Skandalon: The Ancient Stumbling Block
Robert Wurtz II
He who says he is in the light, and hates his brother, is in darkness until now. He who loves his brother abides in the light, and there is no cause for stumbling in him. But he who hates his brother is in darkness and walks in darkness. He does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes. (1 John 2:9–11 NKJV)
John brings us to the central theme of the New Testament with a renewed focus and insight. Being born of God changes a person’s unloving ways. If they don’t change to become the type of person that loves everyone like they love themselves they are not born of God no matter what they profess. Moreover, when a person is in the light they treat their brother (or sister) in a loving way. No exceptions. This is the light we must walk in so that the blood of Jesus Christ will go on cleansing us of all sin (1 John 1:7)
Simply put, when a person abides in the light they treat everyone like they want to be treated. Paul summarizes this in Romans 13:10: “Love does not harm a neighbor; therefore, love is the fulfillment of the law.” (Romans 13:10) In other words, the objective of the Law was to teach fallen man how to treat one another lovingly and godly in relationships. This article addresses people who disregard the mandate to love and do the opposite.
Walk in Love
When one is walking in love, one achieves the primary objective of the Law. They “fulfill the law.” 1 John 2:9-11 may be used as a symposium on Romans 13:10a, where Paul stated, “Love does not harm a neighbor.” Let that sink in. Both Paul and John agree that when a person loves their brother or sister, there is no “cause of stumbling” in them. There is nothing in them that would cause another person to fall into sin or lose faith.
Our word in Greek for “cause of stumbling” is skandalon; the word from which we derive the English word scandal. It is a trap or a stumbling block. In other words, a person who walks in love is not a spiritual “trip hazard” for others. This is because a person who loves their brother or sister values them above all else, except for God. You can pretend to love, but if your actions cause someone to stumble, it is not love; it is hate in disguise.
The Value of a Soul
One change that comes to the born-again is a love for people, even their enemies. The love of God is shed abroad in the heart of the born-again by the Holy Spirit (Romans 5:5). You become sensitive to people’s need for salvation. Not merely in a generic or abstract way that offers mere lip service. Many people claim to love souls, but their words and actions don’t match. If they truly loved people, they wouldn’t risk stumbling them for carnal and temporal pursuits. I suggest that such recklessness is either ignorance, Satanic, or both. Why would Jesus die on a cross to save a person, and then a professing believer or leader do something foolish to stumble them?
God describes people as vessels ready for the Master’s use. These are vessels that Jesus purchased with His own blood. Common sense says, “handle with care,” as if you were handling a priceless antique vase. A person who is born of God and walks in love is conscientious and careful not to cause unnecessary harm or offense against others, whether by intention or recklessness. You could put a gun to their head, and they would never lead people away from God, turn others against God, or wound their faith in any way.
Satan’s children are different, and they can be no other. Why? Satan can’t fake genuine love in the unregenerate. Jesus told the Pharisees (Perushim) that they were of their father the Devil and that the lusts of their father they will do. He was not a lover from the beginning; he was a murderer from the beginning. He cannot fake an authentic concern for people’s immortal souls. He tries to work on his unregenerate children to “put it on” in public, but their actions in real life reveal his influence as the hateful snake that he is. The poison of asps is under his lips (Romans 3:13). He can’t work love in people. Only God can do that.
Diabolical Recklessness
Some professors of the Christian faith do not live by this rule of love and care. They either lack understanding of how their actions affect others, or they are agents of Satan pretending to be children of God while destroying people. John writes, “But he who hates his brother is in darkness and walks in darkness. He does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.”
His evil eye (ayin ra’ah) leads to inward darkness, said Jesus. An evil eye is a Hebraism for a person who is envious, greedy, and stingy. It is a form of hatred. If a person walks in envy, greed, and hate, they are blind and crashing into others, tripping them up in their faith. They are blind to what they are destroying. Again, “But he who hates his brother is in darkness and walks in darkness. He does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.”
