THE OLD AND NEW COMMANDMENT
1 John 2:7-11
One of the things that we need to remember as we study this passage is that John is writing this to tell us who and who doesn’t have fellowship with God.
· In chapter 1 some of the Gnostics were saying that even though they walked in darkness they still had fellowship with God…and John disputed that.
· In God there is no darkness and you cannot walk in darkness…you cannot live a life of sin and have fellowship with God.
Some other Gnostics said that they were in fellowship with God because “they had no sin.”
· And John points out the error of that kind of thinking when he says, “If you say have no sin you deceive yourself and the truth is not in you…and not only that, if you say you have no sin you make God a liar and His word is not in you.”
· And if you make God a liar there is no fellowship.
Then the Libertine Gnostics and the Antinomians said that “You don’t have to keep God’s commandments to have fellowship with God…God doesn’t care about commandment keeping.”
· But John says, “Any one who does not keep God’s commandments is a liar and therefore, there is no fellowship with God.
Now, here in verses 7-11 John is going to dispute another claim of fellowship by the Gnostics so lets look at this…and as we do lets each one ask ourselves if we too have fellowship with God…and if not what is it do we need to do to restore that fellowship.
· Let’s look at this starting in verse 7.
Now, John has just said that is you “know God…if you have fellowship with Him you are going to keep His commandments.”
Vs. 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,
· This is kind of confusing; John says that he is not writing a “new” commandment…but an “old” commandment…but then on the other hand he is writing a “new” commandment…what is he talking about?
· Notice the words “new”…in the Greek that is the word “Kainos” and that speaks of something “new in time…and new in kind.”
· So John is saying, “I am not giving you a brand new…something you never heard before commandment…I am giving you an old commandment which you have heard from the beginning.”
· But now even though it is “old”…even though you have heard this before…John says, “I am writing a new…new in time and new in kind…commandment.”
What is he talking about?
· Well, first of all look at the commandment in verse 10:”The one who loves his brother…”
· That is the command…we are to “love our brother.”
· But what is “old and new” about that?
Turn with me to John 13: 34.
· Jesus is speaking here to His disciples and He says: "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another.
· Here is the “new” commandment that John said was “old.”
Now, what makes this commandment so “new.” Let me show you.
· Turn to Lev. 19: 18: 'You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the sons of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself; I am the LORD.
· Notice how they were to “love their neighbor?”
· They were to “love their neighbor as they loved themselves.”
· This was the standard for the Law of Moses…and it was beautiful…but it was an inadequate standard for Christianity.
· Go back now and look at the standard that Jesus sets forth in John 13:34.
· How are we to love one another? (As He loved us.)
· Loving your neighbor in Lev. 19:18 is based on a “self” love…but the new standard of love commanded by Christ is based on how He loves us.
· One kind of love is incomplete and faulty while the other is complete and perfect.
· This is why Jesus calls this a “new commandment.”
But John now says that he is writing an “old commandment which you have had from the beginning.”
· John is writing this 60-65 years after Christ gave this “new” commandment.
· So, the new commandment is old.
· In fact, John says that they have had it from the beginning; from the beginning of what?
· The beginning of Christianity…they have had this from the time Christianity was born and they have heard it.
· So by the time John writes, the “new” commandment that Jesus gave is old.
· But, in verse 8 it is still “new”…it is “new” from what the Law of Moses gave.
· And here we are 2000 years later and this commandment is still “new.”
· We are to “love each other just as Christ loves us.”
So let’s look at what John says again: 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,
· Jesus was and is the standard of love…and it is our standard also.
· Loving each other like Jesus loves us is our home base…its how we are identified as being His disciples.
Now, look at the next part of the verse: because the darkness is passing away, and the true light is already shining.
· Where ever this “love” is being practiced the darkness will pass away…the selfish love will recede…and “true light will shine forth.”
· As one advances the other retreats.
· These brethren have been manifesting the kind of love that shows that the word is in them.
Now, look at verse 9: The one who says he is in the light…
· It is not your talk that counts, it is your walk.
Vs. 9: The one who says he is in the light and yet hates his brother is in the darkness until now.
· See the “until now?” The one who says he is in the light…who says he has fellowship with God and yet hates his brother…he has never been in the light!
· He has been in the darkness and still is!
· The man who hates is not a saved man.
· You cannot be born again on the platform of hatred!
Now verse 10: The one who loves (present indicative) his brother abides(present indicative) in the light and there is no cause for stumbling in him.
· The one who “loves his brother just as the Lord loves us”…that one is in fellowship with God.
· And do you see that phrase “there is no cause for stumbling in him?”
· IF I love as I should…if I do only what Jesus wants me to do…say only the things that Jesus wants me to say…and be what Jesus wants me to be…
· IF I am walking in the light…His principles guiding me…I will not stumble and I will not cause others to stumble either.
We are not going to love as perfectly as He loved.
· We each will have occasions of selfishness.
· But we get credit for our direction of walk.
Vs. 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.
· Now, based off of what John says in verses 10 and 11, what was the Gnostics said they could do and still have fellowship with God? (Hate each other).
Now, why would a Gnostic hate his brother?
· His theology creates the enmity…the conflict and strife.
The Gnostics had two different categories of people: the Psukoi or soul people and the Pneumatoi or spirit people.
· They called themselves this because they claimed to have been illuminated…they claimed esoteric knowledge…some things were revealed to them that wasn’t revealed to others…they were visionaries…they had a special knowledge.
· And they were proud of their knowledge…in fact, they were so proud of their knowledge that they put themselves over and above others.
· As Paul says in the Corinthian letter…their knowledge had puffed them up.
But then there was another category of people…this was the Sarkoi…the flesh people…people without this special illumination…this special knowledge…
· The ignorant…the stupid.
· Anyone who would reject Gnostic illumination is a clod.
· Therefore, in their stupidity the Sarkoi would be hard to love.
· So the Gnostics didn’t.
· They hated others…and they often hated each other…because “I know so much…and I know this…and that guy over there just thinks he knows…”
· And so the jealousy…and the arrogance…caused these Gnostics to hate each other…and yet they claimed they had fellowship with God.
· And the problem was…they had influenced some of these Christians to perhaps believe the same thing…
· And John says, “IF you don’t love your brother…just as Christ loves you…there is no fellowship with God.”
So, how is your fellowship with God?
· Do you have a brother or sister in Christ that you hate…or don’t love like you should?
· I have heard some of my brothers and sisters in Christ say, :”I just can’t stand so and so…”
· We may not like what they do sometime…but we have to love them anyway.
· Lets show the world that we are all disciples of Christ by loving each other the way our Lord loves us.