1 John 2:9

9. The 1 John 2:9-11 are a resumption of the thread of thought from 1 John 2:6, after the parenthetic 7, 8.

In the light Namely, the true light of the last verse, Jesus the propitiator. It is under the imagery of light and darkness, now, (in 9-11,) that the antithesis between the Christian and the errorist is presented. The light is the emblem of truth and purity blended in one; the darkness is the unity of error and sin.

Hateth his brother His brother, in the various degrees in which that title can be applied to his fellow-man. Love of various degrees and kinds is due to the brother in each sense, as fellow-believer, as child of the same human parent, as child of the same all-Father. As John is expounding the fellowship of the believer with Christ and God, it is in the first sense that the word brother is here primarily used.

In darkness Destitute of the divine light and love. He is spiritually dark and cold.

Until now How much soever he may have professed to be in the light.

10, 11, restate strongly the antithesis between fraternal love and hatred, presenting it as the prominent test of our moral condition.