Pastor Billy Myron continues teaching through 1 John, shifting from the topic of sin in chapter 1 and early chapter 2 to the importance of keeping God’s commandments starting in 1 John 2:3. He explains that we know we have known Him if we keep His commandments, and those who claim to know Him but do not keep them are liars in whom the truth is not present. Keeping His word perfects the love of God in us, and those who abide in Him should walk as He walked.
The message links this to Jesus’ teaching in the Upper Room (John 14–15), where Christ connects keeping commandments to loving Him, abiding in His love, and being His friends. Examples include “If you love Me, keep My commandments” and “You are My friends if you do whatever I command you.” John also emphasizes believing in Jesus and loving one another as His commandments (1 John 3:22–24).
Commandments are presented in plural form, extending beyond the single “new commandment” to love one another as Christ loved us (John 13:34). Apostolic instructions, such as Paul’s directions in 1 Corinthians 14:37, are also called commandments of the Lord. These are distinguished from Old Testament law: Christians are under grace, not the Law of Moses. Hebrews 7 shows the change in priesthood necessitates a change in law, and Paul in Romans 7 and Galatians 5 illustrates how attempting to live under law leads to frustration and defeat by the sin nature. Victory comes instead through truth, reckoning ourselves dead to sin, and yielding to God in the newness of the Spirit.
