(Text Only)
Title: What in the World is John Saying???
Let us first read today’s passage. (Read)
Today, we have our work cut out for us, my brothers and sisters. Today’s two verses could be very confusing, even seemingly contradictory, if we do not take the proper time to dissect what John is writing. The tragedy is that John is using a witty literary device and much of the meaning gets confused when we translate what John wrote from the original Greek, to the present English we are looking at.
This becomes immediately evident when we see how there is great variation for the purpose of clarification, even among our English translations. Look at the differences between the major English translations concerning the transition between verses 7 and 8:
The old commandment is the word which ye have heard from the beginning.
Again, a new commandment I write unto you (KJV/NKJV)
This old command is the message you have heard.
Yet I am writing you a new command; (NIV)
The old commandment is the word that you have heard.
At the same time, it is a new commandment that I am writing to you, (ESV)
the old commandment is the word which you have heard.
On the other hand, I am writing a new commandment to you, (NASB)
So, obviously the confusion comes from John’s statement that he is not writing a new command, and that is immediately followed by John saying that he is writing a new command. We can work through this, but I need your full attention for the next 20 minutes and we’ll answer this mystery in three steps.
Let me say this before we begin: John is not being purposefully confusing. He is using a literary device sometimes called paradox to make his point more clearly. Many of you have heard the phrase: “The Queen is Dead. Long live the Queen!” Same idea, an impossible literal concept, but written for the purpose of amplification.
I. What is the commandment that John is referring to?
To properly answer this question, we need to look back to verse 6 where John writes, “He who abides in Him ought to himself also walk just as He walked.”
This is the commandment that John on one hand calls an “old” commandment, and on the other hand calls a “new” commandment. We will look at how that works in just a moment, but before we move on, I’m going to ask a very difficult question:
Why might John want to clarify, or qualify the commandment he gives in verse 6? (Take answers)
A: It is a very difficult teaching, and if John is going to tell them they need to behave just like Jesus, he wants to show them that this is not his own “new” idea of Christianity (remember Christianity was over 50 years old at this point, and there were several false teachings based on the name Jesus floating around) but rather that this thing that John was pointing to, fell perfectly in line with what Christ himself taught.
II. We must define “In the beginning” to understand John’s point
There is a temptation to assume that “in the beginning” immediately refers to the dawn of time. Certainly John has used this phrase to mean just that, in the beginning of his own Gospel in John 1:1 “In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, the word was God”
And also he uses the same phrase in the opening of this book, I John 1:1 “That which was from the beginning”
So there would be some pretty significant evidence to assume that this is what John means when he repeats the phrase again in 2:7. But, if we put that verse into the context of the discussion John is having, I agree with many scholars that what John is actually referring to is the beginning not of time, but of the Christ’s ministry.
The main reason for this in contextual. The next verse (8), immediately point to the fact that the coming of Christ has ushered in a new age because the “darkness is passing away, and the true light is already shining” (A reference to the light of Christ shining through his church and peoples.)
The other argument for this reading is pragmatic. Let me just ask this: which makes more sense?
Option one: John’s audience has had this command (to be Christ-like) since the dawn of time.
Option two: John’s audience has had this command (to be Christ-like) since the ministry of Christ established the Church.
You can see why I tend to lean toward option two, it just makes more sense contextually.
III. The Command Given by John is BOTH “Old” AND “New”
Of all the commentaries I read, I like the way that Dave Guzik explains this seeming paradox:
The commandment John wrote of was at the same time both old (in the sense that it was preached to them their whole Christian lives) and new (in the sense that it was called the new commandment by Jesus in John 13:34).
The new commandment to love that Jesus spoke of in John 13:34 was really new for several reasons. One of the most important reasons was that Jesus displayed a kind of love never seen before, a love we were to imitate.
Now I don’t often do this, but in order to make sure you understand what I believe these two verses are saying, I want to give you yet another English version that I didn’t include when we began our study, so that you can hopefully see what I see in this verse.
This comes from the RAS version. Any of you familiar with the RAS? Anyone have an RAS Bible translation? I didn’t think so. It’s the Roby’s Awesome Standard.
In all seriousness, I don’t like to “re-write” any part of the text because I don’t want to run the risk of compromising the integrity of the Scriptures. But we have had some serious back study on this passage, so I think, for the purposes of clarification, it will be okay if we consult the RAS. Remember, the RAS is not a recognized translation.
Here’s how I’d write or explain verses 7 and 8.
“Brethren, when I write to tell you that you should walk just as Christ walked, I’m not telling you anything new, or anything that is only my idea of how to be a Christian. You have had this commandment from the start of your own walk, from the moment you became a follower of Christ.
But it is an new commandment in this way: I’m telling you to love others as Christ loved you, and that is a radical idea…an idea so radical that it is literally ushering in a new age where the darkness of sin is being blotted out by the light of salvation in Christ!”
Application for us today:
1. Being Christ-like is the standard we must measure our lives by. (Not each other.)
2. It is essential for evangelism, and Kingdom building.
3. The longer we are Christ like, the more the darkness in us dies, and the light shines.