1 John 2- Our Brother

 (1 John 2:3-11)

The apostle now presents to us some tests of our Christian profession. It is one thing to say, “I am a Christian,” but it is another to possess eternal life. It is one thing to say, “I am a child of God,” and quite another to know the marvelous blessing of regeneration. Do we say we are Christians? Do we claim to be children of God? Then we must prove it by our lives.

“We do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments” (1 John 2:3). He is not speaking from a legal standpoint. In the Old Testament the commandments of God were presented to us with a view of obtaining life. The law said of the man who kept His commandments, “Which, if a man do, he shall live in them” (Leviticus 18:5). But here, under grace, it is the opposite. The man who lives by faith will do His commandments. The one who says he lives for God and yet is completely indifferent to the will of God, has never been born of God. He is still in “the gall of bitterness, and in the bond of iniquity” (Acts 8:23). The child of God delights in obedience to the will of God. Not that his obedience is perfect, for it is never that. There is only One who could say, “I do always those things that please him” (John 8:29). But love for the will of God springs up in the soul of the man who is truly regenerated. He delights to walk in obedience to God’s Word, and thus he proves that he is a child of God. He not only rests on the Word that says, “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life,” but he finds within himself that which corroborates his faith-that which proves he has been born of God. This new desire to do the will of God is not of the natural man. By nature we prefer to do our own will, we prefer to take our own way. But in trusting Christ, we learn to delight in His divine will.

“He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him” (1 John 2:4). How outspoken the apostle John was! Some people do not appreciate this kind of strong language. But we need to realize that the apostle was dealing with great abstract truths. Men either love God or do not. They either walk in darkness or they walk in light. There is no in between. The principle here is that we can test ourselves to see where we are. We should ask, “Do I delight in the will of God; do I love His commandments?” If I do not, there is no use professing to be a Christian, for I am professing a lie. It is hypocrisy to claim to be a Christian while my works deny my profession.

“He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him” (1 John 2:4-5). There is a difference between keeping God’s word and keeping His commandments. Of course, a little farther down we are told that the “commandment is the word” (1 John 2:7), but we could hardly say the word is the commandment. The commandment is included in the word, but the word is more than the commandment. The word is the expression of the will of God, either given in direct commandment or otherwise, and we who are saved delight to keep His word. This is the commendation that the Lord gave the church in Philadelphia, thou “hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name” (Revelation 3:8). The Lord Himself makes this distinction between keeping His commandment and keeping His word. In John 14:15 He says, “If ye love me, keep my commandments,” but farther on He adds, “If a man love me, he will keep my words” (John 14:23).

The believer, in studying the Word of God, finds direct commands-certain things the Lord has told him to do, and because he loves his Lord, it is his delight to keep those commandments. But as he continues to read, he comes across passages containing no command whatever, but that express God’s desires-the longings of His heart for His own people. The true believer says, “Because You have won my heart, dear Savior, I will keep Your words.” “Whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him” (1 John 2:5). The word is the revelation of what God is and of His dwelling in the believer. Therefore keeping His word is the demonstration of the life of Christ in the one whom He has redeemed.

So the apostle added, “He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked” (1 John 2:6). I cannot be all that Jesus is; that is impossible. Jesus is the Holy One of God, and I, although regenerated, am still a poor, failing, sinful man. But I am called to walk as He walked, for Christ has left us “an example that [we] should follow his steps” (1 Peter 2:21). I am to glorify Him by following in His footsteps.

“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” (1 John 2:7). Earlier we examined the expression, “From the beginning,” and saw that it differs from the words in Genesis 1:1, which speak of the beginning of creation. When John said, “I write no new commandment unto you, but an old commandment which ye had from the beginning” (1 John 2:7), he was not referring to something strange and new, but was referring back to the word spoken by the Lord when He was here on earth. He was referring to the beginning of the Christian dispensation.

False teachers had come into the church and were deceiving the people of God with their teachings. The apostle said to test these teachings by asking, were these things taught from the beginning? As we have already seen, in Christianity, “What is new is not true, and what is true is not new.” We are not in the process of discovering Christianity. Christianity was a revelation committed to godly men by the Holy Spirit in the very beginning of the church age. In other words John said, “Go back to the records of our Lord’s life, see what He Himself taught, and walk in obedience to His Word.” Our Lord was not merely summing up the commandments when He said, “A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another” (John 13:34), but it was His instruction concerning obedience to the will of God.

But now the commandment takes on a new character. Since Christ has died, risen from the dead, ascended to Heaven, and sent the Holy Spirit to dwell in the hearts of believers, there are millions of regenerated men and women. To them the apostle declared, “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” (1 John 2:8). The commandment is the word of God, and the word was expressed in the life of Christ. If we are born again, the life of Christ has been given to us, so what is true in Him is true in us. The only thing Jesus could do when He was here on earth was the will of God. He had no other thought or desire. Now He dwells in us, and if we are Christians, we have His life in us. When John speaks of His commandment, he says it is new because divine life is ours, and so the word is both in Him and in us. By calling on the believer to do the will of God, our Lord is asking him to do the very thing he longs to do.

“A new commandment I write unto you…because the darkness is past, and the true light now shineth” (1 John 2:8). The word past does not exactly suggest the tense of the original. What he was really saying is, “The darkness is passing, and the true light is now shining.” We can see as we look on the world around us and in us that the darkness is not past. Even though the gospel of the grace of God has been preached for almost two thousand years, the darkness is not gone. There are still millions in darkness and in the shadow of death. And no matter how well I know my Lord and His Word, I cannot say that the darkness is past even in me. But the darkness is passing, and the true light is shining. Every day I am getting to know my Lord better, and every day I understand His will more perfectly. But until the time comes when I leave this body and see my blessed Savior face to face, there will still be a measure of darkness in me, even though all is light in Him.

In verses 9 and 10 (1 John 2:9-10) the apostle speaks very seriously and very solemnly concerning something that may well convict some of us. “He that saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother, is in darkness even until now” (1 John 2:9). If you hate your brother, no matter what you profess, you are still in darkness. Notice he did not say you may be a real Christian who has fallen into darkness; but he said, if you hate your brother you are “in darkness even until now.” You have never been anywhere else. You have never been in the light at all. You cannot have divine light or the Holy Spirit or the love of God dwelling in you, and still hate your brother. And yet we often see people professing the name of Christ while showing hatred toward others.

“He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is none occasion of stumbling in him” (1 John 2:10). With new life comes light and love. God is light and love, and as we walk in fellowship with Him, nothing will cause us to stumble. Instead, we will constantly demonstrate the love of Christ. There is no room for hatred in the heart that is filled with the love of God.

“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” (1 John 2:11). This is the natural darkness in which all men are born. “Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart” (Ephesians 4:18). That is the condition of man by nature. But remember, we are not condemned because of what we are by nature. “This is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil” (John 3:19). You are not responsible because you are a sinner by nature, but you are responsible if you reject the Savior. You are not responsible because you were born in darkness and your understanding is darkened, but you are responsible if you reject the light that comes to you through the Word of God. This light will chase away all the darkness if you walk in it. Don’t turn from its searching rays.