of stumbling in him (v. 10); he will be no scandal, no stumbling-block, to his brother; he will conscientiously beware that he neither induce his brother to sin nor turn him out of the way of religion, Christian love teaches us highly to value our brother’s soul, and to dread every thing that will be injurious to his innocence and peace. 3. Hatred is a sign of spiritual darkness: But he that hateth his brother is in darkness, v. 11. Spiritual light is instilled by the Spirit of grace, and one of the first-fruits of that Spirit is love; he then who is possessed with malignity towards a Christian brother must needs be destitute of spiritual light; consequently he walks in darkness (v. 11); his life is agreeable to a dark mind and conscience, and he knows not whither he goes; he sees not whither this dark spirit carries him, and particularly that it will carry him to the world of utter darkness, because darkness hath blinded his eyes, v. 11. The darkness of regeneracy, evidenced by a malignant spirit, is contrary to the light of life; where that darkness dwells, the mind, the judgment, and the conscience will be darkened, and so will mistake the way to heavenly endless life. Here we may observe how effectually our apostle is now cured of his once hot and flaming spirit. Time was when he was for calling for fire from heaven upon poor ignorant Samaritans who received them not, Luke ix. 54. But his Lord had shown him that he knew not his own spirit, nor whither it led him. Having now imbibed more of the Spirit of Christ, he breathes out good-will to man, and love to all the brethren. It is the Lord Jesus that is the great Master of love: it is his school (his own church) that is the school of love. His disciples are the disciples of love, and his family must be the family of love.

Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary

Beloved (). First instance of this favourite form of address in these Epistles (1John 3:2; 1John 3:21; 1John 4:1; 1John 4:7; 1John 4:3; 1John 4:2; 1John 4:5; 1John 4:11).

No new commandment ( ). Not novel or new in kind ( as distinct from , new in time, for which distinction see Lu 5:33-38).

But an old commandment (‘ ). Ancient as opposed both to and . The Mosaic law taught love for one’s neighbours and Christ taught love even of enemies.

Which ye had ( ). Imperfect active, reaching back to the beginning of their Christian lives (‘ ). They had heard it expressly from Jesus (Joh 13:34), who, however, calls it “a new commandment.”

Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament

Brethren [] . The correct reading is ajgaphoi beloved. The first occurrence of this title, which is suggested by the previous words concerning the relation of love.

No new commandment [ ] . The Rev., properly, places these words first in the sentence as emphatic, the point of the verse lying in the antithesis between the new and the old. On new, see on Mt 26:29.

Old [] . Four words are used in the New Testament for old or elder. Of these gerwn and presbuterov refer merely to the age of men, or, the latter, to official position based primarily upon age. Hence the official term elder. Between the two others, ajrcaiov and palaiov, the distinction is not sharply maintained. Arcaiov emphasizes the reaching back to a beginning [] . Thus Satan is “that old [] serpent,” whose evil work was coeval with the beginning of time (Rev 7:9; Rev 20:2). The world before the flood is “the old [] world” (2Pe 2:5). Mnason was “an old [] disciple;” not aged, but having been a disciple from the beginning (Act 21:16). Sophocles, in “Trachiniae,” 555, gives both words. “I had an old [] gift,” i e., received long ago, “from the old [] Centaur.” The Centaur is conceived as an old – world creature, belonging to a state of things which has passed away. It carries, therefore, the idea of old fashioned : peculiar to an obsolete state of things.

Palaiov carries the sense of worn out by time, injury, sorrow, or other causes. Thus the old garment (Mt 9:16) is palaion. So the old wine – skins (Mt 9:17). The old men of a living generation compared with the young of the same generation are palaioi. In palaiov the simple conception of time dominates. In ajrcaiov there is often a suggestion of a character answering to the remote age.

The commandment is here called old because it belonged to the first stage of the Christian church. Believers had had it from the beginning of their Christian faith.

Commandment. The commandment of love. Compare Joh 13:34. This commandment is fulfilled in walking as Christ walked. Compare Eph 5:1, 2.

Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament

1) “Brethren, I write no new commandment unto you”. (Greek agapetoi) “beloved ones”, term of affectionate address. John disclaims what he is writing to be anything new, especially as a new order or command from the Lord, as in 2Jn 1:5.

2) “But an old commandment which ye had from the beginning. John identifies his admonition with the (Greek palaian) “old or former” commandment the disciples received from the beginning, the personal ministry of our Lord. 1Jn 3:11.

3) “The old commandment is the Word”. It is recorded in Joh 15:12. It is the commandment of Jesus, to love one another just as He had loved them.

4) “Which ye have heard from the beginning”. The very word (logos) of Jesus; which He received from the Father, was that the disciples should love one another with that high, holy, spiritual affection, Jesus and the Father had for each other and for them. Joh 3:35. These were reminded that our Lord’s followers had heard this from the beginning.

Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary

7 Brethren, I write no new commandment This is an explanation of the preceding doctrine, that to love God is to keep his commandments. And not without reason did he largely dwell on this point. First, we know that novelty is disliked or suspected. Secondly, we do not easily undertake an unwonted yoke. In addition to these things, when we have embraced any kind of doctrine, we dislike to have anything changed or made new in it. For these reasons John reminds us, that he taught nothing respecting love but what had been heard by the faithful from the beginning, and had by long usage become old.

Some explain oldness differently, even that Christ now prescribes no other rule of life under the Gospel than what God did formerly under the Law. This is indeed most true; nor do I object but that he afterwards calls in this sense the word of the gospel the old commandment But I think that he now means only, that these were the first elements of the gospel, that they had been thus taught from the beginning, that there was no reason why they should refuse that as unusual by which they ought to have been long ago imbued. For the relative seems to be used in a causative sense. He calls it then old, not because it was taught the fathers many ages before, but because it had been taught them on their new entrance into a religious life. And it served much to claim their faith, that it had proceeded from Christ himself from whom they had received the gospel. (64)

The old commandment The word old, in this place, probably extends further; for the sentence is fuller, when he says, the word which ye have heard from the beginning is the old commandment And as I, indeed, think, he means that the gospel ought not to be received as a doctrine lately born, but what has proceeded from God, and is his eternal truth; as though he had said, “Ye ought not to measure the antiquity of the gospel which is brought to you, by time; since therein is revealed to you the eternal will of God: not only then has God delivered to you this rule of a holy life, when ye were first called to the faith of Christ, but the same has always been prescribed and approved by him.” And, doubtless, this only ought to be deemed antiquity, and deserves faith and reverence, which has its origin from God. For the fictions of men, whatever long prescription of years they may have, cannot acquire so much authority as to subvert the truth of God.

(64) That this view is correct, appears evident from the words, “which ye had from the beginning;” he calls it “old,” because they had been taught it from “the beginning,” that is, of the gospel. Then “new” can mean no other thing than what Calvin states, that it continues still in force, it being, as it were, always new. — Ed.

Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary

CRITICAL AND EXEGETICAL NOTES

1Jn. 2:8. New commandment.St. John seems to refer to his demand of love to the brethren, as the satisfactory sign of heart-obedience, son-like obedience to the Father. And this was new in the sense that no previous religious or ethical system had made such a demand. The common law of humanity is, Serve yourself first, and then serve others, if you can. The Divine law of humanity is, Serve others first, and serve yourselves only when you are quite free of all brotherly obligations. Darkness is past.Which hid from men the Fatherhood of God, and prevented them from realising their brotherhood. True light.It is the light of Christs ideal sonship and brotherliness.

1Jn. 2:9. Hateth.This is a word which has changed its meaning since the A.V. was made. The Bible word means, love less; put second; show indifference to. The Christian hates self when he puts self second. The worldly man hates his brother when he puts him after self.

1Jn. 2:10. None occasion of stumbling.I.e. the self-seeking principle is constantly putting men in peril of doing wrong and unjust things to their brethren. The love which seeketh not her own never urges any man to do anything that is unkind or unworthy. Love to the brethren is a proof of uninterrupted abiding in the light, and of a blameless course in the way of righteousness. St. John evidently had to deal with teachers who urged that love to Christ was enough to secure all the Christian blessings. He counteracts such mischievous teachings, by thus firmly asserting that love to Christ is absolutely inseparable from love to the brethren; there cannot possibly be the one without the other.

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.1Jn. 2:7-11

A New, yet Old, Commandment.The new life in Christ will always find expression in two formsin righteousness, and in charity. Or, to state the same thing in concrete form, in the obedience of sonship to God, and in the service of brotherhood to men. The apostle has been dealing with the first of these; he now turns to the second, beginning a new section by the direct address Brethren, or more precisely, Beloved. There are senses in which the love of the brethren is the oldest of old commandments. And there are senses in which the old commandment has been given anew; a fresh glow, and force, and meaning have been put upon it, and it comes to us like a new commandment, when we receive it from the lips of our Divine Lord and Master. Think of it as old, or think of it as new, still it stands as the second great commandment for humanity, and it is, in fact, included and involved in the first. Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. It is remarkable that counsels respecting the law of brotherly love should take such a prominent place in St. Johns epistles. The Churches of his day must have been failing in this duty. The spirit of self-seeking and rivalry must have been spoiling the Christian relations. It was not the wisest thing for the apostle to attempt dealing directly with cases of contention and misunderstanding. It is seldom possible to get such matters put straight by any interference from without. But it is always possible, and it is often effective, to deal with such matters by reaffirming and reimpressing general principles, and this course the apostle takes. There is a Divine atmosphere, in which alone the quickened and regenerate soul can breathe and thrive. It is the light, which is the atmosphere of God. And there is an earthly atmosphere, in which alone the quickened and regenerate soul can breathe and thrive. It is lovethe love of the brethren, the spirit in a man towards the brethren which leads him to put the interest of his brethren before his own. Nothing but love will inspire that.

I. Love of the brethren is an old commandment.An old commandment, which ye had from the beginning. It is as old as humanity. This was evidently in the apostles mind, for we find him presently referring to the first human brother, Cain, who failed in keeping this commandment in his day. When God made man, He designed for him fatherhood; and since this involved sonship, it also involved brotherhood. The Divine idea of society was brotherhood in the inspiration of family love, which would lead each brother to care for his brother, as much and as truly as he cared for himself. What would society have been if the Divine idea had never been disturbed, if the Cain spirit had never been introduced? What would society be to-day, if, everywhere, every man was as interested in the welfare of his brother-man as in his own? Brotherly love is an original human instinct. Christian ethics are as old as humanity. The milk of human kindness feeds every child at the breast of the great nature-mother. No man, the world over, needs to be told of this old commandment. It is recognised as the first of human laws in every clime and every age. If the appeal be limited to the Jews, as having received a special revelation from God, we can see another sense in which brotherly love is an old commandment. For Moses distinctly enjoined this rule for the guidance of all social relations, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself (Lev. 19:18), and the law was never for one moment disputed; the only contention that arose was over the precise meaning to be attached to the term neighbour. It may, however, be, as some have thought, that St. Johns expression from the beginning has exclusive reference to the beginning of the Christian experience of those to whom he wrote. It was one of the first things they were taught; and it had been taught them as an essential feature of the Christian life. There can be no sonship without brotherhood.

II. Love of the brethren is a new commandment.Two things make it a new commandment for Christian disciples.

1. It was announced afresh, on His own authority, by their Divine Lord and Master. It was a main point of His teaching. It never had been taught so clearly, or so forcibly; it never had been set in such a primary place, as moral duty. There was no conceivable possibility of any mans being a disciple of Christ, if he failed to keep this commandment of the Lord. Jesus Himself called it a new commandment, because He put such freshness of meaning into it, when He commended it to His disciples, and because He put such new power of obedience into it, when He quickened souls with His Divine life (Joh. 15:12).

2. It was embodied afresh in our Lords example. Taking upon Himself human sonship, He took on Himself human brotherhood; and He loved His brethren up to the very limits of self-sacrifice for their true welfare. The law of brotherly love is true for Christ, since He walked in the light. It will be true for us precisely in the measure in which we walk with Him in the light. The thing is true in Him and in you, because the darkness is past, and the true light now shineth.

III. Love of the brethren is in full consistency with the Christian profession.That profession is symbolically represented as light. It includes everything true, kind, right, pure, gentle, and helpful. Manifestly love of the brethren is in the fullest harmony with all these things. And the worldly life ruled wholly by self-interest, by self-seeking considerations, is symbolically represented as darkness; and hatred of our brother, in the milder form of neglecting him, or the harsher form of injuring him, is in full harmony with that worldly life of darkness. The whole history of religious rancour has been a deplorable illustration of this hating our brother. Controversy for principles honestly and reasonably held is one thing; prejudice, spite, private censures and condemnations, harsh words, suspicions, jealousies, misunderstandings and misrepresentations, are the chief props of the kingdom of darkness among Christian churches and nations. (Compare Joh. 13:34; Joh. 15:12 1Co. 13:2; 1Pe. 1:22; 2Pe. 1:7-9). St. John even suggests that keeping up the love of the brethren, by finding for it constantly active expression, is the very best way to keep in the light. Such a man abideth in the light, and there is none occasion of stumbling in him (1Jn. 2:10).

SUGGESTIVE NOTES AND SERMON SKETCHES

1Jn. 2:8. Right Estimate of Christian Times.The darkness is past, and the true light now shineth. The apostle Paul calls the pr-Christian ages, The times of this ignorance. And of Galilee, upon which the light of Christs ministry shone, prophecy had declared, The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light. We can get a right estimate of Christian times only by contrast with a right estimate of pr-Christian times.

I. Pr-Christian times are represented by the term darkness.And

1. Darkness implies the absence of light. No sun, or moon, or stars bring any relief. And these represent the revelations of God which alone can relieve the moral darkness of men. It is not advisable to speak in an exaggerated way on this matter, and to deny all Divine interest in heathen and pagan peoples. What may be clearly stated is that God was pleased to leave the world to itself, to its own natural developments, without direct and special Divine intervention and help. But it must be darkness for the creature made by God, and dependent on Him, to be wholly left without any sense of His presence. The creature could but be feeling after Him, groping for Him, in the dark.

2. Darkness implies foulness. And we could not exaggerate in any statement that we could make concerning the moral degradation of heathen and pagan nations; it would be difficult to exaggerate in stating the mental blindness and moral corruption into which the Jews had fallen in the ages between Malachi and John the Baptist.

