⁷ Beloved, I am not writing a new commandment to you, but an old commandment which you have had from the beginning; the old commandment is the word which you have heard. ⁸ On the other hand, I am writing a new commandment to you, which is true in Him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true Light is already shining. ⁹ The one who says that he is in the Light and yet hates his brother or sister is in the darkness until now. ¹⁰ The one who loves his brother and sister remains in the Light, and there is nothing in him to cause stumbling. ¹¹ But the one who hates his brother or sister is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going because the darkness has blinded his eyes (1Jn2:7-11).

In the previous passage/post John concluded that the way we know we have a saving knowledge  of Christ is if we keep His commandments, and  that in those who do, “the love of God has truly been perfected (v5)”. This in turn, writes John in our latest passage, also determines whether or not we are walking in the light. Those who love their brethren and sisters are doing so, whereas those who hate, whatever else might be said or observed concerning their life and religion, remain in darkness (v9).

Genitive of origin

For this brief post I will focus on John’s reference to the love of God being perfected” within the believer. It is something concerning which Paul also referred when he wrote “the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us” (Rom5:5). I have come to understand that both John and Paul’s references to the “love OF God” is a genitive of origin. It refers not so much to God’s love for us or ours for Him but to the impartation of the divine quality of love (cf. Jn17:26) engrafted by the Spirit such that we come to love others more as God loves them. This genitive of origin is more obviously affirmed when John writes later in the chapter (next post) that those who love the world  “do not have the love of the Father within them”(v15).

An aspect of the divine nature

This is in the context of partaking of the divine nature by which we come to possess more of what God possesses: especially holiness aligned with love; God being love and thrice holy. Loving the Lord in our hearts, thrilled by His goodness and coming ourselves to possess the love of the Father towards the rest of humanity, we may be confident we are being saved and heading for victory.  Yet John had also said that it is “by this that we know that we are in Christ, if we keep His commandments“. But as Paul affirmed (to the surprise of some): “the whole Law is fulfilled in the one statement, ‘You shall love your neighbour as yourself’” (Gal5:14).

Love is the key, and as Paul’s reference to “neighbour” should indicate, it is not confined to our relationship with our fellow believers (cf. Lk10:29…). So John was right to say he was not issuing a new commandment – it was Christ’s also, and it is not burdensome (1Jn5:3).

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