1 John 2:11
But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness. He does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.
But whoever hates his brother
The phrase "whoever hates his brother" is a direct call to examine the condition of one's heart. The Greek word for "hates" is "μισέω" (miseo), which implies a deep-seated animosity or aversion. In the context of the early Christian community, "brother" refers not only to biological siblings but to fellow believers. This phrase challenges the reader to reflect on the nature of Christian love, which is central to the teachings of Jesus. Hatred is antithetical to the love that Christ commands, and it disrupts the unity and fellowship within the body of Christ.

is in the darkness
The term "darkness" (Greek: "σκότος," skotos) is often used metaphorically in Scripture to represent sin, ignorance, and separation from God. To be "in the darkness" suggests a state of spiritual blindness and moral confusion. This imagery is powerful, as it contrasts with the light of Christ, which symbolizes truth, purity, and divine revelation. The darkness here is not just an absence of light but an active state of being that affects one's spiritual perception and moral decisions.

and walks in the darkness
"Walks" (Greek: "περιπατέω," peripateo) implies a continuous action or lifestyle. It suggests that hatred is not just a momentary lapse but a persistent way of living that characterizes one's entire being. Walking in darkness indicates a life led without the guidance of God's truth, resulting in a path that leads away from righteousness. This phrase serves as a warning that such a lifestyle is incompatible with the Christian faith and the transformative power of the Holy Spirit.

he does not know where he is going
This phrase highlights the confusion and lack of direction that comes from living in darkness. The Greek word for "know" is "οἶδα" (oida), which implies an understanding or awareness. Without the light of Christ, one cannot discern the path of righteousness or the ultimate destination of eternal life. This lack of spiritual insight leads to a life of uncertainty and potential destruction, emphasizing the necessity of living in the light of God's truth.

because the darkness has blinded his eyes
The imagery of blindness (Greek: "τυφλόω," typhloo) is a powerful metaphor for spiritual ignorance and deception. Just as physical blindness prevents one from seeing the physical world, spiritual blindness hinders one's ability to perceive spiritual realities. The darkness, representing sin and separation from God, obscures the truth and prevents individuals from recognizing their need for repentance and salvation. This phrase serves as a sobering reminder of the consequences of harboring hatred and living apart from the light of Christ.

Persons / Places / Events
1. John the Apostle
The author of 1 John, one of Jesus' original twelve disciples, known for his close relationship with Jesus and his emphasis on love and truth in his writings.

2. The Early Church
The audience of John's letter, consisting of early Christians who were facing challenges such as false teachings and internal divisions.

3. The Concept of Darkness
Symbolic of sin, ignorance, and separation from God, often used in contrast to light, which represents truth, righteousness, and fellowship with God.
Teaching Points
The Danger of Hatred
Hatred towards others is a serious sin that blinds us spiritually and separates us from God.

It is essential to examine our hearts for any lingering resentment or bitterness and seek reconciliation.

Walking in the Light
Walking in the light involves living in truth and love, reflecting God's character in our relationships.

We must strive to love others as Christ loves us, which is evidence of our fellowship with Him.

Spiritual Blindness
Spiritual blindness results from living in darkness, preventing us from seeing God's truth and direction for our lives.

Regular self-examination and repentance are necessary to ensure we are not blinded by sin.

The Importance of Love
Love is a fundamental commandment and the hallmark of a true Christian life.

Practicing love towards others, especially fellow believers, is a testimony of our faith and obedience to Christ.
Bible Study Questions
1. How does harboring hatred towards someone affect your relationship with God and others?

2. In what ways can you actively walk in the light and demonstrate love in your daily interactions?

3. Reflect on a time when you felt spiritually blind. What steps did you take to regain your spiritual sight?

4. How can the teachings of Jesus in John 13:34-35 influence your approach to resolving conflicts with others?

5. What practical steps can you take to ensure that bitterness and anger do not take root in your heart, as advised in Ephesians 4:31-32?
Connections to Other Scriptures
1 John 1:5-7
Discusses the contrast between light and darkness, emphasizing that God is light and those who walk in the light have fellowship with Him and one another.

John 13:34-35
Jesus commands His disciples to love one another, indicating that love is a defining mark of His followers.

Matthew 5:22
Jesus warns against harboring anger and hatred, equating it with the seriousness of murder in the heart.

Ephesians 4:31-32
Paul instructs believers to put away bitterness and anger, encouraging kindness and forgiveness instead.