II. Christian times are represented by the term light.

1. If the earlier ages were characterised by the absence of revelation, this is characterised by the greatest of all the revelations that have ever come from God: the one that illuminates, explains, and renews every other Revelation 2. If the earlier ages were dark indeed with sensual vices and self-aggrandisements, these ages are light indeed with a higher morality, family purity, personal restraints, gracious relations, and brotherly love.

1Jn. 2:10. Lore preventing Stumblings.He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is none occasion of stumbling [scandal] in him. This verse is pointedly addressed to the members of the Christian Church, and has in view the fact that there had been stumblings, scandals, and that there was always more or less danger of such things. The tone of the epistle suggests, that St. John had been greatly distressed by the report of such things. He does not choose to refer directly to any particular cases; he prefers to treat the evil as a general one, and to meet it by the assertion of Christian principles directly applicable to the case. The idea in his mind, to which he gives expression here, is something like this: If a man walks in the light, he can see where he is going; he can watch the path of his feet, and there is no occasion whatever for his stumbling. But if he walks in the night and darkness, he must pick his way tremblingly, for there are likely to be, here and there, many occasions of stumbling. St. Johns words recall those of our Divine Lord: If a man walk in the day, he stumbleth not, because he seeth the light of this world. But if a man walk in the night, he stumbleth, because the light is not in him. We have seen that the proper atmosphere for the Christian life, if regarded in relation to God, is light, and if regarded in relation to man, is love. Here St. John is thinking of the love. If a man love his brother, he will walk in an illuminated atmosphere, in which he can see his way, and carefully avoid all occasions of offence. But if a man does not love his brother, if he has any enmities cherished against him, he will walk in a darkened atmosphere, in which he will not recognise occasions of offence, and, in this mood of mind, he will not care to avoid them if he does see them. It must needs be that offences come, but woe unto that man by whom the offence cometh. All family, all church, all society, quarrels come still, as they have always come, out of somebodys unbrotherly moods. Somebody has been walking in the darkness of ill-will.

1Jn. 2:11; 1Jn. 2:15. An Important Distinction.Light is often thrown on the meaning of passages by comparing scripture with scripture. That will reveal apparently striking distinctions and contrasts. The distinctions of inspired language are always carefully made, and they represent spiritual realities. Putting these two passages together, three things appear to view:

1. A distinction between sinning and loving the world. Sinning is a peril to which the best Christian stands exposed. Loving the world is essentially an un-Christian state. Sinning is an act. Loving the world is a spirit, an inward principle. Sinning is response to outward temptation. Loving the world is a personal choice.

2. A distinction between the effect of sinning and of loving the world on the religious spirit and life. Sin drives the soul to God. Loving the world draws the soul away from God. Sin makes precious the Fathers Comforter. Loving the world crushes out all love of the Father.
3. Loving the world is set forth as a more perilous thing than sinning. The one may be consistent with a real, sincere, and earnest religious life. The other is absolutely inconsistent with it. And yet, practically, we think but little of this loving the world. It is treated as quite a venial sin. It is more to be dreaded than any sinful act we could possibly commit.

1Jn. 2:11. The Apostles Line of Argument.God is light. Christ is that light revealed. The life of Christ was a life of obedience and a life of love. In order, therefore, to have fellowship through Him with God believers must obey and love. The state of things in which this is possible has already begun. Therefore I write to you a command which is both old and new; walk in the light by imitating the love of Christ. In this manner St. John lays the foundation of Christian ethics.A. Plummer, D.D.

Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell

CHAPTER V

TO WALK IN THE LIGHT IS TO SHARE
GODS ATTITUDE TOWARD OUR BROTHERS IN CHRIST

(The Second Test . . . The First Time)

1Jn. 2:7-17

The Text

Beloved, no new commandment write I unto you, but an old commandment which ye had from the beginning: the old commandment is the word which ye heard. (8) Again, a new commandment write I unto you, which thing is true in him and in you; because the darkness is passing away, and the true light already shineth, (9) He that saith he is in the light and hateth his brother, is in the darkness even until now. (10) He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is no occasion of stumbling in him. (11) But he that hateth his brother is in the darkness, and walketh in the darkness, and knoweth not whither he goeth, because the darkness hath blinded his eyes. (12) I write unto you, my little children, because your sins are forgiven you for his names sake. (13) I write unto you, fathers, because ye know him who is from the beginning. I write unto you, young men, because ye have overcome the evil one. I have written unto you, little children, because ye know the Father. (14) I have written unto you, fathers, because ye know him who is from the beginning. I have written unto you, young men, because ye are strong, and the word of God abideth in you, and ye have overcome the evil one. (15) Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. (16) For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the vainglory of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. (17) And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever.

Try to Discover

The relationship between spiritual darkness and hatred.

The relationship between light and love.

How a commandment can be both new and old.

How our relationship to our brothers in Christ indicates our relationship to God.

How the proper direction of love is essential to life.

Why one cannot love God and the world at once.

Paraphrase

Beloved! no new commandment am I writing unto you; but an old commandment which ye have been holding from the beginning; The old commandment is the word which ye have heard. (8) Again a new commandment am I writing unto you, which thing is true in him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the real light already is shining. (9) He that saith he is in the light and hateth his brothers is in the darkness until even now! (10) He that loveth his brother is abiding in the light, and cause of stumbling in him is there none! (11) Whereas he that hateth his brother in the darkness dwelleth and in the darkness walketh; and knoweth not whither he is drifting, because the darkness hath blinded his eyes. (12) I write unto you, dear children, Because your sins have been forgiven you for the sake of his name: (13) I write unto you, fathers, Because ye understand him who was from the beginning: I write unto you, young men, Because ye have overcome the wicked one. I have written unto you, little children, Because ye understand the Father: (14) I have written unto you, fathers, Because ye understand him who was from the beginning: I have written you, young men, Because ye are strong and the word of God within you abideth and ye have overcome the wicked one. (15) Be not loving the world Nor yet the things that are in the world: If anyone be loving the world The love of the Father is not in him. (16) Because all that is in the worldThe coveting of the flesh, The coveting of the eyes, And the vain grandeur of lifeIs not of the Father, but is of the world; (17) And the world passeth away and the coveting thereof, But he that doeth the will of God endureth unto times age-abiding.

Comments and Translation

The new commandment is old . . . 1Jn. 2:7

(1Jn. 2:7) Beloved, I am writing no new kind of commandment to you but an ancient commandment which you were having from the beginning: the ancient commandment is the word which you heard.

Johns language reveals his motive in writing. He addresses his readers as Beloved. I John is written as a test and a warning. It contains much criticism and harsh language concerning the gnostics; those who were denying the faith, But John had learned the lesson many present day preachers and teachers have not learned. While he detested the false teaching, he loved those being misled by it. While his denunciation of error is pointed and at times scathing and blunt, there is no, Youre wrong and youre lost and Im glad!

The commandment which this loving apostle is about to pen is not new. His readers have heard it from the very first. It stands written in the law of Moses. Jesus made it part of the eternal triangle, upon which hang all the law and the prophets and the psalms. (Mat. 22:34ff) Love of God, love of man and love of self are the entire burden of everything God requires of His children.

The command, or at least the human necessity which calls it forth, is as old as life itself. Jesus taught that His act of love was the message of the Old Testament. (Luk. 24:44ff) He also taught that love of fellowman is second only in importance to love of God. (Mat. 22:39) We know also from Him that upon this eternal triangle hang all the law and the prophets and the psalms, which take their meaning from Him. (Mat. 22:40) In the preceding verses John has said that the perfection of this love is reached when men obey Gods commandments. Now he will spell it out. The commandment, which is both old and new, is that we love!

The paradox of love . . . 1Jn. 2:8

(1Jn. 2:8) Paradoxically, I am writing to you a new kind of commandment, which is real in Him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the genuine light already is shining.

Paradoxically, the commandment which is old is also new. It is old in that it is the beginning of the old covenant. It is new in that it is the perfection of the new covenant.
To appreciate what John is saying about the newness of this commandment, attention must be given to the word which is translated new. It is a synonym, and, as with most synonyms, its meaning stands out most sharply in contrast. The word is kainos. Its synonym is neos. Both are translated new in our English versions. Kainos (used here) means new in reference to quality while neos means new in reference to time.

This years automobile is new in reference to time. This is expressed in the Greek by neos. When the automobile replaced the horse, it was revolutionary newness; a completely new kind or quality of transportation. This newness of kind is the meaning of kainos (new) in this verse.

John, by his use of kainos (new), indicates that love, as a way of life, is revolutionary. It is old, in that it was commanded long ago, but it is new in Jesus and in those who walk as He walked because it has never been seen in practice before. The Jews, who had love as a commandment, spoke of the Samaritans as dogs, and considered the Gentiles as unfit for social intercourse. The Christian, whose life is controlled by love, knows no man after the flesh. (2Co. 5:16)

It is the light in which we walk that reveals love as the essential stuff of life. Therefore, whoever loves as He loved walks in the light as He is in the light. It is the light of God in Christ as Calvary which made love known. Whoever would order his life in the light of the cross must do so by loving.
3.

The light focused in love . . . 1Jn. 2:9-11

(1Jn. 2:9) The one claiming to be in the light and hating his brother is still in darkness. (10) The one loving his brother is remaining in the light, and in him is no cause of stumbling. (11) However, the one hating his brother is in darkness and is walking in the darkness and is not knowing where he is going, because the darkness blinded his eyes.

The light of God reaches its sharpest focus in the Christians love for his brother in Christ. It is true that Jesus commanded us to love our enemies, but is equally true that the reason we love an enemy is in order that he may become our brother! Hence, the end perfection of both Gods love for the world and our love for our enemies is reached, when we love as a brother, him who was previously our enemy.
This truth is revealed by Gods light in Jesus, and he, who does not love one who becomes a child of God, is himself not a child of God, but is still in darkness. B. F. Wescott has said this very succinctly, A man is either walking in the light of love or the darkness of hatred. This is the application of Johns second test by which we know we are in fellowship with God and have eternal life.
Love is the result of walking in the light. Consequently, the presence of love is evidence that one is so walking.
In such a persons life there is no occasion of stumbling. The root idea of the word skandalon, here translated occasion of stumbling, is two-fold. It can refer to either a stumbling block or a snare trap. In either case it is made effective by darkness.

There is some question in this passage as to whether John means that darkness causes one to stumble, or that one in darkness has in his life that which causes others to stumble. A good case can be made for either interpretation.
Consider first that darkness causes one to stumble: What could be more true? Who is not familiar with the pathetic sight of a blind man tapping his way along the curb with his red-ripped cane to avoid stumbling. A blind man lives in perpetual darkness.
So also does the one who is spiritually blind live in darkness and in danger of stumbling. That over which such a person most frequently stumbles is human relations! Hence the absence of love is evidence of walking in darkness.

Pauls entreaty in Rom. 14:1-23 that we do nothing whereby we cause one another to stumble, and other such passages, may be quoted to support the alternative interpretation of 1Jn. 2:10. He who walks in the light of Gods truth has as his first concern the spiritual welfare of others. Such a person does not have in his life that over which his brother may stumble.

Actually, both the danger of stumbling, and of being the occasion by which others stumble are in the life of one who walks in darkness, ignorant of or ignoring the truth of life revealed in Christ. No matter how sound his doctrine, nor how accurate his theological speculations, the person who does not love his brother is blinded by darkness and has no idea where he is going. (Cf. 2Co. 4:4) Those who live as Christ, who love as He loved, have, according to 1Jn. 2:5, already reached the boarders of Canaan!

A parenthetical aside . . . 1Jn. 2:12-14

(1Jn. 2:12) I am writing to you, dear children, because you are forgiven sins through His name. (1Jn. 2:13) I am writing to you, fathers, because you have come to know from experience the one who was from the beginning. I am writing you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one. (1Jn. 2:14) I wrote to you, little children, because you have come to know the Father. I wrote to you, fathers, because you have come to know from experience the one who was from the beginning. I wrote to you, young men, because you are strong and the word of God is remaining in you and you have overcome the evil one.

Children . . . 1Jn. 2:12; 1Jn. 2:14 (a)

It has been suggested that the repetition in these verses is perhaps due to Johns being interrupted as he wrote. There is no way to know this certainly, but to one who has done any writing it seems very plausible. In any event, John addresses three age groups in the church with a personal message for each, and in each case the message is in two sections.
The forgiveness of sin in the name of Christ is the common experience of all Christians. It is the overwhelming awareness of one who is a child in Christ, either by virtue of age or recent conversion. Indeed, forgiveness is many times the only blessing of which a new born babe in Christ is aware. But it is enough.

The companion awareness, accompanying that of forgiven sin, is Divine Sonship. To the new-fledged Christian, this, too, is an overpowering realization. The Almighty Creator and Sustainor of all is my Father! Im a child of the King!

While the time ought never come when any Christian forgets the forgiveness of his sins or his sonship to God, these are the special blessings of those who are new in the faith.

Fathers . . . 1Jn. 2:13 (a) & 1Jn. 2:14 (b)

In contrast to the neophyte Christian and his blessings are those whose years with the Master are many and whose realized blessings are even more profound. John writes to the fathers because they have, through years of experience, come to a personal acquaintance with the eternal logos!

In Chapter one, John speaks of life as abstract and impersonal. Here, as in the prologue of the fourth gospel, he speaks of the eternal word, The One Who was from the beginning.

Personal intimate knowledge of this One Who sticketh closer than a brother, (Pro. 18:24) increases and deepens with the passage of years.

Young Men . . . 1Jn. 2:13(b) & 1Jn. 2:14(c)

In addressing the young adults, John is aware of their vigor and consecrated energy. He is also aware of the temptations that are strongest in early adulthood. His motive in addressing them with the tests of life is his awareness of their strength, the presence of the Word in their lives and their conquest of Satan, the evil one.

It seems perhaps more appropriate to young adulthood than any other age that a Christian be able to conquer evil and resist youthful temptations (Cf. 2Ti. 2:22) by the consciousness of the Word in his life. Pauls claim, I can do all things through Him that strengtheneth me, (Php. 4:13) seems particularly applicable to young men.

