~Walking In The Light~

He who says he is in the Light, and hates his brother, is in darkness even until now. He who loves his Brother abides in the Light and there is no occasion of stumbling in him. But he who hates his Brother is in darkness and walks in darkness and knows not where he goes, because that darkness has blinded his eyes. {1 John 2:10}

~Fellowship with God depends on loving members of the family of God~
~It must be a vertical and horizontal relationship with God and mankind~
How can we claim to have love, an at the same time hate our Brother? This love is the God kind of love that only can happen if one is saved. To walk in the light is to be governed by love which removes all stumbling blocks. The individual who has once known the Lord but is losing his way with God simply because of hatred in his heart for a fellow Christian can only walk in darkness, because God is love and His love is light which dispels that darkness. The sad thing is when one is living in spiritual darkness they merely do not see, but that person goes spiritually blind which makes an individual an open target for false doctrine. This blindness keeps one from seeing clearly the path before them so they are blind- sighted and led astray down a different path or a different doctrine. We cannot hate our brother and walk in the light simultaneously.

There is strong opposition of feelings between God and the believer who hates his fellow Christian because God is pure and absolute light. Darkness means in this context to be out of fellowship with God or carnal. We cannot claim to be in the light and hate fellow Christians. We test our fellowship with God by whether we love Christians. There is no gray area between light and darkness when it comes to God for He is perfect in His character. We cannot be in fellowship with God and out of fellowship with a Christian at the same time. It is not God’s divine order. Christians who characteristically hate their brothers are in the darkness of being out of fellowship with God. This is the absence of fellowship with the God of light. God’s love cannot be neutral. Genuine Christians can sometimes hate other Christians. That is why John challenges the believer to radical love. We cannot toy with divine love if we love biblically. A Christian loves self-sacrificially.