Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary 1 John 2:8

"Again, a new commandment write I unto you, which thing is true in him and in you; because the darkness is passing away, and the true light already shineth." — 1 John 2:8 (ASV)

In view of v.7, how can the author assert that this command is also at the same time “a new command”? Its newness lies at the point of its realization and fulfillment. Jesus lived a life of divine love, and he extended this life to his disciples as a new command to be fulfilled in their lives (Jn 15:12ff.). After Jesus’ death and resurrection, they discovered that as they obeyed his commands, his promise did indeed find fulfillment. What had been true in Jesus’ own life now became part of the reality of their lives. They too began to know what it was to “love.” Just as Luke (Acts 2) and Paul (2 Corinthians 5:17) wrote about the experience of this realized new life in the present, John expresses the realized fulfillment by simply saying that “the darkness is passing and the true light is already shining” (cf. Ephesians 5:8–14; 1 Thessalonians 5:4–8).