1 John 2:7-14

7: Beloved, 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.
8: On 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.
9: The one who says he is in the Light and yet hates his brother is in the darkness until now.
10: The one who loves his brother abides in the Light and there is no cause for stumbling in him.
11: But 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.

12: I am writing to you, little children, because your sins have been forgiven you for His name's sake.
13: I am writing to you, fathers, because you know Him who has been from the beginning. I am writing to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one. I have written to you, children, because you know the Father.
14: I have written to you, fathers, because you know Him who has been from the beginning. I have written to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the evil one.

*** 

John, having said that the love of God is perfected in the one who keeps His Word, then said that this is not a new commandment that he was writing. It was the same one they heard from the beginning--the gospel of Christ. On the other hand, he said it was a new--or different--commandment in that it differed from the Law. The darkness--walking in sin, outside of fellowship with God--was passing away and the true Light was already shining.

We can now walk in the Light. We can abide in the Light, motivated from within to keep the commands of God. If someone says he is in the Light and hates his brother, he's not in the Light at all, but in the darkness--blinded by it to where he can't see where he's going. John said in 1 John 1:6 that the one who says he has fellowship with God yet walks in darkness--sins by not keeping His Word--is lying.

Love is the Light. The one who loves his brother abides in the Light and doesn't stumble. To say we are a Christian and not love our brother is a lie (John 13:34-35, 1 John 3:14). A Christian is one who keeps the commands of the Lord, and that command is to love God first, and then your brother.

John encouraged them--all of them,--by first giving reasons as to why he was writing to them, and then why he had written to them. To the children, because they had been forgiven and knew the Father. To the fathers, because they knew the Father, and to the young men, because they had overcome the evil one, they were strong, and the Word of God abides in them.

John's heart of love toward his readers is evident in the terms he uses--beloved and little children. He was not beating them down or calling them hopeless sinners. He encouraged them, yet made it clear that walking in love toward their brothers and sisters in Christ was to walk in fellowship with God, in the Light, keeping His commands. To do otherwise is to live a lie and stumble in the dark.



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