1 John 2:8Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

Since the commandment of love for neighbors was given both to Jews and to Gentiles, the Apostle says that, along with the old commandment about love for one’s neighbor which you heard, he also writes to you a new commandment. It is true both in Him Who made you God’s own through communion with Him, and in you who have entered into communion with Him. For He says: “I have come as light into the world” (Jn 12:46). And the true Light, according to His word, is already shining, and in the light there is no darkness. Therefore let the true light of love shine in a true and sincere disposition toward the brethren. And let the darkness of hatred pass away, that is, disappear. The Apostle Paul also gives this meaning to the word “passes away” when he says: “For the form of this world is passing away” (1 Cor 7:31).

But he declares this same commandment new when he says: “Again, a new commandment I write to you.” It is not another, but the same commandment which he called old. It is also new. Why? “Which thing is true in Him and in you.” Why it is old you have already heard: it is old because you already knew it. But why is it new? “Because the darkness has passed away, and the true light is already shining.” This is why it is new: darkness belongs to the old man, and light to the new. What does the Apostle Paul say? “Put off the old man and put on the new” (Col 3:9-10). And what else does he say? “You were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord” (Eph 5:8).

This commandment concerns the fact that the darkness, which we understand as corruption, has passed away, and the true light has already shone forth. This follows immediately, of course, after faith in Christ.

It is true in Him, because Christ so loved us that He died for us. It is also true in us when we love one another.

And what is the new commandment? That the Light has entered the world: our Lord Jesus Christ, through Whom the dominion of the devil, the spiritual darkness, has come to an end.

This commandment is new because the commandment of Moses was not intended for all. It was given by one of the same kin and tribe to his own kinsmen and tribesmen. It commands one to love only friends, and to hate enemies. Therefore it is said: “You shall love your friend and hate your enemy” (Mt 5:43). But the commandment of the Lord and of His apostles sounds wholly new, prescribing: “Love your enemies and do good to those who hate you” (Mt 5:44). The Lord and the apostles direct attention to the essence of man given him by nature. They do not look to the essence corrupted by malice, such as exists in vain men who follow their natural impulses in everything.

This is a new commandment because the old man lives in darkness, but the new man in the light. As the apostle Paul also said, "Put off your former manner of life, the old man, and put on the new" (Eph 4:22-24).

And again, "You were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord" (Eph 5:8).

The ancient teaching about love for God and neighbor, though so natural to our spiritual nature and clearly set forth in the Law of Moses, was darkened by the action of human sins and lost its force. With man’s corruption through sin, true knowledge of God’s commandments also weakened and was extinguished in him. His moral powers for fulfilling them also grew weak. The Gentiles became hardened in ignorance and vices. The Hebrews, though reading God’s commandment of love, gave it an incorrect meaning. They limited it by its object, counting it a duty, for example, to love only those who loved them in return. They also limited it in action, expressing their love only by outward deeds.

On the other hand, the old commandment becomes a new commandment for each person in proportion to the ignorance of the spirit and power of the law in which he lived before his conversion to the Gospel faith.

For only now is the veil that lay upon the hearts removed. Only now does the darkness pass away, and the gracious light illumine every man coming into the world.

“Which thing is true,” and so forth: true in the sense of perfection and fulfillment. This commandment of love, as new, appeared in truth and perfection in Christ Jesus Himself, since before Him no one had fulfilled it in such perfection. It also appeared in this way in the followers of Christ. For believers in Him, by the power of His love and the action of the Holy Spirit, understand and fulfill it more perfectly than not only the Gentiles but even the Jews understood and fulfilled it. In communion with Him they attain high perfection. Thus this commandment of love is true both in Him and in those who believe in Him.

In the first half of the second chapter, the foundations of all Christianity are drawn from what precedes (1 Jn 2:1-14). First, sinlessness is possible for Christians when Jesus Christ is their Advocate. “He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world” (1 Jn 2:2). That is, not only for the sins of us who live at the present time, but also for those who lived before His coming into the world. Likewise, it is for those who will live until His second coming to earth and will appropriate to themselves His boundless merits. Second, true knowledge of God is the keeping of His word out of love for Him.

Following the same great discourse of the Lord, the Apostle John calls love a new commandment. “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another” (Jn 15:12, 17), says Jesus Christ. Love was also the fundamental commandment in the Old Testament (see Lev 19:18). Jesus Christ Himself proclaimed this when He was asked about the chief commandment in the Law (see Mt 22:34). St. John Chrysostom says that Jesus Christ made love a new commandment according to the pattern of His own love. Therefore He added: “as I have loved you.” The Apostle also speaks of precisely that love which was proclaimed by Jesus Christ and which they heard from the beginning of the Christian preaching, namely, that we should love one another.