The book of First John

A Verse by Verse Study
Text 1st John 2:7 – 11 Part One

 

A. In this section of scripture we see three main things.

     1. An old commandment.

     2. A new commandment.

     3. Love.

     4. Some will try to use this to say John contradicts himself, but an in-depth study of it will show that is not the case at all.

 

B. The old commandment tells us that this one has always been the case and it is nothing new. V. 7 “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. What is the word? “the word which ye have heard from the beginning”. It could be any number of things.

          a. It could be Jesus, He is the word. John 1

          b. It could be the word of God.

          c. It could be a message.

          d. It could be just one simple word.

     2. I believe John has already told us what this old commandment is in V. 5 “But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him.”

          a. I believe it is a single word and that word that is the old commandment is LOVE.

          b. God is love and once we are saved we have God’s love in our hearts.

          c. Let’s examine the love that God has given us.  Leviticus 19:34 “But the stranger that dwelleth with you shall be unto you as one born among you, and thou shalt love him as thyself; for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God.”  Deuteronomy 7:7 “The LORD did not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in number than any people; for ye were the fewest of all people:” The phrase “set his love upon you” means God gave his love to you. We could go on with many other scriptures but I think the point is made.

          d. Everything is about God; it is His salvation, His faith, His will, and His love.

          e. When we are save God inserts in our hearts His Agape love, and since God is eternal love then this is the old commandment. That whosoever has Christ in them has His love in them.

     3. John says “which ye had from the beginning.” From Adam to now the love of God has been around .

 

C. Love, we are going to see a lot of this in this letter.

     1. The Greek word for love as it is of God is Agape and it means “a love feast” remember God has an eternal love and once we received His love in eternity past we can never loose it.

           a. Romans 8:35-39 “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? (36.) As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. (37.) Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. (38.) For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, (39.) Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

          b. We are going to learn we have the love of God, therefore our love for other believers should be unconditional and everlasting, because remember it is not our love but the love of God. Romans 13:8, 10 “Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law.” (10.) “Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.”

 

D. Now that we know what the old commandment is John says I have a new one, V. 8 “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. This new commandment is not one that John created, but rather one that Jesus created. It is Love your Brothers and Sister in the Lord. V. 9 “He that saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother, is in darkness even until now.

          a. John is giving us a new commandment, but it began with Jesus. John 13:34-35 “A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. (35.) By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.”

         b. The question I have is there a condition in here? For example, does it say if you are perfectly aliened in faith, or if you are both Baptist? No, in fact the bottom line is if you are saved you must love one another and by that love you will know you are in darkness.

          c. How would we like it if we were not perfectly aliened with the Lord and He stopped loving us? Or how about something like you were wrong on this or that therefore I could not love you or fellowship with you. Then neither are we to be that was.

     2. The bottom line is this, if we are saved we love other believers unconditionally, this is the commandment of the Lord.

     3. This is the Jews loves the Gentiles, Blacks loves whites, Americans loves Russians, and ECT.