Smalley, commenting on 1 John 2:3, is very helpful on the place of obedience in the Christian life.
“Just as the ‘amount’ of one’s knowledge of God is less important than the direction of that knowledge (whether one knows God at all), so the ‘amount’ of one’s obedience to God’s orders cannot determine the extent of the believer’s knowledge of him. John is not saying that the Christian must be perfectly obedient before he can in any way know God, and be rightly related to him; for he has already claimed that no one is sinless (1:8-2:2). Obedience is not the condition for knowing God; but ‘obeying orders’ should characterise that knowledge (normally, if not without exception), and may be the means of testing it.” (45)
Caveat: Smalley may well not be the commentary I would recommend to someone looking to read around a bit in John's letters.
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