But he who hates his brother is in the darkness, and walks in the darkness, and doesn’t know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.
Parallel Translations
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But he who hates his brother is in the darkness, and walks in the darkness, and doesn’t know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.
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He that hateth his brother is in darknes and walketh in darknes: and cannot tell whither he goeth because that darknes hath blynded his eyes.
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But he that hateth his brother, is in darkenesse, and walketh in darkenesse, and knoweth not whither hee goeth, because that darkenesse hath blinded his eyes.
Cross-references (9)
Passages linked to 1 John 2:11 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- John 12:35 Jesus therefore said to them, “Yet a little while the light is with you. Walk while you have the light, that darkness doesn’t overtake you. He who walks in the darkness doesn’t know where he is going.
- Titus 3:3 For we were also once foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another.
- 1 John 1:6 If we say that we have fellowship with him and walk in the darkness, we lie, and don’t tell the truth.
- Revelation 3:17 Because you say, ‘I am rich, and have gotten riches, and have need of nothing;’ and don’t know that you are the wretched one, miserable, poor, blind, and naked;
- Proverbs 4:19 The way of the wicked is like darkness. They don’t know what they stumble over.
- John 12:40 “He has blinded their eyes and he hardened their heart, lest they should see with their eyes, and perceive with their heart, and would turn, and I would heal them.”
- 2 Corinthians 4:4 in whom the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving, that the light of the Good News of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should not dawn on them.
- 1 John 2:9 He who says he is in the light and hates his brother is in the darkness even until now.
- 2 Corinthians 3:14 But their minds were hardened, for until this very day at the reading of the old covenant the same veil remains, because in Christ it passes away.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (11 sources)
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain 11. But he that hateth his brother. He again…
11. But he that hateth his brother. He again reminds us, that whatever specious appearance of excellency thou shewest, there is yet nothing but what is sinful if love be absent. This passage may be compared with the thirteenth chapter of the First Epistle to the Corinthians, and no long explanation is needed. But this doctrine is not understood by the world, because the greater part are dazzled by all sorts of masks or disguises. Thus, fictitious sanctity dazzles the eyes of almost all men, while love is neglected, or, at least, driven to the farthest corner.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain 11 But he that hateth his brother is in…
11 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.
Ver. 11. He that hateth, &c.] There is a passion of hatred (saith a famous divine). This is a kind of averseness and rising of the heart against a man, when one sees him so that he cannot away with him, nor speak to nor look courteously or peaceably upon him, &c. 2. A habit of hatred, when the heart is so settled in this alienation and estrangement, that it grows to wish and seek his hurt. This is manslaughter, 1Jn 3:5.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain Hath no principle to guide or govern him, but…
Hath no principle to guide or govern him, but what is common to the unregenerate world, so that his whole life is a continual error; nor doth he understand or consider the tendency of his course, being still under the power of an affected darkness, that makes his eyes, or understanding, of no more use than if he were quite blind, or had none at all. So weighty and important is the precept which he had to lay down, 1Jo 2:15, of not loving the world, &c., that he introduces it with the solemnity of a most pathetic preface, contained in these three following verses, wherein he applies himself severally to the distinct orders and ranks into which Christians were capable of being reduced, the matter being of common and equal concernment to all of them. And he speaks suitably to the condition and state of each, such things as whereby he might most effectually insinuate with them, and oblige them deeply to consider what he had to say; doubling also his application to each of them, out of the earnestness of his intention and endeavour to fasten the exhortation upon them which was to follow.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain But he that hateth his brother is in darkness,....…
But he that hateth his brother is in darkness,.... As is before expressed in Jo1 2:9, to which is added,
and walketh in darkness; he goes on in it, and takes delight in it, as dangerous and uncomfortable as it is:
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and knoweth not whither he goeth; he cannot discern between good and evil; he puts darkness for light, and light for darkness; he sees not what is before him, nor what stumblingblocks lie in the way; he is not aware of the snares, pits, and traps he is in danger of falling into; nor does he know and consider what these paths of darkness, of sin, and ignorance, and infidelity, lead unto, even unto utter darkness, where is weeping, wailing, and gnashing of teeth: and the reason is,
because that darkness hath blinded his eyes; either Satan, the god of this world, who blinds the minds of them that believe not, and who is darkness itself, and the cause of darkness in himself and in others, and one of whose names this was with the Jews (e); See Gill on Luk 22:53; or that natural darkness which sin has brought upon the understanding, and has blinded the eyes of it, called the blindness of the heart, Eph 4:18, so that a man under the power of it is ignorant of himself, and knows not that he is blind and miserable; is a stranger to the way of peace, and life by Christ, and knows not what he is about, and where he is, or whither he is going, and what his end will be.
