1 John 2:3–11 And by This We Know That We Have Come to Know Him

1 John 2:3–11 And by This We Know That We Have Come to Know Him

Introduction

Every field has its measures of proficiency. A musician is evaluated by how well they play the piece, an athlete by how faithfully they execute their fundamentals, and a craftsman by how their work reflects the design. The same is true in the Christian life. The Apostle John tells us that those who claim to know Christ are measured not by eloquence, experience, or emotional sincerity, but by how their lives resemble His.

Yet John does not frame this as an exam to pass. His goal is not to make believers insecure, but to remind them that real love produces visible light. Knowing Christ will inevitably transform how we live and how we love. The evidence of that relationship is not perfection, but direction, a growing alignment of our hearts with His grace and truth.

John’s letter builds on what his Gospel already revealed: that Jesus is the Word made flesh, full of grace and truth (John 1:14). To know Him, then, is to be changed by both His grace and His truth. Grace forgives, truth transforms. Grace receives the unworthy, truth redirects the wayward. When that combination defines our lives, the light of Christ begins to shine through us.

In this passage, John gives a test that isn’t about proving faith, but displaying fellowship. He explains that those who truly know Christ will follow His example (vv. 3–6), will continue to embrace the command they first heard from Him (vv. 7–8), and will demonstrate His love in their relationships with others (vv. 9–11). This isn’t a checklist, it’s a description of what happens when divine love fills human hearts.

To walk in the light means that the same love that saved us now governs us. It reveals itself in forgiveness, humility, and mercy, not just toward God, but toward one another. The truest proof of knowing Him is not how well we talk about faith, but how faithfully we treat His people.

Those Who Know Christ Follow Him (1 John 2:3–6)

John begins with a simple but searching statement: “And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments.” At first glance, this sounds like a test of performance, but that’s not John’s intent. He’s not asking, “Have you obeyed enough?” He’s asking, “Has knowing Him changed you?” The phrase “have come to know Him” points to a relationship that has already begun. It is personal, ongoing, and transformative. When the light of Christ enters a life, it cannot help but reshape what that person loves, pursues, and values.

Knowing Him means walking as He walked, following His path of truth and grace. This is not imitation for the sake of achievement, but participation in the life that has been revealed. Jesus didn’t simply teach morality; He revealed what it means to be fully human as God intended. The believer’s obedience, then, is not a performance to earn love, but the overflow of having received it.

“Whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.” To “abide” in Him means to remain, to dwell, to live from His life. When a branch abides in the vine, it doesn’t produce fruit by force, but by connection (John 15:4–5). Likewise, obedience grows naturally from union with Christ. His Spirit renews our desires so that what once felt foreign (humility, forgiveness, restraint, mercy) now becomes the evidence of His life within us.

Christ Himself is our model and measure. He is grace and truth made visible (John 1:14). Grace gives what we do not deserve; truth defines what will never change. In Him, we see both divine compassion and divine conviction, mercy that reaches sinners and holiness that calls them to walk in light. The more we behold Him, the more our lives begin to mirror His.

Knowing Christ also means orienting our lives within His timeline, not the world’s. We live between creation and consummation, between Genesis 1, where God spoke light into existence, and Revelation 22, where he returns and holds everyone to account. The wisdom of man is rooted in self, but the wisdom of God is revealed in the Son. To walk in the light is to shape our worldview, morality, and hopes by what is revealed before the Lord, not what is redefined by culture.

That is why John says the truth must be “in” us. It’s not just information we repeat; it’s transformation we live. The one who claims to know Christ but disregards His commands “is a liar, and the truth is not in him” (v. 4). That statement isn’t cruelty; it’s clarity. Genuine fellowship with Christ always produces change. When the light of His grace and truth enters, the darkness of rebellion and self-rule cannot remain.

And yet, this obedience is not a burden. It is the joy of being reshaped by love. The believer who follows Christ learns to say, “I obey because I belong, not because I’m afraid.” Each act of obedience becomes a reflection of His character to the world, a small but real picture of what the Son revealed when He walked among us.