This is a sobering passage. It teaches us that some professors of Christ actually hate their brother or sister. They may not admit it, but their actions testify that they do indeed hate them. What is one such action? It is behaving in a way that could offend the person and cause them to fall from the faith. They are prepared to destroy people for whom Christ died for reasons that in the light of eternity are trivial matters. What is a soul worth? How much do you really value a person’s soul? Your actions, not words, reveal the truth.
Ignorant of Your Own Spirit
The Disciples, before they were born of God, had the attitude that if people didn’t respond to God in a way they thought necessary, they should call fire down from heaven. Jesus told them that they did not know what kind of spirit they were of. This suggests that there are spirits inspiring their behavior, and they are not even aware of it.
It was not the Holy Spirit inspiring them this way. Nevertheless, when they received the Holy Spirit in Acts 2:1ff, the love of God was poured out in their hearts (Romans 5:5), and their spirit and perspective changed. They loved the very people they once hated.
Compounded Darkness
The second point I wish to see in our passage is that when a professor of the Christian faith has a hateful attitude toward his brother, for reasons beyond greed and stinginess, he is filled with more darkness. It’s like wearing two pairs of dark sunglasses simultaneously. The compounding hatred completely blinds them. This not only endangers others but also endangers the blind person.
What is worse is that the person does not know they are blind and actually believes they have clear vision. They think they see more clearly and with greater discernment than others, but what they see is a false reality. Hate and greed distort a person’s perceptions so profoundly that John characterizes those who harbor them as “blind.”
Double Blind
John and Paul are not the only Apostles to address this issue. Peter takes up the same line when he writes: “And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; and to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness love. For if these things are in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But he who lacks these things is blind and cannot see afar off, and has forgotten that he was purged from his old sins.” (2 Peter 1:6-9)
A person who lacks temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness, and love is spiritually blind. Peter adds the cause of the blindness: he has forgotten that he was purged from his old sins. This is always the danger. When a professor of the Christian faith forgets that they have sinned and been forgiven, they develop a self-righteous, ungodly, and unloving attitude towards others that blinds them.
What did Paul say? “And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.” (Ephesians 4:32 NKJV) Some professors of the Christian faith excuse their hateful behavior by suggesting that the person they hate is no Christian at all, but an enemy of the faith. Once they convince themselves of this lie, ungodly and unloving behaviors become acceptable to them. Paul addresses this stronghold in Romans 14:4 when he asks, “Who are you to judge another’s servant? To his own master he stands or falls. Indeed, he will be made to stand, for God is able to make him stand.” (Romans 14:4 NKJV)
Fake Excuses for Non-Love
It is folly and a trap to exclude brothers and sisters in the faith because you or I don’t think their faith is “genuine enough.” This leads to the belief that they are worthy of hate or mistreatment and stumbling.
“What a blessing it is that the Lord’s heart is so large, that He can help whenever He sees some good; whereas man withdraws because he sees some evil thing, which generally means something that wounds his own self-love in the little scheme he had set up as perfection.” (Anthony Norris Groves)
Groves had his hand on God’s pulse when he wrote these words. How far is it from the attitude of the person who hates and stumbles their brother? Yet we need to add one more person to our list whose words are perhaps the most sobering of all.
Danger
Then He said to the disciples, “It is impossible that no offenses should come, but woe to him through whom they do come! It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were thrown into the sea, than that he should offend one of these little ones. Take heed to yourselves.” (Luke 17:1–3 NKJV) The idea is not simply to cause someone to sin, but rather to make them less faithful disciples or to stop following Jesus altogether.
Jesus recognizes that such things will happen, but woe to that person through whom they come. In what sense is it terrible for the disciple who causes another to stumble? In v. 2, Jesus states that it would be better for him to be thrown into the sea with a millstone tied around his neck than for him to cause one to stumble. Elsewhere, Jesus states that it would be better to lose an eye or a limb in order to gain heaven than to go to hell (see Mark 9:43, 47). Although this language may be hyperbolic, Jesus warns of the danger of judgment upon anyone who would destroy the faith of anyone who believes in Him. The final warning of v. 3a is to “watch yourselves.”
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