Proverbs 4:19
Describes the way of the wicked as deep darkness, where they do not know what makes them stumble.
Brotherly LoveJames Morgan, D. D.1 John 2:7-11
No New CommandmentA. F. W. Ingram, M. A.1 John 2:7-11
The Commandment of Brotherly LoveR. Finlayson 1 John 2:7-11
The Commandment of Love -- its Oldness and its NewnessT. Jones.1 John 2:7-11
The Darkness Passing -- the Light ShiningR. S. Candlish, D. D.1 John 2:7-11
The Law of Love True to the Requirements of LifeC. Watson, D. D.1 John 2:7-11
The Old and New CommandmentsF. D. Maurice, M. A.1 John 2:7-11
Brotherly Love a Test and Means of Being and Abiding with Guileless Spirit in the Light Instead of Walking in DarknessR. S. Candlish, D. D.1 John 2:9-11
Hatred Causes StumblingA. J. Bechtel.1 John 2:9-11
Living in Light and LoveW. Jones 1 John 2:9-11
Moral DarknessAbp. Wm. Alexander.1 John 2:9-11
People
John
Places
Ephesus
Topics
Blind, Blinded, Brother, Dark, Darkness, Doesn't, Goes, Hate, Hates, Hateth, Hating, Knoweth, Unable, Walk, Walketh, Walking, Walks, Whither
Dictionary of Bible Themes
1 John 2:11

     4811   darkness, symbol of sin
     5135   blindness, spiritual
     5765   attitudes, to people

1 John 2:9-11

     5875   hatred
     8775   libertinism

Library
Youthful Strength
'I have written unto you, young men, because ye are strong, and the word of God abideth in you, and ye have overcome the wicked one.'--1 John ii. 14. 'What am I going to be?' is the question that presses upon young people stepping out of the irresponsibilities of childhood into youth. But, unfortunately, the question is generally supposed to be answered when they have fixed upon a trade or profession. It means, rightly taken, a great deal more than that. 'What am I going to make of myself?' 'What
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture Ephesians, Peter,John

River and Rock
'The world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.'--1 John ii. 17. John has been solemnly giving a charge not to love the world, nor the things that are in it. That charge was addressed to 'children,' 'young men,' 'fathers.' Whether these designations be taken as referring to growth and maturity of Christian experience, or of natural age, they equally carry the lesson that no age and no stage is beyond the danger of being drawn away by the world's
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture Ephesians, Peter,John

The Commandment, Old yet New
'I write no new commandment unto you, but an old commandment which ye had from the beginning.... Again, a new commandment I write unto you, which thing is true in him and in you.'--1 John ii. 7, 8. The simplest words may carry the deepest thoughts. Perhaps angels and little children speak very much alike. This letter, like all of John's writing, is pellucid in speech, profound in thought, clear and deep, like the abysses of mid-ocean. His terms are such as a child can understand; his sentences short
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture Ephesians, Peter,John

Thirtieth Day. The Unction from the Holy One.
And ye have an anointing from the Holy One, and ye know all things. And as for you, the anointing which ye received of Him abideth in you, and ye need not that any one teach you; but as His anointing teacheth you concerning all things, and is true, and is no lie, and even as it taught you, ye abide in Him.'--1 John ii. 20, 27. In the revelation by Moses of God's Holiness and His way of making holy, the priests, and specially the high priests, were the chief expression of God's Holiness in man.
Andrew Murray—Holy in Christ

January the Twelfth Two Opposites
"If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him." --1 JOHN ii. 13-17. No man can love two opposites any more than he can walk in contrary directions at the same time. No man can at once be mean and magnanimous, chivalrous and selfish. We cannot at the same moment dress appropriately for the arctic regions and the tropics. And we cannot wear the habits of the world and the garments of salvation. When we try to do it the result is a wretched and miserable compromise. I have seen a
John Henry Jowett—My Daily Meditation for the Circling Year

The Difference Between Walking by Sight, and Walking by Faith
"We walk by faith, not by sight." 2 Cor. 5:7. 1. How short is this description of real Christians! And yet how exceeding full! It comprehends, it sums up, the whole experience of those that are truly such, from the time they are born of God till they remove into Abraham's bosom. For, who are the we that are here spoken of? All that are true Christian believers. I say Christian, not Jewish, believers. All that are not only servants, but children, of God. All that have "the Spirit of adoption, crying
John Wesley—Sermons on Several Occasions

