Title: Light and Darkness, Love and Hate
Contents
1. Words that begin
Philippians 2:15 says, “For you are blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, to appear as lights among them in the world.” These words indicate that our saved bodies still live in this generation that is crooked and rebellious, that is, people in this world who are separated from God, but our principles, principles, and content of life must be completely different from them .
As children of God, we must acquire a flawless and pure personality by following the guidance of the Holy Spirit and obeying the commandments of God, not the ethics and morals of the world. Through such formation of faith personality and life of faith, we are revealed to the people of the world as the light of God, the source of light.
There is no point in being a nominal Christian without the sanctification of character and life. Therefore, the Apostle John is emphasizing God's commandment to the church members, especially the commandment to love.
2. The relationship between the old and new commandments
The Apostle John explains, “Beloved, I am not writing a new commandment to you, but an old commandment which you have from the beginning, which you have heard.”
The Apostle John is supplementing the old commandment, where love is the central point. “Again I write to you a new commandment, which is true to him and to you, for the darkness has passed and the true light has already given.”
“Again” (sold, π?λιν) does not mean to write again by hand (Meyer) a new commandment that has been spoken before, but to use the old commandment just mentioned in a different way. That is, the old commandment is also the new commandment.
The core of the law that God, who is the essence of eternal and unchanging love, gave to the chosen people of Israel through Moses was love. Jesus said, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment, and the second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 22: 37-39).
But this old commandment, love, is fully embodied by Jesus Christ, who is promised to come in the last days, and thus becomes the new commandment in terms of love perfected by Him. In other words, it is the same commandment of love, but it is an old commandment in the sense that it is presented simply as a religious or moral norm, and a new commandment in the sense that this old commandment is fully embodied in the eschatological being, Christ Jesus.
R. Bultmann asks, “Then in what sense is the old commandment the new commandment? It is not new as an ideological phenomenon, but new as an eschatological reality. It says something unique, that is, true to Christ and true to you.”
The Apostle John explains why the old commandment, love, to become the new commandment, becomes true in Christ and in us united with him: “The darkness has passed, and the true light has already shined.” In other words, the devil’s trap, sin, and death and destruction, the penalty for sin, are ‘passing away’ (Paraghetti, παρ?γεται), and the Lord of forgiveness, life and salvation has already worked. The apostle John said that the purpose of Christ's coming was to destroy the works of the devil (1 John 3:8).
Please believe that the supreme fulfillment of love as a new commandment that is true to Christ and true to the believers who are united with Him is that Christ Jesus died on the cross to atone for the sins of mankind. That very Christ alone can refer to the old commandment, the commandment of love, and declare it as the new commandment, and command the new commandment, love.
Therefore, only in Christ and by being His instruments can we imitate Him, deny ourselves, take up our cross, and follow Him. Please believe that the important thing is not to say that we are in the Lord who has come as light, but our lives as those who abide in the Lord.
3. Those who are in the light and those who are in the dark
In that sense, the Apostle John says, “He that says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness.” In other words, members of the church who say they are in Christ who came as the light and actually hate the brother of faith are still in the darkness that is Satan and the characteristics of Satan. Of course, hating unbelievers is no different.
On the other hand, the Apostle John said, "He who loves his brother abides in the light, and there is no stumbling block in him." Of course, the love for the brother of faith must be spread to the unbelievers.
“Dwelling in the light and having no hindrance in himself” means that he has no hindrance because he is living a life worthy of his status as a child of God and a citizen of the kingdom of heaven. Sinclair said, “When love, such as the love of Christ, becomes the governing principle of life, impurity, pride, selfishness, anger, envy, doubt, heartlessness, coldness, and reproach, which are the stumbling blocks of human nature, are removed.”
Not a few people mistake love for recognition or sympathy. In a word, when truth and justice are subtracted from love, it becomes recognition or sympathy. The rest of the attributes, such as giving what you need or helping you, are almost the same.
Not long ago, I read an article in the newspaper that a man in his thirties bought 196 gold for his wife, a mid-size car for his wife, and a cell phone for his younger brother. How good it would be to have such a beloved wife or brother! I thought. However, as I continued reading, one day at around 9 pm, I opened the window on the second floor of a parent company in Ansan City and entered the small safe and bought them with stolen money of 120 million won, including cash and checks. that you have been caught.
Being a leader and taking bribes to strengthen your family is like love, but not love. It is like love, but it is not love to receive an expensive rice cake price for a reason and to use a cheap kindness.
True love is primarily to glorify God, and to give true joy and true benefit to both the giver and the receiver.
Believe that the evidence that we dwell in the light is love or material, or heart or mental, or religious or spiritual. After all, the greatest love we can do is to share the gospel of Jesus Christ.
But he who hates the brother of the faith is in darkness and walks in darkness, and does not know where he is going. Because darkness blinded him.
As J. A. Bengel said, “Where there is no love, there is hate. The mind is not empty.” Bultmann said, “Just as darkness and light are mutually exclusive opposites, so is hate and love. As a result, in this confrontation, the decision of the right or wrong for the eschatological event is realized. No third possibility was given.”
A person who is possessed by hate as opposed to love is in the darkness of Satan, and by that darkness, he becomes mentally, morally, and spiritually blind and does not know what to do or where to go. In this way, hatred hurts oneself more than the other person, and ultimately destroys oneself.
4. Conclusion
If you are a believer who lives in the Lord of love, who gave up all the glory of heaven as God and even shed His precious blood on the cross, then, of course, you have no choice but to lead a loving life.
I hope you, gentlemen, believe that the decisive evidence of being in darkness and living in the light is hate or love, not the observance of any religious ordinances or ceremonies.
(Poongseong Methodist Church. Book: Complete Commentary on 27 New Testament Books/ Interpretation of Difficult Scriptures I, II/ Salvation Before Jesus Came/Paul’s Understanding of Humanity/ Prosperous Prayer/ Seasonal Sermonbooks/ Sermonbook 19. T. 426 -3051)