1 John 2:7-10

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - 1 John 2:7-11

The seventh verse may be supposed either to look backward to what immediately preceded (and then it is walking as Christ walked that is here represented as no new, but an old commandment; it is that which the apostles would certainly inculcate wherever they brought Christ's gospel), or to look forward to what the apostle is now going to recommend, and that is the law of fraternal love; this is the message heard from the beginning (1 John 3:11), and the old commandment, 2 John 1:5. Now, while... read more

William Barclay

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - 1 John 2:7-8

2:7-8 Beloved, it is not a new commandment which I am writing to you, but an old commandment which you had from the beginning, the old commandment is the word which you heard. Again, it is a new commandment which I am writing to you, a thing which is true in him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the light is now shining. Beloved is John's favourite address to his people (compare 1 John 3:2 ; 1 John 3:21 ; 1 John 4:1 ; 1 John 4:7 ; 3 John 1:1-2 ; 3 John 1:5 ; ... read more

William Barclay

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - 1 John 2:7-8

John goes on to say that this commandment of love is true in Jesus Christ and true in the people to whom he is writing. To John, as we have seen, truth was not only something to be grasped with the mind; it was something to be done. What he means is that the commandment to love one another is the highest truth; in Jesus Christ we can see that commandment in all the glory of its fullness; in him that commandment is true; and in the Christian we can see it, not in the fullness of its truth but... read more

William Barclay

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - 1 John 2:9-11

2:9-11 He who says that he is in the light, and who at the same time hates his brother, is still in the darkness. He who loves his brother abides in the light, and there is nothing in him which makes him stumble. He who hates his brother is in the darkness and he is walking in darkness, and he does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes. The first thing which strikes us about this passage is the way in which John sees personal relationships in terms of black... read more

William Barclay

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - 1 John 2:9-11

John has something further to say. As he sees it, our attitude to our brother man has an effect not only on him but also on ourselves. (i) If we love our brother, we are walking in the light and there is nothing in us which causes us to stumble. The Greek could mean that, if we love our brother, there is nothing in us which causes others to stumble and, of course, that would be perfectly true. But it is much more likely that John is saying that, if we love our brother, there is nothing in us... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - 1 John 2:7

Brethren, I write no new commandment unto you ,.... Some understand this of faith, which this apostle calls a commandment, 1 John 3:23 ; but it rather intends the commandment of love, especially to the brethren, of which the apostle says the same things as here in his second epistle, 1 John 2:5 ; and this sense agrees both with what goes before and follows after, and is a considerable branch of the commandments of Christ to be kept, and of walking as he walked; and the word "brethren",... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - 1 John 2:8

Again, a new commandment I write unto you ,.... Which is the same with the former, considered in different respects. The command of brotherly love is a new one; that is, it is an excellent one, as a new name is an excellent name, and a new song is an excellent one; it is renewed by Christ under the Gospel dispensation; it is newly explained by him, and purged from the false glosses of the Scribes and Pharisees; see Matthew 5:43 ; and enforced by him with a new argument, and by a new... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - 1 John 2:9

He that saith he is in the light ,.... Is in Christ the light, or has the true knowledge of the light of the Gospel, or is illuminated by the Spirit of God; for persons may profess to be enlightened ones, and not be so: wherefore the apostle does not say, he that is in the light, but he that says he is, and hateth his brother ; who is so either by creation, as all men are brethren, having one Father, that has made them, and brought them up; or by regeneration, being born of God the... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - 1 John 2:10

He that loveth his brother ,.... As such, and because he is his brother in Christ, and that cordially and sincerely, without hypocrisy and dissimulation, and by love serves him, both in things temporal and spiritual, and so observes the new, and yet old commandment, abideth in the light : it is a plain case, that such a man is in the light of grace, and continues in it; for though it is not his love to the brethren which is the cause of his light, of his being and continuing in it, for... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - 1 John 2:7

Brethren, I write no new commandment - There seems a contradiction between this and the next verse. But the apostle appears to speak, not so much of any difference in the essence of the precept itself, as in reference to the degrees of light and grace belonging to the Mosaic and Christian dispensations. It was ever the command of God that men should receive his light, walk by that light, and love him and one another. But this commandment was renewed by Christ with much latitude and... read more

Group of Brands