ON THE OTHER HAND

On the other hand, I am writing a new commandment to you, which is true in Him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true Light is already shining. The one who says he is in the Light and yet hates his brother is in the darkness until now.

(1 John 2: 8-9 – NAS)

 

John has earnestly tried to remind his readers that what he has been telling them in this letter is not really anything new to them as disciples. But as a way of shaking up their perceptions of what is expected of them as followers of Jesus, he now adds some thoughts, “On the other hand....”

So often, when we want to offer seemingly contrary perspectives, we like to turn to constructions like “on the other hand.” Most of the time what we are presenting are not flat-out opposite options, such as “Kill that man” or “Don’t kill that man.” More often, what we are considering when we use that phrase is that we want to put forward a secondary course that heads in much the same direction as the first. After all, when we physically extend both our hands at the same time, they generally point in the same direction. It is just that the specifics provide different outlooks and experiences.

This then is what John means when he tells us that he has a “new” commandment for us.

But what is it that makes it “new” compared to the commandments Jesus gave us? John has an answer for that as well.

He says, “the darkness is passing away and the true Light is already shining.”

When Jesus came to teach His disciples, those who listened to Him were living in a darkness. Jesus is the True Light of God, shining into our lives. His presence among people, living as one of us, brought an entirely new context to the matter of our relationship with God. Before Jesus came, we did not have an advocate who would redeem us in the eyes of the Lord. But after Jesus came, we were given this new option, this new way to approach the holiness of God. After Jesus came, those who joined the body of believers lived in a world where the redemption of our unfitness was already accomplished – all we had to do as new believers was accept it and put our new life into action. We, as believers who have come to the Lord after the Resurrection, walk a path where the True Light already shines before us.

So what is this new perspective that John wants to bring us to about our walk as followers of Jesus?

He says that anyone “who says he is in the Light and yet hates his brother is in the darkness until now.”

This is a slightly different angle from what John has said before, about claiming to be walking in the Light while still sinning. He wants us to reconsider all the things that we think of as sin, because there are actions and choices that we can gloss over – such as how we treat those closest to us.

John puts it bluntly: someone who says he belongs to Jesus “and yet hates his brother is in the darkness until now.”

Does he mean our literal flesh and blood siblings? No, he does not. He means those who have been bonded to us spiritually by our shared commitment to the Lord. 

In the Lord’s eyes, when we become believers in Christ we are joined together in one family, as children of the Living God. We are given the status of His heirs. In God’s eyes, we are made closer than blood siblings.

So, is it possible then to “hate our brothers”?

Human nature is very fragile and weak. Yes, it is quite possible to fill our relationship with a particular person with negativity.

What does it mean, after all, to “hate one’s brother”?

Certainly, when we find ourselves actively disliking another believer, we have fallen into “hating our brother.” If we cannot question that person’s commitment to Christ, what are our grounds for “hating” them?

It is true that there are plenty of committed believers who are less-than-perfect when it comes to living out the commandments of our Lord. There are those who have fallen into dubious interpretations of the ordinances of scripture. There are some whose personalities will always rub us the wrong way for any number of reasons. But if at rock bottom we know that they are followers of Jesus (no matter how poor their understanding or thorough their application of scripture), they are our siblings in Christ – and we cannot hate them.

If we claim to be standing in the Light of Christ, the only criteria we may use to evaluate “kinship in Christ” is whether the other person claims Jesus as their Lord. Paul says elsewhere that that is all that is required to gain Christ in our lives. And it is that which makes the other person our “brother.” Not method of baptism, not the procedure for confessing of sins, not shared approach to worship.

“Jesus is Lord.”

If we allow ourselves to hate anyone who says that with all their heart -- if we allow distaste for their personal habits, their lapses in judgment, their poor understanding, or any such cause – then we have fallen into hating our brother. There’s no way around it.

In this day and age, we frequently see “leaders” in the Body of Christ take very narrow-minded stances. We see just prominent figures make declarations that are everything but pronouncements of the Love of Jesus. And we can condemn the foolishness of their behavior, and wonder about the depth of their so-called commitment to the Lord. But it is not our place to judge the reality of that commitment. We do not need to follow them, only the Lord. We should pray for them as straying siblings, but leave the evaluation of the reality of their commitment to our Ultimate Judge.

Our calling is to act in love toward our siblings in Christ – no matter how challenging that may be.