Incompatibility of love for the world and love of the Father . . . 1Jn. 2:15

(1Jn. 2:15) Do not have the habit of loving the world nor the things in the world. If one should be loving the things of the world, the love of the Father is not in him:

Love is essentially the giving of self. In the Greek language there are three synonyms, all of which are translated love. They do not represent three kinds of love, but three motives for self-giving.
The first, eros, is the giving of self for the sake of what one gets in return. The second, phileo, is the giving of self to that which is attractive, as to a person with whom we are personally, naturally compatible. In modern parlance, this word is more accurately represented with like than love. The third, agape, is the love of the will. It gives self because it decides to do so, regardless of what it may or may not get in return and regardless of whether it is personally attracted to its object.

This third motive, agape, is the only one of the three that can be commanded. Indeed it is the only one that, in the Bible, is commanded! The other motives, eros and phileo, are only controlled by the willful direction of agape.

Agape is the word translated love in this present text. It is also the love of Joh. 3:16 and of 1Co. 13:1-13. It is the love of 1Jn. 4:8 which says God is love.

Since God is love, and man is made in the image of God, man can not but love something.

Since love is essentially the giving of self, I give myself to that which I decide to love. It is impossible to give self to two opposing masters. Therefore, if I love the world, I cannot love the Father. This conclusion is supported by such statements as James! . . . friendship with the world is enmity with God, (Jas. 4:4) and Jesus . . . No man can serve two masters. (Mat. 6:24) Service is love in action.

John makes no claim that the things of the world are in and of themselves sinful. Indeed, Paul claims such is not the case. (Rom. 14:14)

Human reason supports the sinlessness of the things of the world per se. As we look more closely at Johns identification of them, it becomes apparent that they are important, and often even essential to life in this time and space set up of ours.

Johns plea is not to condemn the things of the world, or to pretend that we do not need or ought not to use them. His entreaty is Do not have the habit of loving, (of giving yourself regardless of the consequences) to these things.
It is rather startling to realize that love, which is the very essence of life when directed properly, is also the cause of death when misdirected!

Things of the world identified . . . they are not of the Father . . . 1Jn. 2:16

(1Jn. 2:16) because everything in the world, the desires of the flesh, the desires of the eyes, and the empty boastfulness of this temporal life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.

The things of the world fall into three categories; the desires of the flesh, the desires of the eyes, and the empty boastfulness of this temporal life.
In the first two instances, the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes, our English versions read lust. This is unfortunate. The word lust, while it literally means merely a desire to gratify the senses and appetites, has fallen into bad usage. It has come to be associated, in modern parlance, almost exclusively with excessive and unrestrained sexual gratification.
The word, epithumia, which John uses and which I have translated desires does not denote that which is of itself wrong, nor is it particularly concerned with sex per se. Rather, the word describes all natural, God-given drives that are common to man.

Desires, in this sense, includes sex, but it also includes the other normal appetites. When applied to the flesh, it includes the appetite for food, for sleep, for drink,for those things generally called the necessities of life.
There is nothing essentially wrong with any of these normal desires of the flesh. On the contrary, it is doubtful if one can remain physically healthy for long without them. But . . . John insists we must not have the habit, that is it must not be the course of our lives, to give ourselves regardless of the consequences to these desires of the flesh.

Many illustrations of such excessive concern with the desires of the flesh could be cited. The corruption of the English word lust is itself a case in point. It is the result of over-attention, by our English speaking society, to sex.
A similar illustration can be made of the deterioration of the Greek eros, which in classic times described the love of beauty and was used in marriage ceremonies. The word now has come to such vulgar usage as to be unspeakable in mixed company in modern Greek.

The so-called New Morality of our day also illustrates the way in which non-Christian society gives itself to the desires of the flesh, And lest those who are older take this as an indictment of the younger generation, we might also mention the motto of the roaring Twenties, Obey that impulse!

When applied, as John applies it in 1Jn. 2:16, to the desires of the eyes, the word epithumia shifts in emphasis from those appetites and drives associated with the physical body to the externals of which we are aware by the use of our perceptive senses. C. H. Dodd calls this the tendency to be captivated by outward show. It would seem that we are confronted here with those things which usually answer to the name culture.

Culture is many things to many people. To some it is the acquiring of polish and graciousness. One important facet of education, beyond the acquiring of knowledge, is the process of becoming which takes place while one is learning. This is good. If we can take His hasty manufacture of clothing for Adam and Eve as an indication, the desire for culture is a God-given instinct which makes our living together here a little more pleasant than it might otherwise be. (Gen. 3:21)

To others, culture may be the avoidance of those very things which seem so desirable to polite society. Who does not know some individual who spends a great deal of time convincing his fellows that he has not become a dude or a sissy or whatever else he may call those who have acquired the niceties of social grace?
In either case, the one as much as the other, it is possible to spend ones entire life in search of culture, of one form or another, for its own sake. This, John would have us not do. His plea again is that we Do not have the habit of loving (of giving ourselves to) these normal desires.

In the third instance, John changes his terminology in defining the things of the world. The final appeal is to not love or give self to the empty boastfulness of this temporal life.
The word which our English versions render vainglory or pride is aladzoneia. Its literal meaning is derived from aladzon, meaning a purposeless wanderer or imposter and hence a boaster. One who pretends to be that which he is not! One who loves, or gives himself to such emptiness has not the love of the Father.

It is not surprising to find Paul using a derivative of this same word to describe one who does not love with Christian love. Paul says that one without Christian love is become sounding brass or a clanging symbol. The word rendered symbol in 1Co. 13:1 is alaladzon, a form of aladzoneia which is used in 1Jn. 2:16. It was originally a Greek battle cry, shouted at the enemy to strike fear during a charge. It was a hollow boastful noise which meant absolutely nothing!

There are those who love, who give themselves to the nothingness, the boastful noise, of this world. Vance Packards, The Status Seekers is an indictment of a people who all their lives claw and scratch after the baubles which will set them just one notch above their neighbors. It is the old cliche of keeping up with the Joneses.

There are multiplied illustrations of such pretentious egoism. There is the man whose car is the very best model of the best make, no matter what he happens to be driving at the moment. And when he trades, no matter what he gets, it will then be the best model of the best make.

There are the young people whose energies are spent in the purposeless pursuit of a hot rod Ford and a two dollar bill. Youll find them risking their lives and the lives of others in the desperate attempt to leave a strip of rubber on the road every time they drive away, or in the equally desperate attempt to get to the next stop light ahead of another purposeless vagabond.
There are those mothers whose children grow up undisciplined because they must hold an extra job. Not that their husbands are unable to provide the necessities, but because of their own insatiable craving for status symbols.
Christians are to have a more meaningful set of values. Right love, the love of the Father, is for people; not for appetites, desires, or things! John entreats us not to give ourselves to these empty pursuits. Those who live for the things of the world are not of the Father, but are of the world.

Contrasting results of contrasting loves . . . 1Jn. 2:17

(1Jn. 2:17) And the world is passing away and the desires of it; but the one doing the will of God is remaining into eternity.

The misdirection of love against which we are warned in this paragraph is the negative side of the same test which is presented in the preceding verses. If we do love our brothers, we are of God, If we love the things of the world, we are not of God.

In 1Jn. 2:17, we are confronted with the contrasting results of these two opposing loves. One becomes more and more like that which he loves, If he loves the world, he takes on more and more the nature of the world. If he loves the Father, and expresses that love in love of his brothers, he becomes more and more like the Father.

The consequences are eternal. The world is passing away, and the things of it, The one who loves the world becomes temporal as the world is temporal, and so will also pass away. In contrast, the Father is eternal. The one who loves as He loves becomes more and more like Him, and so will remain into eternity.
One of the most pathetic utterances in modern language is that which says some Christian person has passed away. This is very apt at the death of one who has loved the things of the world, but it is nothing short of dishonest at the funeral of one who has directed his love toward his brothers in Christ.
Christians do not pass away . . . the world passes away and those who love it!

Questions for Review

1Jn. 2:7-11

To what commandment does John refer in 1Jn. 2:7-8?

How can this commandment be both new and old?

What is the significance of beloved in 1Jn. 2:7?

Explain why John here commands to love our brothers rather than our enemies. (Compare 1Jn. 2:5 )

What is the source of brotherhood?

How is the absence of love proof that one is walking in darkness?

What are the two possible interpretations of 1Jn. 2:10?

Which of these two seems most likely to be Johns real meaning? Support your answer.

1Jn. 2:12-14

What is one possible explanation of Johns repetition in these verses?

Of what blessing is the new Christian likely to be most aware?

What is the significance of Johns writing to the older men of the church because you know Him Who is from the beginning?

Why does John address the young men, Because ye are strong, and the Word of God abideth in you, and you have overcome the evil one?

1Jn. 2:15-17

What is the meaning of love as John uses it here?

What is the basis of the conclusion, Man cannot but love something?

What three classifications does John use for the things of the world?

What is the meaning of the word for lust . . . 1Jn. 2:16-17

What is the meaning of the lusts of the flesh?

What is the meaning of the lusts of the eyes?

What is the meaning of the vainglory of life?

If there is nothing essentially wrong with these things, why does John demand that we not love them?

What is the result of loving God?

What is the result of loving the things of the world?

How does the statement that a Christian has passed away

reflect fuzzy thinking about the results of love?

Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series

7. First interlude. Twice in this chapter St. John interrupts the current of thought in order to express the personal purpose and feeling of his writing. Other writers would have done this at the introduction; but he has begun with the full propounding of his subject, and his personal references come in parenthetically by the way. This interlude meets the objection that his doctrine is a novelty. The commandment is not, as some think, simply the law of brotherly love, (though 1Jn 2:10-11 show that to be included,) but the entire preceding injunction of 3-6, requiring our knowing and abiding in our great propitiation that is, in the divine fellowship and perfect love summarized in 1Jn 1:6-7. This was no new commandment; indeed, they had heard it from the beginning; that is, from the first announcement of Christ’s gospel to them. This newly delivered injunction is the same old word they had ever heard, even from the beginning of their Christian knowledge, 8. Again That is, under another view of the subject, the commandment is new. It is, on opposite sides, at the same time both old and new. Even when first preached through Christ it was old, both as a natural and eternal divine obligation, and as a record in the Hebrew revelation; and it was new by the revelation of our example, propitiation, and advocate, Jesus Christ; and this newness is a true thing both in the Christ and in the believer in him and in you. It is true in Christ as unfolding a new force in the law of love; it is true in you as being pledged by your interest in the propitiation (1Jn 2:2) to perfect obedience to, and oneness with Christ. The darkness once shading that law of love is past by this revelation of Christ; and the true light now shineth by which the force of that law, or commandment, is made luminous. The old commandment is, therefore, a new one.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

‘Beloved, no new commandment do I write to you, but an old commandment which you (plural) had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word which you heard.’

Having described them as his ‘little children’ John now addresses them as his ‘beloved ones’. He exemplifies in himself the truth he is exhorting them to. And he wants it immediately clear that he is not bringing to them something new, but something that they had ‘from the beginning’, from when they first responded to Christ. Others may come with innovations but he will bring to them only the true word which was spoken by Jesus and which they received when they were first converted and which has been responsible for all their blessing.

And what is that old commandment? It is what God commanded. Jesus said, ‘for I did not speak from Myself, but the Father Who sent me, He has given me a commandment, what I should say and what I should speak, and I know that His commandment is life eternal. The things therefore which I speak, even as the Father has said to Me, thus I speak’ (Joh 12:49-50). So it is what He told them. It is ‘the word that they heard’. And what is that word? It is the commandment of eternal life (Joh 12:50). It is concerning the Word of Life (1Jn 1:1). It is His word through Jesus.

It includes the wide scope of the teaching of Jesus seen as included in one commandment, the commandment of eternal life. It is that they must look to Christ as the light of the world, the light of life (Joh 8:12). It is the word of the cross, that Christ crucified is the power of God to salvation through His work on the cross and through His resurrection (1Co 1:18 compare 1Jn 1:7 ; 1Jn 2:2; Joh 6:52-59; Mar 10:45). It is that sin must be abhorred (1Jn 1:7-10). It is that they must keep His word and His commandments, His teaching (Joh 14:10; Joh 14:23 with Joh 14:15; Joh 14:21; Joh 15:7 with Joh 15:10) as those who enjoy eternal life. It may be seen as including that they must love one another, although that is the emphasis of a new commandment (Joh 13:34; Joh 15:12; Joh 15:17). Thus they are to look back to the old foundations that they first received in the traditions about Jesus. Compare here 1Jn 3:10 where doing righteousness (which includes loving God and one’s neighbour) and loving one’s brother are two major aspects of the Christian life.

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

The Old Commandment and the New Commandment ( 1Jn 2:7-11 ).

Here John stresses the need to stand by what they have originally learned and experienced and by the Light that is already shining among them, and not to seek to those who claim to bring new light but only bring darkness, which is evidenced by their failure to love those who are true to Christ.

In interpreting these verses it is easy to jump ahead in the letter and then interpret this old commandment as the command to love one another. But in Joh 13:34 it is the ‘new’ commandment that is to love one another, (as in fact here in 1Jn 2:8), while the ‘old’ commandment’ is the offer of eternal life (Joh 12:50 compare Joh 14:31) which leads up to the new commandment, and encompasses the commandments as found constantly in the teaching of Jesus, which connect with this and are referred to constantly (Joh 14:15; Joh 14:21; Joh 14:23-24; Joh 15:10; Joh 15:14). It is those who hear His word and follow Him who receive eternal life (Joh 10:28). Thus while the new commandment is emphasised in John (as one commandment – Joh 13:34; Joh 15:12; Joh 15:17) His other words and commandments are also much emphasised. The disciples were to observe the whole width of His teaching, not just the commandment to love one another, however important that might be.

So we may see the principle commandment, ‘His commandment’, as the offer of life eternal (Joh 12:50), which is received by hearing His voice and following Him (Joh 10:28). Compare 1Jn 2:25. This is further proved in 1Jn 3:23 where God’s commandment is that we believe in the name of His Son Jesus Christ (and thus receive eternal life). That is then followed, importantly but secondarily, by a second commandment that we need to love one another in accordance with His commandment. So there we have two commandments also (1Jn 3:24 a).