The Witness of the Spirit
Discourse I "The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God." Rom. 8:16 1. How many vain men, not understanding what they spake, neither whereof they affirmed, have wrested this Scripture to the great loss if not the destruction of their souls! How many have mistaken the voice of their own imagination for this witness of the Spirit of God, and thence idly presumed they were the children of God while they were doing the works of the devil! These are truly and properly
John Wesley—Sermons on Several Occasions

A Bundle of Myrrh
Concerning our text, let us talk very simply, remarking first, that Christ is very precious to believers; secondly, that there is good reason why he should be; thirdly, that mingled with this sense of preciousness, there is a joyous consciousness of possession of him; and that therefore, fourthly, there is an earnest desire for perpetual fellowship with him. If you look at the text again, you will see all these matters in it. I. First, then, CHRIST JESUS IS UNUTTERABLY PRECIOUS TO BELIEVERS. The
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 10: 1864

In Him: Like Him
"Rock of ages, cleft for me, Let me hide myself in thee." We have entered into Christ as into the shadow of a great rock in a weary land, as guest; into a banquet-hall, as returning travellers into their home. And now we abide--in Christ in this sense, that we are joined to him : as the stone is, in the wall, as the wave is in the sea, as the branch is in the vine, so are we in Christ. As the branch receives all its sap from the stem, so all the sap of spiritual life flows from Christ into us. If
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 29: 1883

What God is to Us.
Exod. xxxiv. 6, 7.--"The lord, the Lord God merciful and gracious, long suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands." There is nothing can separate between God and a people but iniquity, and yet he is very loath to separate even for that. He makes many shows of departing, that so we may hold him fast, and indeed he is not difficult to be holden. He threatens often to remove his presence from a person or nation, and he threatens, that he may not indeed remove, but that
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

Brooks -- the Pride of Life
Phillips Brooks was born at Boston, Mass., in 1835, graduated at Harvard in 1855 and studied theology at the P.E. Seminary, Alexandria, Va. He was elected rector of the Church of the Advent, Philadelphia, in 1859, and three years later to that of Holy Trinity in the same city. In 1869 he became rector of Trinity Church, Boston, and was consecrated Bishop of Massachusetts in 1891. He died in 1893. He was in every sense a large man, large in simplicity and sympathy, large in spiritual culture. In his
Grenville Kleiser—The world's great sermons, Volume 8

That to Him who Loveth God is Sweet Above all Things and in all Things
Behold, God is mine, and all things are mine! What will I more, and what more happy thing can I desire? O delightsome and sweet world! that is, to him that loveth the Word, not the world, neither the things that are in the world.(1) My God, my all! To him that understandeth, that word sufficeth, and to repeat it often is pleasing to him that loveth it. When Thou art present all things are pleasant; when Thou art absent, all things are wearisome. Thou makest the heart to be at rest, givest it
Thomas A Kempis—Imitation of Christ

But Since no Man is Worthy to Come Forward in his Own Name...
But since no man is worthy to come forward in his own name, and appear in the presence of God, our heavenly Father, to relieve us at once from fear and shame, with which all must feel oppressed, [8] has given us his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, to be our Advocate and Mediator, that under his guidance we may approach securely, confiding that with him for our Intercessor nothing which we ask in his name will be denied to us, as there is nothing which the Father can deny to him (1 Tim. 2:5; 1 John 2:1;
John Calvin—Of Prayer--A Perpetual Exercise of Faith

Moreover, the Sophists are Guilty of the Merest Trifling when they Allege that Christ Is...
Moreover, the Sophists are guilty of the merest trifling when they allege that Christ is the Mediator of redemption, but that believers are mediators of intercession; as if Christ had only performed a temporary mediation, and left an eternal and imperishable mediation to his servants. Such, forsooth, is the treatment which he receives from those who pretend only to take from him a minute portion of honour. Very different is the language of Scripture, with whose simplicity every pious man will be
John Calvin—Of Prayer--A Perpetual Exercise of Faith

The Last Day.
This gospel day is the last day. There never will be another age of time. An age-to-come teacher is branded by the Word of God and the Holy Spirit, as a false teacher. We need no other age in which to prepare for eternity. This is the day of salvation. "Now is the accepted time." Now is the day and this is the time for us to accept Christ, and to be accepted of him. The Word of God holds no promise to you of another day of salvation. How can man, unless he be wholly subverted, teach another age to
Charles Ebert Orr—The Gospel Day

