But he that hates his brother is in darkness, and walks in darkness, and knows not where he goes, because that darkness has blinded his eyes.
All Commentaries on 1 John 2:11 Go To 1 John 2
Cornelius a Lapide
AD 1637
But he that hateth his brother is in darkness. For, as Å’cumenius says, "He cannot be in the light of Christ, who hateth him for whom Christ died."
And knoweth not whither he goeth. "For (as says S. Cyprian, de Zelo) he goes down to hell, ignorantly and blindly, and withdrawn from the light of Christ, who says, "I am the Light of the world."" "Hatred," says the author of Imperf. Homily xiii. [on S. Matt.] "is the spirit of darkness, and wherever it settles it defiles the purity of holiness;" and adds, "The world is so full of offences, that if we wish to love our friends only, we shall not find anything to love." See Proverbs 4:19; Zephaniah 1:17; and Isaiah 59:10. For in truth nothing so blinds our reason as hatred. "There is no difference between anger and madness," says S. Chrysostom on S. John (Hom. xlvii.)
And anger is so blind as not to see its own blindness. Seneca adduces the case of Harpasto, his wife"s handmaid (Ep. li.), who did not understand that she was blind, adding, "No one admits that he is covetous, or ambitious, or angry. I have not settled on my course of life (he says), it is our youth that causes it. But why do we deceive ourselves? The evil is not without us, but within us, and therefore we find it hard to regain our health, because we know not that we are ill." Democritus blinded himself by looking at the sun, in order that he might not see the happiness of the wicked. And in like manner do the envious and malicious blind themselves.