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

Abiding in the light:

v. 7. Brethren, I write no new commandment unto you, but an old commandment which ye had from the beginning. The old commandment is the Word which ye have heard from the beginning.

v. 8. Again, a new commandment I write unto you, which thing is true in Him and in you; because the darkness is past, and the true light now shineth.

v. 9. He that saith he is in the light and hateth his brother is in darkness even until now.

v. 10. He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is none occasion of stumbling in him.

v. 11. But he that hateth his brother is in darkness, and walketh in darkness, and knoweth not whither he goeth, because that darkness hath blinded his eyes.

The chief factor in the life of believers is love toward the brethren, and therefore the apostle devotes a special paragraph to its discussion: Beloved, not a new commandment do I write to you, but an old commandment, which you had from the beginning; the old commandment is the Word which you heard. As the apostle of love John addresses his readers in the affectionate manner which gives token of his love. It is not a new, novel, strange, unheard-of commandment that he is writing about, such as would set them all a-wondering as to his motive in speaking to them in this manner. It was an old precept, one which they had heard from the beginning of their Christian life. He was, in other words, expounding to them the Word of God as they had heard it always, from all their teachers; for all the apostles and their assistants preached the same truth.

In spite of the fact, however, that it was the old, old truth which he was proclaiming, he could nevertheless write: Again, a new commandment I am writing to you, what is true in Him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true light is even now shining. The truth does not change, it remains the same always. But the apostle says that, from another angle, from another point of view, his doctrine and the special precept which he has in mind is a new commandment. The form in which he is presenting it, the vehemence with which he is insisting upon it, gives it a tang of novelty, arouses new interest for it. The precept is contained in the revelation of Jesus Christ, has been fulfilled in Him, and is proved in the experience of believers. Christ truly loved His brethren and thereby left us an example of true brotherly love. In Him there was never any darkness in this respect or in any other. But in the case of us Christians also it is true that the former darkness of sin and selfishness is passing away, and the true light from God is shining, is illuminating us. Our hearts have been enlightened by the beauty and the power of the grace of God in Christ Jesus, and in this power we are beginning to renew the image of God in our hearts. And although the shadows are still frequent by reason of our sinful nature, we know that they will be fully and finally driven away when the sun of eternal life will arise upon us.

The apostle here inserts a serious warning: He that says he is in the light and yet hates his brother is in darkness until now. He that loves his brother remains in the light, and there is no occasion of stumbling in it; but he that hates his brother is in darkness and walks in darkness, and he does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes. The distinction which the apostle makes is very clear. If a person professes to be a Christian, men have a right to expect a corresponding conduct from him, one which agrees with the will and character of Christ, one which is conspicuous for its show of brotherly love. If brotherly love, therefore, is absent, if there is evidence of hatred, it shows that such a person, in spite of all his protestations, is still in darkness; he is not yet truly converted, faith and hope have no place in his heart. Where a person has and shows real brotherly love, not the cheap imitation which is so often hailed as the genuine thing in our days, such a person is and remains in the light of God’s grace, with faith and love in his heart. Being in the light, he is not in danger of stumbling into pitfalls which the guile of the devil and of evil persons may place for him, such as participation in false charity of our days, especially that practiced by the many anti-Christian societies. The Lord cannot bear pretense, deceit, hypocrisy. If any person has hatred toward his brother in his heart, his entire life, all that he does and undertakes, is in the darkness of unbelief and of a false charity. He may attempt to do what genuine Christians are doing, but because the light of faith has not arisen in his heart, because the eyes of his understanding are not yet enlightened, because he has no judgment in spiritual matters, therefore all his efforts are futile, they lead him nowhere so far as real Christianity is concerned, they have no worth in the sight of God so far as true sanctification is demanded. What a powerful appeal to all Christians to strive for purity of brotherly love on the basis of justifying and sanctifying faith!

Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann

1Jn 2:7. But an old commandment Founded in innocent nature before the Fall, recommended by the Mosaic law, and that which you had especially inculcated upon youfrom the beginning of your acquaintance with the gospel, the great practical intent of which was, doubtless, presently made known to you by whomsoever it was preached. I may therefore well say, it is the old commandment; for it is the word which you heard from the beginning of your acquaintance with Christianity.

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

1Jn 2:7 . ] Such a form of address does not necessarily indicate the commencement of a new section, but is also used when the subject of the discourse is intended to be brought home to the hearers or readers; this is the case here.

] certainly does not mean: “I do not write to you of a new commandment;” neither, however: “I write (set) before you” (Baumgarten-Crusius); for has not this signification; it simply means: to write; when connected with an object, as here, it is = to communicate or announce anything by writing; comp. chap. 1Jn 1:4 . The subject of his writing the apostle calls an ; it is arbitrary to take the word here in a different meaning from that which it always has; thus Rickli: “the whole revelation of divine truth as it has been brought to us in Jesus Christ” [102] (similarly Flacius, Calovius, etc.); and Ebrard: “the announcement, that God is light, chap. 1Jn 1:5 ;” means “commandment;” this idea must not be confounded with any other. Most of the commentators (Augustin, Bede, Oecumenius, Theophylact, Luther, Calvin, Baumgarten-Crusius, de Wette-Brckner, Neander, Sander, Erdmann, Myrberg, Ewald, etc.) understand by it, according to 1Jn 2:9-11 , the commandment of brotherly love; others, on the other hand (Socinus, Episcopius, Calovius, Schott, Lcke, Fritzsche, Frommann, etc.), according to 1Jn 2:6 , the commandment of following Christ. These two views seem to be opposed to one another, but they really are so only if we assume that John here wants to emphasize a single special commandment in distinction from other commandments. This supposition, however, is erroneous; the command to keep the commandments (or the word) of God after the example of Christ, or to walk in the light, is no other than the command to love one’s brother. From chap. 1Jn 1:5 on, John is speaking not of different commandments, but of the one general commandment of the Christian life which results from the truth that God is light. It is to this commandment that reference is made when John, in order to bring it home to his readers, says: , so that by he does not indicate a commandment which he then for the first time is about to mention, but the commandment which he has already spoken of in what precedes (only not merely in 1Jn 2:6 ), but defines more particularly in what follows, namely, in regard to its concrete import. [103] Of this commandment John says, that it is not an ; [104] in what sense he means this, the following words state: , ; it is not new, but old, inasmuch as his readers did not first receive it through this writing, but already had it, and indeed , i.e. from the very beginning of their Christian life; comp. chap. 1Jn 3:11 ; 2Jn 1:5-6 ; and, for the expression , 1Jn 2:24 (Calvin, Beza, Socinus, Episcopius, Piscator, Hornejus, Lange, Rickli, Lcke, de Wette-Brckner, Sander, Neander, Besser, Dsterdieck, Erdmann, Myrberg, Ewald, Braune, etc.). The imperfect , instead of which we should expect the present, either refers back to the time before John had come to his readers, or is to be explained: “which ye hitherto already had.” The latter is the more probable. Some commentators weaken this interpretation, which is demanded by the context, and hold that John calls the commandment (namely, “the commandment of love”) an old one, because it was already given by Moses; thus Flacius, Clarius, etc.; the Greek commentators even go beyond that, and refer it at once to this, that it was written from the very beginning in the heart of man; [105] the latter Baumgarten-Crusius maintains, and says: “here, therefore, the ethics of Christianity are represented as the eternal law of reason,” in which he explains “from the beginning of the history of man,” and regards “ye as men” as the subject of .

] This addition serves for a more particular definition of the preceding; is repeated in order to accentuate this idea more strongly. By it was only stated that the readers were in possession of the commandment; now the apostle defines it more particularly in this respect, that it is the word (not: “the chief substance of the word,” de Wette) which they had heard (comp. 1Jn 2:24 ; 1Jn 3:11 ; 1Jn 4:3 ), which, therefore, was proclaimed unto them (comp. chap. 1Jn 1:2-3 ), namely, by the apostolic preaching. The clause is therefore not to be taken, as Baumgarten-Crusius holds, as a correction of : “not by him was it first given; it is from the beginning of Christianity, the , , namely, from Christ;” for does not refer directly to (Bengel), but to . [106] On the addition ( Rec. ) after , which Ewald regards as genuine, see the critical notes.

[102] Ebrard wrongly maintains that is “a truth including directly in itself practical requirements.” Only the practical requirements contained in a truth can be when regarded as a unity called , but not the truth which contains them in itself. It is true the demand of faith in the message of salvation may be described as , but not the message of salvation itself; here, however, the context forbids us to take the expression in that sense (as Weiss), since neither in what precedes nor in what immediately follows is there a demand for faith expressed.

[103] This view is in accordance with that of Dsterdieck, who rightly remarks: “The solution of the problem lies in this, that the holy command to walk as Christ walked, fully and essentially resolves itself into the command of brotherly love;” it is also accepted by Braune. The objection of Brckner, that brotherly love is only a principal element , and not the complete fulfilment of following Christ, can only be regarded as valid if brotherly love is not viewed in its full, complete character; comp. Joh 13:34 , and also the statement of the Apostle Paul: , Rom 13:10 . The instances adduced by Ebrard against the reference to brotherly love can only have any force if the commandment which prescribes this is distinguished, as a special one, from the command to walk in light.

[104] Certainly what John here says reminds us of the statement of Christ in Joh 13:34 ; nor can it be denied that John was here thinking of that, as well as in the passage 2Jn 1:5 ; but from this it does not follow that . . does not refer to what precedes, but only to what comes after (ver. 9).

[105] In the scholia of Matthaei it is thus put: , , . . , , . Oecumenius and Theophylact combine the two together, holding that the Epistle was addressed to Jewish and Gentile Christians.

[106] Wolf assumes a peculiar antithesis between the two sentences: Ratio fortassis aliqua reddi possit, cur et sibi invicem subjungantur. Prius enim ad illos spectaverit, qui ex Judaeis ad Christum conversi erant; illi enim jam ante praeceptum hoc de amore mutuo ex lege Mosis et prophetis cognitum habebant; posterius respiciet ex-Gentiles, qui idem inter prima evangelicae doctrinae praecepta acceperant; this amounts, partly, if not altogether, to what the Greek commentators adduce for explanation of the expression . The arbitrariness of such an antithesis is self-evident.

Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary

1Jn 2:7-11 . A more particular statement of the nature and import of or of .

Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary

Brethren, I write no new commandment unto you, but an old commandment which ye had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word which ye have heard from the beginning. (8) Again, a new commandment I write unto you, which thing is true in him and in you: because the darkness is past, and the true light now shineth. (9) He that saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother, is in darkness even until now. (10) He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is none occasion of stumbling in him. (11) But he that hateth his brother is in darkness, and walketh in darkness, and knoweth not whither he goeth, because that darkness hath blinded his eyes.

The new commandment and the old commandment the Apostle here speaks of are well explained on Gospel principles. And the evidences of obedience he sums up in the fruits of obedience, as manifested in brotherly love. Not what the world seems so fond to inculcate, universal love, but the special love of brethren; and this on Christ’s account. Loving them as brethren, and as members of Christ’s body.

Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

7 Brethren, I write no new commandment unto you, but an old commandment which ye had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word which ye have heard from the beginning.

Ver. 7. I write no new commandment ] The apostle studiously declineth the suspicion of novelty. We should ever set a jealous eye upon that which is new, and stand in the old way, Jer 6:16 , in the ancient paths, Jer 18:15 . God’s people are called the ancient people, Isa 44:7 . And idolaters are said to sacrifice to new gods, that came newly up,Deu 32:17Deu 32:17 . Truth, as wine, is better with age, Luk 5:39 . And of witnesses, Aristotle well saith, the older they are, the more credible, because less corrupted, , (Rhet. i.). As we prefer the newest philosophy, so the ancientest divinity; and we may justly suspect them of falsehood and delusions, who arrogate to themselves to utter oracles, to bring to light new truths, &c.

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

7 11 .] The commandment of Love . The context see below. Beloved, I write not to you a new commandment, but an old commandment, which ye had from the beginning: the old commandment is the word which ye heard (on the right understanding of this verse, very much depends. The great question is, To what commandment does refer? Does it point forward to the commandment of brotherly love, in 1Jn 2:9 , or back to that of walking as Christ walked, in 1Jn 2:6 ? One or other of these views has generally been taken decidedly, and exclusively of the other. The former view has been upheld by Aug [17] , Bed [18] , c., Thl., Luther, Calv., Grot., Wolf, Bengel, Knapp, Baumg.-Crus., De Wette, Neander, Sander, Dsterdieck, al.; the latter by Beza, Socinus, Seb.-Schmidt, Piscator, Episcopius, Flacius, Calov., Lcke, Fritzsche, Jackmann, al. Of these, some on both sides may fairly be dismissed, as maintaining preposterous meanings for some of the terms used. Thus Flacius, Seb.-Schmidt, Calov., understand to be, not a commandment , which from usage and from 1Jn 2:3 and ch. 1Jn 3:23 , 1Jn 5:3 , it must be, but the whole “doctrina de Christo ejusque beneficiis,” including the forgiveness of sins, 1Jn 2:1-2 ; 1Jn 2:12 . Then thus taking it, the epithets “old” and “new” become the O. T. prophecies of Christ, and their N. T. fulfilment. Thus on the other side some, e. g. Aug [19] , Bed [20] , Beza, Luther (2), Seb.-Schmidt, Wolf, al., understand “new” and “old” not of time, but in a tropical meaning, with reference to the old Jewish or heathen darkness and the new light of Christ: a view which cannot possibly be maintained in the face of so plain a token of time as is furnished by and by the aor. and . These being so far set aside, the above classes of interpreters are again divided as to their understanding of the epithets “old” and “new.” Those who understand the 1Jn 2:7-8 , of the command of love, mostly explain the oldness and newness of the difference between O. and N. T. revelation (so the Greeks, Grot., and Wolf), and some go on to understand the of the original obscure and imperfect command to love one another in the O. T. which failed in the crowning particular of love towards enemies. Of these, the Greeks, holding not Jewish Christians alone, but Gentile also to be addressed, interpret and of the testimony of conscience to the law of love among the Gentiles: so c. and the Scholl. speak of . Wolf tries to distinguish the two by referring to the Jews, to the Gentiles. On the other hand, those who refer in 1Jn 2:7-8 , to 1Jn 2:6 , mostly understand the “old” and “new” of the different aspects in which the following the example of Christ would be regarded, within the limits of the N. T. period, since the readers had begun their Christian lives: so Socinus, Jackmann, Piscator, Episcopius, Lcke. The lastnamed reference of to the beginning of the Christian life of the readers, and the corresponding explanation of the “oldness” of the commandment, is combined by De Wette and Neander only with their view of as the law of love. Dsterdieck, from whom the above particulars are mainly taken, finds fault with the exclusive reference maintained for the most part by the interpreters on both sides, and believes that a via media may be found more agreeable to the ethical habits of thought of the Apostle, and to the context of the passage. This context requires, 1) that we maintain a logical connexion between 1Jn 2:6 and 1Jn 2:7 , as indicated by and : 2) that we maintain the like logical connexion between 1Jn 2:8 and 1Jn 2:9 , as indicated by the figure common to them both, of the darkness and the light. Now, of these, 1) is neglected by those who understand the barely as the law of love; 2) is neglected by those who understand it barely of following Christ’s example. The former make 1Jn 2:7 spring out of no contextual development: the latter treat similarly 1Jn 2:9 . And the true view is to be found as thus indicated: the walk of Christ, which is our example, is essentially and completely summed up in one word, Love: and so the command, to walk as he walked, essentially and completely resolves itself into the law of brotherly love: for this last, taken in all its depth, includes not one special detail in a holy Christian life, but the whole of that life itself. Taking then this view, how are we to interpret in detail? What is ? what is ? what is ? For these clearly all hang together. If is to signify ‘from the beginning of O. T. revelation,’ or ‘from the beginning of God’s testimony in man’s conscience,’ we seem to be doing violence to the simple mode of address which is prevalent in our Apostle’s style. The and , especially the latter, will hardly bear interpreting of the remote forefathers of the readers, as on this hypothesis they must, but require to be confined to the readers themselves, especially as they are aorists and not perfects. And if so, the meaning of is fixed to be, from the beginning of the Christian lives, from the time when . Then as to , and , the explanation will be simple enough. The command to love one another cannot be said to be new, for it forms a part of the , nay, is the very sum and centre of that : but again, it may be said to be new, inasmuch as it ever assumes new freshness as the Christian life unfolds, as the old darkness is more and more cleared away and the true light shineth: in that light we see light; in the light of Him who maketh all things new.

