(6) Here (1 John 2:9-11) is the chief way in which the old commandment, the new commandment, the word from the beginning, the walk in light would be manifested: brotherly love towards those with whom we have fellowship in Jesus Christ, God's Son. And as He, by being the propitiation for the sins of the whole world, had declared the universality of God's family and kingdom, so the sympathy of believers would extend in different degrees as far as the whole human race; to those first who were conscious of the same hopes as themselves; to those next who might be brought to share them; to those, perhaps, in a less degree, who in every nation feared God and worked righteousness without knowing the Saviour personally; and so on, finally, to all who did not wilfully excommunicate themselves. But the brotherly love would be chiefly amongst Christian friends, else it would be diffused into nothingness.
(9) He that saith . . .--The whole history of religious rancour has been a deplorable illustration of these words. Controversy for principles honestly and reasonably held is one thing: prejudice, spite, private censures and condemnations, harsh words, suspicions, jealousies, misunderstandings and misrepresentations are the chief props of the kingdom of darkness among Christian churches and nations. (Comp. John 13:34; John 15:12; 1 Corinthians 13:2; 1 Peter 1:22; 2 Peter 1:7-9.)
Hateth means not merely the absence of love, but the presence, in ever so small a degree, of dislike or any of the feelings already described, or those kindred to them.
(10) He that loveth.--From the associations connected with love in poetry and romance this saying sounds strange. But all such love is tinged with passion, and the desire of satisfying some personal lack; this is the pure disinterested seeking for another's welfare, of which Christ was the great example. It is that which the modern scientific non-Christian world is trying to make its religion; but without the Christian motive, and cultivated for its own sake instead of by the working of the Spirit of God, it seems artificial and powerless.
(11) But he that hateth.--1 John 2:10 was an antithesis to 1 John 2:9; 1 John 2:11 is, after St. John's manner, an antithesis again to 1 John 2:10, putting the matter of 1 John 2:9 more strongly and fully, and forcibly concluding the section which describes the walk in the light.
Walketh in darkness.--This describes the acts of the man whose selfishness or other sins interfere with his love. Such are all insisting upon class distinctions; all ambitions, political, social, or personal; everything that savours of shrinking from "in honour preferring one another."
Knoweth not whither he goeth.--This refers to the "occasion of stumbling" in 1 John 2:10. He is sure to stumble; is like a blind man groping his way among pitfalls; has all the snares of human nature within him. (Comp. Isaiah 6:9et seq.; Matthew 13:14et seq.; John 12:40; Acts 28:26; 2 Corinthians 4:4.)
Hath blinded.--Just as it is we ourselves who make the gate strait and the way narrow, so it is our own fault if the darkness settles down on our eyes.
Verses 9-11. - Walking in the light excludes all hatred towards brethren, for such hatred is a form of darkness. These verses set forth in a variety of forms the affinity between love and light, hatred and darkness, and the consequent incompatibility between hatred and light. "Hate" μισεῖν is not to be watered down into "neglect" or "fail to love." St. John knows nothing of such compromises. Love is love, and hate is hate, and between the two there is no neutral ground, any more than between life and death, or between Christ and antichrist. "He that is not with me is against me." "Love is the moral counterpart of intellectual light. It is a modern fashion to represent these two tempers as necessarily opposed. But St. John is at once earnestly dogmatic and earnestly philanthropic; for the Incarnation has taught him both the preciousness of man and the preciousness of truth" (Liddon). Verse 9. - He that saith. For the fifth time St. John points out a glaring inconsistency which is possible between profession and fact (ἐὰν εἴπμεν, 1 John 1:6, 8, 10; ὁ λέγων, 1 John 2:4.9); cf. 1 John 4:20. In all these passages the case is put hypothetically; but in some of the Gnostic teaching of the age this inconsistency existed beyond a doubt. Is in darkness even until now. His supposing that hatred is compatible with light proves the darkness in which he is. Nay, more, it shows that, in spite of his having nominally entered the company of the children of light, he has really never left the darkness. "If ye loved only your brethren, ye would not yet be perfect; but if ye hate your brethren, what are ye? where are ye?" (St. Augustine).
2:3-11 What knowledge of Christ can that be, which sees not that he is most worthy of our entire obedience? And a disobedient life shows there is neither religion nor honesty in the professor. The love of God is perfected in him that keeps his commandments. God's grace in him attains its true mark, and produces its sovereign effect as far as may be in this world, and this is man's regeneration; though never absolutely perfect here. Yet this observing Christ's commands, has holiness and excellency which, if universal, would make the earth resemble heaven itself. The command to love one another had been in force from the beginning of the world; but it might be called a new command as given to Christians. It was new in them, as their situation was new in respect of its motives, rules, and obligations. And those who walk in hatred and enmity to believers, remain in a dark state. Christian love teaches us to value our brother's soul, and to dread every thing hurtful to his purity and peace. Where spiritual darkness dwells, in mind, the judgment, and the conscience will be darkened, and will mistake the way to heavenly life. These things demand serious self-examination; and earnest prayer, that God would show us what we are, and whither we are going.
