Knowing God: Obedience, Love, and the New Commandment
In 1 John, claiming to know God is tested by embodied obedience. The person who says “I know him” while refusing his commandments is called a liar; the person who abides in Christ is to walk as Christ walked. John then describes the command to love as both old and new. It is old because the readers have had it “from the beginning,” yet new because it is true in Christ and in them as the darkness passes and the true light shines. This strongly recalls Jesus’ “new commandment” in John 13: love one another as he loved them. It also stands within the older biblical command to love one’s neighbor. Hatred and light cannot coexist. The letter therefore refuses a spirituality in which correct claims about God can be separated from the treatment of fellow believers.