whoever keeps His word, in him the love of God has truly been perfected

1 John 2:1-17 from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; ² and He Himself is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world.

³ By this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments. ⁴ The one who says, “I have come to know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him; ⁵ but whoever keeps His word, in him the love of God has truly been perfected. By this we know that we are in Him: ⁶ the one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked.

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 have heard. ⁸ 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. ⁹ The one who says he is in the Light and yet hates his brother is in the darkness until now. ¹⁰ The one who loves his brother abides in the Light and there is no cause for stumbling in him. ¹¹ 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.

¹² I am writing to you, little children, because your sins have been forgiven you for His name’s sake. ¹³ 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, children, because you know the Father. ¹⁴ I have written to you, fathers, because 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.

¹⁵ Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. ¹⁶ 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. ¹⁷ The world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever.

In today’s text John says:  By this we know that we are in Him:  the one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked.  There are many today who desire and try to walk as Jesus walked. Of the situations and circumstances we face in our culture and society, they ask what would Jesus do. Many though, rather than walking as Jesus did, speculate as to how Jesus would walk today. They believe that for some reason Jesus would be different regarding sin in our culture and society than He was in His own. They believe that because Jesus associated with sinners and outcasts in His day, that He would embrace sin in our day. When Jesus was asked about His association with sinners in His day, in Luke 5:32 He said:  “I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.”   John says:  I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; and He Himself is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world. By this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments. The one who says, “I have come to know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him; but whoever keeps His word, in him the love of God has truly been perfected.   Romans 5:8 says:  God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.  The love of God is demonstrated in the cross; in that Christ died for our sins. We are perfected in that love when we keep His commandments and live free from sin, in obedience to God. In John 14:15;21-24  Jesus says:  “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments…  He who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me; and he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will disclose Myself to himIf anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him. He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine, but the Father’s who sent Me.”    We are perfected in God’s love because when we keep His commandments, demonstrating our love for Him, He abides with and in us.

In the text John says:  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 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.   This affirms what Jesus Himself says in Matthew 22:34-40.   But when the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered themselves together. One of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him, “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” And He said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.”    Jesus quoted the Law, the commandments God had given the Israelites thousands of years earlier; so it was not a new commandment that He spoke or that John was giving.  Many today will say that Christians do not love others and so they must not truly love God. It is important though that we understand what Jesus said: “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the great and foremost commandment.”   First and foremost we are to love God with all of our heart, soul and mind. We have already established that if we love Him, we need to keep His commandments. So it is the one who does not love God who is blinded and in darkness.  Jesus says:  ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’  The love that we have for others is to be as we ourselves are loved. It is to be a love that is based on the demonstration of God’s love for us. The love we have for others should be a love that seeks to free them from their sin, not to embrace or tolerate their sin.

John says:  Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone 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.  The world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever.  In John 15:18-25 Jesus says:  “If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A slave is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you; if they kept My word, they will keep yours also. But all these things they will do to you for My name’s sake, because they do not know the One who sent Me. If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin. He who hates Me hates My Father also. If I had not done among them the works which no one else did, they would not have sin; but now they have both seen and hated Me and My Father as well. But they have done this to fulfill the word that is written in their Law, ‘They hated Me without a cause.’”

Heavenly Father, Lord Jesus Christ; precious Holy Spirit, May I truly love You with all of my heart, soul and mind. May I truly walk as You walked. May I not be concerned with the love of the world, but rather with Your love for the world. May I live as a demonstration of Your perfect love; perfected in Your love in obedience to Your will.  Amen.