A New Commandment

My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world... Brethren, I write no new commandment to you, but an old commandment which you have heard from the beginning... Again, a new commandment I write to you... He who says he is in the light, and hates his brother, is in darkness until now. He who loves his brother abides in the light, and there is no cause for stumbling in him. But he who hates his brother is in darkness and walks in darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.

When the gospel truly takes hold, our love for one another becomes the proof.

John's Concern for the Churches of His Day

Nearly 2,000 years ago, as the church was in its seventh decade of existence, John—one of the earliest followers of Jesus—looked at the churches near where he was ministering and was concerned. Church tradition holds that he was living in Asia Minor, in the region of Ephesus. And to say John was concerned for the churches is to say he was concerned for the Christians, because churches are simply gatherings of Christians.

A teaching had begun to spread through some of these churches that affected the way Christians lived and understood the Scriptures. The people promoting it used very Christian-sounding words and phrases: "We have fellowship with Him," "We have no sin," "We know Him," "We abide in Him," "We are in the light." If you heard such words, you would assume these were people who believed what you believed. Yet though they used similar words, their message led people to walk out of alignment with the life and teaching of Jesus—the very pattern John had committed himself to for sixty-five years, since beginning to follow Jesus as a teenager.

So John took to writing, just as the Apostle Paul had done before him. He wrote a letter, an epistle, to confront the problem.

John's Fourfold Purpose in Writing

One of the great things about John is that he tells us why he writes. In three verses he states his purpose. First, 1 John 1:4: "These things we write to you that your joy may be full." Second, 1 John 2:1: "These things I write to you, so that you may not sin." Third, 1 John 5:13: "These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe."

So John writes that we would have fullness of joy. How many of us want fullness of joy? Blaise Pascal said, "All men seek happiness." They may seek it in different ways, but the neighbor next door, the coworker in the next cubicle, the student on campus—everyone is seeking joy.

He writes also that we would have holiness—and I might even say wholeness. The Christian experiences wholeness of life as the holiness of Christ is worked out in them. People around us are seeking joy and wholeness; they feel something is missing. We sing, "I still haven't found what I'm looking for."

He writes that we would have hope—not wishful thinking, but an absolute certainty of eternity, "that you may know that you have eternal life." And he writes that we would have perseverance—that we would continue to believe and endure.

The Gospel That Produces Joy, Holiness, Hope, and Perseverance

In light of this fourfold purpose, it is not a stretch to conclude that the teaching John combatted would ultimately lead people to a loss of joy, complacency in obedience, uncertainty in hope, and apathetic indifference in faith. This brings us to our first point: the true gospel results in joy, holiness, hope, and perseverance.

If you lack joy today, remember that the gospel says Christ died for our sins and rose from the dead for our justification (Romans 4:25). He dealt with our sin, our brokenness, our fallenness, and rose so that we would be declared righteous—just as if we had never sinned. That is joy-producing good news. We try to deal with our brokenness through religion, through mindfulness, through whatever; but we cannot deal with these things on our own. Jesus did.

If you wrestle with ensnaring sin, remember that Jesus died not only to free us from the penalty of sin but from its power. "For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death" (Romans 8:2). "There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus."

If you feel hopeless, remember our salvation depends not on our works but on the finished work of Jesus and His faithfulness to His promise. "Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful" (Hebrews 10:23). And if you feel like giving up the race, remember Hebrews 12: "Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith... lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls."

Professions Proved by Practice

The chief outcome of the false teaching John addresses in 1 John 2:1-11 was this: it caused followers of Jesus to follow Him in such a way that their professed belief did not align with the practice of their lives. This reminds us of point two: our professions of faith are proved by our faithful practice.

The Christian says, "I know God"—an audacious claim. The Christian says, "I abide in Him," and, "I walk in the light." But those great professions must be proved by the practicality of our lives. Our orthodox statements need to become orthopraxy. This is not new teaching. The very first letter written in the New Testament, James, says: "What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him?... Faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead" (James 2:14, 17).

