3 And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments. 4 Whoever says “I know him” but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him, 5 but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him: 6 whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked. 7 Beloved, I am writing you no new commandment, but an old commandment that you had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word that you have heard. 8 At the same time, it is a new commandment that 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. 9 Whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness. 10 Whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and in him there is no cause for stumbling. 11 But whoever 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.
1 John 2:3-11
The first of John’s five tests of assurance that we know God and have fellowship with Him is the “Test of Obedience” found in this passage. Simply, if we know God, we obey God and keep His commandments. Those who obey His commandments can say truly they know God. Generally, all followers obey God’s will and ways as revealed to us in His Word. Followers will be keenly apt to learn His Word, commit it to mind and heart, and walk it out with integrity. Then John gets more specific about obedience. To which commandments was John specifically referring in this passage that we must obey? We can see this in Jesus’ answer to a question found in Matthew 22:34-40. An expert of the law asked Jesus, “Which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” Jesus replied, ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and the greatest commandment. And the second is like it, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
The presence of love in the life of a believer is a great indicator of obedience because every commandment God gives for us to follow will either lead us into loving God or loving others. Take the initial 10 Commandments of the Mosaic Law (Exodus 20) as an example; obedience to these commands will lead to loving and honoring God appropriately or loving our neighbors well. When Jesus says that the whole of the Law and the Prophets (Old Testament Law) hinges on these principles, I challenge anyone to find a command in the Old Testament (or instructions in the New Testament!) whose end did not lead to loving God or their neighbor. Likewise, if you feel commanded by God in some aspect, the end of which does not lead to loving God or others, I would question whether that command was from God. God is love (1 John 4:16) in the same manner He is light. It is His very nature and character to encompass and embody love.
I believe that John is likely remembering the teaching Jesus gave His closest disciples right before He went to the cross in John 13:34-35: “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” Interestingly, Jesus would say this is a “new” commandment, as we can see through the scriptures that it is no new commandment at all, but an old one laced throughout all of scripture in biblical history. (See Deuteronomy 6:5) Perhaps it was clear to the disciples that loving God was the oldest and greatest commandment, but they needed clarity on loving their brother as Christ loves them. Jesus and the scriptures taught us to love God with everything, at their disposal, above all else, but one of the conditions of adoption into true fellowship with Christ is that as Christ loved us, so must we love others. We must love our neighbor. We must love our brother.
Therefore, refusing to love our brother means we do not know God, His truth is not in us, we do not have fellowship with God, and we walk in sin and darkness. The continuous and consistent acts showing love to our neighbors (which is evidence of the love of God in us!) is evidence we are walking in obedience to God’s commandments, and we can have the assurance we are walking in light, in truth, and in fellowship with God and others.
Note: it would take a MUCH longer devo to make sure we are biblically defining LOVE accurately, and I suggest the world’s view of “love” is often upside down from God’s definition. Since 1 John digs into what God says love looks like in several other passages, we’ll address that later. For now, it’s enough to know that we are to LOVE, and we’ll begin to unpack the practical application of that in the future.