ACC ~ 1 John 2 v8

THE DARKNESS OF PERVERSION. CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA: The darkness is the darkness of perversion, and the light is the light of faith, working in us according to God’s foreordained plan. ADUMBRATIONS.

A NEW COMMANDMENT. HILARY OF ARLES: The commandment is true in him because he loved us so much that he died for us, and it will be true in us also if we love one another. INTRODUCTORY COMMENTARY ON 1 JOHN.

THE TRUE LIGHT. ANDREAS: The new dimension to the commandment is that now the light has come into the world, our Lord Jesus, because of whom the power of the devil has passed away. CATENA.

THE NEW NATURE. BEDE: The commandment is new in the sense that the old man lived in darkness, whereas the light belongs to the new man. The apostle Paul said the same thing when he wrote: “Put off your old nature … and be renewed in the Spirit.” ON 1 JOHN.

LOVING ENEMIES. OECUMENIUS: The commandment is new in that it is no longer restricted to Israel as it was under the law of Moses. Under that law it was normal to love one’s friends and to hate one’s enemies, as Jesus himself testified. But he then turned that around by saying that we should love our enemies and do good to those who hate us, concentrating on the fact that these people are human beings like ourselves and not worrying about how they feel toward us. COMMENTARY ON 1 JOHN.

NEW IN WHAT SENSE? ISHO’DAD OF MERV: By “commandment” John means the revelation of the dispensation. It cannot be called new with respect to God, but from the human point of view it was a mystery hidden in the Creator from the beginning. COMMENTARIES.

1 Jn