1 John 5:3

Memory Verse

For this is the love of God, in order that we guard His commandments, and His commandments are not burdensome, 1 John 5:3.

“Keep” is a term that denotes the actions of guarding or protecting. It does not focus on the act of obedience, but the mentality of protecting and thereby holding value. Thus, the one guarding God’s commandments finds them of value and therefore will seek to fulfill them in every aspect of his life.

John is not referring to the Ten Commandments, or any commandment related to the Mosaic law by which a person, through self-effort, seeks to be righteous before God. He is writing about the new commandment that we received from Christ, which is to love one another (John 13:34; 1 John 2:8).

In the upper room, on the night in which Christ was betrayed, He also revealed a new relationship between God and man. The Holy Spirit, who was with the disciples, would dwell in them and as a branch abides in the vine, so will they abide in Christ (John 17:17; 15:1–4). Thus, God’s commandments to the grace believer are to believe on the name of His Son–He is God in the flesh—love other believers, and abide in Christ (1 John 3:23–24).

These commandments are not burdensome, for through them the believer rests from his works of righteousness to walk in the newness of life he possesses in Christ. A life of freedom to act in a right manner in all things, no longer serving as a slave to the sin nature and thereby producing works unto death, but works relating to eternal life—a manifestation of the life of Christ through the believer—and peace—an unruffled mindset that is focused on the things above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God (Romans 8:6).