Charles Ellicott Commentary 1 John 2:9-11

"He that saith he is in the light and hateth his brother, is in the darkness even until now. He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is no occasion of stumbling in him. But he that hateth his brother is in the darkness, and walketh in the darkness, and knoweth not whither he goeth, because the darkness hath blinded his eyes." — 1 John 2:9-11 (ASV)

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. This sympathy extends first to those who were conscious of the same hopes as themselves; next, to those who might be brought to share them; then, perhaps in a lesser degree, to those who in every nation feared God and worked righteousness without knowing the Savior personally; and so on, finally, to all who did not willfully excommunicate themselves.

But this brotherly love would be chiefly among Christian friends; otherwise, it would be diffused into nothingness.

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. (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, even in the slightest degree, of dislike or any of the feelings already described, or those related to them.

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 to satisfy some personal lack. This love, by contrast, is the pure, disinterested seeking for another’s welfare, of which Christ was the great example. It is this very love that the modern scientific non-Christian world attempts to make its religion; but without the Christian motive, and cultivated for its own sake instead of through the working of the Spirit of God, it seems artificial and powerless.

Occasion of stumbling. — Stumbling - block. (Isaiah 28:16; Psalms 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, and censoriousness.

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 that 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); and 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, and has all the snares of human nature within him. (Compare to Isaiah 6:9 and following; Matthew 13:14 and following; 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.