[17] Augustine, Bp. of Hippo , 395 430

[18] Bede, the Venerable , 731; Bedegr, a Greek MS. cited by Bede, nearly identical with Cod. “E,” mentioned in this edn only when it differs from E.

[19] Augustine, Bp. of Hippo , 395 430

[20] Bede, the Venerable , 731; Bedegr, a Greek MS. cited by Bede, nearly identical with Cod. “E,” mentioned in this edn only when it differs from E.

That the as such refers to the law of love, thus indeed connected with Christ’s example here, but still to the law of love and no other, is plain from the whole usage of the Apostle; compare especially 2Jn 1:4-6 , where the very same train of thought occurs as here, the being = here, being followed up by , and that being characterized, as here, , , and finally being stated to be . Indeed the whole process of that passage from this point is most instructive as to our present one: , . , : where the same complex of the whole Christian walk is included in the one idea of love, and identified with walking according to His commandments. Again in ch. 1Jn 3:11 , the same formula is used in speaking of the law of love , : cf. also ch. 1Jn 4:21 , 1Jn 5:3 , 1Jn 3:22-24 ; again ch. 1Jn 3:14 , 1Jn 4:16 , Joh 13:35 ; ch. 1Jn 5:1-2 , Joh 15:10 .

To recapitulate: on the interpretation here adopted, which is also that of Dsterdieck and Huther, the is the command to walk as Christ walked, passing as the passage advances into the law of love. This is no , but , seeing that they had it , from the beginning of their faith, and it was in fact the sum of the which they ).

Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament

1Jn 2:7-11 . A New Meaning in an Old Commandment. “Beloved, it is no new commandment that I am writing to you, but an old commandment which ye had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word which ye heard. Again, it is a new commandment that I am writing to you a thing which is true in Him and in yon, because the darkness is passing away and the light, the true light, is already shining. He that saith he is in the light and hateth his brother is in the darkness even until now. He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is no stumbling-block in his way; but he that hateth his brother is in the darkness, and walketh in the darkness, and knoweth not where he is going, because the darkness hath blinded his eyes.”

St. John has lately discovered the supremacy of Love in the Christian revelation (see Introd. pp. 157 f.). His imperfect realisation of this has been the defect of his teaching hitherto, and he would now repair it: “It is not a new commandment that I am writing to you; it is part of the Gospel which I have been preaching to you all along. But I have never adequately understood it, and therefore it is new to your ears as it is to my heart.”

Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson

1Jn 2:7 . , St. John’s favourite style ( cf. 1Jn 3:2 ; 1Jn 3:21 , 1Jn 4:1 ; 1Jn 4:7 ; 1Jn 4:11 ). About to enjoin love, he begins by loving. , “novel,” “new in kind ” ( novus ) as distinguished from , “new in time ” ( recens ). , here not as in 1Jn 1:1 , but “from the beginning of your Christian life”. , cf. 1Jn 1:2 : .

Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson

1 John

THE COMMANDMENT, OLD YET NEW

1Jn 2:7-8 .

The simplest words may carry the deepest thoughts. Perhaps angels and little children speak very much alike. This letter, like all of John’s writing, is pellucid in speech, profound in thought, clear and deep, like the abysses of mid-ocean. His terms are such as a child can understand; his sentences short and inartificial: he does not reason, he declares; he has neither argument nor rhetoric, but he teaches us the deepest truths, and shows us that we get nearer the centre by insight than by logic.

Now the words that I have taken for my text are very characteristic of this Apostle’s manner. He has a great, wide-reaching truth to proclaim, and he puts it in the simplest, most inartificial manner, laying side by side two artless sentences, and stimulates us by the juxtaposition, leading us to feel after, and so to make our own, the large lessons that are in them. Let me, then, try to bring these out.

I. And the first one that strikes me is–’the word’ is ‘a commandment.’

Now, by ‘the word’ here the Apostle obviously means, since he speaks about it as that which these Asiatic Christians ‘heard from the beginning,’ the initial truth which was presented for their acceptance in the story of the life and death of Jesus Christ. That was ‘the word’ and, says he, just because it was a history it is a commandment; just because it was the Revelation of God it is a law. God never tells us anything merely that we may be wise. The purpose of all divine speech, whether in His great works in nature, or in the voices of our own consciences, or in the syllables that we have to piece together from out of the complicated noises of the world’s history, or in this book, or in the Incarnate Word, where all the wandering syllables are gathered together into one word–the purpose of all that God says to men is primarily that they may know, but in order that, knowing, they may do; and still more that they may be. And so, inasmuch as every piece of religious knowledge has in it the capacity of directing conduct, all God’s word is a commandment.

And, if that is true in regard to other revelations and manifestations that he has made of Himself, it is especially true in regard to the summing-up of all in the Incarnate Word, and in His words, and in the words that tell us of His life and of His death. So whatever truths there may be, and there are many, which, of course, have only the remotest, if any, bearing upon life and conduct, every bit of Christian truth has a direct grip upon a man’s life, and brings with it a stringent obligation.

Now, the Revelation of God in Jesus Christ, ‘the Word which ye heard from the beginning,’ which, I suppose, would roughly correspond with what is told us in our four Gospels; the word which these Asiatic Christians heard at first, the good news that was brought to them in the midst of their gropings and peradventures, commanded, in the first place, absolute trust, the submission of the will as well as the assent of the understanding. But also it commanded imitation, for Jesus Christ was revealed to them, as He is revealed to us, as being the Incarnate realisation of the ideal of humanity; and what He is, the knowledge that He is that, binds us to try to be in our turn.

And more than that, brethren, the Cross of Christ is a commandment. For we miserably mutilate it, and sinfully as well as foolishly limit its application and its power, if we recognise it only–I was going to say mainly–as being the ground of our hope and of what we call our salvation, and do not recognise it as being the obligatory example of our lives, which we are bound to translate into our daily practice. Jesus Christ Himself has told us that in many a fashion, never more touchingly and wondrously than when in response to the request of a handful of Greeks to see Him, He answered with the word which not only declared what was obligatory upon Him, but what was obligatory upon us all, and for the want of which all the great endowments of the Greek mind at last rotted down into sensuousness, when He said, ‘Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone, but if it die it bringeth forth much fruit’ and then went on to say, ‘he that loveth his life shall lose it.’

So, then, brethren, ‘the word which ye heard at the beginning,’ the story of Christ, His life and His death, is a stringent commandment. Now, this is one of the blessings of Christianity, that all which was hard and hopeless, ministering to despair sometimes, as well as stirring to fierce effort at others, in the conception of law or duty as it stands outside us, is changed into the tender word, ‘if ye love Me, keep My commandments.’ If any man serve Me, let him … ‘follow Me.’ It is a law; it is ‘the law of liberty.’ So you have not done all that is needful when you have accepted the teaching of Christ in the Scriptures and the teaching of the Scriptures concerning Christ. Nor have you done all that is needful when clasping Him, and clinging simply to His Cross, you recognise in it the means and the pledge of your acceptance with God, and the ground and anchor of all your hope. There is something more to be done. The Gospel is a commandment, and commandments require not only assent, not only trust, but practical obedience. The ‘old commandment’ is the ‘word which ye heard from the beginning.’

II. The old Christ is perpetually new.

The Apostle goes on, in the last words of my text, to say, ‘Which thing’ viz., this combination of the old and the new ‘is true in Him and in you.’ ‘True in Him’–that is to say, Christ, the old Christ that was declared to these Asiatic Christians as they were groping amidst the illusions of their heathenism, is perpetually becoming new as new circumstances emerge, and new duties are called for, and new days come with new burdens, hopes, possibilities, or dangers. The perpetual newness of the old Christ is what is taught here.

Suppose one of these men in Ephesus heard for the first time the story that away in Judea there had lived the manifestation of God in the flesh, and that He, in His wonderful love, had died for men, that they might be saved from the grip of their sins. And suppose that man barely able to see, had yet seen that much, and clutched at it. He was a Christian, but the Christ that he discerned when he first discerned Him through the mists, and the Christ that he had in his life and in his heart, after, say, twenty years of Christian living, are very different. The old Christ remained, but the old Christ was becoming new day by day, according to the new necessities and positions. And that is what will be our experience if we have any real Christianity in us. The old Christ that we trusted at first was able to do for us all that we asked Him to do, but we did not ask Him at first for half enough, and we did not learn at first a tithe of what was in Him. Suppose, for instance, some great ship comes alongside a raft with ship-wrecked sailors upon it, and in the darkness of the night transfers them to the security of its deck. They know how safe they are, they know what has saved them, but what do they know compared with what they will know before the voyage ends of all the reservoirs of power and stores of supplies that are in her? Christ comes to us in the darkness, and delivers us. We know Him for our Deliverer from the first moment, if we truly have grasped Him. But it will take summering and wintering with Him, through many a long day and year, before we can ever have a partially adequate apprehension of all

that lies in Him.

And what will teach us the depths of Christ, and how does He become new to us? Well, by trusting Him, by following Him, and by the ministry of life. Some of us, I have no doubt, can look back upon past days when sorrow fell upon us, blighting and all but crushing; and then things that we had read a thousand times in the Bible, and thought we had believed, blazed up into a new meaning, and we felt as if we had never understood anything about them before. The Christ that is with us in the darkness, and whom we find able to turn even it, if not into light, at least into a solemn twilight not unvisited by hopes, that Christ is more to us than the Christ that we first of all learnt so little to know. And life’s new circumstances, its emerging duties, are like the strokes of the spade which clears away the soil, and discloses the treasure in all its extent which we purchased when we bought that field. We buy the treasure at once, but it takes a long time to count it. The old Christ is perpetually the new Christ.

So, brethren, Christian progress consists not in getting away from the original facts, the elements of the Gospel, but it consists in penetrating more deeply into these, and feeling more of their power and their grasp. All Euclid is in the definitions and axioms and postulates at the beginning. All our books are the letters of the alphabet. And progress consists, not in advancing beyond, but in sinking into, that initial truth, ‘God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself.’

I might say a word here as to another phase of this perpetual newness of the old Christ–viz., in His adaptation to deal with all the complications and perplexities and problems of each successive age. It has taken the Church a long, long time to find out and to formulate, rightly or wrongly, what it has discovered in Jesus. The conclusions to be drawn from the simple Gospel truth, the presuppositions on which it rests, require all the efforts of all the Church through all the ages, and transcend them all. And I venture to say, though it may sound like unsupported dogma, that for this generation’s questionings, social, moral, and political, the answer is to be found in Him. He, and He only, will interpret each generation to itself, and will meet its clamant needs. There is none other for the world to-day but the old Christ with the new aspect which the new conditions require.

Did it ever strike you how remarkable it is, and, as it seems to me, of how great worth as an argument for the truth of Christianity it is, that Jesus Christ comes to this, as to every generation, with the air of belonging to it? Think of the difference between the aspect which a Plato or a Socrates presents to the world to-day, and the aspect which that Lord presents. You do not need to strip anything off Him. He committed Himself to no statements which the progress of thought or knowledge has exploded. He stands before the world to-day fitting its needs as closely as He did those of the men of His own generation. The old Christ is the new Christ.

III. Lastly, in the Christian life the old commandment is perpetually new.

‘Which thing is true … in you.’ That is to say, ‘the commandment which ye received at the beginning,’ when ye received Christ as Saviour, has in itself a power of adapting itself to all new conditions as they may emerge, and will be felt increasingly to grow stringent, and increasingly to demand more entire conformity, and increasingly to sweep its circle round the whole of human life. For this is the result of all obedience, that the conception of duty becomes more clear and more stringent. ‘If any man will do His will’ the reward shall be that he will see more and more the altitude of that will, the length and breadth and depth and height of the possible conformity of the human spirit to the will of God. And so as we advance in obedience we shall see unreached advances before us, and each new step of progress will declare more fully how much still remains to be accomplished. In us the ‘old commandment’ will become ever new.

