1 John 2:7-11 - Exposition

Love and light.

Connecting link: The word "ought" ( 1 John 2:6 ) implies a command explicitly given or implicitly involved in other teaching; such is the case here. The Son of God has come. And from him as the Light the command has proceeded. What specific form the commandment has taken from his lips is the main teaching of this paragraph. Hence our theme— The commandment, old and yet new, brought by him who is the Light. The "connecting links" which are traceable in the writings of John, are very different from such as are discoverable in the Epistles of Paul. Paul works out mighty themes cumulatively. John treats keywords radiatively. Such words are "light," "love," "truth," "life," "knowledge," etc. Consequently, it would be a mistake to attempt to find in this Epistle any such continuous unfolding of one great theme, such, e.g., as the doctrine of justification by faith, which is dealt with by Paul in Romans 1-8. As another method, and that very widely different, is adopted in this Epistle by the Apostle John, so the work of the pulpit expositor in dealing therewith must vary from the method he would adopt in unfolding the Epistle to the Romans. We must take up the key-words of John as he uses them, and expound the teaching concerning them. In this paragraph we have two main lines of remark suggested.

I. TEACHINGS CONCERNING LIGHT AND LOVE OBJECTIVELY CONSIDERED . These are fourfold.

1 . The true Light is now shining. A reference to John 1:4 , John 1:5 and John 3:19 will indicate the way in which the apostle refers to our Lord Jesus as the Light. God has never left men in absolute darkness concerning himself. Even before the Old Testament was written, devout men could "walk with God." But whatever light on the invisible men have had has come from the Lord Jesus Christ. "He is the true Light, which lighteth every man." When, however, he came into the world, men beheld the Source of light; the world has been clearer and brighter ever since; and to this day the light streams from Christ as from the Sun of Righteousness.

2. Because of this the darkness is passing away ( παράγεται ). £ It is as if the veil were being lifted off which concealed the great realities on which the meaning and destiny of human life depend. And with new light thrown on the plans and mind of God for our race, it follows that fresh light is cast on the way in which men ought to walk.

3 . This being the case, additional force is given to human duty. (Note the ὅτι in John 3:8 .) The clearer the light on a man's pathway, the greater his obligation to walk aright. Hence, when Jesus brings a fuller light, he must needs bring a command for us to walk accordingly. We cannot suppose the Son of God to come from heaven to light up our way, and that it can then be an indifferent matter whether we heed him or no. Surely not. The light has a commanding force. It is a new command, as brought in anew by the Lord Jesus, and felt with new force through his infinite love. It is an old one, inasmuch as it had been in force from the very beginning of the Christian economy, and even then was but the resetting of the old law of love which God had enjoined from the first.

4 . This command is that we should love our brother. This is the burden of the whole paragraph. This is the sum and substance of that following of Christ to which all "who profess and call themselves Christians" are bound. The light which he brings is meant to guide us to a life of love. "Love one another, as I have loved you."

II. THESE SAME TEACHINGS CONCERNING LIGHT AND LOVE SUBJECTIVELY APPLIED . It is no wonder to find the apostle setting and resetting his key-words in so many different forms, and ringing the changes, so to speak, on "those charming bells "—life, light, love. A deep and true philosophy underlies the whole. Right conception existing in thought is truth. Right conception expressed in word is light. Right conception realized in act is duty. Right conception embodied in a life is love. There are five distinct statements made in this paragraph on the subjective side of our theme, all of them enforcing with terrific power the importance of obeying the command of love.

1 . "He who loves his brother abides in the light." Both φιλανθρωπία and φιλαδελφία would be included here. When both are learned of Christ the pathway is light, and he who walks therein becomes "light in the Lord," receiving and reflecting the radiance of the central Sun.

2 . Consequently, he sees where he is going. "There is no occasion of stumbling in him" (cf. John 11:9 , John 11:10 ).

3 . This is an unvarying law, all profession to the contrary notwithstanding ( John 3:9 ). Let a man talk as largely and as loudly as he may, if he loves not, he is in the dark. No love, no light. He will not see the light God has shed on the destiny of the race. He will be in miserable darkness as regards his own.

4 . Such a walk in the darkness will issue in his losing the power of seeing. "The darkness blinded his eyes" (cf. Matthew 6:22 , Matthew 6:23 ; 2 Corinthians 4:3 , 2 Corinthians 4:4 ). Fishes in underground rivers become blind. The moral and spiritual eyesight may be trifled with till it is destroyed, £ if a proper use be not made of the light God has sent to us in Christ.

5 . When the power of seeing is gone, every step must be a leap in the dark. "Knoweth not whither he goeth." What an awful agnosticism! Can anything be more terrible than for a human soul to be compelled to plunge forward wildly, blindly, without a ray of light in any direction, simply because he would not follow the light God sent him, and tampered with his own power of seeing?

Thus both objectively and subjectively it is true: The light brought in by Christ points to love, and his love leads us on to the light. Following his light, we learn to love; imitating his love, we are moving forward to the light. Here, then, is the outward practical proof of our following Christ—a proof which even the world can to some extent appreciate, the proof without which no profession, nor words, nor deeds, nor sacraments, nor ordinances, can avail; it lies in this, and in this only, in love. The only possible proof that we can give that we love Jesus is by loving those for whom he died and in whom he lives, for his sake—by loving them as he loved us. This is the old, old line of duty, yet the one which is ever new. This is the true religion—to love. This is loyalty—to love. And when we have learned to love others as Christ loved us, we shall have within us the proof that his light is pervading our whole nature, and the pledge of our fitness for the inheritance of saints in light!