He who says he is in the light and hates his brother, is in the darkness even until now.
Obviously genuine Christians have hated other Christians. It is naive to claim, as some expositors have, that the one hating must be an unbeliever. Moreover John regarded the hater and the one hated as brothers. In this letter the community of Christians is in view, so John meant a "brother" Christian rather than an unsaved neighbor. [Note: Ibid.; Hodges, The Epistles . . ., p. 86.] 