John is writing to his Christian friends, sharing with them various evidences of Spiritual life. And spiritual life means eternal life. There are billions of people who are physically alive at this moment, but who will live not a single moment after they die. Their “existence” will go on, but it shouldn’t be called “life.” It will be an eternal death. When their earthly life is extinguished, their souls will instantly experience the second death in hell and ultimately in the lake of fire. Only people who have been born again have spiritual life and eternal life. John summarizes much of his purpose in 5:13, which I have quoted many times already. “These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life.” Eternal life is so critical that assurance of its possession is absolutely essential. Since that to KNOW God through Christ is the essence of life eternal (John 17:3), we need assurance that we know the Lord. So in verse 3 John has told us: “Hereby we do KNOW that we KNOW him.” And HOW do we know that we know God? “…if we keep his commandments.”
In our scripture for this afternoon, John tells us that the command which was foremost on his mind was “love.” Verse 5: “whoso keepeth (Christ’s) word in him verily is the LOVE of GOD perfected; hereby know we that we are in him.” Verse 10: “He that LOVETH his brother abideth in the light… and he that hateth his brother is in darkness.” I Jn. 4:21: “This is the commandment we have from (Christ), that he who loveth God love his brother also.” One of the tests of a person’s spiritual life is that he has a love for other people who have spiritual life. One of the tests of Bible Christianity is a love for the family of God – our brothers and sisters in Christ.
Without a definitive outline for this lesson, let’s just briefly look at the five verses in this paragraph. They speak about an old commandment and a new commandment. Two verses point to the light of Christ which stands in contrast to the darkness of a loveless life.
John refers first to THE OLD COMMANDMENT – verse 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.” Remember, when John uses the word “commandment” it is not the Greek word for “law.” There is another word for that. This is speaking of a moral precept; you could think of it as a principle – something expected of us. So what is this old commandment – this old precept? He tells us that it was something that existed in the beginning.
Once again we are forced to ask ourselves: “Of which beginning is John speaking?” It is obviously not the beginning of this epistle. But at the beginning of this epistle, he speaks of that beginning. “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we live look upon, and our hands have handle, of the Word of life.” The “Word of Life” is a Person, and John explains that it is the Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ. So, is this speaking about the beginning of the Christian era – the moment when Christ began His ministry? Or is this beginning even more remote? The Apostle has already defined the word for us in the first words of his gospel. “In the BEGINNING was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.”
“THE OLD COMMANDMENT is the word which ye have heard from the beginning.” I’ll just cut to the chase: John is talking about love. It was there in the beginning: Adam took one look at Eve and it was love at first sight. Later, Eve looked at Cain, her first born, and she loved him with all her heart. Cain loved his mother, and when his brother was born, he loved Abel. There is a natural inclination in us to love our parents, our families and our neighbors.
But sin was introduced into that first family, and love became as corrupt as faith and even life itself. The love that Cain had for Abel, deteriorated, eventually turning into murderous hatred. And his love for his parents fell apart as well. Love for God devolved into a love of self and sin, prompting God’s destruction of the world in the days of Noah. True love has been a struggle and a challenge ever since the fall of Adam. Is there such a thing as “true love?”
Yes there is, but comes through the NEW COMMANDMENT – verse 8.
“Again, a new commandment I write unto you, which thing is TRUE in him and in you.” Love has never been more true than that which lays in the heart of God Himself. I’ll come back to the love which is true in us. But in the mean time, as I just said, the principle of love has been corrupted by sin. And that corruption displays itself in several ways: self-love, lust, possessive love, obsessive love, etc. Throughout the Bible we have the command to love the Lord with all our hearts, souls, minds and strength. But that love is something beyond fallen man’s ability.
Remember, John is not writing to fallen man; he is sending this letter to his “little children” – to his brothers and sisters in Christ. In our Saviour, not only do God’s children have a fresh command to love, but we also have the ability to love properly. Not only can we love the Lord as we were meant to do at the time of our creation – vertically. But we can also love horizontally – from person to person. We have a new command – a fresh command: “But as touching BROTHERLY LOVE ye need not that I write unto you; for ye yourselves are TAUGHT OF GOD to love one another” – I Thessalonians 4:9. Philippians 4:8: “Above all things have fervent charity (love) among yourselves.” Why was it unnecessary for Paul to exhort Christians to love one another? Because it was a principle resurrected by the grace of God in salvation. How many times have I heard, even from some of you, that the bond between you and your spouse changed when you were given your new heart in Christ? And there was that stranger for whom you had no affection whatsoever, but in Christ he/she became a beloved brother.
