1 John 2:1-11
1 My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous:
2 And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.
3 And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments.
4 He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.
5 But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him.
6 He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked.
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.
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.
9 He that saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother, is in darkness even until now.
10 He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is none occasion of stumbling in him.
11 But he that hateth his brother is in darkness, and walketh in darkness, and knoweth not whither he goeth, because that darkness hath blinded his eyes.
The Grace New Testament Commentary - 1 John 2:3-11
2:3 Any claim that one has achieved a personal knowledge of God can be at once tested by whether he keeps His commandments. The word Him might refer either to God or to Christ, or it may be intentionally vague, since for John they are One. This verse is often taken as a way of knowing whether a person is genuinely saved. The explanation often given is that although salvation is by faith, one cannot know whether his faith is real unless he keeps His commandments. But that view conflicts with Johannine theology in many ways.
First, a person is saved by believing in Christ for eternal life (John 3:16; 5:24; 6:35; etc.). Second, the idea that a Christian can believe in Christ, without knowing whether he or she has really believed, is nonsense. When Jesus asks Martha if she believes, neither of them adopt a "wait and see" mentality (John 11:25-26). Martha's reply, which was accepted by Jesus, was a strong affirmation of her belief (v 27). Since belief is a conviction that something is true, when we believe, we know we have believed.
1 John 2:3 is not talking about the saving knowledge of Christ, but a fellowship knowledge. While it is true that all believers do know God and Christ at a fundamental level, all believers may not know them at the level of communion and fellowship (cf. the interaction between Philip and Jesus in John 14:7-9). 1 John 2:3 refers not to the saving knowledge of God, but of the experiential knowledge of God. Just as a claim to fellowship with Him is false if a believer "walks in darkness," so too a disobedient lifestyle falsifies any claim to intimate knowledge of Him.
2:4 But someone might claim such knowledge without the obedience that goes with it. In that case the person making the claim is a liar, and the truth is not in him as a dynamic, controlling force (see comments on 1:8). Without obedience to God's commandments, no person can truthfully claim an intimate personal knowledge of the Father and the Son.
Here, as in v 3, the words "I know Him" could be translated I have come to know Him. On the lips of the Revisionists this claim would probably imply the attainment of a knowledge of God that the readers lacked and that the Revisionists offered to supply.
2:5 In contrast to the false claim discussed in v 4, the apostle now observes that the person who keeps (guards) His word has a special experience of the love of God. Love for Christ and obedience to His word are in no way a test of saving faith, despite the repeated claim by many that they are. Instead, they are tests of genuine, heartfelt discipleship to Jesus.
The love of God is perfected in obedient Christians. The Greek word translated is perfected (teteleiotai) suggests "bring to completion," "bring to its goal," or "bring to full measure." God's love for the believer is wonderful at the point of salvation (see 1 John 3:1), but its goal is not reached until the believer returns that love by obedience, with the result that he knows the deeply personal love of the Father and Son as they "make [their] home with him" (John 14:23).
The expression "in Him" (en autō) is not equivalent to Paul's concept of being "in Christ" (en Christō). In light of Christ's teaching in John 13-17 (esp. John 15:1-8), the words in Him refer to the "abiding" Teacher/disciple relationship.
2:6 The claim that someone abides in Christ can be verified only by a Christlike lifestyle. The Greek word menō ("to remain," "to dwell," "to live") - its first occurrence in 1 John - describes the life of discipleship (cf. John 15:4-7). The words of 1 John 2:5 about being "in Him" are equivalent to the idea of "abiding" in Him. The next few verses explain how to do this.
2:7 The old commandment is the one the believers had from the beginning of their Christian experience. The old commandment is the one spoken years before by Jesus in John 13:34: "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another."
This memorable "new" commandment was now old for John's readers because they had received it from the beginning, that is, in the very earliest period of their Christian lives. This is the only reasonable sense for the phrase from the beginning. There is an implicit connection between 1 John 1:1 and 1 John 2:7, since John is concerned in this letter with the original truth of Christianity in contrast to the spurious "new truth" evidently taught by the Revisionists. Perhaps the Revisionists of John's day reinterpreted the meaning of the commandment to love one another. This John would not allow. The old commandment still had the same content as before.
2:8 From another point of view (Again), the commandment John spoke about in v 7 as being "old" can be called a new commandment. This is because it belongs to the new age that was dawning.
