I John 2:10-11 (Part 3)

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Whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and in him there is no cause for stumbling. But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.

THE STUDY:

          Looking at this verse, it is very similar to that of verse 9. Many of the scholars believe verse 11 is the expansion of verse 9 concerning “darkness.” What we read is John expounding on this darkness and how detrimental it can be. This darkness John is referring to is the result of “Hate.” We can only assume John has seen individuals claiming to be followers of Jesus but not demonstrating the very basics of a believer: LOVE! John expounds on the contrast of light and darkness in this epistle.

          Hatred is part of darkness! It associates itself with two things: choice and blindness! This verse reveals the fact that “whoever hates his brother” is someone who chooses to hate. It is not as if they woke up one morning and accidentally hated their brother. People choose to hate and the same can be said when it comes to love.

John states that in this darkness we don’t know where we are going due to being blind. We go blind due to the fact that we are no longer in the light. We have heard that we can go blind if we are in darkness for a long period of time. The reason for this is because the light- and color-reception rods and cones in the cells, compounding your eye, go unused for a long period of time, and eventually die, causing blindness. One example of this fact is found in the Mammoth Cave of Kentucky were the fish in Echo River have eye-sockets, but no eyes.^[1] This is caused by the fact that they are in complete darkness.

WHAT WE CAN WALK AWAY WITH ….

• What we can walk away with this morning is the understanding that the longer one remains in darkness, eventually they will go blind unless they turn and walk toward the light.

• Looking at the opposite effects to darkness we can glean this fact; if we love, we are in the light, we can walk in the light, and we are able to see everything around us.

CONCLUSION:

           I remember during the earlier days of our marriage my wife and I use to have “discussions” (Translated- arguments)! I use to say to her, “You are making me mad.” She would calmly respond, “No I am not; you are choosing to get mad.” Looking back, I can admit that my wife was absolutely right. What she was saying and what John is sharing with the readers of this Epistle is, the fact, that we choose. We choose to walk in the light or in the darkness. What choice are you going to make today? My prayer is that you and I both choose the LIGHT!

         

Blessings my friends

Pastor Rod

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^[1] Robertson, A. (1997). Word Pictures in the New Testament (1 Jn 2:11). Oak Harbor: Logos Research Systems.

I John 2:10-11 (Part 1)

View Video lesson by right clicking link: I John 2:10-11 (Part 1)

Whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and in him there is no cause for stumbling. But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.

THE STUDY:

          In John’s writings, the main focus is “Love” amongst the believers, for God, and for the lost. The word “Love” is defined by three Greek words (Agapao: to love, Agape: Love, and Agapetos: (Be loved). The word found in this passage is the verb Agapetos. It is defined as a love of a person for a person or object. John points out that the object of this affection is “Brother.” Brother is a general word that is used to cover a vast array of individuals (relative, friend, fellow believer).

          John further goes on to say that there is a correlation to loving our brothers and abiding in the light. The word “abide” is Meno which means to remain or stay. This gives the impression that the reader is in the light and for them to stay in that light they are to love ALL. In doing this they will remain in the light.

          This is a good place to stop but let me add that John is using an “Action,” “Reaction,” and “Result” technique in this passage. The action is to “love,” the reaction is “remaining in the light,” and the result is “not causing someone to stumble.” Tomorrow we will look at the stumbling aspect.

WHAT WE CAN WALK AWAY WITH ….

• I believe what we can walk away this morning in knowing that our actions have a reaction to them. If we throw a rock into a pond, our action (throwing the rock) will have a reaction from the pond (ripples throughout the pond). Our actions can have a positive reaction or a negative reaction to them. A lot of this is determined by us. Not all is determined by us but the majority of it can be contributed. Let us work on our actions so that it has a positive reaction to it.

CONCLUSION:

          We have two dogs, Stitch and Biscuit. We have trained them that when we come home and walk through the door they go outside for obvious reasons. What we have done is caused them to react to our action. The result, of course, is positive, no messes in the house. My prayer is that my actions have a positive reaction so the result will be to the Glory of God. This is my prayer for you today as well.

         

Blessings my friends

Pastor Rod