Verse 7 begins with the word “brethren,” but there are commentators who suggest there is an unexpressed love behind the word. The Apostle James liked to append the adjective “beloved” to the simple “brethren.” And Paul did as well – “Therefore, my BELOVED brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.”
The new command – the new precept – to which John refers was what he heard from the Lord Jesus. John 13:34: “Little children… a new commandment I give unto you, that ye love on another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.” In the same chapter as Jesus’ conversation about the vine and the branches, He added: “This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you. Christ has givenus a new commandment. Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you. Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you. These things I command you, that ye love one another.”
And part of the importance of this love is expressed in Christ’s next few words: “If the world hate you…” If there has ever been a day when the brethren in Christ need one another’s love, it is today. That man who has lost his spouse, the love of his life, needs the love of the brethren. That woman who is fighting cancer, or who has been uprooted from her home, needs to be supported by a loving Christian family. And that man who is fighting his way out of some sin, needs to know there are people who care. When people are born again, their old friends often evaporate; he feels alone and isolated. John says to the rest of us, “Again, a new commandment I write unto, which thing is true in him, and in you.“ This precept which is true in Him – in Christ Jesus our brother, it is a principle planted in all His brethren. It is true to history and it is true to human nature. Love is a true principle because it is rooted and grounded in Jehovah Himself. “We love Him, because He first loved us” – 4:19. And we love widely and properly, again, because He first loved us.
This love is a part of the difference between light and darkness.
To the mind, this doesn’t make a lot of sense, but it is true to the heart and the soul. But as a new creature in Christ, “The darkness is past, and the true light now shineth. He that saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother, is in darkness even until now. He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is none occasion of stumbling in him. 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.” Logically speaking, John’s transition between light and love doesn’t make sense.
But notice again that John is constantly going back and forth between life, light and love. To him they overlap. John 1:1 – “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. In him was LIFE; and the LIFE was the LIGHT of men. That was the TRUE LIGHT which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. As many as received him, to them gave he power to become the son of God, even to them that believe on his name.” Everyone who puts his faith in the One who is the Light, becomes a living hild of God. And in the first chapter of this epistle: “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the WORD OF LIFE; (For the LIFE was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us;) This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is LIGHT, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: But if we walk in the LIGHT, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.” Walking in the light of Christ, is proof of spiritual life. And walking in the light of Christ, with the life of Christ in our hearts, out of our hearts will flow the kind of love which the Saviour has.
Please turn to Philippians well-known second chapter. “If there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies, Fulfil ye my joy, that ye be likeminded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind.” What is the source of the one accord and one mind? Doesn’t Paul tell us that it is in our union with Christ? “Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves. Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.” I don’t think the Lord would be upset with me for saying: “Let this HEART be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.”
What about that professing Christian who hates another professing Christian? John says that he “is in darkness even until now.” He “is in darkness, and walketh in darkness, and knoweth not whither he goeth, because that darkness hath blinded his eyes.” He is like the fish and amphibians which live in the lightless caves and have lost the ability to see. Christian, don’t simply be ashamed that you don’t love as you should, fear that lack of love. “If we say that we have fellowship with Christ, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth. “By this shall all men know ye are my disciples, if ye have love one for another.” “We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death.”
Conclusion:
John is going to have a lot more to share with us about love, and particularly brotherly love. He’ll remind us that we have no business redefining it. It is what it is and it is not what it ain’t. And he’ll remind us that we can’t redefine who our brethren are, either. Just because you differ with someone on some point of doctrine, you can’t arbitrarily tell the Lord that he isn’t your brother.
And as he tells us here: this is not about that other person – that other brother. This is about you and me. “He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is no occasion of stumbling in him.” The root Greek word underlaying “stumbling” is scandal. It is a shame and a scandal when God’s people don’t love others as we profess to have been loved by the Saviour.