A New Command

Dear friends, I am not writing you a new command but an old one, which you have had since the beginning. This old command is the message you have heard. Yet I am writing you a new command; its truth is seen in him and you, because the darkness is passing and the true light is already shining. Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates his brother is still in the darkness. Whoever loves his brother lives in the light, and there is nothing in him to make him stumble. But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness; he does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded him. (1 John 2:7-11)

The above passage is part of a letter the apostle John, in his later years, wrote to a church. Just prior to this passage John repeats what Jesus Himself said in John 14:15, “If you love me, you will obey what I command.” Then, John references an “old command.” What is the old command John is referring to? I believe it’s what Jesus said in Matthew 22:37 – 39. 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 greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself.”

In his letter, John is reminding his brothers and sisters in Christ that all of the law (the Ten Commandments) can be summed up in these two commands. If we have perfect love of God and perfect love of our neighbors, then we’ll be able to adhere to the Ten Commandments. This is the old command, one that every Christian should be familiar with.

So what is the new command that God, through John, is giving us? Later in the chapter, John talks about antichrists coming. An antichrist is anyone who denies that Jesus is the Christ. And the church that John is writing to is under attack by those that would undermine Jesus as the Christ. He writes, “I am writing these things to you about those who are trying to lead you astray” (1 John 2:26). In that day, it was the Gnostics who were trying to lead the Christians astray. I’ll not go into Gnosticism. I’ll leave that as an exercise for the reader. But the new command that John is issuing, I believe, is not really a new command in the sense that his readers had never heard it before. It’s not a new command in the sense that it’s not something that fits under the first two commands issued by Jesus. But, it’s called a “new” command because John is emphasizing it. He’s calling it out. He’s reinforcing that then, more than ever, and now, by the way, it’s important to follow this “new” command. What is the new command? It’s a call to Christian unity. A call to go out of the way to love our Christian brothers and sisters.

The apostle Paul issued a similar decree in Galatians 6:10. He says, “Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers” (Emphasis mine). John is saying the same thing. In 1 John 2:9-11 he uses the term “brother”. Generally, in the New Testament, when we see the term “brother” it means fellow Christian. John is saying that if we hate our own, our brothers and sisters in Christ, then we are walking in darkness, we are not walking with God. Because of the attack by unbelievers the church is under, John is rallying his troops and imploring them to unify. And the grand unifier is love for one another. Yes, we must love our neighbor, John is saying, but most of all, we must love each other.

In the Christian church today, we have a similar problem. There are many forces, many false prophets, and many dangerous philosophies trying to lead Christians astray. And what is the Christian’s reaction? We complain about the type of music being played in church. We fight and bicker amongst ourselves. We pick nits. And rather than following the commands of Christ we try to see how close to the edge of sin we can get. And when people within the church cross that line and stumble into sin, our reaction isn’t forgiveness and love, trying to restore them as we’re commanded to do, but it’s judgment and gossip and self-righteousness. Again, let’s look at what Paul said in Galatians 6:1, “Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently.” Paul again uses the term “Brother”. He is addressing those of us who know Christ as Lord and Savior. And what’s he telling us? To not just love our neighbor, but to especially love our brothers and sisters in Christ.

John’s rallying cry needs to be heard today more than ever. We need unity in the Christian church. And that unity must cross denominational bounds. By the way, there are no denominations in the Bible. Yes, we must love our neighbors, but we must love most of all our Christian brothers and sisters.

What does this mean? It means when someone within The Church is down and out, we pull together to lift them up. It means when someone within The Church sins, we come alongside them to gently restore them, not judge them or shun them. It means that we care more about others than we do about ourselves. It means that we humble ourselves so that others may be exalted.

And here is something really radical. It means that we support fellow Christians monetarily by patronizing Christian businesses and using Christian tradesmen, even if it means paying a little more or waiting a little longer. We support Christian artists by buying their music even if it isn’t what we normally listen to. It means we go and see, rent, and buy Christian movies or at least movies that present a Christian worldview. Basically, we need to go out of our way to support those who are trying to win the world back to Christ and who are trying to live for Christ. It’s the least we can do since most of us wrap ourselves in our Christian bubble, secure in our salvation, but never telling anyone else about Christ, never going on mission trips, and rarely stepping out of our comfort zone to help someone in need.

The lost world is watching us. And when the church of Christ acts like those watching, there is nothing appealing to draw the lost to us. We need to clean our own house before we can expect to help the lost clean theirs. Loving our brothers and sisters in Christ is the first step toward showing the lost world what Christ is all about.