John at Ephesus Part Four

How the True Light Shines

Verses 1 John 2:7-8 How should we understand this command that is old yet new?

⁷Dear friends, I am not writing you a new command but an old one, which you have had since the beginning. This old command is the message you have heard. ⁸Yet I am writing you a new command; its truth is seen in him and you, because the darkness is passing and the true light is already shining

It seems that John here is referring to the core commandment of God, and the one that Jesus places most of his emphasis on throughout his ministry, namely that we love our neighbour as ourselves (Gal 5:14).  This command is old in the sense that it was probably the command that many Christian's have right from the beginning of their Christian Walk.  In any case the focus on the message of God's love for us is critical to John's overall message of salvation, without it we would be without the redeemers grace and protection.  What is also clear is that John is continuing his use of the motifs of Light and Dark to illustrate the difference between the sinful world and the sinless God.

The second part of these two verses is a reminder that Christ's message of God's love for us is one we are meant to emulate.  I think that it is clear as described in the Parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:30-37), that Christ recognises the value in acting out our love from God in a practical way. Christ uses this parable to point out that simply following laws and doing the correct things mentally is not enough, the Good Samaritan ultimately does something for the man by the side of the road, something no one else thinks to do. 

Verses 1 John 2:9-11  'light and love go together'  why does John emphasis this link so strongly ?  what is the challenge for us?

  ⁹Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates his brother is still in the darkness. ¹⁰Whoever loves his brother lives in the light, and there is nothing in him^[a] to make him stumble. ¹¹But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness; he does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded him.

John makes the point here of linking the message of love as Christians with our relationship with God.  He also seeks to place love for one another particularly Christians as one of the most important aspects of an active Christian Life.  In the Light of God's love how can we fail to do anything other than love our brothers and sisters in Christ, for clearly God loved them enough to sacrifice his only Son for them as well as for us.  In the light of this relationship I think we are obligated to love them in the same way, or at least as far as our Human Natures allow us too.

The challenge is always resident in the emotive nature of the word love, here John is not calling upon us to love our brothers and sisters in a academic or theoretical way rather he seeks to make us love them in a practical way.  The use of the term hate here seems important as it clearly indicates the possibility of us hating our brother and sisters.  One has to wonder how this would be possible though as Christians to hate another Christian, I suspect the warning to not hate is intended to drive a stake through the thought of a theoretical approach to this problem, for if we ignore those in need are we not acting out of hate rather than love as the opposite force to the one Christ invoked in the Good Samaritan Parable mentioned earlier.  We are called in this verse then to act in love, not to accept it as mental challenge but rather actively seek to impact on those lives in a positive way.

Verses 1 John 2:12-14 ' who are the dear Children, Fathers and Young Men of this poetic section?, what particular conviction does John want each group to hold and why?

¹²I write to you, dear children,
      because your sins have been forgiven on account of his name.
 ¹³I write to you, fathers,
      because you have known him who is from the beginning.
   I write to you, young men,
      because you have overcome the evil one.
   I write to you, dear children,
      because you have known the Father.
 ¹⁴I write to you, fathers,
      because you have known him who is from the beginning.
   I write to you, young men,
      because you are strong,
      and the word of God lives in you,
      and you have overcome the evil one

It seems from the commentaries that the Dear Children referred to in this set of verses relates to the congregation as a whole, John was quite elderly by this point and saw himself as a apostolic father figure to the congregation,  I find it unlikely that John was referring to actual children with this set of verses as its application is universal. The fathers most likely is a call to the elders of the church, Men (and Women) who were leading the congregation and drawing upon their understanding of god to lead the congregation as a whole.  Young men most likely means the next generation of the church. 

The children (congregation) are reminded here once again of Christ's salvation of us all and his relationship with God Almighty.  this core truth repeatedly referred to in all of John's writings draws us to the inescapable realisation of Christ's constant and enduring sacrifice for us as sinners.

Fathers (elders) are reminded of their knowledge of the message of Christ and on the nature of the messenger itself.  They are also enjoined to remember that they are the knowledgeable ones who have know he who is from the beginning.

Young Men (next generation /generations to come) are reminded of the victory Christ has had in their lives over the evil one.  They are also reminded of the importance of God's word in making that possible.