9/22 1 JOHN 2:3-11 2:3 And in this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. 2:4 He who says, I know Him, and does not keep His commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in this one; 2:5 But whoever keeps His word, truly in this one the love of God has been perfected. In this we know that we are in Him. 2:6 He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk even as He walked. 2:7 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 heard. 2:8 Yet again a new commandment I am writing to you, which is true in Him and in you because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining. 2:9 He who says he is in the light and yet hates his brother is in the darkness until now. 2:10 He who loves his brother abides in the light, and there is no cause of stumbling in him; 2:11 But he 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. FOOTNOTES: 3,1)And Verses 1-2 are a conclusion to the word in 1:5-10 regarding our confessing and God’s forgiving of our sins, which interrupt our fellowship with Him. That is the first condition of— the first requirement for— our enjoyment of the fellowship of the divine life. Verses 3-11 deal with the second condition of— the second requirement for— our fellowship with God: that we keep the Lord’s word and love the brothers. 3,2)know Or, perceive; not doctrinally but experientially by keeping His commandments. 3,3a)know 1 John 2:13; John 17:3; Heb. 8:11; Phil. 3:8, 10; cf. Matt. 11:27 Lit., have come to know Him; denoting that we have begun to know Him and that we continue to know Him until the present time. This refers to our experiential knowledge of God in our daily walk and is related to our intimate fellowship with Him. 4,2b)truth 1 John 1:8 Denoting the revealed reality of God as conveyed in the divine word (see note 66 in ch. 1), which reveals that our keeping the Lord’s commandments should follow our knowing Him. If we say that we have known the Lord, yet we are not keeping His commandments, the truth (reality) is not in us, and we become liars. 5,1b)word Col. 3:16; cf. 1 John 1:10 Word is synonymous with commandments in vv. 3-4. The word here comprises all the commandments. Commandments emphasizes injunction; word implies spirit and life as a supply to us (John 6:63). 5,2c)love 1 John 2:15; 3:17; 4:7 The Greek word denotes the love that is higher and nobler than human affection (see notes 7-1and 7-2 in 2 Pet.1). Only this word with its verb forms is used in this Epistle for love. Here the love of God denotes our love toward God, which is generated by His love within us. The love of God, the word of the Lord, and God Himself are all related to one another. If we keep the Lord’s word, God’s love has been perfected in us. It is altogether a matter of the divine life, which is God Himself. God’s love is His inward essence, and the Lord’s word supplies us with this divine essence, with which we love the brothers. Hence, when we keep the divine word, the divine love is perfected through the divine life, by which we live. 5,4e)in John 14:20; 1 Cor. 1:30; cf. 1 John 3:24; 4:13 I.e., in the Lord Jesus Christ (v. 1). This is a strong expression, stressing that we are one with the Lord. Since we are one with the Lord, who is God, the loving essence of God becomes ours. It is supplied to us by the Lord’s word of life for our walk of love that we may enjoy the fellowship of the divine life and abide in the divine light (v. 10). 6,1a)abides 1 John 2:24, 27, 28; 3:6, 24; 4:13, 15, 16; John 6:56; 15:4, 5, 7; cf. 1 John 2:10; 3:14; 2 John 9 To be in Christ is the beginning of the Christian life. Our being put in Christ was God’s doing once for all (1 Cor. 1:30). To abide in Christ is the continuation of the Christian life. This is our responsibility in our daily walk, a walk that is a copy of Christ’s walk on earth. See note 27-8. 6,2d)He 1 John 3:3, 5, 7; 4:17 Lit., that One; referring to Jesus Christ. 7,1)old The commandment given by the Lord in John 13:34, which is the word the believers heard and had from the beginning. 7,2)from This phrase is in the relative sense. See note 1-2, par. 2, in ch. 1. 8,1)new The commandment regarding brotherly love is both old and new: old, because the believers have had it from the beginning of their Christian life; new, because in their Christian walk it dawns with new light and shines with new enlightenment and fresh power again and again. 8,2)which This relative pronoun, in the neuter gender, does not refer to commandment, which is in the feminine gender. It should refer to the fact that the old commandment regarding brotherly love is new in the believers’ Christian walk. That the old commandment is new is true in the Lord, since He not only gave it to His believers but also renews it in their daily walk continually. It is true also in the believers, since they not only have received it once for all but also are enlightened and refreshed by it repeatedly. 8,3a)darkness 1 John 1:6; 1 Thes. 5:4, 5 The passing away of the darkness is its vanishing in the shining of the true light. The true light is the light of the Lord’s commandment. Because this light shines, the commandment regarding brotherly love dawns in the darkness, making the old commandment always new and fresh in our entire Christian living. 9,1)light Light is the expression of God’s essence and the source of truth (see note 5-3 in ch. 1). The divine love is related to the divine light. It is versus the satanic hatred, which is related to the satanic darkness. Hating a brother in the Lord is a sign of being in darkness (v. 11). Likewise, loving a brother is a sign of abiding in the light (v. 10). Love causes us to abide in the light, and light causes us to love the brothers. 10,1b)abides cf. 1 John 2:6 Abiding in the light depends on abiding in the Lord (v. 6), from which issues love toward the brothers. 11,2)going The Greek word means to go away. 11,3c)blinded John 12:40; 2 Pet. 1:9 In John 12:35, 40 darkness is the issue of blinding; here it is vice versa. https://app.box/s/thtuy6f0a0wja4hln6ka
Posted on: Sun, 21 Sep 2014 21:00:01 +0000
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