"Is passing away" (paragō) occurs in 1 John only here and in v 17 (cf. 1 Cor 7:31). Since the world is morally at odds with God the Father (1 John 2:15-17), darkness describes its moral condition. Thus the apostle is stating that the "old" moral situation of the world is temporary. The "new" reality that will replace it, the true light, is already shining. It was revealed fully in Christ's love for the world (John 3:16), and is being revealed in Christians' love for one another. A day will come when this love will shine forth in unhindered brilliance (2 Pet 3:13).
2:9 The claim that this verse can refer only to "professing" believers is without evidence. If John was thinking of an unsaved (but professing) Christian hating a true Christian, he would not have written: He who says he is in the light, and hates his brother, for the word his would be misleading. The correct way to say that would be, "He who hates a brother" (i.e., someone who hates a Christian).
In this context the subject matter is the Lord's command to "love one another" (cf. John 13:34). John has in mind the love of Christians toward other Christians (cf. esp. 1 John 4:20-5:1). The term brother must therefore be understood in the Christian sense. The apostle acknowledges the sad reality that some believers have feelings of hostility and animosity toward other believers. Such a Christian's moral condition is deplorable. The claim by such a person to be walking in the light in fellowship with God is disproved by his hatred of his fellow Christian. He is in darkness until now.
2:10 By contrast, the Christian who loves his brother is not only in the light, but also abides there. By loving God and others as Christ loved, he is walking "as He walked" (v 6). The one who lives this way is also a person in whom there is no cause for stumbling (skandalon, "a trap or a snare" whatever ensnares a person in sin). In the person who loves his brother there is no such trap. This does not mean that this person is sinless (see 1 John 1:8), but rather that in walking as Christ walked, he does not create an inner spiritual condition by which he can be ensnared in sin.
2:11 A Christian who hates another believer has lost touch with "the true light" (v 8), which displays God's loving nature. And he has also embraced "the darkness" which "is passing away" (v 8). He becomes a tool in the hands of Satan, resulting in tragic division and church splits. As John says, he walks in darkness, and does not know where he is going.
Charles Bing - Grace, Salvation, and Discipleship - The Truth is Not in Him, 1 John 2:3-4, 9, 11
(Salvation) Interpretation: Those who say they are saved but do not keep God's commandments or hate others are not saved.
(Discipleship) Interpretation: Believers who say they have fellowship with Jesus Christ but do not keep God's commandments or hate their brother do not have fellowship with Him.
The first issue to resolve is what it means to "know" God, because that is the claim disputed in the situation described. A (Salvation) interpretation takes this as a claim that one is saved, whereas the (Discipleship) interpretation takes this as a claim to intimate fellowship with Jesus Christ.
That "Him" refers to Jesus Christ is evident by the context that names Jesus Christ as our Advocate and our propitiation in verses 1 and 2. Also, verse 6 says that the believer should "walk just as He walked." Jesus lived a righteous life during his earthly ministry.
One clue to the meaning of "know" is the use of the parallel term "abide" in verse 6. The difference between believing and abiding has already been discussed (see John 8:31-32). Abide (from menō) means to adhere to, continue in, remain in; it does not mean believe. These readers are already believers, as has been shown. Abide is a word for believers that denotes an intimate fellowship with God. Likewise, the word "know" has a range of meanings from knowing something cognitively, to knowing something experientially or intimately. In John 14:7-9, we see that though Philip knew Jesus Christ to a degree, he did not really know Him. Later, Jesus prayed for the saved disciples that they might know God and Jesus Christ better (John 17:3).
John is teaching that obedience to Christ's commands is the way to deeper intimacy with Christ, a reflection of the truth Jesus taught in the Upper Room Discourse (John 14:21). To obey Christ is to show an intimate love for Him (John 14:15). A believer cannot say that he knows Christ intimately if he is disobeying His commands. If he makes such a brash claim, he is lying. The chief command that Jesus left his disciples was to love one another (John 13:34). This would be a distinct testimony to others that they are His disciples (John 13:35). Love for their brothers is how believers show that they know God intimately (1 John 4:7-8), because God is love (1 John 4:16). In chapter 1, John told his believing readers about choosing to walk in either light or darkness. He now demonstrates that truth by how believers can either love or hate their brothers.
Our spirituality is not affirmed by boasting, but by obeying. Our obedience to Christ's commands, especially the command to love others, is evidence that we know Him intimately in an abiding relationship. It is crucial to understand this teaching if we are to deepen our walk with the Lord.