heart’s determination to please God. Such determination causes us to confess any imperfection that sets into our lives. It is such determination that makes the Scriptures describe David as a man after God’s heart (Acts 13:22, quoting 1 Sam 13:14) even when we know that he failed miserably at some point (2 Sam 11). God does not deal with us in wrath when we have not achieved perfection, so long as our hearts strive for perfection because he is our God.
On the other hand is the one who keeps the commandments (2:5a). John uses “whoever” (hos an) to imply that God does not shut anyone out of the blessings that go with the act of keeping the commandments. Concerning such a person, John says, “truly in him the love of God has been perfected” (alēthōs en toutō hē agapē tou theou teteleiōtai). While the genitive tou theou (of God), describing love, could be the love that God has toward such a person (subjective genitive90) or even a love like that which God exercises (qualitative genitive91), it is better to treat it here as the love the person who keeps God’s commandments has toward God (objective genitive).92 Later on (see under 2:15) John contrasts our love for the world and our love for the Father (using another genitive, hē agapē tou patros—“the love of the Father”) and is in order to treat it here (2:5) in the same way. At least, there is nothing within the context here that makes that choice unviable. Using human illustration here, when one tells another person “I love you” it is appreciated. However, it is not complete until the statement has been applied in actual life situations. In the same way also, the one who says he or she loves God. That claim must be made full or perfect by pleasing God, the object of that love.93 It is by loving God that we can be assured that we remain in him (2:5b). Our mystical union with God is based on clearly set conditions: keeping his commandments94—a natural outcome of knowledge, and appreciation of who Jesus is.
John finishes the section with a specific instruction (2:6) for anyone who claims to remain in this fellowship with God and Jesus Christ. He says that such a person “ought to walk95 just as he himself walked”96 (opheilei kathōs ekeinos periepatēsen kai autos [houtōs] peripatein). This is a clear statement of our need to pursue Christlikeness. Jesus conducted himself before the Father and in relationship to human beings in a manner that was all pure. Remaining in this fellowship means conducting ourselves in the same manner. Should this be achieved, it would be a life of sinlessnes (which John, in 2:1, said was his goal for writing). Since our experiences tell us that we still have to wait for glorification of our beings before we attain perfection, what we can confidently affirm is to seek to be like Christ. When we fail, Jesus is our advocate and we will be given a second chance. Perfection, however, is our goal and the march must always be on.
Christ’s walk of perfect obedience was crowned with death, on our behalf, on the cross. This was the highest degree of expression of love (John 10:11; 15:13; 1 John 3:16). It is not surprising, therefore, that this statement ushers in the theme of love among followers of Christ.
The Ageless Commandment—Old Yet New (2:7–17)
(2:7) Beloved ones, I do not write to you a new commandment but an old commandment which you have had from beginning; the commandment which is old is the word which you heard. (8) Again, a new commandment I write to you, which is true in him and in you, because darkness is passing away and the light which is true is shining already. (9) The person who claims to be in the light and hates his brother (or sister) is in darkness until now. (10) The one who loves his brother (or sister) remains in the light and there is no stumbling block in him or her (11) but the one who hates his brother (or sister) is in darkness and in darkness he (or she) walks and has not known where he (or she) is going, because the darkness has blinded97 his (or her) eyes.
(12) I write to you, children,
because your sins have been forgiven on account of his name
(13) I write to you fathers,
because you have known the one from the beginning
I write to you young men,
because you have overcome the evil one.
(14) I write98 to you children,
because you have known the Father.
I write to you fathers,
because you have known the one from the beginning.
I write to you young men,
because you are strong
and the word of God remains in you
and you have overcome the evil one.
(15) Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him (16) because everything in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life, is not of the Father but is of the world (17) And the world and its lusts pass away, but the person who does the will of God remains forever.
Having mentioned the need to keep God’s commandments (2:3–6) John now focuses on one of these commandments, namely, the commandment of love. Two objects are the focus of the love John is writing to promote here. There is the love toward a brother or sister (contrasted with hating) and there is the love toward the Father (contrasted with love of the world and what goes with it)
Love Toward a Brother or Sister
After addressing his readers as “beloved” (agapētoi)99 in 2:7a, John goes on to tell them that he is writing to them about a commandment. He gives the commandment the qualities of being both old (2:7) and new (2:8). It is old because his readers have had it from the beginning100 (hēn eichete ap’ archēs) and is by definition the word which they had already heard (hē entolē hē palaia estin ho logos hon ēkousate). At the same time, it is new (2:8). Its newness is most likely to be seen in the example of Christ101 who John has described as hilasmos for our sins (2:2). Jesus himself said that there is no greater love than one laying down his or her life for another (John 15:13). As hilasmos, Jesus did exactly this and so remains a supreme example of the act of love. John says that the practice of this commandment is true in Jesus and in the readers.102 He gives the basis for this conclusion as that darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining (2:8b). Jesus had said that he is the light103 of the world (John 9:5) and the readers have him as their Savior and Lord and so are living in his light. Where that light is in charge, there is love and not hatred. John writes to enhance this love as he encourages his readers to live in fellowship with God who is also described as light (1:5).
John moves on to give a clue as to what commandment he is talking about here by responding to the possible claim104 of being in the light and not loving a brother or sister (2:9–11). The one who hates his brother or sister “is in darkness (en tē skotia estin105—repeated in 2:9, 11) until now” (heōs arti), even when he or she claims to be in the light. He or she is not only in darkness (sphere) but also “walks in darkness” (kai en tē skotia peripatei) and “does not know where he or she is going” (kai ouk oiden pou hupagei). The hating here is a continual practice (present tense misōn), the walking a continual act (present tense peripatei), and the ignorance a current status (the perfect tense oiden, used with the negative particle ouk). John gives the basis for the present status of such a person as that “the darkness has blinded106 his eyes” (hoti hē skotia etuphlōsen tous ophthalmous autou). If the act of hating puts one into the sphere of darkness (2:9) and in God there is no darkness (1:5), it means that the one who hates is not in God’s company. He or she has not known that the Christian walk is one of light (here shown by loving) and its destination is the city of holiness (Rev 21:22–27). The one who hates is not ready for heaven. Darkness clouds his or her eyes not to see the beauty of walking with God, enjoying his fellowship now and in eternity.
So as not to appear to be talking to only the
