Dear friends, I am not writing you a new command but an old one, which you have had since the beginning. This old command is the message you have heard. Yet I am writing you a new command; its truth is seen in him and in you, because the darkness is passing and the true light is already shining. Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates a brother or sister is still in the darkness. Anyone who loves their brother and sister lives in the light, and there is nothing in them to make them stumble. But anyone who hates a brother or sister is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness. They do not know where they are going, because the darkness has blinded them.
1 John 2:7-11
Throughout this letter, John constantly describes what life in Jesus is like using three words: life, love and light. John devotes three sections of this letter to dealing with Christian love and through them explains that love, light and life all belong together. Reading the three sections back to back help to give the overall picture John was giving us. Why not take a moment to do so? The three sections are 2:7-11, 3:10-24 & 4:7-21.
In these verses we learn how Christian love is affected by light and darkness. John puts it simply. A Christian walking in the light, which means living a life of obedience to God, will love his fellow Christian. John not only wrote about love but is a good example to us of loving fellow believers. He is known as ‘the apostle of love’ because of the prominence he gives to the topic in both his gospel and letters. His favourite term for his readers is ‘Beloved’ showing how he felt for them.
One of the problems we have is that the English word for love covers so many different emotional experiences. The same word is used for the love of a husband for his wife as for a love of an inanimate object. The Greeks here had an advantage on us, since they had different words for the different types of love. The word John uses here is ‘agape’ which is the word used for God’s love towards man as well as a Christian’s love towards fellow believers. That alone tells us that we are to love our brothers and sisters in Christ as God loves us.
John points out to us that Christian love is both old and new. It is old because it has existed since the beginning of time and neither is the command to love new - it is included in the 10 Commandments. Jesus says that the greatest commandment is to love God and then man, but these principles were around long before Jesus came to earth so Christian love is an old concept.
In what sense is to love one another a new commandment, then? Again, the Greeks had different words for ‘new’. One meant ‘new in time’ the other meant ‘new in quality’. This commandment to love one another is not new in time, but it is new in quality. Because of Jesus, the old commandment to love one another has taken on new meaning. Jesus gives it new meaning in three ways; through emphasis, example and experience.
Emphasis
In the Old Testament they had the 10 Commandments. Jesus takes those and puts one to the top of the list – to love. Love is the fulfilment of the law and it is through the overflow of love that we keep the remaining commandments. When you love people, you don’t lie about them, steal from them or have a desire to kill them. Jesus has brought a new emphasis to what it is to love and the importance of it.
Example
The greatest example of love ever was Jesus’ death upon the cross to forgive our sin. He put aside His will, submitted to the Father and took on death for our sake. Through His death on the cross, Jesus displayed to us the sacrificial nature of love. To truly love is to put others before yourself and serve others. But even before the cross Jesus displayed a life of love through compassion, patience and empathy. We see in the gospel accounts that Jesus had love for all types of people. Sinners were attracted by His love (Luke 15:1), the lowest of the low could weep at his feet (Luke 7:36-39), he held babies, spoke to children, and even comforted others as the soldiers led Him to the cross. Jesus’ love even touched the lives of His enemies. Jesus lived a life that exemplified and embodied what it is to love and through Him we have a new illustration of the old truth that God is love. John later on tells us that what is true of Jesus ought to be true of His followers and so we follow His example as we love one another. Jesus has set us the standard.
Experience
If a Christian walks in light and in fellowship with God, they will also be in fellowship with God’s family. The Christian life is not one to be lived alone. It is easy to talk about Christian love, but it is much more difficult to practice it. Christian love, John says, is more than mere talk. If you walk in the light you cannot legitimately say you hate a fellow Christian since that is a display of darkness. In the Christian life there are two relationships; the vertical (God-ward) and the horizontal (man-ward) and both of these relationships are to be characterised by love. Christian love then is not just theoretical but just as we experience the love of Jesus in our lives so we should experience love for other Christians, both as we receive and give it. Loving your brothers and sisters will mean putting them above yourself. The saying ‘love covers a multitude of sin’ is also true. As we love we let things go. That’s not to say we let someone continue to live in sin because love also gives us the desire for the best for others which means helping them to grow in their likeness of Christ, but we spur one another on in love.
Christian love is another symbol of God at work in our lives. We cannot love as we ought to in our own strength but as we understand the love God has shown us, then in response -through His power at work in us - we love as we have been loved.
Prayer for today
Loving Heavenly Father,
Thank you for Jesus and the greatest demonstration of love through His sacrifice for us upon the cross. Thank you that whilst we were still sinners you loved us and sent your son to die for us.
Father, help us to love as we have been loved. Show us where there is darkness in our lives and where we are not walking in the light. We ask that you help us to love sacrificially more each day as we grow in our faith in you.
Thank you that through faith in you we are part of your family.
In Jesus’ name we pray,
Amen
Song for today
You can sing along here.
A New Commandment
I Give unto You
That You Love One Another
As I Have Loved You,
That You Love One Another
As I Have Loved You.
By This Shall All Men
Know You Are My Disciples
If You Have Love One to Another.
Photo by juan pablo rodriguez on Unsplash
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