How Old?
Beloved, I am not writing a new commandment to you, but an old commandment which you have had from the beginning; 1 John 2:7
Old – Just how old is John’s “old commandment”? Does John start counting with the teaching of Jesus, or does his reckoning begin earlier than that? Does John think that Jesus’ commandment, “Love one another,” is the beginning of a new way of living, or does John see a much longer history?
If you listen to most Christians today, you would surmise that John’s “old commandment” was introduced about sixty years before he wrote this sentence. Most Christians seem to think that Jesus introduced new material and that we are now to live according to this new information. But John uses a Greek word, palaios, that means “long standing,” not “antiquated.” What would we think if we realized that everything Jesus taught started in Genesis, not Matthew? Then the “old commandment” takes on a different look, doesn’t it?
Consider this: If Jesus is God, then the message that He brings while He is in human form is going to be consistent with the same message He provided before the incarnation. How could it be any different? God does not change His mind about the means of redemption, does He? He does not alter His will about how the righteous shall live, does He? So, Jesus’ teaching must be in alignment with the will of the Father from the beginning. After all, don’t even the new testament writers tell us that the Messiah was slain before the foundations of the world? That means that Jesus is providing corrective commentary on the proper understanding of God’s will. In other words, God in human form is clarifying and demonstrating what God as spirit has always taught. If Jesus is God, then there is no better person to tell us exactly what the Father meant.
Of course, when we really look at the teaching of Jesus, we discover that it all comes from the Old Testament. How could it be any other way? Jesus is Jewish. His sacred Scriptures are the scriptures of the Hebrew Bible. His culture, religious experience and thought forms are Hebrew. Jesus is the Old Testament man. That means that if we want to understand the old commandments, we need to pay close attention to what Jesus says about them. That’s the equivalent of reading God’s commentary on God’s word. When John says that he is not writing a new commandment, he excludes any human addition to God’s will. No man can add to the work or word of God. Instead, John wants us to look back – way back – to the will of God found in the commandments we have had from the beginning. So, my friends, it’s back to Genesis. If you want to know what Jesus said, and why He said it, you will have to start at the beginning.
How old is the commandment that you follow?
Topical Index: Commandments
