Chapter 2 (NIV–the verses in this chapter were taken from this version. Each chapter will be from a different version to avoid copyright issues.)
Deceptions of the Last Hour
v. 18, Dear children, this is the last hour; and as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come. This is how we know it is the last hour.
(Bible Knowl Comm NT) “The false teachers who were present were worldly to the core.” John warns the readers to keep alert regarding members of the church, for “Antichrist … would display his traits of hostility toward god’s Christ.”
(FSB) “last hour Refers to the time preceding Jesus’ second coming. … antichrist is coming Jesus had noted that those who falsely claim authority—as anointed (messianic) leaders—would come (see Mark 13:21-22; Matt. 24:4-5, 24). … The singular term ‘antichrist’ … might refer to the evil figures described in 2 Thess 2:3-10 and Rev 13:1-10. … many antichrists Refers to those who have withdrawn from the community John is addressing. He identifies them in this way because they spread false teaching about Jesus.”
(Moody) “2:18-19. … John was indicating that there were forerunners of the antichrist.”
(Prophecy) “Antichrist. This is the first appearance of this term in the Bible.” The last hour: “(cf. 1 Tim. 4:1; 1 Pet. 4:7; 2 Pet 3:3; Jude 1:18).”
(ESV) “Broadly an ‘antichrist’ is anyone ‘who denies that Jesus is the Christ.’ (1 John2:22). … Persons doing the devil’s bidding and not God’s will.”
v. 19, They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us; but their going showed that none of them belonged to us.
(Bible Knowl Comm NT) “They went out from us” probably refers to the legalists from the apostolic churches of Jerusalem and Judea, “a particular threat to the readers because they came to them claiming roots in the soil out of which Christianity arose. … They did not really belong to us … did not really share the spirit and perspective of the apostolic circle.” They exhibit a “fundamental disharmony with the spirit and doctrine of the apostles.”
(FSB) “They went out … they do not represent the viewpoints of the Church or Jesus. For John, the origin of a viewpoint (or someone’s ministry) does not validate it. Rather, people must remain within Christ—within the church community and the guidance of the Holy Spirit.” Based on John 14:6 “John views the world through the lens of whether people are of Christ or not. … Not of us John indicates that these secessionists—antichrists—are not authentic believers… be shown Because the antichrists withdrew from the Christian community, they could not receive correction. Their decision to depart from the Church revealed their true character.”
(Moody) “Their defection has shown they never shared the church’s heavenly birth.”
v. 20, But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you know the truth.
(FSB) “This anointing served as further evidence of the Christian community’s genuine relationship with Christ, on another, and John.” Regarding you know all things: “It provided them with the discernment necessary to reject the false teaching of the antichrists.”
(Moody) “This illumination gave these believers insight about the truth—an appreciation for it, an application of it—that those without the Spirit lacked. …(Cf. 1 Co 2:6-12).
(Wiersbe) Conflicts warned about in this epistle: light and darkness, love and hatred, and now truth and error. “to walk in the light and to walk in love is not enough; … must also walk in truth. The issue is truth—or consequences!”
v. 21, I do not write to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it and because no lie comes from the truth.
(FSB) “you do know it John appeals to their knowledge of the truth, setting up the argument in the remainder of this chapter.”
(Moody) “they know the truth of the gospel” so they would recognize faulty doctrine.
v. 22, Who is the liar? It is whoever denies that Jesus is the Christ. Such a person is the antichrist—denying the Father and the Son.
(Bible Knowl Comm NT) “To reject One is to reject the Other.”
(Prophecy) “2:22-23 … Their blatant rejection of Him as the Messian is also a rejection of His incarnate deity.”
v. 23, No one who denies the Son has the Father; whoever acknowledges the Son has the Father also.
(FSB) “the only way to relationship with God the Father is through God the Son (compare John 14:6).”
(ESV) “The world’s religions do no constitute ‘many paths to the one God.’ ”
FIRST JOHN 2 MEDITATION vv. 18-23.
Many Christian believers wonder if the antichrist figure is already in the world somewhere, ready to emerge and engage with Israel in these last days. John’s epistle tells us to look in our own churches to see if an antichrist is already there. In your home fellowship, is there someone who is at odds with the other believers? Do you hear complaints or gospel half-truths from people in your church (“Jesus is Savior, but He is not God”)? Does anyone there have a problem with persons in authority?
John emphasizes again and again that fellowship with God the Father and the Son is a key metric of a healthy, thriving spiritual life. This constant communion shows that we have our priorities straight; we understand grace, faith, obedience, and love, and the illumination of the Spirit regarding truth. If we have this fellowship, then we are in a good position to detect whether others coming into the church are not, and to be watchful that other members of the body are not led astray by them. With spiritual senses alert, we’ll detect the disruptions in the body coming from those who are not in fellowship with the Lord.
This abiding fellowship with God results in joy, and when something causes disharmony in the church relationships or in our decision-making, it should disturb our spirits. We need to watch and pray. The devil’s instruments are at work even now. Our enemy still wants to draw us away from a fellowship with Christ of trust and humility. When we have a healthy relationship with God, we’ll know the principles of a healthy fellowship with the body of Christ. We will have one Father over all, and following the same commandments of love for one another.