Add to This, and Here is Cause to Cry Out More Piteously...
37. Add to this, (and here is cause to cry out more piteously,) that, if once we grant it to have been right for the saving of that sick man's life to tell him the lie, that his son was alive, then, by little and little and by minute degrees, the evil so grows upon us, and by slight accesses to such a heap of wicked lies does it, in its almost imperceptible encroachments, at last come, that no place can ever be any where found on which this huge mischief, by smallest additions rising into boundless
St. Augustine—Against Lying

(On the Mysteries. Iii. )
On Chrism. 1 John ii. 20-28 But ye have an unction from the Holy One, &c.....that, when He shall appear, we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before Him at His coming. 1. Having been baptized into Christ, and put on Christ [2415] , ye have been made conformable to the Son of God; for God having foreordained us unto adoption as sons [2416] , made us to be conformed to the body of Christ's glory [2417] . Having therefore become partakers of Christ [2418] , ye are properly called Christs, and
St. Cyril of Jerusalem—Lectures of S. Cyril of Jerusalem

But, Again, Lest by Occasion of this Sentence...
50. But, again, lest by occasion of this sentence, any one should sin with deadly security, and should allow himself to be carried away, as though his sins were soon by easy confession to be blotted out, he straightway added, "My little children, these things have I written unto you, that ye sin not; and, if one shall have sinned, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, and Himself is a propitiation of our sins." [2207] Let no one therefore depart from sin as though about
St. Augustine—Of Holy Virginity.

Evidences of Regeneration.
III. Wherein saints and sinners must differ. 1. Let it be distinctly remembered, that all unregenerate persons, without exception, have one heart, that is, they are selfish. This is their whole character. They are universally and only devoted to self-gratification. Their unregenerate heart consists in this selfish disposition, or in this selfish choice. This choice is the foundation of, and the reason for, all their activity. One and the same ultimate reason actuates them in all they do, and in all
Charles Grandison Finney—Systematic Theology

The Work of Jesus Christ as an Advocate,
CLEARLY EXPLAINED, AND LARGELY IMPROVED, FOR THE BENEFIT OF ALL BELIEVERS. 1 John 2:1--"And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous." By JOHN BUNYAN, Author of "The Pilgrim's Progress." London: Printed for Dorman Newman, at the King's Arms, in the Poultry, 1689. ADVERTISEMENT BY THE EDITOR. This is one of the most interesting of Bunyan's treatises, to edit which required the Bible at my right hand, and a law dictionary on my left. It was very frequently republished;
John Bunyan—The Works of John Bunyan Volumes 1-3

What Passes and what Abides
'One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh: but the earth abideth for ever.'--ECCLES. i. 4. 'And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof; but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.'--1 JOHN ii. 17. A great river may run through more than one kingdom, and bear more than one name, but its flow is unbroken. The river of time runs continuously, taking no heed of dates and calendars. The importance that we attach to the beginnings or endings of years and centuries is a
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

The Fourfold Symbols of the Spirit
'A rushing mighty wind.' ... 'Cloven tongues like as of fire.' ... 'I will pour out of My Spirit upon all flesh.' --ACTS ii. 2, 3, 17. 'Ye have an unction from the Holy One.'--1 JOHN ii. 20. Wind, fire, water, oil,--these four are constant Scriptural symbols for the Spirit of God. We have them all in these fragments of verses which I have taken for my text now, and which I have isolated from their context for the purpose of bringing out simply these symbolical references. I think that perhaps we
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture: The Acts

The World Our Enemy.
"We know that we are of God, and the whole world lieth in wickedness."--1 John v. 19. Few words are of more frequent occurrence in the language of religion than "the world;" Holy Scripture makes continual mention of it, in the way of censure and caution; in the Service for Baptism it is described as one of three great enemies of our souls, and in the ordinary writings and conversation of Christians, I need hardly say, mention is made of it continually. Yet most of us, it would appear, have very
John Henry Newman—Parochial and Plain Sermons, Vol. VII

The Wilderness: Temptation. Matthew 4:1-11. Mark 1:12, 13. Luke 4:1-13.
The University of Arabia: Jesus' naturalness--the Spirit's presence--intensity, Luke 2:45-51.--a true perspective--- the temptation's path--sin's path--John's grouping, 1 John 2:16.--the Spirit's plan--why--the devil's weakness--the Spirit's leading--a wilderness for every God-used man, Moses, Elijah, Paul. Earth's Ugliest, Deepest Scar: Jesus the only one led up to be tempted--the wilderness--its history, Genesis 13:10-13. 18:16-19:38.--Jesus really tempted--no wrong here in inner response--every
S. D. Gordon—Quiet Talks about Jesus

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