1 John 2:18, 22
- 17
- Yet the world and its enticement are passing away. But whoever does the will of God remains forever.
- 18
- Children, it is the last hour;9 and just as you heard that the antichrist was coming, so now many antichrists have appeared. Thus we know this is the last hour.
- 19
- They went out from us, but they were not really of our number;10 if they had been, they would have remained with us. Their desertion shows that none of them was of our number.
9. [18] It is the last hour: literally, "a last hour," the period between the death and resurrection of Christ and his second coming. The antichrist: opponent or adversary of Christ; the term appears only in 1 John-2 John, but "pseudochrists" (translated "false messiahs") in Matthew 24:24 and Mark 13:22, and Paul's "lawless one" in 2 Thes 2:3, are similar figures. Many antichrists: Matthew, Mark, and Rev seem to indicate a collectivity of persons, here related to the false teachers.
10. [19] Not really of our number: the apostate teachers only proved their lack of faith by leaving the community.
- 21
- I write to you not because you do not know the truth but because you do, and because every lie is alien to the truth.
- 22
- 12 Who is the liar? Whoever denies that Jesus is the Christ. Whoever denies the Father and the Son, this is the antichrist.
- 23
- No one who denies the Son has the Father, but whoever confesses the Son has the Father as well.
12. [22-23] Certain gnostics denied that the earthly Jesus was the Christ; to deny knowledge of the Son is to deny the Father, since only through the Son has God been fully revealed (John 1:18;14:8-9).
1 John 4:3
- 2
- This is how you can know the Spirit of God: every spirit that acknowledges Jesus Christ come in the flesh be longs to God,
- 3
- and every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus2 does not belong to God. This is the spirit of the antichrist that, as you heard, is to come, but in fact is already in the world.
- 4
- You belong to God, children, and you have conquered them, for the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.
2. [3] Does not acknowledge Jesus: some ancient manuscripts add "Christ" and/or "to have come in the flesh" (cf 1 John 4:2), and others read "every spirit that annuls (or severs) Jesus."
2 John 1:7
- 6
- For this is love, that we walk according to his commandments;4 this is the commandment, as you heard from the beginning, in which you should walk.
- 7
- Many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh; such is the deceitful one and the antichrist.5
- 8
- Look to yourselves that you6 do not lose what we worked for but may receive a full recompense.
4. [6] His commandments: cf 1 John 3:23;john 2:7-8;john 4:21; obedience to the commandment of faith and love includes all others.
5. [7] The antichrist: see 1 John 2:18-19,22;john 4:3.
6. [8] You (plural): it is not certain whether this means the Christians addressed or includes the Presbyter, since some of the ancient Greek manuscripts and Greek Fathers have "we."