He that saith he is in the light,.... Is in Christ the light, or has the true knowledge of the light of the Gospel, or is illuminated by the Spirit of God; for persons may profess to be enlightened ones, and not be so: wherefore the apostle does not say, he that is in the light, but he that says he is,
and hateth his brother; who is so either by creation, as all men are brethren, having one Father, that has made them, and brought them up; or by regeneration, being born of God the Father, and in the same family and household of faith; and so regards such who are in a spiritual relation, whom to hate internally, or not to love, is inconsistent with being in the light, or having faith, which is always naturally and necessarily accompanied with the heat of love; for as light and heat, so faith and love go together: wherefore, let a man's profession of light be what it will, if love to his brother is wanting, he
is in darkness even until now; he is in a state of nature and unregeneracy, which is a state of darkness and ignorance; he is under the power of darkness, and in the kingdom of Satan; who is the ruler of the darkness of this world; he ever was so from his birth; he never was called nor delivered out of it, but is still in it to this moment, and so remains. This seems to be very much levelled against the Jews, who make hatred of the brother in some cases lawful: for they say (d),
"if one man observes sin in another, and reproves him for it, and he does not receive his reproof, , "it is lawful to hate him";''
(9) He that saith . . .--The whole history of religious rancour has been a deplorable illustration of these words. Controversy for principles honestly and reasonably held is one thing: prejudice, spite, private censures and condemnations, harsh words, suspicions, jealousies, misunderstandings and misrepresentations are the chief props of the kingdom of darkness among Christian churches and nations. (Comp. John 13:34; John 15:12; 1 Corinthians 13:2; 1 Peter 1:22; 2 Peter 1:7-9.)
Hateth means not merely the absence of love, but the presence, in ever so small a degree, of dislike or any of the feelings already described, or those kindred to them.
(10) He that loveth.--From the associations connected with love in poetry and romance this saying sounds strange. But all such love is tinged with passion, and the desire of satisfying some personal lack; this is the pure disinterested seeking for another's welfare, of which Christ was the great example. It is that which the modern scientific non-Christian world is trying to make its religion; but without the Christian motive, and cultivated for its own sake instead of by the working of the Spirit of God, it seems artificial and powerless.
Occasion of stumbling.--Stumbling - blok. (Comp. Isaiah 8:14; Isaiah 28:16; Psalm 119:165; John 11:9-10; Romans 9:33; Romans 14:13; 1 Corinthians 1:23; 1 Peter 2:7.) When love such as Christ's is the ruling principle of life, then the stumbling-blocks of human nature are removed--such as impurity, pride, selfishness, anger, envy, suspicion, unsympathetic coldness, censoriousness.
(11) But he that hateth.--1 John 2:10 was an antithesis to 1 John 2:9; 1 John 2:11 is, after St. John's manner, an antithesis again to 1 John 2:10, putting the matter of 1 John 2:9 more strongly and fully, and forcibly concluding the section which describes the walk in the light.
Walketh in darkness.--This describes the acts of the man whose selfishness or other sins interfere with his love. Such are all insisting upon class distinctions; all ambitions, political, social, or personal; everything that savours of shrinking from "in honour preferring one another."
Knoweth not whither he goeth.--This refers to the "occasion of stumbling" in 1 John 2:10. He is sure to stumble; is like a blind man groping his way among pitfalls; has all the snares of human nature within him. (Comp. Isaiah 6:9 et seq.; Matthew 13:14 et seq.; John 12:40; Acts 28:26; 2 Corinthians 4:4.)
Hath blinded.--Just as it is we ourselves who make the gate strait and the way narrow, so it is our own fault if the darkness settles down on our eyes.
and hateth his brother; who is so either by creation, as all men are brethren, having one Father, that has made them, and brought them up; or by regeneration, being born of God the Father, and in the same family and household of faith; and so regards such who are in a spiritual relation, whom to hate internally, or not to love, is inconsistent with being in the light, or having faith, which is always naturally and necessarily accompanied with the heat of love; for as light and heat, so faith and love go together: wherefore, let a man's profession of light be what it will, if love to his brother is wanting, he
is in darkness even until now; he is in a state of nature and unregeneracy, which is a state of darkness and ignorance; he is under the power of darkness, and in the kingdom of Satan; who is the ruler of the darkness of this world; he ever was so from his birth; he never was called nor delivered out of it, but is still in it to this moment, and so remains. This seems to be very much levelled against the Jews, who make hatred of the brother in some cases lawful: for they say (d),
"if one man observes sin in another, and reproves him for it, and he does not receive his reproof, , "it is lawful to hate him";''
See Gill on Matthew 5:43.
(d) Moses Kotsensis Mitzvot Tora, pr. neg. 5.