In this week's Scripture reading, at first glance, things can seem a bit confusing. John says that what he is writing is not a new commandment, but at the same time the commandment is new. How do we make sense of this? The commandment John is referring to is the commandment that Jesus gave in John 13:34-35, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” This is an old commandment that goes back to Old Testament Law in Leviticus 19:18, and Jesus had again told them that this was the second greatest commandment, so what makes it new? Daniel Akin in his Exalting Christ Commentary says “In Christ this command to love one another is strengthened, deepened, expanded, and given a depth of meaning and understanding never seen before His coming in the Incarnation.” This perfect love that Jesus put on display through His life, death and resurrection defeated death and darkness! Loving one another just as Jesus has loved us is impossible for us to do in our own power. We will always fall short of perfect. As Christians, we experience a change from the inside out because we have the Holy Spirit in us and are filled with the love of Christ.

John again goes back to how our behavior will validate or betray what we say we believe. If someone is saying they are in the light, but hates their brother, it can only mean that they are in the darkness. In contrast, whoever loves their brother abides in the light, which is evidence of God in you. Our horizontal relationships with the people God loves, which is everyone, affect our vertical relationship with God. In verse 11, we return to those who are in the darkness. They are spiritually dead, walking and living in darkness. They don't know where they are going, and they are blind. We can be in darkness for so long we don’t even realize it, just walking around trying to make it through life. But we need someone to turn on the light! We need God to do what only He can do and save us!

Verses 12-14 address three groups. First, John addresses the children. Throughout John’s writings he uses children to address new believers; men, women, and children alike, who are in Christ, and he reminds them that they are forgiven through the person and work of Jesus Christ, and that they know God as Father. Next, John addresses fathers. In this context fathers are those who are mature in their faith. John says they “know him who is from the beginning.” They have been brought nearer to God as mature believers and as we become more mature believers we know God more deeply as well. Finally, John addresses the young men, those who are maturing in their faith and are most active in spiritual warfare. He encourages them, not only because they have overcome the evil one and are now walking in light, but because they can continue to overcome the evil one because of their strength, and that the word of God abides in them. Most of all they can overcome the evil one because Jesus has already won the battle for them and they can fight from victory!