What You Have Heard Still Applies (1 John 2:7–8)

John pauses before moving to a fuller explanation of what he means when he said "if we keep his commandments". He reminds his readers that what he’s teaching isn’t new. “Beloved, I am writing you no new commandment, but an old commandment that you had from the beginning.”

This gentle address, “Beloved”, reveals the tone of a spiritual father, not a strict instructor. John’s concern is not that believers have forgotten information, but that they might be losing sight of what they already know. The foundation of discipleship is not innovation but endurance, holding fast to what was true from the beginning.

The “old commandment” is the same word that had already been preached to them, the command to love. It was there from the start, present in the Law and fully revealed in the Gospel, embodied in the life and words of Jesus Himself. The truth hasn’t changed because its source hasn’t changed. God’s character is constant, and His expectation of love has always flowed from who He is.

Yet in verse 8, John adds a surprising twist: “At the same time, it is a new commandment that I am writing to you, which is true in him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining.” The commandment is old in its content but new in its expression, “true in Him and in you.” The command to love has existed since the beginning, but in Christ it has taken on flesh and now lives within His people. Love is no longer just law; it is life. The light that once shone from Christ now shines through those who belong to Him.

The newness lies not in the words but in the model, “just as I have loved you” (John 13:34). The cross gives shape to love. What once was an external command has become an internal reality because the Spirit of Christ dwells in believers. Love is now both the evidence of faith and the experience of transformation. This is not completed through brute force, but a new heart and the Holy Spirit.

John’s reminder is timely for every generation of believers. The world is constantly chasing something “new”, new ideas, new philosophies, new definitions of goodness. But the church does not progress by novelty; it perseveres by faithfulness. What we have heard still applies. The gospel is not updated to suit the age; it is lived out through the ages. The love in which is generated by the works of Christ in his people will always be perculiar and out of place by humanities standards.

That’s why John says, “the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining.” The light that expressed the love of God through the person of Christ still advances. Every act of love, every word of grace, every work of mercy is a small but powerful declaration that the reign of darkness is temporary. The true light is shining, not only in Him but in you.

Demonstrate What Has Been Received (1 John 2:9–11)

John now turns the conversation from the us as individuals with God to the relationships we have with others who are believers, from knowing the Christ to showing his character. If obedience reveals that we truly belong to Christ, love reveals that His life is active within us.

“Whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness. Whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and in him there is no cause for stumbling.”

This is where John’s teaching becomes both simple and sacraficial. Claims mean little if conduct denies them. To say we walk in the light while harboring hatred is self-contradiction. The issue isn’t whether we use religious language, but whether the light of Christ shapes our relationships with others who have believed. Love is not sentimental, it’s evidence. It’s the outward manifestation of the inward reality that the true light of belief of grace and truth has entered our hearts (and not that we just academically understood it but the hardness of our hearts were broken by it).

John is describing the distinguishing mark of the believer. If Christ’s forgiveness has truly reached us, it will be displayed through us. If His mercy has lifted our guilt, it cannot stop with us, it must extend to others. Love is the overflow of grace received. Hatred, resentment, or indifference reveal that grace has not taken root because it displays that we have not properly understood that we were once his enemies and yet he placed this things aside and treated us with the gift of grace.

This is why John calls it “abiding in the light.” To abide means to remain. When we live in the light of God’s love, we live in awareness of His forgiveness, His patience, and His long-suffering toward us. That awareness makes it impossible to hold others hostage to their faults. The light doesn’t just expose sin in our own lives; it transforms how we respond to it in others.

The measure of Christian maturity is not how much we know about love, but how much we display it, especially when it’s undeserved. Christ’s love was never given to the worthy (for who has justified themselves before a holy and righteous God?); it was poured out for enemies. If we have received that love, then showing it to others, through forgiveness, mercy, patience, and generosity, is not optional; it’s inevitable because those who believe and follow Christ will demonstrate his character.

