Old, New & True … (1 Jno. 2:7-11)

Beloved, I am writing you no new commandment, but an old commandment that you had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word that you have heard. At the same time, it is a new commandment that I am writing to you, which is true in him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining. Whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness. Whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and in him^[b] there is no cause for stumbling. But whoever 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.

Love in one sense was not new (see Deut. 6:5). The newness of the commandment lies in how Christ magnified what it means by His life (Jno. 13:34). The new commandment “is true in Him and in you.”

What a joy for John’s readers that as they followed Christ, darkness was passing away and true light was shining to them and truth them. This is walking in the light (see 1:9). This life has no room for hating our brothers. Animosity falls in the category of darkness, not light. But whoever abides in the light (same as walking in the light in 1:9), reduces the threat of stumbling.

John wants to be clear, however, that “whoever 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.” I had better pause here and do a comprehensive self-examination to make certain hate isn’t blinding me.

-web