Title PageAssurance of Fellowship from the Sign of LoveCharacterization of the Commandment of LoveApplication of the Commandment of LoveAssurance of Fellowship from the Sign of SeparationAppeal for Separation from the WorldAssurance Concerning the ReadersEndBibliotheca Sacra 145 (1988) 420-435. Copyright © 1988 by Dallas Theological Seminary. Cited with permission. An Expositional Study of 1 John Part 3 (of 10 parts): An Exposition of I John 2:7-17 D. Edmond Hiebert Professor Emeritus of New Testament Mennonite Brethren Biblical Seminary, Fresno, California Beloved, I am not writing a new commandment to you, but an old commandment which you have had from the beginning; the old com- mandment is the word which you have heard. 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. The one who says he is in the light and yet hates his brother is in the darkness until now. The one who loves his brother abides in the light and there is no cause for stumbling in him. But the one who hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going because the darkness has blinded his eyes. I am writing to you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for His name's sake. I am writing to you, fathers, because you know Him who has been from the beginning. I am writing to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one. I have written to you, chil- dren, because you know the Father. I have written to you, fathers, be- cause you know Him who has been from the beginning. I have written to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the evil one. Do not love the world, nor the things in the world. If any one loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world. And the world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God abides forever (1 John 2:7-17). According to his stated purpose in 5:13, John wrote this epistle so that his readers "may know that you have eternal life." The epis- tle provides a series of tests that promote personal assurance of God's truth and salvation and enable believers to detect and reject the false teachings assailing them. 420An Exposition of 1 John 2:7-17 421 John began with offering assurance through the test of fellow- ship grounded in the nature and revelation of God. This fellowship is grounded in the nature of God as light (1:5), is hindered by the presence and practice of sin (1:6-10), and is made possible by the re- demptive work of Christ (2:1-2). In 2:3-17 John set forth a series of signs assuring that true fellowship with God is being maintained. In 2:3-6 he indicated two closely related signs, the sign of obedience (vv. 3-5a) and the sign of the conscious imitation of the example of Christ (vv. 5b-6). Now in 2:7-17 John developed two further signs, both in different ways revolving around the practice of Christian love. Assurance of Fellowship from the Sign of Love In 2:7-11 John developed the thought that assurance that fel- lowship with God is being maintained can be drawn from the prac- tice of brother-love. In verses 7-8 he characterized this crucial com- mand to love one's brother, and then in verses 9-11 he applied this sign to representative individuals. THE CHARACTERIZATION OF THE COMMANDMENT OF LOVE John began with a term of direct address, "Beloved" ( ]Agaphtoi<), the first of six occurrences of this affectionate address in this epistle (2:7; 3:2; 21; 4:1, 7, 11).1 It expresses John's own deep love for his readers, whom he accepted as in the circle of Christian love. They were the objects of God's love as well as his own. In writing to them John was motivated by a deep, persistent love that desires the wel- fare of the readers. An old commandment (v. 7). When John declared, "I am not writing a new commandment to you, but an old commandment," he did not stop to indicate the contents of this command. Having spoken about "His commandments" in verses 3-4, the singular now implied that some specific command is in view. The obligation in verse 6 to imitate the example of Christ may be in view, but the context sug- gests that John had in view the commandment to love, elaborated in verses 9-11. Plummer observes, "Practically it makes little matter which answer we give, for at bottom these are one and the same. They are different aspects of walking in the light."2 1 The reading "Brethren" in the KJV follows the Textus Receptus, the reading in K, L, and most minuscules. See Zane C. Hodges and Arthur L. Farstad, The Greek New Tes- tament according to the Majority Text (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1982); Bruce M. Metzger, A Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament (London: United Bible Societies, 1971), p. 709. 2 Alfred Plummer, The Epistles of S. John, in The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (reprint, Cambridge: University Press, 1938), p. 92.422 Bibliotheca Sacra / October—December 1988 In stressing this love-commandment John insisted that it was "not ... a new commandment" (ou]k e]ntolh>n kainh>n), something new in kind or quality. He denied any implication that he was formulating some further obligation not inherent in the original apostolic proclamation. This negation is confirmed by the positive fact that he was referring to "an old commandment which you have had from the beginning." It is "old" (palaia<) in the sense of being of long duration, old as contrasted to recent. It is a commandment "which you have had" (h{n ei@xete) as a continuing possession through the years, in fact, "from the beginning" (a]p ] a]rxh?j). The beginning here cannot refer back to the beginning of the human race, nor yet to the command's proclamation in the Old Testament Law (Lev. 19:18), but correctly relates to the church in its earliest stage. Most natural is the view that John was thinking of the initiation of his readers into the experience of love when they first heard and accepted the gospel