This is His Commandment
By Marc Heatherington
Our passage today is from 1 John 3:22-23:
And whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His sight. And this is His commandment: that we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ and love one another, as He gave us commandment.
Verse 22 speaks of answered prayer bring the result of keeping His commandments, and doing those things which please God. Although this sounds like a works’ based formula, it is more an alignment formula. If we are not keeping God’s commands, or aiming to please God, then we are living for ourselves, and working to please ourselves. In such a state, our prayers will be selfish, and pleasure oriented.
The first focus is to keep His commandments. This sounds simple, but when asked, many will say the phrase, “His commandments” refers to the Ten Commandments. The Judaizers say it refers to the entire law. Others will say it refers to the Greatest Commandment; to love God and our neighbor. None of these responses are accurate.
In reference to the Ten Commandments, Romans 6 teaches that we are not under law. Judaizers say this refers to the Pharisaical law, not the law of Moses. But Romans 7 gives us an example of what law what being is being mentioned, by saying; “
"I wouldn’t have known sin, except through the law. For I wouldn’t have known coveting, unless the law had said, “You shall not covet.” Romans 7:7
That is the tenth commandment of the Ten Commandments. I’ve had legalists go so far as to tell me Paul was wrong, thereby nullifying much of the New Testament. They also reject the rest of the apostles in denying Acts 15.
“The apostles, the elders, and the brethren, to the brethren who are of the Gentiles in Antioch, Syria, and Cilicia: Greetings.
“Since we have heard that some who went out from us have troubled you with words, unsettling your souls, saying, “You must be circumcised and keep the law” - to whom we gave no such commandment - it seemed good to us, being assembled with one accord, to send chosen men to you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul, men who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. We have therefore sent Judas and Silas, who will also report the same things by word of mouth. For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit, and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things:
• that you abstain from things offered to idols,
• from blood,
• from things strangled, and
• from sexual immorality.
“If you keep yourselves from these, you will do well. Farewell.” Acts 15:23-29
These four items are the only aspects of the law brought forward to Christians. When discussing our freedom from the law of Moses, legalists will then immediately refer to Matthew 5, where Jesus said, “Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets.” Unfortunately, the legalists ignore the rest of Jesus’s message.
Matthew 5 says;
“I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled.” Matt 5:17-18
Jesus said the law wouldn’t pass away until all of it was fulfilled. Consider the following questions and answers we can take from this passage:
1. What did He come to do?
Answer: Jesus said He came to fulfill the law.
2. Will any part of the law fall away by itself?
Answer: Jesus said NO part of the law would fall away until ALL of the law is fulfilled.
3. When will the law as a whole pass away?
Answer: When it is fulfilled.
4. What did Jesus come to do?
Answer: In verse 17, He said He came to fulfill the law.
5. Did Jesus fail in what He came to do?
Answer: No. He fulfilled the entire law. Jesus is not coming again to fulfill the law.
6. What did Jesus say would happen when the law was fulfilled?
Answer: It would pass away.
7. What happened when Jesus fulfilled the entire law.
Answer: The law passed away. Jesus didn’t come to destroy the law, but He did come to set us free from the law; both from its penalties and its burden.
This aspect of the law passing away is further established in many other passages. One of the best examples is found in 2 Corinthians 2;
“Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God, who also made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. “But if the ministry of death, written and engraved on stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of the glory of his countenance, which glory was passing away, how will the ministry of the Spirit not be more glorious? For if the ministry of condemnation had glory, the ministry of righteousness exceeds much more in glory. " 2 Cor 3:1-9
The Ten Commandments were engraved on stones. This passage calls them the ministry of death, and the ministry of condemnation. This doesn’t mean we can willingly sin, murder or worship idols. It means we have shifted away from the authority of the law to the new authority under Christ’s commands. If I move from England to the U.S, I am no longer subject to English law. But I have become subject to American laws. We are no longer under the law of Moses, but under the law of Christ. And unlike the law, 1 John 5:3 says, “His commandments are not burdensome.” We are under a new covenant.
This brings us back to our passage in 1 John 3. If the references to commandments are not referring to the Law, then what are they referring to? The answer is, they are referring to New Testament commandments. And we see the first example in verse 23;
And this is His commandment: that we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ and love one another, as He gave us commandment. 1 John 3:23
Take the word, “this’, underline it, and then make it bold, flashing in red. THIS is His commandment, to believe and to love one another. Where it says, “as He gave us commandment”, refers to John 13:34, where Jesus said;
“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another.” John 13:34
The first aspect of this command is to believe in the name of Jesus. This sets us free from the law and gives us righteousness by faith. The new phrase, “one another” means to love other Christians. We know that we are to love our neighbors. When Jesus gave us this new commandment, the church was a new creation, and Jesus required love in this new creation.
