As a young man I went on a caving expedition in the Adirondack mountains of New York. Along with my co-campers, I squeezed myself through narrow passages and down cracks in the rock until we came to a large room underground. At that point we all agreed to turn our lights off. I was not prepared for the depth of darkness that enveloped us. Without light, we were completely lost. If we tried to leave the cave without light, we would never have made it out.

In his first letter, John uses light and darkness to motivate Christians to love one another (v. 10). He argues that anyone who hates a fellow Christian is like someone who walks around in the dark, they are lost because they have been blinded by darkness (v. 12).

Why use such a powerful illustration? Because hating a fellow Christian is unbecoming of a person who claims to believe in Jesus Christ. Consider the incongruity of a person who claims to love Christ and yet hates those for whom Christ died. We would look askance at someone who says, “I love Jesus, but I hate others who love Jesus.” That person would be blind to the truth of the gospel. In Christ, those who have believed are family. Family members ought not hate one another. We may disagree, we may argue, we may struggle with one another, but we never hate each other.

On the other hand, anyone who loves a fellow Christian is like a person who walks around in a well-lit environment! That individual will not stumble because they can see any obstacle in their way (v. 10). Loving fellow believers should be the normal setting for Christians because we believe in the Light of the World!

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