(e) Yalkut Simconi, par. 2. fol. 44. 4.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain He that hateth his brother - And he must…
He that hateth his brother - And he must hate, if he does not love him: there is no medium. Is in darkness - In sin, perplexity, entanglement. He walketh in darkness, and knoweth not that he is in the high road to hell.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 11. But he that hateth his brother is…
Verse 11. But he that hateth his brother is in darkness] He is still in his heathen or unconverted state; and walketh in darkness, his conduct being a proof of that state; and knoweth not whither he goeth - having no proper knowledge of God or eternal things; and cannot tell whether he is going to heaven or hell, because that darkness has blinded his eyes - darkened his whole soul, mind, and heart.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain But he that hateth his brother - The word…
But he that hateth his brother - The word here used would, in this connection, include both the mere absence of love, and positive hatred. It is designed to include the whole of that state of mind where there is not love for the brethren.
Is in darkness - 1Jo 2:9.
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And walketh in darkness - He is like one who walks in the dark, and who sees no object distinctly. See the notes at Joh 12:35.
And knoweth not whither he goeth - Like one in the dark. He wanders about not knowing what direction he shall take, or where the course which he is on will lead. The general meaning is, that he is ignorant of the whole nature of religion; or, in other words, love to the brethren is a central virtue in religion, and when a man has not that, his mind is entirely clouded on the whole subject, and he shows that he knows nothing of its nature. There is no virtue that is designed to be made more prominent in Christianity; and there is none that will throw its influence farther over a man’s life.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain is in darkness . . . walketh--"is" marks his…
is in darkness . . . walketh--"is" marks his continuing STATE: he has never come out of "the darkness" (so Greek); "walketh" marks his OUTWARD WALK and acts.
whither--Greek, "where"; including not only the destination to which, but the way whereby.
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hath blinded--rather, as Greek aorist, "blinded" of old. Darkness not only surrounds, but blinds him, and that a blindness of long standing.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 11. is in darkness and walketh in darkness] The…
11. is in darkness and walketh in darkness] The darkness is his home and the scene of his activity. ‘The way of the wicked is as darkness: they know not at what they stumble’ (Pro_4:19).
knoweth not whither he goeth] Literally, where he is going: the adverb (ποῦ) is properly one of rest, ‘where’, and not of motion, ‘whither’. But in S. John this adverb is often joined with verbs of motion, and in particular with the verb used here (ὑπάγειν): Joh_3:8; Joh_8:14; Joh_12:35-36; Joh_14:5; Joh_16:5; Joh_7:35. Elsewhere in the N.T. the construction occurs only Heb_11:8. Perhaps both rest and motion are included; ‘knoweth not where he is and whither he is going’: i.e. neither knows his sin nor the direction in which his sin leads him. It is perhaps a little too definite to explain with S. Cyprian (On Jealousy and Envy, XI.), “for he is going without knowing it to Gehenna; in ignorance and blindness he is hurrying to punishment.” Comp. Joh_12:35, which is almost word for word the same as this, forming another point of contact between Gospel and Epistle.
