Dr Paul Allen

English: Ananias restoring the sight of Saint Paul (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) “Brethren, I write no new commandment unto you, but an old commandment. . . . Again, a new commandment I write unto you. . . .” ( 1 John 2:7-8 )   On the surface, this passage appears to be a real problem. The easily seen focus of the “commandment” is love for the brethren (vv. 9-11). The difficult wording lies in the “old” and the “new” side of the same thought.   The “old” sense of the command to love is as eternal as the very nature of God Himself. Whatever love we express in our human nature derives its source from God who IS love ( 1 John  4:16 ). Even “from the beginning” ( 1 John 2:7 ) humanity was charged with the commitment of marital love ( Genesis  2:24 ), which is the earthly example of God’s love for His church ( Ephesians  5:25 ).   Then as God codified His “rules” for those who would submit to His authority, God insisted that we were to “love thy neighb...

Image via Wikipedia "For this is the message that ye heard from the beginning, that we should love one another." ( 1 John 3:11 )   The pungent phrase "from the beginning" occurs no less than nine times in the first three chapters of the little epistle of 1 John. Thus, while in one sense, Christ 's command to love one another was a new commandment , in another sense it has been with us from the very beginning of the world. "Brethren, I write no new commandment unto you, but an old commandment which ye had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word which ye have heard from the beginning" ( 1 John 2:7 ).   The first verses of John's epistle show that this beginning is the same beginning in Genesis 1:1  and  John 1:1 : "That which was from the beginning, . . . of the Word of life; . . . that eternal life , which was with the Father , and was manifested unto us" ( 1 John 1:1-2 ). Note also  1 John 2:13 : "I write unto you, fathe...