Common misinterpretations treat 'brother' solely as biological family rather than fellow Christians in the church, confuse everyday disagreements or personal dislikes with the deep-seated hatred John condemns, or literalize 'darkness hath blinded his eyes' as physical blindness instead of spiritual incapacity to discern truth, thus missing the passage's call to reject hatred for genuine light-walking.
I John 2:11
King James Version (1769)
11 But he that hateth his brother is in darkness, and walketh in darkness, and knoweth not whither he goeth, because that darkness hath blinded his eyes.
In 1 John 2:11, John warns that whoever hates a fellow believer remains in spiritual darkness, walking blindly without direction because hatred—contrary to God's nature of light—blinds the inner eyes, hindering true knowledge of God's path and disrupting fellowship with Him, emphasizing love as essential evidence of abiding in the light.