(REFLECTIONS ON 1 John 2:7-17 )

In today’s Scripture, it is clear that John is writing to those that know God and know Jesus. This is the reason he is writing to them:

  1. Because your sins have been forgiven on account of His [Jesus] name (v.12)
  2. Because you know Him [Jesus] who is from the beginning (v.13a)
  3. Because you have overcome the evil one (v.13b)
  4. Because you know the Father [God] (v.14a)
  5. Because you know Him [God] who is from the beginning (v.14b)
  6. Because you are strong, and the word of God lives in you, and you have overcome the evil one (v.15)

Yes, they know God, and they know Jesus, and they know what it means to believe in God and in Jesus. John writes, 

7 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. 8 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.

The old command is to know and love God and His people. And the new command is to know and love Jesus and His people. Although loving Jesus might seem new, but He is from the beginning. God and Jesus are connected, are one, and we are made one by our faith in Jesus Christ. That means we can’t separate knowing God, loving God, and loving His people, from knowing Jesus, and loving Jesus. 

The readers of John’s letter knew this, but the problem wasn’t that they didn’t know God or know Jesus, but it was that they were falling short of loving God, Jesus, and His people. The first step for us is also to know God and Jesus. However, that isn’t where the growth in our faith stops, but it is where it begins. Now we must learn to love God, Jesus, and His people. 

Only when we love God, Jesus, and His people, can we truly say we know God and Jesus. That is what John was challenging the early church with, and that is what he is challenging us with today as well. Live what we know, so that we can truly know. 

Yes, this is a learning process, and we are always continually learning and growing and maturing. Thanks be to our God, that if we fall short again today, that “He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”

Pastor Michael Lu
Enduring Word Bible Commentary: 1 John 2