Kyle Bartholic 1 John 2:12-17 Coming out of the preceding passage, John pauses to speak an encouraging reminder over his audience. Verses 9-11 are a bit heavy. In those verses, John uses stark contrasts to highlight his point that selfless love for our neighbors is supposed to be a mark of a Christian. However, he doesn’t want those stark contrasts to unsettle the confidence and faith of his audience, so he reminds them of their great hope and confidence in Christ.