New Testament Commands
In our 1 John passage, verse 22 speaks of keeping His commandments; plural. The command in verse 23 is not alone. There are other New Testament commands. Here are some of them.
1. "Indeed, then, having before overlooked the times of ignorance, God now commands all men everywhere to repent," Acts 17:30.
2. "Now to Him who is able to establish you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery kept secret since the world began but now made manifest, and by the prophetic Scriptures made known to all nations, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, for obedience to the faith . . . . " Rom 16:25,26
Comment: This commandment refers to the Great Commission;
"Jesus spoke to them, saying, ‘All authority has been given to Me in Heaven and on earth. Go therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things, whatever I commanded you.’" Matt 28:18-20
Notice that teaching the commandments is part of the great commission.
4. " Now to the married I command, yet not I but the Lord: A wife is not to depart from her husband. But even if she does depart, let her remain unmarried or be reconciled to her husband. And a husband is not to divorce his wife.” 1 Cor 7:10, 11
5. " How is it then, brethren? Whenever you come together, each of you has a psalm, has a teaching, has a tongue, has a revelation, has an interpretation. Let all things be done for edification. If anyone speaks in a tongue, let there be two or at the most three, each in turn, and let one interpret. But if there is no interpreter, let him keep silent in church, and let him speak to himself and to God. Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others judge. But if anything is revealed to another who sits by, let the first keep silent. For you can all prophesy one by one, that all may learn and all may be encouraged. And the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets. For God is not the author of confusion but of peace, as in all the churches of the saints.
“Let your women keep silent in the churches, for they are not permitted to speak; but they are to be submissive, as the law also says. And if they want to learn something, let them ask their own husbands at home; for it is shameful for women to speak in church.
“Or did the word of God come originally from you? Or was it you only that it reached? If anyone thinks himself to be a prophet or spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things which I write to you are the commandments of the Lord.” 1 Cor 14:26-37
There are also commands where Paul commanded churches, in or through the Lord Jesus.
6. Finally then, brethren, we urge and exhort in the Lord Jesus that you should abound more and more, just as you received from us how you ought to walk and to please God; for you know what commandments we gave you through the Lord Jesus. For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you should abstain from sexual immorality; that each of you should know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor, not in passion of lust, like the Gentiles who do not know God; that no one should take advantage of and defraud his brother in this matter, because the Lord is the avenger of all such, as we also forewarned you and testified. For God did not call us to uncleanness, but in holiness. Therefore he who rejects this does not reject man, but God, who has also given us His Holy Spirit." 1 Thess 4:1-8
7. "For even when we were with you we commanded you this, that if anyone does not want to work, neither let him eat. For we hear that some are walking in an unruly way among you, not working at all, but being busybodies. Now by the Lord Jesus Christ we command and urge these that they ought to be working with quietness, that they may eat their own bread." 2 Thess 3:10-12
Pleasing God
In our original passage, 1 John 3:22 speaks of keeping His commandments, and doing those things that are pleasing in His sight. And just like the commandments, it is rare to hear a explanation of those things that please God. Have you ever searched out verses that tell us what pleases God? Here are some things that please God:
Actions Towards God References
1. Faith towards God - Heb 11:5,6
2. Growing in the knowledge of God - Col 1:9,10
3. Abstaining from sexual immorality - 1 Thess 4:1 8
4. Being strengthened with might - Col 1:11
5. Patience, long-suffering with joy - Col 1:11, Heb 10:36 38
6. Prayers of the upright - Prov 15:8
7. Fearing God and hoping for His mercy - Psalm 147:11
8. Being fruitful in every good work - Col 1:10
9. Giving thanks to God in all things - Psalms 69:30, Col 1:12
10. Praising the name of God - Psalms 69:30
11. Obeying the voice of the Lord - 1 Sam 15:22
12. To love God - Prov 8:17
ACTIONS TOWARDS OTHERS References
1. Blessing Israel - Numbers 24:1
2. Children being obedient to parents - Col 3:20
3. Being honest in business - Prov 11:1
4. Praying for those in authority - 1 Tim 2:1 3
5. Sacrificial giving and sharing - 2 Cor 9:7, Heb 13:16, Phil 4:18
6. Mercy - Micah 7:18
7. Doing good - Heb 13:16
8. Being complete in every good work - Heb 13:21
9. A submissive wife winning her husband by her chaste conduct with fear. - 1 Peter 3:1 6
This is described as being precious in God’s sight.
Are we able to keep these commandments, and do the things that are pleasing in God’s sight. Yes, we are. 1 John 5:3 says, “His commandments are not burdensome.” We won’t accomplish these upon coming to Christ, but these are the goals to strive for as we grow in Christ.