And not only so, but perpetually with the increasing sweep and stringency of the obligation will be felt an increasing sense of our failure to fulfil it. Character is built up, for good or for evil, by slow degrees. Conscience is quickened by being listened to, and stifled by being neglected. A little speck of mud on a vestal virgin’s robe, or on a swan’s plumage, will be conspicuous, while a splash twenty times the size will pass unnoticed on the rags of some travel-stained wayfarer. The purer we become, the more we shall know ourselves to be impure.

Thus, my brother, there opens out before us an endless course in which all the blessedness that belongs to the entertaining and preservation of ancient convictions, lifelong friends, and familiar truths, and all the antithetical blessedness that belongs to the joy of seeing, rising upon our horizon as some new planet with lustrous light, will be united in our experience. We shall at once be conservative and progressive; holding by the old Christ and the old commandment, and finding that both have in them endless novelty. The trunk is old; every summer brings fresh leaves. And at last we may hope to come to the new Jerusalem, and drink the new wine of the Kingdom, and yet find that the old love remains, and that the new Christ, whose presence makes the new heavens and the new earth, is ‘the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever,’ the old Christ whom, amid the shadows of earth, we tried to love and copy.

Fuente: Expositions Of Holy Scripture by Alexander MacLaren

NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: 1Jn 2:7-11

7Beloved, I am not writing a new commandment to you, but an old commandment which you have had from the beginning; the old commandment is the word which you have heard. 8On the other hand, I am writing a new commandment to you, which is true in Him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true Light is already shining. 9The one who says he is in the Light and yet hates his brother is in the darkness until now. 10The one who loves his brother abides in the Light and there is no cause for stumbling in him. 11But the one who 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.

1Jn 2:7 “Beloved” John often calls his readers by affectionate terms (cf. 1Jn 2:1). This term was used by the Father to refer to Jesus at His baptism (cf. Mat 3:17) and transfiguration (cf. Mat 17:5). It is a common designation of the saved in John’s letters (cf. 1Jn 3:2; 1Jn 3:21; 1Jn 4:1; 1Jn 4:7; 1Jn 4:11; and 3Jn 1:1-2; 3Jn 1:5; 3Jn 1:11).

The Textus Receptus has “brothers” (MSS K, L, NKJV), but 1 John uses this only in 1Jn 3:13. “Beloved” is supported by the uncial Greek manuscripts (, A, B, C, P, and the Vulgate, Peshitta, Coptic, and Armenian versions (see Bruce Metzger, A Textual Commentary On the Greek New Testament, p. 708).

“I am not writing a new commandment to you, but an old commandment” This is characteristic of John’s writings (cf. Joh 13:34; Joh 15:12; Joh 15:17). The command was not new in terms of time, but new in terms of quality. Believers are commanded to love one another as Jesus loved them (cf. Joh 13:34).

The “old commandment” can be understood in two senses.

1. the Law of Moses (i.e., Lev 19:18)

2. the teachings of Jesus recorded in John’s Gospel (i.e., Joh 13:34; Joh 15:12; Joh 15:17)

“the old commandment” In 1Jn 2:3 the word “commandment” is plural, but here it is singular. This seems to imply that love fulfills all other commandments (cf. Gal 5:22; 1Co 13:13). Love is the gospel’s mandate.

“which you had from the beginning” This is an IMPERFECT ACTIVE INDICATIVE which refers to the hearer’s first encounter with the gospel message (cf. 1Jn 2:24; 1Jn 1:1; 1Jn 3:11; 2Jn 1:5-6).

“have heard” The Textus Receptus adds the phrase “from the beginning” (used in the earlier part of the verse).

1Jn 2:8 “which is true in Him” The gender of this pronoun changes from the feminine in 1Jn 2:7, which matches “commandment,” to the neuter, which addresses the whole gospel. A similar change in pronoun is found in Eph 2:8-9.

“the darkness is passing away” This is present middle indicative (according to A. T. Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament, p. 212). For those who know God in Christ, the new age has dawned and is continuing to dawn in their hearts and minds (i.e., realized eschatology).

“the true Light is already shining” Jesus is the light of the world (cf. Joh 1:4-5; Joh 1:9; Joh 8:12), which is a biblical metaphor for truth, revelation, and moral purity. See notes at 1Jn 1:5; 1Jn 1:7. The new age has dawned!

1Jn 2:9 “yet hates his brother” This is present active participle which speaks of a settled ongoing attitude. Hate is an evidence of darkness (cf. Mat 5:21-26).

1Jn 2:10 “The one who loves his brother abides in the Light” Present tense verbals dominate this context. Love is an evidence of believer’s salvation and personal relationship with and knowledge of truth and light. This is the new, yet old commandment (cf. 1Jn 3:11; 1Jn 3:23; 1Jn 4:7; 1Jn 4:11; 1Jn 4:21).

SPECIAL TOPIC: “Abiding” in John’s Writings

NASB, NKJV “and there is no cause for stumbling in him”

NRSV”in such a person there is no cause for stumbling”

TEV”there is nothing in us that will cause someone else to sin”

NJB”there is in him nothing to make him fall away”

There are two possible translations of this verse.

1. the believer who walks in love will not personally stumble (cf. 1Jn 2:11)

2. the believer who walks in love will not cause others to stumble (cf. Mat 18:6; Rom 14:13; 1Co 8:13)

Both are true! The gospel benefits the believer and others (both other believers and the lost).

In the OT “stumbling” is the opposite of faith (sure-footed, stable stance). God’s will and commands were illustrated by a clear path or way. This is how “walk” can be a metaphor for lifestyle.

See Special Topic: Believe, Trust, Faith, and Faithfulness in the OT at Joh 1:14.

1Jn 2:11 “But the one who hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness” There is a present active participle (hates) followed by a present active indicative (walks). Hate is a sign of unbelief (cf. 1Jn 3:15; 1Jn 4:20). Light and darkness, love and hate cannot exist in the same person. This is typical of John’s black or white statements. He expresses the ideal! Often, however, believers struggle with prejudice, unlove, and neglect! The gospel brings both an instantaneous change and a progressive change.

“the darkness has blinded his eyes” This can refer either to believers’ remaining sin nature (cf. 2Pe 1:5-9), or the actions of Satan (cf. 2Co 4:4). There are three enemies of mankind: (1) the fallen world system; (2) a personal angelic tempter, Satan; and (3) our own fallen, Adamic nature (cf. Eph 2:2-3; Eph 2:16; James 4).

Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley

no = not, as 1Jn 2:2.

new. Greek. kainos. See Mat 9:17.

from the beginning. Greek. ap’ (App-104.) arches. See 1Jn 1:1.

have. Omit.

from, &c. The texts omit.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

7-11.] The commandment of Love. The context see below. Beloved, I write not to you a new commandment, but an old commandment, which ye had from the beginning: the old commandment is the word which ye heard (on the right understanding of this verse, very much depends. The great question is, To what commandment does refer? Does it point forward to the commandment of brotherly love, in 1Jn 2:9, or back to that of walking as Christ walked, in 1Jn 2:6? One or other of these views has generally been taken decidedly, and exclusively of the other. The former view has been upheld by Aug[17], Bed[18], c., Thl., Luther, Calv., Grot., Wolf, Bengel, Knapp, Baumg.-Crus., De Wette, Neander, Sander, Dsterdieck, al.; the latter by Beza, Socinus, Seb.-Schmidt, Piscator, Episcopius, Flacius, Calov., Lcke, Fritzsche, Jackmann, al. Of these, some on both sides may fairly be dismissed, as maintaining preposterous meanings for some of the terms used. Thus Flacius, Seb.-Schmidt, Calov., understand to be, not a commandment, which from usage and from 1Jn 2:3 and ch. 1Jn 3:23, 1Jn 5:3, it must be, but the whole doctrina de Christo ejusque beneficiis, including the forgiveness of sins, 1Jn 2:1-2; 1Jn 2:12. Then thus taking it, the epithets old and new become the O. T. prophecies of Christ, and their N. T. fulfilment. Thus on the other side some, e. g. Aug[19], Bed[20], Beza, Luther (2), Seb.-Schmidt, Wolf, al., understand new and old not of time, but in a tropical meaning, with reference to the old Jewish or heathen darkness and the new light of Christ: a view which cannot possibly be maintained in the face of so plain a token of time as is furnished by and by the aor. and . These being so far set aside, the above classes of interpreters are again divided as to their understanding of the epithets old and new. Those who understand the 1Jn 2:7-8, of the command of love, mostly explain the oldness and newness of the difference between O. and N. T. revelation (so the Greeks, Grot., and Wolf), and some go on to understand the of the original obscure and imperfect command to love one another in the O. T. which failed in the crowning particular of love towards enemies. Of these, the Greeks, holding not Jewish Christians alone, but Gentile also to be addressed, interpret and of the testimony of conscience to the law of love among the Gentiles: so c. and the Scholl. speak of . Wolf tries to distinguish the two by referring to the Jews, to the Gentiles. On the other hand, those who refer in 1Jn 2:7-8, to 1Jn 2:6, mostly understand the old and new of the different aspects in which the following the example of Christ would be regarded, within the limits of the N. T. period, since the readers had begun their Christian lives: so Socinus, Jackmann, Piscator, Episcopius, Lcke. The lastnamed reference of to the beginning of the Christian life of the readers, and the corresponding explanation of the oldness of the commandment, is combined by De Wette and Neander only with their view of as the law of love. Dsterdieck, from whom the above particulars are mainly taken, finds fault with the exclusive reference maintained for the most part by the interpreters on both sides, and believes that a via media may be found more agreeable to the ethical habits of thought of the Apostle, and to the context of the passage. This context requires, 1) that we maintain a logical connexion between 1Jn 2:6 and 1Jn 2:7, as indicated by and : 2) that we maintain the like logical connexion between 1Jn 2:8 and 1Jn 2:9, as indicated by the figure common to them both, of the darkness and the light. Now, of these, 1) is neglected by those who understand the barely as the law of love; 2) is neglected by those who understand it barely of following Christs example. The former make 1Jn 2:7 spring out of no contextual development: the latter treat similarly 1Jn 2:9. And the true view is to be found as thus indicated: the walk of Christ, which is our example, is essentially and completely summed up in one word, Love: and so the command, to walk as he walked, essentially and completely resolves itself into the law of brotherly love: for this last, taken in all its depth, includes not one special detail in a holy Christian life, but the whole of that life itself. Taking then this view, how are we to interpret in detail? What is ? what is ? what is ? For these clearly all hang together. If is to signify from the beginning of O. T. revelation, or from the beginning of Gods testimony in mans conscience, we seem to be doing violence to the simple mode of address which is prevalent in our Apostles style. The and , especially the latter, will hardly bear interpreting of the remote forefathers of the readers, as on this hypothesis they must, but require to be confined to the readers themselves, especially as they are aorists and not perfects. And if so, the meaning of is fixed to be, from the beginning of the Christian lives, from the time when . Then as to , and , the explanation will be simple enough. The command to love one another cannot be said to be new, for it forms a part of the , nay, is the very sum and centre of that : but again, it may be said to be new, inasmuch as it ever assumes new freshness as the Christian life unfolds, as the old darkness is more and more cleared away and the true light shineth: in that light we see light; in the light of Him who maketh all things new.

[17] Augustine, Bp. of Hippo, 395-430

[18] Bede, the Venerable, 731; Bedegr, a Greek MS. cited by Bede, nearly identical with Cod. E, mentioned in this edn only when it differs from E.

[19] Augustine, Bp. of Hippo, 395-430

[20] Bede, the Venerable, 731; Bedegr, a Greek MS. cited by Bede, nearly identical with Cod. E, mentioned in this edn only when it differs from E.

That the as such refers to the law of love, thus indeed connected with Christs example here, but still to the law of love and no other, is plain from the whole usage of the Apostle; compare especially 2Jn 1:4-6, where the very same train of thought occurs as here, the being = here, being followed up by , and that being characterized, as here,- , , and finally being stated to be . Indeed the whole process of that passage from this point is most instructive as to our present one: , . , : where the same complex of the whole Christian walk is included in the one idea of love, and identified with walking according to His commandments. Again in ch. 1Jn 3:11, the same formula is used in speaking of the law of love- , : cf. also ch. 1Jn 4:21, 1Jn 5:3, 1Jn 3:22-24; again ch. 1Jn 3:14, 1Jn 4:16, Joh 13:35; ch. 1Jn 5:1-2, Joh 15:10.

Fuente: The Greek Testament

1Jn 2:7. , from the beginning) the time when you first heard the Gospel of Christ: 1Jn 2:24, ch. 1Jn 3:11.- , the word) 1Jn 2:5.- , which ye heard) John did not deem it necessary to repeat this word, as already known. He frequently says, ye have heard, for they had heard, before even the apostles wrote.

Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament

1Jn 2:7-11

COMMANDMENTS NEW AND OLD

(1Jn 2:7-11)

7 Beloved, no new commandment write I unto you, but an old commandment which ye had from the beginning: the old commandment is the word which ye heard.–The apostle had just commanded his readers to walk as Christ walked. (Verse 6.) This walk was grounded in, and originated in, love. Hence, the commandment to love God was not a new one, i.e., a novel, unusual thing. These to whom John wrote had been aware of this obligation, yea, had in some measure followed it from the beginning of their Christian life. Far from being a new thing, this commandment was essential to their salvation from sin; they were already in possession of it; they had possessed it from the beginning. This commandment was the “word” which they had “heard.” The “word” sums up the message they had received; “heard” indicates the manner of reception. They had “heard” it; it therefore came to them through preaching. They heard it, and it was at the beginning of their Christian experience .

8 Again, a new commandment write I unto you, which thing is true in him and in you; because the darkness is passing away, and the true light already shineth.—Through the commandment to love is as old as the race (1Jn 3:1 ff, particularly verses 11, 12), from another aspect it is always new. To walk as the Lord walked and hence to comply with the requirements of the “old commandment” is as old as religion, but each new compliance therewith constitutes a new and fresh approach thereto. Love, as old as man, becomes new with each experience. It was the Lord himself who designated the command to love one another as a new one: “A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another; even as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.” (Joh 13:34.) The newness was not merely or solely in the command to love; the law and the prophets required this. (Deu 10:19; Mic 6:8, etc.) It was the measure or extent of the love that made it new: “even as I have loved you.” Never before the Christian age had such a love been required of man. It was henceforth to be a condition precedent to discipleship; indeed, the badge and token thereof: “A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another; even 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.” (Joh 13:34-35.)

