The NT uses the Greek word aggelia twice, both in 1 John (1:5; 3:11). The noun comes from the same root as euaggelion, good news, and Raymond Brown suggests that aggelia is the Johannine equivalent – meaning “good news” or “gospel.

If this is true, 1 John’s two uses are intriguing. 1:5 announces the good news that God is light, without shadow or darkness. That is genuinely good news. But 3:11 says that the “good news” takes the form of an exhortation: “that we should love one another,” a message that John elsewhere describes as a “commandment” (2:7-11).

For John, the good news is about God; but the good news also comes with a demand that we walk as He walks.