Verses to review today: 1 John 1:10-2:8
New Verse: 1 John 2:9

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Whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness. (ESV)

He that saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother, is in darkness even until now. (KJV)

Greek: Ὁ λέγων ἐν τῷ φωτὶ εἶναι καὶ τὸν ἀδελφὸν αὐτοῦ μισῶν ἐν τῇ σκοτίᾳ ἐστὶν ἕως ἄρτι.

Transliterated Greek: HO legōn en tō phōti einai kai ton adelphon autou misōn en tē skotia estin heōs arti.

Literal Word for Word Translation: the one who says he is in the light and hates his brother is in the darkness until now.

Vocab: φωτὶ, phōti, light; ἀδελφὸν, adelphon, brother; μισῶν, misōn, is hating; σκοτίᾳ, scotia, darkness; ἕως, heōs, until; ἄρτι, arti, now.

Commentary: This one is pretty simple. Anyone who thinks he is in the light, yet has hate for a fellow brother or sister in Christ, is not truly in the light. In other words, they aren’t acting like Christ, who is the light, and thus do not have their behavior being shaped by His transforming power. As one who still sins in the flesh, a believer may have difficulty overcoming the desire to have hatred for someone. Yet, there should be strong conviction with a struggle towards recognizing the hatred is wrong and needs to be turned into love. In time the struggle results in transformation and brotherly love, even for our enemies. That doesn’t mean we will always “like” them. But we don’t hate them and instead have respect that comes from brotherly love.