The darkness of ignorance, superstition, bitterness, and hate was passing; the “true light,” which radiated from the Lord, was shining, thus dispelling the gloom and darkness of unbelief. The text does not affirm that the darkness had already passed. Then, as now, there was much error in the world. But, as the truth was preached, the light was extended, and the darkness receded as man came into the refulgence thereof. Jesus said, “And this is the judgment, that the light is come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the light; for their works were evil. For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, and cometh not to the light, lest his works should be reproved. But he that doeth the truth, cometh to the light, that his works may be made manifest, that they have been wrought of God.” (Joh 3:19-21.) “Again, therefore Jesus spake unto them saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.” (Joh 8:12; cf. 1 John 1:4:10.)

9 He that saith he is in the light and hateth his brother, is in the darkness even until now.–Another hypothetical case, of which there are many in the Epistle (1:6, 8, 10; 2:9; 4:20), is stated, and the inconsistency between the profession and the fact pointed out. He who affects to be in the light, i.e., the light of truth about which the apostle had been writing, yet hates his brother is, notwithstanding his pretension, in darkness. The brother of this passage is a fellow believer. He who hates one of a common origin and with the same loving Father is, despite his claim to being in the light in darkness, “even until now,” i.e., up to the present. Jesus commanded us to love one another (Joh 15:17); he made love the badge of discipleship (Joh 13:35); and without it, one remains in darkness–the element which characterizes all away from God. It is significant that the apostle leaves no middle ground either here or elsewhere in the contrasts which he draws between light and darkness, right and wrong, truth and error. With him, on the one side is God, and on the other, the world; here is life, there is death; here love, there hate; there is no common ground. Such is in harmony with the Lord’s affirmation: “He that is not against you is for you” (Luk 9:50, and the converse, “He that is not with me is against me” (Luk 11:23). One is either for God, in which case the principle of .his life is love, the sphere in which he moves light, and the desire of his heart obedience; or, he is against him, in which event, though he may hide his hatred, and craftily conceal his worldliness and evil, the fountain from which his moral life emerges is not God, but the world–he is yet in death, he loves nothing but himself, and his proper element is darkness. The word hate (miseo) here does not indicate the degree, but merely the fact of such a disposition. When it exists in any degree, he who manifests it is yet in the darkness. Let him who holds malice in his heart against a brother in Christ recognize his position and see the folly of pretension which his conduct belies. He deceives no one by his allegation.

10 He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is no occasion of stumbling in him.–The verb “abideth” means more than merely being in the light; to abide is to remain (Menei), and the tense (present indicative active) reveals a continuous action rather than a temporary state. He who loves his brother is evermore remaining in the light; the fact of the love guarantees continuation in the sphere. Moreover, the force of the tense indicates that he has not only entered upon this sphere he has settled down into it as if it were his home. It is, of course, unnecessary to add that love, with John, indeed with all of the New Testament writers, is much more than affection. Here, it is made to stand for all the graces which adorn the character of the Christian, all the duties owed to those who are our brethren in Christ. This comprehensive aspect of the term is observable throughout the apostle’s writings. “My little children, let us not love in word, neither with the tongue, but in deed and in truth.” (1Jn 3:18.) “Hereby we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and do his commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.” (1Jn 5:2-3.) The principle is the same as that alluded to by our Lord when he declared that to love God supremely and one’s neighbor as one’s self embraces (in principle) all that is in the law and in the prophets. (Mat 22:34-40.) He did not by this mean that love for God or man is accepted in lieu of obedience; there is, indeed, no such thing as love apart from obedience. (1Jn 5:3.) What is meant is that he who truly loves God and his neighbor will be prompted thereby to discharge his full duty to both.

Not only does one who loves his brother abide in the light, in addition there is no occasion of stumbling in him. An occasion for whose stumbling? His own, or another’s? The verb “stumble” (skandalon) is derived from a word which designates a snare or trap. In Mat 18:7, it obviously refers to an occasion of stumbling in the way of others. Here, however, the context, and particularly the verse which follows, appears to indicate that John had in mind an occasion of stumbling in one’s own self. The apostle thus emphasizes here that those who walk in the light and abide in the truth are protected from the snares and pitfalls into which they would otherwise fall: Certainly, one who loves his brother as himself will never find occasion to give expression to the evil passions of envy, malice, hate, and revenge: Those who walk in darkness stumble, because they are unable to see their way; those who walk in the light can recognize, and therefore avoid, the snares which beset their way. One who truly loves his brother will conduct himself in such fashion as to avoid any semblance of friction or difficulty, and will thus neither stumble nor fall in his relationship with him. “Owe no man anything, save to love one another:for he that loveth his neighbor hath fulfilled the law. For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, That shalt not covet, and if there be any other commandment, it is summed up in this word, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself: Love worketh no ill to his neighbor; love therefore is the fulfillment of the law:” (Rom:13:8-10).

11 But he that hateth his brother is in the darkness, and walketh in the darkness, and knoweth not whither he goeth, because the darkness hath blinded his eyes.–Three conditions are here affirmed of him who hates his brother: (1) he is “in the darkness”; (2) he “walketh in the darkness”; and (3) he “knoweth not whither he goes,” the reason being that “the darkness hath blinded his eyes.” Such is the fearful status of those who hate their brethren. The inner condition is one of darkness; the outward life is a walk in darkness. The element which is his natural sphere has possessed him; he has partaken of the realm in which he habitually moves: Moreover, he has lost his sense of direction; “He knoweth not whither he goeth:” His way is dark; he neither knows its direction or its end: He is like the insects of Mammoth Cave in Kentucky, which have no eyes, the faculty of sight being so long disused it is gone: The poet Tennyson, in vivid verse, though with reference to sorrow rather than sin, sets forth the fatal result

“But the night has crept into my heart and begun to darken my eyes.”

The state which the apostle describes is all the more fatal because unrecognized by those in it. “They know not, neither do they understand; they walk to and fro in darkness.” (Psa 82:5.) “Blinded” here is from the same verb and form occurring in 2Co 4:4 : “In whom the God of this world bath blinded the minds of the unbelieving, that the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should not dawn upon them.” Thus the blindness which characterizes the alien is that which possesses him who hates his brother. The grace of love is so basic that he who lacks it is deficient in all the virtues of Christianity. Where it does not exist, no other can.

Commentary on 1Jn 2:7-11 by E.M. Zerr

1Jn 2:7. The word new may mean with reference to its age or date. In that sense the divine law is not new because God has placed governing law before man ever since he has existed. On that basis it is the old commandment and they had heard it from the beginning.

1Jn 2:8. The commandments of the Lord are new in the sense of being fresh and vigorous (not infirm as with old age). The newness or liveliness of the laws of the Lord is manifested in their being able to dispel the darkness of ignorance, and shed the light of knowledge in the Lord.

1Jn 2:9. This is the same in thought as several preceding verses, namely, that true love is manifested by showing an obedient spirit toward the law of God, and that law requires a disciple to love his brother.

1Jn 2:10. Occasion of stumbling denotes being the cause of another’s stumbling or committing error. If a man loves his brother he will not put any stumbling block in his way (Rom 14:13).

1Jn 2:11. Darkness is figurative and means the absence of truth. The truth of God requires that the brethren love each other, hence if one brother hates another he is not walking according to the word of God but is walking in darkness.

Commentary on 1Jn 2:7-11 by N.T. Caton

1Jn 2:7-Brethren, I write no new commandment.

It is no new commandment I write when I bid you to walk as Christ walked. This is an old commandment. Simply call up, in memory, what you heard from the beginning; how that the Father, at the baptism of his Son, declared himself well pleased with him, and that he again, at the Mount of Transfiguration, uttered the same words, with the additional injunction, to hear him. Now, we hear him when we walk as he walked, conduct ourselves as he conducted himself. From the very beginning of the proclamation of the gospel, these things you heard as coming from the Father on high in reference to his Son, and you heard them that they might serve as a guidance to your action in life.

1Jn 2:8-Again, a new commandment.

New in a sense not fully understood, and not so fully taught until Christ came. While in substance it was old, in the sense I here now refer to, it is new. Love is the theme. Now, Christ taught us, we should even love our enemies. He showed his love for us and for the whole world by laying down his life. This he did willingly. He died for his enemies as well as for his friends.

1Jn 2:8 –Which thing is true in him and in you.

As it was true in Christ, that he loved his enemies by dying for them, which was the strongest demonstration he could possibly give to the world, so this kind of love is true as applied to you, when you walk as he walked, and, in this regard, do as he did.

1Jn 2:8 –Because the darkness is past.

The time when it was considered proper to say, “An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth,” has been suspended by a new era, when we are taught to love them who persecute us and revile us. That was comparative darkness. The teaching of Christ on this subject is light, which now shines.

1Jn 2:9-He that saith he is in the light.

When one asserts that he is in this light, governing himself by this teaching of Christ. to love our enemies, and yet hates his brother, such an one is self-deceived. He is still in darkness. He is not in fellowship with God, for God is light.

1Jn 2:10-He that loveth his brother abideth in the light.

The proof that one is in the light-that is, conforming his conduct to the new teaching of Christ-is to be shown only by love for his brother. Brotherly love is proof that one abides in the light, and while so abiding no stumbling-block will appear. All cause or occasion for stumbling has been removed.

1Jn 2:11-But he that hateth his brother.

In this case the reverse is true. Occasion for stumbling is ever present. Here there is no light, all is darkness, and one hating his brother is walking in darkness; and so long as hatred for the brother remains, the darkness remains. Such an one can not know which way he goes; that is to say, the miserable end of such a course of life and conduct, being contrary to Christ’s teachings and example, it can only result in failure of that reward promised to the faithful disciples, and will end only in ultimate condemnation.

1Jn 2:11 –Darkness hath blinded his eyes.

That is, the eyes of his understanding. He can not see the many dangers that beset him on every side. Safety only is assured in being governed by Christ in his commands. Doing as he did, obeying what he commands, is walking in the light; any other course is certain destruction, so far as Christan character and success are concerned.

Commentary on 1Jn 2:7-11 by Burton Coffman

1Jn 2:7 –Beloved, no new commandment write I unto you, but an old commandment which ye had from the beginning: the old commandment is the word which ye heard.

No new commandment … but an old … The old commandment is here identified as “the word which ye heard,” meaning the gospel of Christ; and this automatically gives the meaning of “which ye had from the beginning.” The beginning in view here is the beginning of the gospel. Despite this, which it seems is obvious, one finds some strange views on what the old commandment is. The New Catholic Bible makes the old commandment to be “love promulgated in the Old Testament”;[20] but since John’s addresses were largely Gentile, it is not likely that the thing they had heard “from the beginning” was the Old Testament.

ENDNOTE:

[20] New Catholic Bible (New York: Catholic Book Publishing Company, 1946), New Testament, p. 315.

1Jn 2:8 –Again, a new commandment write I unto you, which thing is true in him and in you; because the darkness is passing away, and the true light already shineth.

A new commandment … The new commandment must almost certainly be identified with Jesus’ words when he said, “A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another; even as I have loved you, that ye also love one another” (Joh 13:34). It is hardly possible that the apostle John could have meant anything else except this.

Wherein was it a new commandment? The Old Testament had taught God’s people to love each other, and the new element here is the qualifier even as I have loved you! The Old Testament knew nothing of such love as that, for Christ had not yet revealed it.

Wherein is it an old commandment? It went back to Christ himself; and, also, some of the Christians might have been hearing this practically all of their lives, “From the beginning” here being best understood as “from the first of your Christian lives.”[21]

Why did John stress the newness of it? He may have had in mind the word of Christ himself who declared that, “The kingdom of heaven is like unto the householder, who bringeth forth out of his treasure things both new and old” (Mat 13:52).

The above view seems correct, since it answers all of the questions that naturally rise with reference to the verse; but, while holding to the above explanation, we also notice another.

ANOTHER EXPLANATION

“The contrast between the old and new is partly a contrast between the old and new covenants.”[22] To love God and one’s neighbor summed up all the law and the prophets, according to Jesus himself (Mar 12:29-31); and, of course, our Lord bound upon all people the same basic obligations. “From the beginning” seems naturally to suggest a more remote past than the beginning of one’s Christian life; and it is impossible, always, to tell from the context just how John used this word. As Orr pointed out, “In a single sentence, John used the word truth in three different senses (2Jn 1:1-2).”[23] Paul also used the word “Israel” in two different senses in a single sentence (Rom 11:25-26). In any case, such a view does no violence to the Scripture. As Macknight said, “Such a view makes out the least alteration in the sense of the passage.”[24]

The thing John apparently had in mind was the proposition that what his readers needed was no new teaching, but a renewal of the teaching they already had. As Paul Hoon put it:

The British statesman, Lord Morley traveled from England to give an address to a Canadian university. As he came to the rostrum to speak, his first words were, “Gentlemen, I have traveled four thousand miles to tell you that there is a difference between right and wrong.”[25]

Likewise, in the current era, the church needs no new doctrine or philosophy, but a renewal in people’s hearts of those teachings received from the beginning of the church. And those great basics of the Christian gospel are always new, exciting and glorious in the hearts of those joyfully receiving them; and yet they are also ancient. What is older than the drama of birth or marriage? and yet how new such things always are in every experience of them!

[21] J. R. Dummelow, op. cit., p. 1056.

[22] Paul W. Hoon, The Interpreter’s Bible, Vol. XII (New York: Abingdon Press, 1957), p. 233.

[23] R. W. Orr, op. cit., p. 611.

[24] James Macknight, op. cit., p. 44.

[25] Paul W. Hoon, op. cit., p. 234.

1Jn 2:9 –He that saith he is in the light and hateth his brother, is in the darkness even until now.

John’s style of balancing one statement against another is evident here and throughout the letter. “He that saith” introduces the error he was about to expose. Note also the contrast between light and darkness. Christians are the children of light and walk in the light, but the wicked are children of darkness and walk in darkness.

