What does it mean that he who hates his brother walks in darkness (1 John 2:11)?

"But he that hateth his brother" (ver. 10). Here we have the evil thoroughly shown out in its violent character. "He that hateth his brother is in the darkness." This is his state, which really decides the matter. One that hates his brother is a murderer in principle, as John shows afterwards (1 John 3:15). "He that hateth his brother is in the darkness." It is not merely what he does or how he walks, but he is in darkness. This he manifests by his ruthless behaviour. Words and deeds proclaim his state. What are his words? "He hateth his brother." And what his deeds? "He hateth his brother." "He walketh in the darkness." The walk brings in the reality of the man, just as it flows out of being in the light that we walk in the light. It is not a theory but a deep reality. Nothing less is conveyed by the word "walk." "And knoweth not where he goeth." He deceives himself. Unhappy but seared, he does not realise that he is a prey to the enemy. He is not aware that he is going into perdition. But there he is bound; and all the more, because he blindly took the place of a Christian. For if nothing can be more blessed than to be a Christian, nothing is more miserable than to take the place without being one truly; yet how many are thus misleading souls today?

(V. 11). A Jew professed to have the knowledge of God and thus be in the light, and yet he hated and persecuted the Christian, proving that he was not in the light of God revealed in Christ. Such an one is in “the darkness, and walks in the darkness, and knows not where he goes, because the darkness has blinded his eyes” (N.Tn.). This is not simply one who is in a state of darkness, as might be the case with a true Christian who, having fallen under a cloud, entertains bitter thoughts against his brother. It supposes one who is in “the darkness”, that is, in a system in which there is no revelation of God. “The darkness” is the absence of the revelation of God, and is an expression used in contrast with “the true light”, which is the revelation of God.

“But he that hateth his brother is in darkness, and walketh in darkness, and knoweth not whither he goeth, because that darkness has blinded his eyes.” There is no middle ground here John is emphatic: one is either in the light or in darkness; and as love goes with light, so hatred is attached to darkness. No true believer actually hates another: this is absolutely contrary to the new nature. But darkness is the very habitation of the unbeliever: moreover he walks there, making progress no doubt, but in evil; and having no definite end in view, he is an aimless wanderer, eyes blinded by the darkness he has chosen. These first eleven verses have shown that there is abundant provision of mercy for a believer if he should sin; but at the same time is a plain declaration that such mercy is not applicable to one who walks in darkness. The clearest distinction is drawn between an erring believer and a smooth‑tongued professor who would fain pass as a believer, but not born again. We have seen such mere profession seriously tested and rejected. Now the apostle is free to dwell upon the various stages of development in the new life, which is the subject in view from verse 12 to 27.

These apostates from the truth not only lack what marks one who is of God — the love that is of God — but there is enmity in the soul towards those professedly their brethren. The apostle calls it "hating his brother" (ver.11). Loving the children of God is the fruit of knowing God; hating them is the fruit of not knowing Him — the, fruit of man's fallen nature. Those marked by enmity to the children of God are therefore in the darkness. They live and walk in the darkness; blinded by the darkness in which they walk, they know not whither they are going. The light of the Christian hope and prospect does not shine upon their path; they have not in their souls the cheer of trusting Christ as "the way, the truth, and the life" (John 14:6). The light that is in them is darkness, and how great that darkness is!

216 So far we have had the first great principle of the divine life - obedience - walking in righteousness. Now comes the other side: loving the brethren. You are in the light, for God is light. Well then, God is love, and you cannot have one part of God without the other. If you have the light, you must have the love. Christ, when He was here, was the light of the world; but He was love too, and therefore if you have Him as your nature, you will have both. "He that saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother, is in darkness even until now. He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is none occasion of stumbling in him." In its very nature and way there is no occasion of stumbling. "But he that hateth his brother is in darkness and walketh in darkness, and knoweth not whither he goeth, because that darkness hath blinded his eyes." This is true really in detail; because, if I am walking in hatred to my brethren, I am walking in darkness. But the apostle only gives the principle here. Love is an old thing, because it was in Christ on earth; but it is a new thing, because it is true in Him and in you. "He who commanded the light to shine out of darkness hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ."

