1 John 2:9

9. For the fifth time the Apostle indicates a possible inconsistency of a very gross kind between profession and conduct (1 John 1:6; 1 John 1:8; 1 John 1:10; 1 John 2:4). We shall have a sixth in 1 John 4:20. In most of these passages he is aiming at some of the Gnostic teaching already prevalent. And this introduces a fresh pair of contrasts. We have had light and darkness, truth and falsehood; we now have love and hate.

τὸν�. Ipsa appellatio amoris causam continet (Bengel). Does this mean ‘his fellow-Christian’ or ‘his fellow-man,’ whether Christian or not? The common meaning in N.T. is the former; and though there are passages where ἀδελφός seems to have the wider signification, e.g. Matthew 5:22; Luke 6:41; James 4:11, yet even here the spiritual bond of brotherhood is perhaps in the background. In S. John’s writings, where it does not mean actual relationship, it seems generally if not universally to mean ‘Christians’: not that other members of the human race are excluded, but they are not under consideration. Just as in the allegories of the Fold and of the Good Shepherd, nothing is said about goats, and in that of the Vine nothing is said about the branches of other trees; so here in the great family of the Father nothing is said about those who do not know Him. They are not shut out, but they are not definitely included. In this Epistle this passage, 1 John 3:10; 1 John 3:14-17, and 1 John 4:20-21 are somewhat open to doubt: but 1 John 5:1-2 seems very distinctly in favour of the more limited meaning; and in 1 John 5:16 the sinning ‘brother’ is certainly a fellow-Christian. In 2 John the word does not occur: 3 John 1:3; 3 John 1:5; 3 John 1:10 confirm the view here taken. In the Gospel the word is generally used of actual relationship: but in the two passages where it is used otherwise it means Christians: in John 20:17 Christ speaks of the disciples as τοὺς�, and in John 21:23 Christians are called τοὺς� (see note). In the Apocalypse, omitting Revelation 22:9 as doubtful, all the passages where the word occurs require the meaning ‘Christian’ (John 1:9; John 6:11; John 12:10; John 19:10). Note that throughout this Epistle the singular is used; τὸν�, not τοὺς�.

ἐν τῇ σκοτίᾳ ἐστὶν ἕως ἄρτι. Is in the darkness, to bring out the full contrast with the light, as in 1 John 1:6 : even until now, i.e. in spite of the light which ‘is already shining,’ and of which he has so little real experience that he believes light and hatred to be compatible. Years before this S. Paul had declared (1 Corinthians 13:2), ‘If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge … but have not love, I am nothing.’ “Fictitious sanctity dazzles the eyes of almost all men, while love is neglected, or at least driven into the farthest corner” (Calvin). The light in a man is darkness until it is warmed by love. The convert from heathendom who professes Christianity and hates his brother, says S. Augustine, is in darkness even until now. “There is no need to expound; but to rejoice, if it be not so, to bewail, if it be.” Ἄρτι is specially frequent in S. John’s Gospel: it indicates the present moment not absolutely, but in relation to the past or the future. The peculiar combination ἕως ἄρτι occurs John 2:10; John 5:17; John 16:24; Matthew 11:12; 1 Corinthians 4:13; 1 Corinthians 8:7; 1 Corinthians 15:6; a fact much obscured in A.V. by the variety of renderings; ‘until now,’ ‘hitherto,’ ‘unto this day,’ ‘unto this hour,’ ‘unto this present.’