This caused challenges, because about a decade later Paul wrote Romans, making clear that Abraham was saved by faith—"Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness" (Genesis 15:6). That is justification: when you trust in Jesus, His righteous life is applied to your debt and He pays for your sin, just as if you never sinned. But after that, God's grace continues to transform us, first by renewing our minds and then working it out in our lives, so that our works begin to align with our faith. James and Paul are not in conflict. And John, sixty years later, says the same thing: "By this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. He who says, 'I know Him,' and does not keep His commandments, is a liar." The one who says he abides in God should walk as Jesus walked.

God's Word and Will Are Consistent

John writes in verse 7: "Brethren"—that word tells us he is writing to Christians, the family of faith—"I write no new commandment to you, but an old commandment which you have heard from the beginning."

This is the message given to the church from the earliest days. John is likely writing from Ephesus around AD 92-95. Back up about thirty-five years, and that church was started by Paul, who preached this clear message: Christ died for our sins, rose for our justification, salvation is by grace, and that grace results in righteousness. As Paul put it in Titus 2:11-14, "The grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age... Jesus gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works." Why did Jesus save you? Because you couldn't save yourself, and so that you could walk in righteousness you could never achieve under the law.

From James, the earliest letter, to John, the latest, with Paul throughout the middle, we discover point three: God's Word and will are consistent. The message does not change. His desire is the same.

An Old Commandment Made New

This creates an apparent problem. In verse 7 John says, "I write no new commandment to you," and ten words later in verse 8 he says, "Again, a new commandment I write to you." That is the kind of thing that makes people close the book and scratch their heads.

We must understand that John was raised in Judaism, under the rabbinical teachers. Rabbis—including Jesus—would teach by throwing out references and quotes that stirred the listener to go back and search out the original passage. They had no chapter and verse; those chapters weren't added until about twelve hundred years after this was written. So a rabbi would say, "You have heard that it was said," and quote something to send the reader back.

John does the same thing here. An interested reader puzzling over "no new commandment" and "a new commandment" wouldn't have to search far. Just before this letter, John wrote his Gospel. In John 13, on the night Jesus was betrayed, in the upper room where He instituted the Lord's Supper, Jesus said: "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another" (John 13:34).

If God's Word and will are consistent, how can an old command be new? The command to love was not new. Every Jewish child learned the Shema first: "Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD. And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your mind, with all your strength" (Deuteronomy 6:4). Right after that they learned Leviticus 19:18: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." Every Jewish person knew the greatest command. Jesus said all the Law and the Prophets hang on these words.

So the command to love is at least 3,400 years old—not new. But Jesus updates it: "that you love one another as I have loved you." That is the Christian command—to love in the same way Jesus loved us. There is much to deconstruct in that pregnant statement, but this is what John references in 1 John 2:7-8. This is why he says, "Whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him." How do we know we are in Christ? We begin to manifest a love for others in the way Jesus has loved us.

The Good Samaritan: Who Is My Neighbor?

What does it look like to love as Jesus loved? In Luke 10 a lawyer—an expert in the Hebrew Scriptures—tested Jesus: "Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?" Jesus answered, "What is written in the law? What is your reading of it?" The lawyer said, "You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart... and your neighbor as yourself." Jesus said, "You have answered rightly; do this and you will live."

But like a good lawyer, he looked for a loophole: "And who is my neighbor?" Jesus told the story of a man going down from Jerusalem to Jericho who fell among thieves and was left half dead. A priest passed by on the other side; a Levite did the same. Then "a certain Samaritan" came. That word meant something to the listeners, because the Jews hated the Samaritans—a racial divide far deeper than ours, the word itself used as a slur. Yet the Samaritan had compassion, bound the man's wounds, paid for his care, and promised to repay more.

"Which of these was a neighbor to him who fell among the thieves?" The lawyer answered, "He who showed mercy on him." And Jesus said, "Go and do likewise."

Beware Unintended Consequences in Our Theology

Last week I caused a bit of a stir speaking about Reformed theology and the "TULIP." My goal is not to argue for or against Calvinism—that's been argued for 500 years and will be until Jesus returns. My point is that every teaching has ramifications and sometimes unintended consequences. The first point of TULIP is total depravity, and I've observed an outcome of this kind of teaching, even among non-Reformed Christians.

