Love in the light

 Beloved, I am writing you no new commandment, but an old commandment that you had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word that you have heard. ⁸ At the same time, it is a new commandment that I am writing to you, which is true in him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining. ⁹ Whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness. ¹⁰ Whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and in him there is no cause for stumbling. ¹¹ But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.

1 John 2:7-11

One can only walk in love if one walks in the light. Somehow, our culture has determined that truth and love are like oil and water; they don’t mix. Truth is seen as harsh and condemning, whereas love is soft and cuddly, and nonjudgmental. In this passage, John shows the fallacy of such reasoning.

God is light, and God is love. These are two of God’s character qualities. Love and light flow from the same source and out of the same essence. Love and light are incompatible with darkness.

What is the old commandment that John refers to?

 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” ³⁷ And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. ³⁸ This is the great and first commandment. ³⁹ And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. ⁴⁰ On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”

Matthew 22:36-40

John refers to a new commandment of love. What could be greater than the one Jesus quoted already?

 “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. 

John 15:12

This new standard of love is Jesus’ love for us. Jesus commands us to love one another just like he loves us. That’s the highest standard. Love like he loves.

It seems surreal and incongruous to be writing about love this week. We are in the second week of the Israel/Hamas war of 2023. I am dating this war because if life continues for more decades, there is one thing that I am confident of: there will be more wars for Israel. Maybe with Hamas, maybe with Hezbollah, or maybe directly with Iran. The hatred for the Jewish people will not cease until after the second coming of Christ. I know that sounds depressing, and I wish it were otherwise. Still, as I study Scripture, it seems this hatred is not really between people but is between Israel and demonic forces arrayed against Israel.

John uses darkness as a metaphor for spiritual and moral evil and depravity. The light is the opposite. It is a metaphor for God and his influence in creation to holiness and love. It seems that there is always some display of deep darkness in this world. But John writes that the new commandment of loving like Jesus is true in him and in us. John says it is because the darkness is passing away. I know it doesn’t seem that way. It appears that the world is getting darker and darker. But John says the darkness is passing away. How can this be?

At the same time that darkness seems to be getting darker, the light is shining brighter and brighter. The gospel’s spread is growing at a rate never experienced in human history. It just doesn’t show up on mainstream media or other news outlets. The fastest-growing church in the world is in Iran, followed closely by Afghanistan and other unlikely candidates. These places of gross darkness are the hosts to the light that overcomes darkness.

John brings the conflict between darkness and light close to home. He brings it to the local church in your community. Maybe to your house church. John requires congruity between what we say and what we do. Whoever says he is in light and hates his brother is still in darkness, spiritual and moral evil, and depravity. His salvation is in question.

By contrast, whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and he won’t cause anyone to stumble. When we hate, we offend. When we offend, we may cause another to stumble in their faith.

The walk of one who hates his brother is not living in the light but is in darkness. This hatred of a brother has ominous implications. John writes that this one walks in darkness and does not know where he is going because the darkness has blinded his eyes. Think about that. When we choose not to love our brother, we choose darkness in the place of love. We choose to be blinded from the truth.

Hate is a keyword in this passage, so we should consider its meaning. In its more extreme definition, it can be murderous, like Hitler hated the Jews, as did Stalin. This hatred was murderous. Jesus also gave it a less volatile definition in Luke 6:22. “Blessed are you when people hate you and when they exclude you and revile you and spurn your name as evil, on account of the Son of Man!” To be excluded, reviled, and spurned is not to be murdered. It is a more mild form of hate.

Most believers would never think of murdering a fellow believer who is a member of the same church. However, it is occasionally true that a believer will exclude, revile, or spurn a fellow church member and not realize they are hating a brother and walking in darkness.

To walk in the light is not only to walk in doctrinal soundness but more so it is to walk in the Jesus kind of love where one lays down his life for his brothers.