Reject the Enemies of Christ

¹⁸ My dear children [2:1], ·these are the last days [^Lit is the last hour; ^Csuggesting urgency, though not claiming the end was near]. [^LJust as] You have heard that the ·enemy of Christ [^Lantichrist] is coming, and now many ·enemies of Christ [^Lantichrists; ^Cfalse teachers; 2:22; 2 John 7] are already here. This is how we know that ·these are the last days [^Lit is the last hour]. ¹⁹ ·These enemies of Christ were in our fellowship, but they left us [^LThey went out from us; ^Cprobably to form a rival fellowship]. They never really belonged to us [^LBut they were not of us]; [^LFor] if they had been a part of us, they would have ·stayed [remained; abided] with us. But they left, ·and this shows [or so that it would be shown] that none of them really belonged to us.