About a month ago at a conference where pastors were training younger Bible teachers, this passage came up. One teacher said, "When we teach the Good Samaritan, see Jesus as the hero. See yourself as the man left dying on the road; religion couldn't help you, but Jesus came and rescued you." That sounds great, but it is not how Jesus interpreted the story. The lawyer asked who his neighbor was; Jesus told the story to show who the neighbor is; and Jesus applied it: "Go and do likewise." If your interpretation differs from Jesus's, you may have a problem.

The danger is that Christians begin to believe they cannot obey the imperatives of the New Testament—to be merciful, to show compassion even to people they don't like, to love their enemies. We would rather take justice into our own hands, but Jesus says, "Love your enemies." It is hard precisely because we need God's help by His Spirit to obey. And here is the great truth: after being saved by grace through faith, we have the enabling power of the indwelling Spirit to do the commands of Scripture. Will we do them perfectly? No—and when we fail, we have an Advocate, Jesus Christ the righteous, the propitiation for our sins (1 John 2:1-2). But that does not abdicate our responsibility.

There is no loophole. We become loophole-finders, asking, "Who can I hate? Can I hate Muslims, pedophiles, homosexuals?" Many non-Christians today call Christians promoters of hate. But Jesus said, "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another as I have loved you."

Love as the Evidence of the Gospel

The call to love as Christ loved is not merely a proposition to support scripturally or a value to uphold; it is a lifestyle we are to live out by the Spirit's power. Why? Because immediately after His command in John 13:34, Jesus said, "By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another." Love is the greatest evangelistic evidence of Christ in our lives.

This is point four: obedience to the law of love is the principal evidence of the gospel's effect in our lives. The primary evidence that the gospel has worked in me is that I would love people, even the unlovely. Every Christian—Calvinist and non-Calvinist alike—would agree. But we must beware unintended consequences of our systematic theologies. Sadly, just as in John's day, there are people, even pastors I know, who make excuses for disobedience by finding theological loopholes. We must seek to do all that was given to us in Scripture—knowing it is not what saves us. Christ saved us by His death, burial, and resurrection; but He saved us to be set free from the law of sin and death so that we could live in righteousness.

Come Out of Darkness, Walk in the Light

Returning to verse 9: "He who says he is in the light, and hates his brother, is in darkness until now. He who loves his brother abides in the light... But he who hates his brother is in darkness and walks in darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes."

We Christians say we were in darkness and now we're in light, blind but now we see, lost but now found. So here is the simple exhortation, point five: come out of darkness; walk in the light of the love of God. What does the darkness look like? It is saying we love God while walking with animosity and hatred toward others in our hearts. That is a sin to confess, and 1 John 1:9 applies: "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."

This is entirely possible by the grace and power of God in Christ. It was not possible under the law—the law's purpose was to show our inability to keep God's commands. But in Christ we have the ability by His indwelling Spirit. As Paul says, "He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love" (Colossians 1:13), and, "You were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light... and have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them" (Ephesians 5:8).

Two Closing Invitations

Two things as we close. If you have never trusted in Jesus for salvation—to forgive your past sin and begin the work of sanctifying you unto glorification—I'll give you an opportunity to do that, "for whoever confesses with his mouth that Jesus Christ is Lord, and believes in his heart that God raised Him from the dead, shall be saved" (Romans 10).

And if you have trusted Christ but recognize, through the conviction of God's Word, areas where you are walking in darkness, God says come and confess. If we confess, He is faithful and just to forgive and cleanse us, so that we may walk in the light as He is in the light, have fellowship with God and one another, and shine brightly to a world that so desperately needs the love of God.

Closing Prayer

God, I pray that You would help us to properly apply the Scriptures, enabled by Your Spirit, so that we would be a people who go from this place endeavoring to fulfill Your commandment to love one another as You have loved us. You demonstrated Your love toward us in that, while we were still sinners, You died for us; when we were Your enemies, You loved us to the point of laying everything down for us. Would You enable us to love others in the same way? Shine the light of Your grace and love through us to those close to us—our actual neighbors, our family members—and even to those far away whom we would rather not call our neighbor, but who truly are. Reach out to them through us with mercy and grace.

And if today, for the first time, you recognize your need for the love and forgiveness of God and want to put your trust in Jesus, pray with me: Dear Jesus, I need Your saving grace. Would You come into my life, forgive me of my sin, and help me to follow You by faith? Shine in this world through me. Save me from my sin, in Jesus' name. Amen.