In verses 7 through 14 John talks about brotherly love and the role it plays in the life of the Christian. We'll cover the first 5 verses of this section here. Verses 12 through 14 will be covered separately.
John has just commanded his readers to walk as Christ walked (verse 6). Here he begins to tell them that walk is grounded in love. The commandment to love God was not a new one. The word which they heard was that command; the message they had received. He says they had heard it; how they go the word/commandment. Obviously it came to them through preaching.
John reiterates that point in verse 8. The command to love is as old as the world (I John 3:11-12). What is new at this time is the aspect of the love. Now it's from Jesus (John 13:34). The measure or extent of the love is what's new (John 13:35). This was written by John in a time of superstition. Like today, the darkness had not totally passed. There's a lesson here that when truth is preached, light is extended and the darkness retreats (John 3:19-21 and John 8:12).
Jesus commands us to love each other (John 15:17). He made love the mark of discipleship as we've seen in John 13:35. Without it, we remain in darkness. That is the element which characterizes all not having to do with God. John leaves no middle ground here. Here is God, there is the world. Here is life, there is death. Here is love, there is hate. This follows the words of Jesus in Luke 9:50 and 11:23. There is no middle ground.
The word hate in this verse comes from miseo. It does not indicate a degree. It is shown as a fact. When it exists to any degree, he who has it in in darkness. Period.
I talked in an earlier post about the word abide. It comes from the Greek word menei. The verb tense used in verse 10 is present active. This means when John talks about he who, "abides in the light" it's a continuous action and not a temporary state. Abide of course means to make your home, to settle into a permanent position. With the force of that verb tense added to the definition of abide, this means we have made love and living in the light our home. It's comprehensive (I John 3:18 and I John 5:2-3). This does NOT show that love for God or man is accepted in place of obedience. There is no love apart from obedience (Math. 22:24-40)
Verse 11 gives us the conditions of one who hates his brother: 1. They're "in darkness", 2. "walks in darkness", 3. "does not know where he is going" because "darkness has blinded his eyes". Remember the one who wrote these words heard Jesus say the words of John 12:35-36!
Blinded in this verse is the same verb and tense Paul used in II Corinthians 4:4. The point is that the grace of love is so basic that whoever lacks it is deficient in all aspects of Christianity. Where love doesn't exist, no other virtue can. Do we get that? It doesn't matter if we read our Bibles daily, show up for worship each time the doors open, sing, pray or take communion. If we don't have love, the rest doesn't matter! It's the foundation for everything else we do as Christians, "walking in the light".
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