1 John 2:9-11. But there are those who claim to be in the light of the knowledge of God, yet hate the saints in whom the features of the life of God are manifested. This is not hating the traits of the flesh in a Christian, but hating the believer because he has the life that was expressed in all its loveliness in the Son of God. It was of very religious people that the Lord said, "They have both seen and hated both Me and my Father … they hated Me without a cause" (John 15:24-25). Can we therefore be surprised if there is a generation in this day that hates the life that was hated by the religious Jews when it was expressed in Jesus? Such are in the darkness, they have not the knowledge of God in their hearts; but one who loves his brother, the depository of divine life, dwells in the light. A true believer loves the brethren because they are brethren, because they have the divine nature and belong to the family of God. Love may be hindered in its expression because of the manifestation of the flesh, either in ourselves or in our brethren, but love is there, and it is normal for the believer to express it. The flesh may give occasion of stumbling, but there is no occasion of stumbling in the Christian who abides in the light; and abiding in the light is the normal life of the believer. Again we read that he "that hates his brother is in the darkness;" he has never been turned from darkness to light; and even if he professes to be a Christian, in the principle of his nature he is like the heathen, devoid of the knowledge of the true God. The mere professing Christian may have many features that appear as traits of divine life, but without the true knowledge of God in his heart he walks in the darkness, his way is not enlightened by divine revelation. Such are not spoken of here as blind; they are like those of whom the Lord spoke in John 9, "If ye were blind, ye should have no sin: but now ye say, We see; therefore your sin remaineth." The light was before them; they professed to have the knowledge of God, but they hated the light, and were blinded by the darkness in which they lived, ignorant in heart of the love of God.

Now comes a test, for anyone can say that he is in the light. He that saith he is in the light and hateth his brother is in the darkness even until now. Light and love are inseparable, and the nature that we have is composed of them. Darkness and hatred go together, and it is no use saying that one is in the light if there be hatred to one's brother. A true Christian loves his brother and dwells in the light, and there is no occasion of stumbling in him.

Hatred is the very opposite of the divine nature, and he that hates his brother is in the darkness; but there is more than this - he walks in the darkness because the darkness hath blinded his eyes; it is a terrible state.

The claim here exposes the character of one for whom it cannot be said that the darkness is passing. Hating his brother is proof that he is not in the light. Notice that it is a claim; a profession. The Lord always takes men up on their profession. As an unbeliever, in darkness, he is not a brother. But his responsibility is measured against his profession. As to his practical state he is not a brother. As to his profession he has brothers that he ought to love. His hatred of them proves that he is in the darkness.

On the other hand, "he who saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother, is in the darkness until now." Notice, he does not say merely, as some would seem to have it, that he is in the darkness now. That is true, but not the whole truth. He is in the darkness, and he never was out of it. He is in the darkness until now. That does not allow the possibility of a soul having been in the light, in the sense in which John is speaking here, and getting out of it again. On the other hand: "He that loveth his brother abideth in the light." He stays there, and there is no occasion of stumbling in him; but, "He that hateth his brother (notice that it is profession ever, and therefore he tests it as such; the brother by profession is counted as a brother, there is responsibility of the relationship professed, whether true or not true, and he that hateth his brother then) is in the darkness, and walketh in the darkness, and knoweth not whither he goeth, because the darkness hath blinded his eyes" — a terrible condition, surely, and which seems by the language used to be distinguished from that of which the prophet speaks where men "sit in darkness, and have no light." In this case the truth has not been known, and there is nothing that one can speak of as activity at all; although surely there is in another way activity, as we all know, and plenty of evil deeds that go with such a condition. But here the light has come; the soul has the responsibility of that light; he has a walk which is estimated in its character as in the light or in the darkness, as the apostle has said in Philippians, "even weeping," of those (many they were) who walk, yet as "enemies of the cross of Christ," "whose God is their belly, whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things." Here is the darkness in which already many professing believers were found according to the testimony of the apostle; and this is it of which John is speaking here.*

Accordingly in ver. 9 the reply is to him who says he is in the light, and yet hates his brother. "Saying" has a bad character in this Epistle. The true saint of God does not talk lightly of being in the light. He knows he is, he blesses God for it, but he is serious about what is so solemn. He leaves it to others to say boastingly — "I am in the light" when he means of a real saint, "You are in the dark." What can be more derogatory to the Lord, or less worthy of a Christian? The right and true course is not saying but manifesting that one walks in the light by a godly conversation. "He that saith he is in the light and hateth his brother" manifests that he is not in the light. The hatred toward his brother is incompatible, not only with love, but with light and life. For these all go together and cannot be separated. The life is shown in obedience, but so it is in love; and the true light which already shines makes such darkness visible. Certainly if a brother be hard, impatient, or otherwise faulty, this is meant to test yourself: be all the more careful, if anything in him is grievous in your eyes. But why should not your heart go out to win him? Why give up love where it is so much needed? You ought also to pity, if you believe a brother has done serious wrong. Should he not be an object for your earnest supplication to God, however you may reprobate the evil?