He … is in darkness even until now … It is a mistake to understand John as merely refuting the erroneous teachings of Gnostics. While it may be true enough that Gnostics might have seduced many Christians of that era into receiving a lifestyle of “loveless arrogance,”[26] the great teachings of the apostle were not merely a reaction to such things. He was not merely reacting; he was proclaiming the tremendous truths already revealed by Jesus nearly a whole generation previously. In the sermon on the mount, Jesus said: “If thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness” (Mat 6:23). Thus, the metaphor of light and darkness goes back to Christ himself. Paul likewise received and used the same metaphor, his message in Eph 4:17-18 reading thus: “For they live blindfolded in a world of illusion, and are cut off from the life of God through ignorance and insensitiveness.”[27] He also wrote, “Cast off the works of darkness” (Rom 13:12), “We are not of the night, nor of darkness” (1Th 5:5), “What communion hath light with darkness?” (2Co 6:14).

He that saith … “This is the fifth time in this epistle that John pointed out a possible inconsistency between profession and conduct (1Jn 1:6; 1Jn 1:8; 1Jn 1:10; 1Jn 2:4; 1Jn 4:20).”[28] If people are troubled today because of the gap between people’s profession and their performance, it might help to recall that the problem is indeed an old one.

[26] Ibid.

[27] J. B. Phillips, Letters to Young Churches, a Translation of New Testament Epistles (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1948), p. 106.

[28] Charles C. Ryrie, Wycliffe Bible Commentary, New Testament (Chicago: Moody Press, 1971), p. 1010.

1Jn 2:10 –He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is no occasion of stumbling in him.

He that loveth his brother … This speaks of genuine love, the existence of that emotion and attitude called [Greek: agape] in the New Testament.

Abideth in the light … There can hardly be any doubt that John had in mind the great declaration of Jesus Christ that “I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness” (Joh 8:12), and that this means abiding in Christ, a thought recurring repeatedly in Joh 15:1-10.

The love of brethren appearing in this verse is not a love tinged with passion or self-seeking; but it is “the pure disinterested seeking for another’s welfare, of which Christ was the great example.”[29] This is a far different thing from that humanistic love which is coming more and more to be the religion of our non-Christian world. Such love, cultivated for its own sake and without regard for Christ must ever prove to be artificial, powerless and disappointing. The fruit of the Holy Spirit cannot be nourished and kept alive apart from the life-giving Spirit himself.

There is no occasion of stumbling in him … One whose life is motivated and controlled by true love will not only walk in the light himself, but his actions will not be the cause of stumbling or failure in others. As Westcott said, “Want of love is the most prolific source of offenses.”John 3 edition (London: Macmillan and Company, 1893), p. 56.”>[30]

[29] W. M. Sinclair, op. cit., p. 478.

John 3 edition (London: Macmillan and Company, 1893), p. 56.”>[30] Brooke Foss Westcott, The Epistles of St. John 3 edition (London: Macmillan and Company, 1893), p. 56.

1Jn 2:11 –But he that hateth his brother is in the darkness, and walketh in the darkness, and knoweth not whither he goeth, because the darkness hath blinded his eyes.

The threefold mention of darkness is an impressive comment upon hatred of a brother. Hatred deadens and destroys the soul itself, blinds the eyes, stops the ears, and hardens the heart and petrifies the central functions of reason and intelligence; and those who indulge in it receive “in themselves the recompense of their error” (Rom 1:27), becoming in their own persons the just reward of such wickedness. In this verse also appears the close connection between blindness, of which Jesus often spoke and the darkness which is another application of the same metaphor.

Notice the progressive power of three successive antitheses in 1Jn 2:9-11. The antithesis of 1Jn 2:9 is 1Jn 2:10, and the antithesis of 1Jn 2:10 is 1Jn 2:11, the argument growing stronger with each new antithesis. The conclusions are arranged in an ascending order of power. 1Jn 2:9 has “is in darkness”; 1Jn 2:10 has “abiding in light, and there is no occasion of stumbling”; and 1Jn 2:11 has a triple predicate: (1) “is in darkness”; (2) “walketh in darkness”; and (3) “knoweth not whither he goeth.”

Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary

I write: 1Jo 3:11, Act 17:19, 2Jo 1:5

but: Lev 19:18, Lev 19:34, Deu 6:5, Mat 5:43, Mat 22:37-40, Mar 12:29-34, Rom 13:8-10, Gal 5:13, Gal 5:14, Jam 2:8-12

Reciprocal: Mat 13:52 – things Joh 15:12 – General 1Jo 2:12 – write 1Jo 2:24 – which

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary

The new commandment, which is also old: that of brotherly love, 1Jn 2:7-11.

1Jn 2:7. Belovedintroducing a new view of the subject by a term appropriate,no new commandment write I unto you, but an old commandment which ye had from the beginning. The apostle had spoken of commandments and of the one word, but he had not as yet said commandment. Now, our Lord had associated the latter with brotherly love as a new commandment (Joh 13:34): hence he distinguishes between his Masters giving and his own writing. What I now write is not new, as He gave it: for the old commandment is the word which ye heard in the ever memorable saying that lived in the Church from the beginning of the Christian revelation.

1Jn 2:8. Again, resuming and as it were correcting, there is a sense in which a new commandment I write unto you, which thing is true in him and in you: my saying that it is new is a true thing both as it respects Him who gave it and you who read what I write. It was new with reference to the old law, which the Saviour fulfilled and consummated and re-enacted in the supreme self-sacrifice rehearsed or anticipated in the feet-washing at the time when He gave it; the law of love was perfected and proclaimed anew, and with an illustration never given to it before. It is new in us, who fulfil it with a new spirit, after a new example, and with new motives, as in short a commandment which is the fulfilment and the fulfiller of all law or word of God.

Because the darkness is passing away, and the True Light now shineth. When St. John said true in Him, he referred to Christ, whose walk had been spoken of, as also to the Speaker of the new commandment unnamed. He still defines Him without name as the True Light: light as opposed to the darkness of sin, and true, as the reality of which all former revelation was the shadow and precursor. But the Person of Christ is now lost in His manifestation: the perfect revelation of law and of love in their unity is fully come; the darkness of self and sin is only in act of passing.

1Jn 2:9. It would require a long sentence to supply the unexpanded thought here. In nothing is the newness of the evangelical teaching more evidently seen than in the diametrical opposition it establishes between loving and hating. There is no middle sphere: in the Gospel, love is taught in its purity and perfection as the light of life in the soul, which leaves no part dark, no secret occasion of sin being undiscovered and unremoved; and hate is taught as the synonym of not loving, being the secret germ of all selfishness. Hence he that saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother, is in the darkness until now, notwithstanding the light shining around, and notwithstanding his profession, and notwithstanding his possible dwelling among Christians whom he calls brethren.

1Jn 2:10-11. Here there is no but: we have a pair of counterparts strictly united. He that loveth his brotherhis brother being every living man, in this passage as in some othersabideth in the light. It is presupposed that he is in it; but for the sake of what follows the abiding is emphasized; as indeed the abiding always follows hard on the is: and there is none occasion of stumbling in him. Stumbling-block or offence is sometimes what makes others to fall either intentionally or innocently or in-advertently. But here it is that secret selfishness which takes manifold forms, almost all the forms of sin: the light from Christ entering through the spiritual eye makes the whole spiritual body full of light, and nothing remains undiscovered or un-removed that could cause the fulfiller of this law to fall. It is the high ideal of the new commandment; but one that is here said to be realized in him in whom the love of God is perfected or has its full effect. Butnow comes in the awful antithesis, containing the whole history of the loveless spirithe that hateth his brotherwho does not love his neighbour as himselfis in the darkness, and abideth in or walketh in the darknessit is his sphere, and he both receives and diffuses itand knoweth not whither he goeth: whither, because he is in the darkness, and it hath not yet been revealed what the end of that will be, how great is that darkness he goeth, because the darkness hath blinded, as it were once for all, his eyes to the path on which he is.

Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament

Our apostle here exhorts Christians to the great duty of brotherly love, assuring them, that it was no new commandment which he enjoined them, but that which they were taught, not only in and by the Old Testament, but at the first preaching of the gospel amongst them; and in these respects the command of love might be called an old commandment, it being a branch of the law of nature, and a known precept of the Jewish religion; although in other respects it might be called a new commandment, because urged from a new motive, and enforced by a new example.

Learn hence, 1. That the doctrine of Christian love is a divine commandment , that which Christians are not only allowed, but enjoined to practice; and it is called the commandment, in the singular number, to intimate, that in this one commandment all the rest were contained, so that in keeping this we keep all. What are all the commandments indeed but love enlarged? And what is love but the commandments contracted?

Learn, 2. That the commandment of love is an old commandment; it is as old as Moses, yea, as old as Adam; being a part of the law of nature written in Adam’s heart. The evangelical command of love was from the beginning of the law, and nothing new enjoined by Christ, which was not before by Moses.

Learn, 3. That yet this command of love may, in some respect, be called a new commandment; not substantially, but circumstantially: not in the essence of the doctrine, but in the manner of the discovery; not in respect of the truth delivered, but in the way of delivering. New, not in regard of institution, but restitution, because purged from the old corrupt glossed of the Pharisees, who had limited this duty of love, and confined it to their our countrymen; whereas Christ obliges his disciples to love mankind, even our very enemies. In a word, it may be called a new commandment, because it was never to wax old, but to be always fresh in the memory and practice of Christ’s disciples to the end of the world.

Observe next, The arguments to enforce the observation of this new commandment;

1. In those word, which thing is true in him and in you: that is, as there was in Christ a true and sincere love towards you, so look that there be a true and sincere love in you towards him, and one towards another.

2. Because the darkness is past, and the true light now shineth; that is, the darkness of ignorance in general, and the darkness of the Mosaic state in particular, is now past, and the true light of the gospel now clearly shineth.

Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament

1Jn 2:7-8. I write no new commandment Ministers must avoid all suspicion and affectation of novelty in their doctrine. But an old commandment Concerning holiness of life, and loving one another. Which ye had from the beginning Which was given to your fathers at the first forming of your commonwealth, Lev 19:18. The old commandment is the word The doctrine of the gospel also; which ye have heard from the beginning Which was delivered at the first publication thereof, and has been insisted upon ever since, Mat 5:43; Joh 15:12. Again, a new commandment I write unto you Namely, with regard to your loving one another; a commandment which is true in him and in you It was exemplified in him, and is now fulfilled by you, in such a manner as it never was before. The new commandment, says Macknight, of which the apostle speaks, is that contained in 1Jn 2:6. That Christs disciples ought to walk even as he walked; and in particular that, as Christ laid down his life for his people, they ought to lay down their lives for one another, chap. 1Jn 3:16. Thus, to walk as Christ walked, St. John, with great propriety, termed a new commandment, because, notwithstanding the precept to love one another was strongly enjoined in the law of Moses, consequently was not a new commandment, the precept to love one another as Christ loved us, was certainly a new commandment, and so is termed by Christ himself, (Joh 13:34,) and is thus explained and inculcated 1Jn 3:16 : He laid down his life for us, therefore we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. Which thing is true This translation is exact; for the word , being in the neuter gender, cannot agree with , commandment, which is feminine; we must

therefore supply , (action or thing,) or some such general word, expressive of the subject of the command. By saying that the thing enjoined in the new commandment was true, concerning the persons to whom the apostle wrote, he perhaps meant that some of them had already hazarded their lives in assisting their brethren. Because the darkness is past, &c. The apostle not only means the darkness of heathenism, but that of the Mosaic dispensation, together with the corrupt doctrines and practices of the Jews under that dispensation; and particularly the impious notion that they were commanded in the law to hate the Gentiles, Mat 5:43. This darkness was gradually passing away by means of the shining of the light which was true; that is, by the publication of Christs doctrine and example in the gospel. The Mosaic law, with its obscure types, was likewise ready to vanish, in consequence of the destruction of Jerusalem and the dispersion of the Jewish nation; which events were soon to take place.

Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

ARGUMENT 3

NEW COMMANDMENT

7, 8. Here is an apparent contradiction. 1Jn 2:7 says, I do not write unto you a new commandment, but an old one. 1Jn 2:8 says, I write unto you a new commandment. An infidel here finds a difference and rejects the Bible. These enigmas frequently occurring in Scripture are exceedingly helpful to our spiritual understanding, sharpening our wits, illuminating our perspicacity and intensifying our assiduity. What is this commandment which is not new but old, and still new and never old? It is, Thou shalt love the Lord with all thy heart, soul, mind and strength, and thy neighbor as thyself, with divine love. Human love gets old and stale. Divine love is the nature of God and always new. Old means infirmity. God and angels never get old. When we receive transfiguration we will

never get old, but bloom in immortal youth forever. Divine love, like God, never gets old. Hence it is new through all eternity. How is it old? This commandment was given in the Old Testament, hence it is historically old, but experimentally new, and will always be new and fresh, like the manna in the golden pot in the sanctum sanctorum.

Fuente: William Godbey’s Commentary on the New Testament

Verse 7

I write no new commandment; that is, in the principle which he had been inculcating above, namely, that a conformity to the will of God in heart and life, is the only test of the honesty of religious professions.

Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament

2:7 {6} Brethren, I write no new commandment unto you, but an old commandment which ye had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word which ye have heard from the beginning.

(6) The apostle expounding the commandment of charity towards one another, tells first that when he urges holiness, he brings no new idea of life (as they use to do who devise traditions one after another) but reminds them of that same law which God gave in the beginning, that is, by Moses, at the time that God began to make laws for his people.

Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes

What commandments did John have in mind? He explained in this verse that he referred to no new responsibility with which his readers might be unfamiliar. He referred to the old commandment they had known about from the beginning of their experience as Christians (i.e., the command to love each other, 1Jn 2:9-11; cf. Joh 13:34-35). The command to "love one another" appears at least a dozen times in the New Testament: Joh 13:34; Joh 15:9; Joh 15:12; Joh 15:17; Rom 13:8; 1Th 4:9; 1Pe 1:22; 1Jn 3:11; 1Jn 3:23; 1Jn 4:7; 1Jn 4:11-12; and 2Jn 1:5.

"The life of Christ was one of self-sacrificing love; therefore, the proof of imitating him is exhibited in love. Love is that which seeks the highest good in the one loved; and since the highest good is the will of God, love is doing the will of God." [Note: Ryrie, p. 1468.]

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)

Disfruta de miles de canciones cristianas en exclusiva sólo en Bibles