We know that we have come to know him if we keep his commands. Whoever says, “I know him,” but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in that person. But if anyone obeys his word, love for God is truly made complete in them. This is how we know we are in him: Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did.
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 in you, because the darkness is passing and the true light is already shining.
Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates a brother or sister is still in the darkness. Anyone who loves their brother and sister lives in the light, and there is nothing in them to make them stumble. But anyone who hates a brother or sister is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness. They do not know where they are going, because the darkness has blinded them. 1 John 2:3-11
What is John telling us here in this passage? And what does John mean when he writes “We know that we have known him if we keep commands”? Forty-two times throughout this letter John uses two Greek verbs usually translated “know”. One of these words is directly related to the name Gnostics, a group of false teachers who claimed to have special knowledge (Greek “gnosis”) about God and about the way to spiritual salvation. John clarifies that true knowledge of God does not come through secret wisdom revealed by these false teachers or any other person; it comes only through a personal relation with God’s Son, Jesus Christ.
In the next two verse (verse 4-5) John says this “Whoever says, ‘I know him’, but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in that person. But if anyone obeys his word, love for God is truly made complete in them.” John here is contending against those who were abusing the foundational teaching of God’s grace (his unearned, undeserved favor and love) as it relates to spiritual salvation. They claimed that since salvation came by God’s grace and not our efforts that Christians were in no way obligated to any fixed set of rules, including the commands of God’s moral law (which is not true). John opposed these antinomian (against the law) teachers, who taught that abandoning a sinful life and following the moral principles of God’s law was a choice that believers could make themselves. These misguided individuals believed that it did not matter what they did, particularly with their physical bodies, as long as they had the right spiritual knowledge. They claimed that people could “know” God and be in a saving relationship with him and at the same time ignore God’s standards and disobey his commands. John here boldly states that those who make such claims are liars and do not have God’s truth in them. Because attempting to be justified (made right with God) through faith in Christ without a commitment to actively follow him is doomed to failure.
The second half of verse 5 and verse 6 tells us this, “This is how we know we are in him: Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did.” Following Jesus’ example is not meant to be optional for Christians; it is to be a way life that boldly identifies with Christ and reflects his character. This is not entirely possible without spending time in God’s Word because that is the one place where we actually see what Jesus would do. By studying God’s Word for ourselves and praying that God would help us apply it to our lives, we invite the Holy Spirit to guide us in Jesus’ steps and develop his character in us.
Verse 7-8 tells us this “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 in you, because the darkness is passing and the true light is already shining.” God’s commands to love others was not new, yet it took on a whole new perspective through Christ’s perfect example and his sacrificial death for us on the cross. Christ’s followers are now to follow that example in showing selfless love for one other.
Verses 9-11 tells us this: “Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates a brother or sister is still in the darkness. Anyone who loves their brother and sister lives in the light, and there is nothing in them to make them stumble. But anyone who hates a brother or sister is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness. They do not know where they are going, because the darkness has blinded them.” Note that true love always acts in a God-honoring, and selfless way. It puts the best interests of other ahead of personal freedoms and does not do anything that may cause another person to compromise his or her conscience to “make him stumble” spiritually.
John’s whole point in this passage is that to truly be a follower of Jesus you have to be fully committed to following God’s laws. It is not just a matter of saying a simple prayer and then continuing to live your life in the same way that you did before. It means that you are now on a path to becoming more Christlike. That is way John wrote that we must live as Jesus did. Because that is what it means to be a true follower of Christ.