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because that darkness hath blinded] Or, because the darkness hath blinded. It is literally ‘blinded’, not ‘hath blinded’, of what took place once for all some time ago: but this is just one of those cases where it is the Greek idiom to use the aorist, but the English idiom to use the perfect; and therefore the Greek aorist should be rendered by the English perfect. ‘Blinded’ must not be weakened into ‘dimmed’: the verb means definitely ‘to make blind’ (Joh_12:40; 2Co_4:4). Animals kept in the dark, e.g. ponies in coal-mines, become blind: the organ that is never exercised loses its power. So also the conscience that is constantly ignored at last ceases to act. The source of the metaphor is perhaps Isa_6:10 : comp. Rom_11:10.
Before proceeding further let us briefly sum up the Apostle’s line of argument thus far. ‘God is light. Christ is that light revealed. The life of Christ was a life of obedience and a life of love. In order, therefore, to have fellowship through Him with God believers must obey and love. The state of things in which this is possible has already begun. Therefore I write to you a command which is both old and new; walk in the light by imitating the love of Christ.’ In this manner he lays the foundations of Christian Ethics. The last three verses (9–11) shew that the special aspect of walking in light which is referred to in the commandment which is at once old and new is love: and if this be so, we can hardly doubt that in calling it ‘a new commandment’ he has in his mind Christ’s farewell words, Joh_13:34; ‘A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another; even as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.’ The latter half of the verse is, therefore, the special interpretation of ‘ought himself also to walk even as He walked’.
It is not easy to determine whether the division which follows (1Jn_2:12-28) is best regarded as a subdivision of the first main portion of the Epistle, or as a co-ordinate portion. In favour of the latter view are these facts: 1. The idea of light which runs through the whole of the division just concluded (1Jn_1:5 to 1Jn_2:11), and which is mentioned six times in it, now disappears altogether. 2. The Epistle now takes a distinctly hortatory turn. The first part lays down principles: this part gives warnings and exhortations. 3. The Apostle seems to make a fresh start: 1Jn_2:12-14 read like a new Introduction. In favour of making this part a subdivision of the first main division it may be urged:—1. Though the idea of light is no longer mentioned, yet other ideas to which it directly led, love, the truth, abiding in God, still continue: the parts evidently overlap. 2. The hortatory turn is only a partial change of form occurring merely in 1Jn_2:15; 1Jn_2:28. In the intermediate verses the aphoristic mode of expression continues. 3. The quasi-Introduction in 1Jn_2:12-14 no more constitutes a fresh division than the similar addresses in 1Jn_2:1; 1Jn_2:7.
On the whole it seems best to consider what follows as a subordinate part of the first main division of the Epistle. Thus far we have had the Condition and Conduct of the Believer considered on its positive side. We now have the negative side—What Walking in the Light excludes.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Note the alternation: verse 10 is the antithesis of…
Note the alternation: verse 10 is the antithesis of verse 9, and verse 11 of verse 10, repeating and enlarging verse 9. Note also the climax effected by the gradual increase of predicates: in verse 9 one, in verse 10 two, in verse 11 three. The brother-hater has darkness as his habitual condition and as the atmosphere in which he lives and works; and long ago (aorist) the continual darkness deprived him of the very power of sight, so that he is in ignorance as to the course he is taking. Cf. "They know not, neither will they understand; they walk on in darkness; (Psa_82:5) "The fool walketh in darkness. (Ecc_2:14) "St. John scouts all the pretences of men to illumination which do not involve the practical acknowledgment of brotherhood. A man may say he is in the light as much as he pleases; but to be in the light implies that he is able to see his brethren, and not to stumble against them" (Maurice).
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
B. W. Johnson 1891 · Public Domain 11. But he that hateth, etc. He who hates…
11. But he that hateth, etc. He who hates is not following Christ, the Light, and hence walks in the darkness, hence is blinded. He cannot see the dangers that beset him on account of the darkness.
B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.