1 John 2:7–11

Read the passage.

We are now given a paradox, because John states that he is giving his readers a commandment that is both old and new at the same time. Calling the commandment “old” is easy to understand: it is the same teaching that Jesus gave when He was on earth, namely “Sin no more.” (John 5:14) And that is hardly unique to Jesus’s ministry because similar instructions are found all throughout the Old Testament as well. (2 Chronicles 7:14, Psalm 4:4, Ezekiel 3:19)

But what makes this “a new commandment”? (v. 8) It is new in the sense that we now have the perfect example of Jesus to follow, when previously there was none. This is what is “true in him [i.e. Jesus] and in you”. And we can know it is true by the progressive nature of sanctification in the believer’s life as they walk in the light. The darkness passes away in the believer’s heart and they love their brother the way Jesus loved them, not to the same degree, but closer and closer.

Expose our faults in the light of Your glory, and mold us into Your image more completely.