John warns, “But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.” Hatred blinds. It narrows vision until we can no longer see God’s image in others and the fully revealed message that God saves sinners through Christ. The absence of love is not simply emotional coldness; it is spiritual darkness (it rejects what was displayed through the light). The one who refuses to love has lost their bearings, stumbling through life without light, unaware of how far they’ve drifted from the character of Christ.

But the one who abides in love abides in light. To love one’s brother or sister is to reflect the very nature of God, for “God is love” (1 John 4:8). This is the fruit of fellowship, love that comes from above, shines within, and radiates outward. It is how the world recognizes Christ’s presence among His people (John 13:35).

When we forgive those who wrong us, when we show mercy to the undeserving, when we serve without seeking repayment, we demonstrate what we have received. The love of Christ becomes visible through human hearts, revealing that the darkness is indeed passing away and the true light is already shining.

Conclusion

John’s words in this passage are deeply personal and uncomfortably practical. They call us to examine whether the life of Christ is truly reflected in our treatment of others. The measure of spiritual maturity isn’t found in eloquence, biblical vocabulary, or even theological precision, it’s revealed in love (how we interact and treat others, not just the ones who love us, but for those who sin against us).

But this love isn’t soft or shallow. It’s the kind that endures betrayal, forgives debt, and embraces the undeserving. It’s patient, truthful, and costly. It bears the imprint of the cross. That’s what John means when he says, “Whoever loves his brother abides in the light.” Love that abides is not reactive or conditional; it’s steady and enduring because it flows from God Himself.

Yet we must understand who this commandment is directed toward. John is not describing a general human kindness, but a specific love that marks the fellowship of believers. The command to “love your brother” refers first to those who share in the same faith, to those who have also been forgiven, redeemed, and brought into the light of Christ. This is the love that defines the church.

Jesus said, “By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:35). The world recognizes the reality of Christ not merely by how the church speaks about Him, but by how His people treat one another. The unity, grace, patience, and forgiveness shared among believers are the visible witness that the true light is already shining.

This doesn’t mean we withhold kindness from the world. Rather, it means that the family of faith becomes the proving ground of divine love. If we cannot extend grace to those who believe the same gospel we claim to cherish, how can we hope to display Christ’s mercy to those who do not yet know Him?

So the love John describes begins in the church, not to stay contained within it, but to flow outward from it. The love we show to one another becomes the testimony that draws others to the Savior.

John’s conclusion is therefore both comforting and convicting: true knowledge of Christ produces love for His people. The life of God in us cannot remain invisible; it will be displayed in relationships, forgiveness, humility, and care for the body of Christ.

Our assurance of knowing Him is not proven by perfect obedience, but by a heart that has been shaped by His love, and a life that reflects that love toward His people. When believers love one another, the light of Christ shines through the church, and the darkness that blinds the world begins to fade.

Scripture References

• John 1:14 – Christ reveals grace and truth in human form, setting the pattern for how we walk in Him.
• Genesis 1:1 – God, the Creator of light and life, establishes the order that Christ fulfills.
• Revelation 22:12–13 – Jesus, the Alpha and Omega, frames all obedience within His eternal rule.
• John 7:45–47; 8:12–13; 10:19–21, 24–25, 32–33 – Jesus’ identity as the Light divides belief from unbelief.
• Matthew 28:18–20 – John’s reminder to obey Christ fulfills this Great Commission.
• John 13:31–35 – The “new commandment” calls believers to love one another as Christ loved them.
• John 15:12–17 – True friendship and love reflect Christ’s sacrificial example.
• 1 John 3:23 – Believing in Jesus and loving one another summarize Christian obedience.
• Matthew 18:23–35 – The forgiven must forgive, showing mercy as they have received it.
• John 13:35 – The world recognizes Christ’s disciples by their love for one another.
• 1 John 4:8 – God is love; all genuine love originates from Him.