1 John 2:7-17 New International Version

⁷ Dear friends, I am not writing you a new command but an old one, which you have had since the beginning. This old command is the message you have heard. ⁸ Yet I am writing you a new command; its truth is seen in him and in you, because the darkness is passing and the true light is already shining.

⁹ Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates a brother or sister^[a] is still in the darkness. ¹⁰ Anyone who loves their brother and sister^[b] lives in the light, and there is nothing in them to make them stumble. ¹¹ But anyone who hates a brother or sister is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness. They do not know where they are going, because the darkness has blinded them.

¹² I am writing to you, dear children,
    because your sins have been forgiven on account of his name.
¹³ I am writing to you, fathers,
    because you know him who is from the beginning.
I am writing to you, young men,
    because you have overcome the evil one.

¹⁴ I write to you, dear children,
    because you know the Father.
I write to you, fathers,
    because you know him who is from the beginning.
I write to you, young men,
    because you are strong,
    and the word of God lives in you,
    and you have overcome the evil one.

¹⁵ Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father^[c] is not in them. ¹⁶ For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world. ¹⁷ The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever. 

First Impression?

• Love, Obvious, Hate, Groups, Men, Confusion? I was still hung up on the command not being explicit, but the differences between hate and love or God and evil was where my brain focused.

Did John have a specific purpose to confuse the reader about which command he wrote about?

• We voted and there was no expectation of confusion intended. John was sure everyone knew we are commanded to love and everything else is either in line or opposed to this.

What is meant by the “darkness is passing”?

• Sin is not eternal. Christ has defeated it. We are defeating it in our own lives as we mature. The more mature you are, the more aware you are of your sin, but it is also passing out of your actions through the process.

What is the “true light already shining”?

• God through His son Jesus is the true light, and it shines through us when we do good and follow the will of God to love.

What is hate?

• Not God. More simplification that I was shooting for, but it was the right answer. Another aspect was “Not Love”. Hate is not the opposite of Love at the other end of the scale, it is the opposite on the other side of a coin. Your actions are either love or they are hate. They are either following the call of God or they are evil and sin. This topic can have much more discussion, but …

How do we help others not stumble?

• (I walked away to get some more ice.) Really this is just to love others. Some need little. Some need a lot. Anything not done to bring others up, makes them stumble. Paul and Peter argued over how Jews were supposed to act amongst themselves and with Gentiles once they were Christian, and they argued how they did not participate in some things that were not sin, to help others not sin. Every person has issues. Some can eat bacon cheeseburgers and do not sin. Others cannot. Choosing not to eat bacon cheeseburger to prevent another from sinning is an act of love.

Where are the “blinded” going?

• One answer could be hell, but I have a feeling John was focusing on those who believe and are saved, so hell is not an option. I think they are simply stumbling about with no good coming of their efforts.

Children, Fathers, Young Men? Is there a purpose to this pattern?

• We supposed the purpose was to highlight how we improve our ability to love as we mature as Christians. As new Christians, we do not have the same level of knowledge to help others struggling. As we grow from knowing the Father, having our sins forgiven, to becoming strong through study of the Bible and acting it out, we become more able to resist the devil and make him flee.

Is there an aspect of believers vs. non-believers in this discussion of brothers, sisters, fathers, men?

• We know there is, but we might not be smart enough to dig out all the nuggets. There is a difference in how we love Christians and how we love non-Christians. It may be subtle or it may be stark, but the basis is love, and it is the direct opposite of anything that is not love.

What does it mean to not love anything in the world?

• It means to not love anything not of God. The old double negative rule gets broken again. Logical substitution at its finest. If God is in us, we should not love anything that is not from God. Do not love the moon, but love that God gave us the moon.

The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life? Does this cover all sin? All the activities of the world?

• The engineers in the group wanted to go see if this worked. (Yes, I am an engineer.) I have a feeling it does. God is smart enough to know how we work, how we think, and how we fail. I often get distracted by the overwhelming number of ways that I can sin and trying to avoid them all. If I break it down to flesh, eyes, or pride, I can do better. If I break it down to love or not love, I do a lot better.

God is love. God loves me. God commands me to love. God gives me the resource to be able to love. God gives me the resource to be able to love everyone. If we love, we need no other command.