This week’s “Wednesday Word” is a summary of Adam Graig’s exposition of 1 John 2:7-2:17 given on Sunday, July 19, 2009.
Chapter 2:7-17 of 1st John can be broken up into three sections: vv. 7-11, 12-14, and 15-17. Verses 7-11 begin with this seemingly oxymoronic commandment – it is not new; it’s old; at the same time, it’s new. This commandment, it turns out, was one that John’s original readers would have been very familiar with. It was a commandment that had been given by Jesus and recorded in the Gospel of John 13:34: “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.” It is old, therefore, in that this was a commandment that they had heard and that was “from the beginning.” It was “from the beginning” in both an absolute sense (cf. John 1:1) and in a relative sense – “from the beginning” of their Christian life. It was a new commandment in that it was realized in Christ and carried on in his children.
Verses 9-11 continue with the theme of love and hatred and also pick up the common Johannine language of light and darkness. We find in v. 9 the third in a series of statements that begin with “whoever says.” Here, the one who says that he is in the light will so prove that statement to be true by loving his brother. Previously, John has similarly shown that whoever claims to know the Father will keep his commandments (vv. 4-5) and whoever says that he abides in him will walk like he walked (v. 6).
Verses 12-14 stand out in their quasi-poetic feel, and despite some considerable debate concerning their interpretation, have a very straight-forward point. Anticipating the discussion concerning those who were not really members of the body (cf. 2:18ff), John describes here what true faith looks like. True children of God are forgiven (v. 12); they know the Father (vv. 13, 14); and they have overcome the evil one (v. 13, 14). Each of these descriptions are explicated elsewhere in 1 John. Chapter 1:9 speaks of the forgiveness that is found in Christ; 2:3 explains how we know that we have come to know the Father, and both 4:4 and 5:4-5 further explore this idea of “overcoming.”
Finally, as vv. 7-8 began this passage with a positive command to love one another, vv. 15-17 conclude this passage with a negative command of what not to love: “Do not love the world or the things in the world.” John then gives us two reasons why we ought not love the world. First, because love for the world and love for the Father are mutually exclusive. And second, because the world is passing away.
As those who are recipients of true, God-given faith (cf. vv. 12-14), we should be encouraged and challenged to both love one another (vv. 7-11) and to not love the world (vv. 15-17). May it be so!