An Old Commandment

View daily reading plan: 1 John 2.7-8a

A frequent topic is that of loving our brethren. In the upper room the Lord Jesus had introduced it as “a new commandment”, giving the demands of the law a new dimension – “That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another” (Jn 13.34). The passing of the years may have rendered it “an old commandment”, but it was still new, still fresh (v.8), because it was still relevant. Warm affection among  saints is still an essential.

It was supremely exemplified in Him, but John gives his readers credit for meeting its demands too: “which thing is true in him and in you”. Could John have written to us, “which thing is true...in you”?

The shining of “the true light” is surely a reference to the intervention of the Lord Jesus in this world’s affairs (Jn 1.9), and every soul that is turned “from darkness to light” (Acts 26.18) contributes to the darkness “passing away”. These dear souls who are now in the light demonstrate the reality of their experience by loving their brethren.

For the third time John says, “He that saith” (v.9). People claiming to be in the light and hating their “brethren” are still in darkness. Persons who love their brother give evidence that they are abiding in the light (v.10), and there is “none occasion of stumbling” in them. That disposition of love creates fewer opportunities for stumbling.

Tuesday, 30 April, 2024