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A STUDY OF 1 JOHN (14)
Loving One’s Brother and Fellowship
I John 2:7-11
Victor M. Eskew
In this next section of John’s epistle, he introduces his readers to a subject that he will develop in greater detail later in the letter. The subject is love for one’s brethren. Here, the inspired penman wants his readers to understand that love is essential to one’s fellowship with God. Those who fail to love walk in darkness apart from God who is light.
John begins this section with A DESCRIPTION OF THE COMMANDMENT (1 John 2:7-8). “Brethren, I write no new commandment unto you, but an old commandment which ye have heard from the beginning. The old commandment is the word ye have heard from the beginning. 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.” John’s words are somewhat confusing. In verse 7 he declares that he is writing no new commandment unto them. However, in verse 8 he opens with these words: “Again, a new commandment I write unto you…”
In the next three verses, we will learn the commandment involves loving one another. There was a sense in which this commandment was an old commandment. It was found in the Law of Moses. In Leviticus 19:18, we find this injunction: “…but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am the Lord.” Thus, in the sense of age, the command was quite old. It was made “new” in the Christian dispensation, however, because the love demanded was lifted to a higher plain. The love to be manifested was the same kind of love Jesus displayed toward His apostles. During His earthly ministry, Jesus told His disciples: “A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another” (John 13:34). God’s people must now seek to love one another in a divine manner. This love involves the sacrifice of self. It involves dying for another if necessary (John 15:13). John describes this new period of history as the time when “the truth light now shineth.” How to display love in the past was not clear. But, when Jesus, the true light, appeared, what it meant to love another was evidenced both in His life and in His death.
In 1 John 2:9, John exposes those who hate their brethren. We’ve entitled the verse: THE DECEPTION OF THE UNLOVING. John writes: “He that saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother, is in darkness until now.” There are some people who call themselves Christians who refuse to love others. Many times, their disdain for a brother or sister in Christ involves one or two minor, irrelevant things. If they were asked: “Are you walking in the light of God’s truth?” they would affirm that they are. John, however, affirms that they are not. He plainly declares that they are in darkness. God is love. He has no tolerance for hatred. Those who hate their brethren cannot dwell in the presence of God. Those who hate their brethren reside in the regions of the evil one.
In the very next verse, he sets forth a contrast. He notes THE DISTINCTION OF THE ONE WHO LOVES. “He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is none occasion of stumbling in him” (1 John 2:10). In 1 John 1:5, John revealed that God is light. If a man truly loves his brethren, he walks in the light of God. Hatred puts an obstacle in the way of the Christian. It causes him to think unloving thoughts. It causes him to speak unloving words. It causes him to display unloving behaviors. These thoughts, words, and actions are sinful. Love is not so. When a person loves, “there is none occasion of stumbling in him.” Love acts in healthy and godly ways. “Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. Charity never faileth…” (1 Cor. 13:4-8). Yes, the man who loves stands in direct opposition to the one who hates. He acts differently. Too, his relationship with God is vastly different.
John concludes this discussion with THE DILEMMA OF THE ONE WHO HATES. “But he that hateth is in darkness, and walketh in darkness, and knoweth not whither he goeth, because the darkness hath blinded his eyes” (1 John 2:11). The abode of the individual who hates is darkness. It is as if he lives in the deepest recesses of a cave without even a match to light his way. He walks in this darkness, that is, he lives his life in that obscurity. His walk is slow. His walk is frustrating. Hie walk is lonely. His walk is dangerous. His walk is without direction. John affirms this last statement when he writes: He “knoweth not whither he goeth.” He does not know if he is going forward or backward. He does not know if he is going toward an exit or away from it. A life without love is vain, empty, and barren. It was Paul who affirmed that if he had not charity, he was nothing (1 Cor. 13:2). Spiritually, the one who hates is blind. He is blinded by the darkness. He is blind to the condition of his soul. He is blind to his relationship with God.
Yes, John will return to the subject of love later in this book. It appears the Gnostics may have had difficulty in this area. Remember, they believed they possessed superior knowledge. If others opposed their thinking, it would be easy to react in a hateful manner toward them. “Knowledge puffeth up…” (1 Cor. 8:2). When Paul wrote those words, he was referring to true knowledge. Those who have knowledge of any kind must be careful. It is easy for them to loath others. Most likely, this is the attitude John was addressing in this book. John began that discussion by showing that a lack of love will remove one from his walk in the light. If a person is not in the light, he is in darkness. If he is in darkness, he no longer has fellowship with God.