You quoted part of 1 John, and 2 John which speak of "his commandments", but why did you leave out the end of chapter 3 that actually defines "his commandments", which are the commandments John was talking about?
1Jn 3:22 And whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His sight.
1Jn 3:23 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.
1Jn 3:24 Now he who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him. And by this we know that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us.
Are you attempting to switch one set of commandments for another?
Would this be a violation of the 9th commandment?
1Jn 2:4 He who says, "I know Him," and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him..
Your leaving out much scripture context here and perhaps this is where your problem lies as love is not separate from God's law according to the scriptures. In
post # 23 linked we see the scriptures from and the very words of Jesus in Matthew 22:36-40; Paul in Romans 13:8-10 and James in James 2:8-12 and John (
1 John 2:3-4;
Exodus 20:5-6;
John 14:15;
John 15:10;
2 John 1:6;
1 John 5:2-3;
1 John 3:9-10;
1 John 2:3-4;
Revelation 12:17;
Revelation 14:12;
Revelation 22:14) who are all in agreement that love is not separate from Gods' law it is expressed in obedience to Gods' law and if we love God and our fellow man we will not be breaking Gods' law.
Now let's add John back into the mix in light of the above scripture and also add the
full context to John’s epistles as we will see that John is also agreeing with Jesus, Paul and James when he says that love is expressed in obedience to Gods’ law not by breaking Gods’ law.
Let's look at the full context of
1 John 3:23.
1 John 1:5-9
John starts off his epistle of 1 JOHN in
1 John 1:5-9 where he opens and says that if we do not walk in the light (truth) of God's Word we are not following God where he finishes in v9 stating that if we confess our sins then Jesus is faithful and just to forgive us for our sins and to cleanse us from all wrong doing.
We then move on to
1 John 2 where John gives us the reason for writing his epistle. Pay very close attention to why and the reason JOHN is writing this epistle in v1.
1 JOHN 2:1-4.
[1], My little children, THESE THINGS I WRITE UNTO YOU THAT YOU
SIN NOT. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous:
NOTE: This is very important as it states the very reason why John is writing the epistle of all God’s children in 1 John that is that we
sin not!
Let’s continue…
[2], And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for our's only, but also for the sins of the whole world.
[3], And HEREBY WE KNOW THAT WE KNOW HIM IF WE KEEP HIS COMMANDMENTS .
[4], HE THAT SAYS I KNOW HIM AND DOES NOT KEEP HIS COMMANDMENTS IS A LIAR AND THE TRUTH IS NOT IN HIM. <Remember
1 JOHN 1:5-6 walking in light and darkness>
NOTE: Same theme being presented in v3-4 those who walk in darkness do not keep God's Commandments. God's people keep God's Commandments. The context is that we
sin not.
Now to show that we are talking about God's 10 commandments once again and that love is expressed through obedience to Gods’ law here we need to define from God's Word what sin is as the reason for John epistle is that we
sin not.
WHAT IS SIN?
NEW TESTAMENT SCRIPTURES
JAMES 2:8-12
[8], If ye fulfill the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself, ye do well:
[9], But if ye have respect to persons,
YOU COMMIT SIN, AND ARE CONVINCED OF THE LAW AS TRANSGRESSORS.
[10], For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.
[11] For he that said,
DO NOT COMMIT ADULTERY, said also,
DO NOT KILL. Now if
thou commit NO ADULTERY, yet if thou KILL, YOU ARE BECOME A TRANSGRESSOR OF GOD'S LAW
Yep, James is pretty clear if we brake ANY of God's Law (10 commandments) then we are a TRANSGRESSOR of God's LAW and commit SIN. James quotes two of the 10 Commandments saying that if we break them we commit sin v9 that are summed up in the 2nd great commandments of LOVE to God and LOVE to our neighbour in v11. Maybe you missed that one?
ROMANS 7:7 [7], What shall we say then? is the law sin? God forbid. Nay,
I HAD NOT KNOWN SIN, BUT BY THE LAW: for I had not known lust, EXCEPT THE LAW HAD SAID YOU SHALL NOT COVET.
Well here we have Paul in agreement with James and John also telling us that he did not know what sin was without God's 10 Commandments. SIN is breaking God's commandments and Paul uses the 10th commandment as an example of breaking any of God's LAW (10 commandments) = SIN (
Exodus 20:17)
links to what John also says in which is also context to 1 John 3:23 that you left out...
1 JOHN 3:4 [4]
Whosoever commits SIN transgresses also the law: for SIN is the transgression of the law.
John is saying the same thing as James and Paul and states that if we TRANSGRESS God's LAW then we commit SIN because SIN IS THE TRANSGRESSION OF GOD'S LAW. So it is very clear that SIN is breaking ANY of God's LAW (10 commandments). We will look at the chapter context John uses v15 of MURDER as an example of sin which is God's 6th Command of the 10.
NOTE: Sin as defined in God's WORD is therefore breaking any one of God’s 10 Commandments in both the OLD and NEW TESTAMENT scriptures. So now we see from the context of 1 John 3:23 that sin is defined as the transgression of any of God's 10 Commandments. This links to
1 John 2:1 which shows the reason for Johns's epistles is that we
sin not (do not break God's Commandments) which is the context of
1 John 2:3-4 that says if we break Gods’ commandments and claim to know God we are not telling the truth. So if sin is defined in God's Word as breaking any one of Gods 10 commandments then the commandment spoken about in
1 JOHN 2:3-4 are God's 10 Commandments.
1 JOHN 2:3-4
[3], And HEREBY WE KNOW THAT WE KNOW HIM IF WE KEEP HIS COMMANDMENTS .
[4], HE THAT SAYS I KNOW HIM AND DOES NOT KEEP HIS COMMANDMENTS IS A LIAR AND THE TRUTH IS NOT IN HIM.
NOTE: Context is sin, in v1 that we sin not; God's WORD defines sin as breaking God's 10 Commandments then commandments being referred to here are the 10 Commandments that give us the knowledge of what sin is *
ROMANS 3:20)
...............
SUMMARY SO FAR 1 John 1 and
1 John 2; Those who walk in darkness or do not follow the truth of God's WORD are not following God. The reason why John is writing the Epistle of 1 John is that we
do not sin. God's WORD defines sin as the breaking of anyone of God's 10 Commandments. The context of
1 John 2:3-4 is
1 John 1:2 that we
sin not. Therefore the Commandments being spoken of in
1 John 2:3-4 are the 10 Commandments.