DEVOTION
THE 1ST LETTER OF JOHN
LOVE OR HATE
1 John 2:9-11
9 Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates his brother is still
in the darkness. 10 Whoever loves his brother lives in the light, and there is
nothing in him to make him stumble. 11 But whoever hates his brother is in the
darkness and walks around in the darkness; he does not know where he is going,
because the darkness has blinded him.
NIV
There is absolutely no wiggle room here at all. The Greek word translated
as hate means even a little more than hate as it can be used as detest, or to
love less. Now, if we want to see it as love less, that would imply partiality
in our love, or that we love some of our brothers more than others. That is
what those little cliques are all about. Special buddies, or a group of ladies
that hang out together and won’t let others in. Partiality in our love would
mean we are still walking in the darkness. Although John is making a special
notation about hating our brother, which the Greek word is used both as
someone from the same parents, or fellow believers as we are in the same family
of God, Jesus said that we are to even love our enemies. In other words, we are
to love each other equally as God loves the world or all his creation. Again,
our love should be equally demonstrated to all our fellow believers. Of course,
there is a very special bond of love that exists in marriage, a love like no
other. This bond of love was established by God, so it is just fine to love our
spouse more than any other person. There also may well be a special bond of
love within a family, between a mother and father for their children and that
bond of siblings. John is not forgetting about that, or speaking against
those special bonds of love, but rather speaking about the family of God, every
believer. How can we detest a fellow believer? That would seem against
everything we are supposed to be as a follower of Christ. Can we love someone,
but really not like them very much? That seems ridiculous to even say. We think
it applies more to loving less, then pure unadulterated hatred. Maybe even
being indifferent toward some believers can be interpreted as hate. If we do
not love them, then we hate them. It appears to be that kind of black and white
issue, lacking any grey areas at all. Love or hate, pick one, then we apply
that toward other believers. The problem is we cannot ever pick hate, or
detest, or show partiality in our love. If we do, we are not walking in the
light, we are in the darkness and have become blind to the truth of God. How can
that be? How can someone who claims to be a Christian walk in the darkness? Yet,
it appears it is possible, for we have witnessed such behavior in the community
of faith. Can being judgmental or critical serve as being non-loving and thus
would qualify as hate? Can gossip serve as a form of non-love, thus hatred? We
know these little cliques serve as partiality and can serve as loving less
those outside the group and thus hate. Again, there does not seem to be any
wiggle room at all. We must love all believers equal, as God does if we are
walking in the light. If we don’t then we are walking in the darkness, and are blinded to the truth.
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