Reading 1st, 2nd, and 3rd John

Some of the strongest scriptures on the new covenant and the new life in Jesus Christ is found in John's letters. He writes in puzzles. That which we have heard from the beginning is a statement he uses over and over again. If you read these letters through, you will find the answer of what has been heard since the beginning. Love.

John claims that we must obey God and be holy and righteous. We must comply to God's commandments and in simplicity he reveals the commandments we are to live by. We must believe that Jesus Christ was born in the flesh as the Son of God and to love one another as Christ commanded us to do under the new covenant. That's it. No long list of rites, rituals, long prayers, traditions, but faith and love. If you go back and read many of Paul's writings, you will find that he is also saying the same thing.

We must believe and love. John's writings exclaim the love God has for us and our obligation to love one another. In his writing he simplifies what righteousness is saying that he that hates his brother is still in darkness but he that loves his brother is in the light. Hate is evil and love is good. We fight this battle daily... a battle between good and evil... love and hate... sacrifice and selfishness. Grace is a gift but it is not without obligation to obey the commandments of Jesus who bought us. His commandment is to love and believe in Him... that He is the Son of God. Faith and love and if you have these things you are saved. Am I free from the written code (law)? Yes, for righteousness unto eternal life is fulfilled in Christ Jesus. However, it is now the commandment of Jesus to love one another that is the spirit of the law. Fulfilled out of love for God.

1 John 2:7-11

7Dear 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. 8Yet I am writing you a new command; its truth is seen in him and you, because the darkness is passing and the true light is already shining.

9Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates his brother is still in the darkness. 10Whoever loves his brother lives in the light, and there is nothing in him to make him stumble. 11But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness; he does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded him.