1 John 2:18-29
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
Antichrists. 18 Children, it is the last hour;[a] and just as you heard that the antichrist was coming, so now many antichrists have appeared. Thus we know this is the last hour.(A) 19 They went out from us, but they were not really of our number;[b] if they had been, they would have remained with us. Their desertion shows that none of them was of our number. 20 But you have the anointing that comes from the holy one,[c] and you all have knowledge.(B) 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.(C) 22 [d]Who is the liar? Whoever denies that Jesus is the Christ. Whoever denies the Father and the Son, this is the antichrist.(D) 23 No one who denies the Son has the Father, but whoever confesses the Son has the Father as well.(E)
Life from God’s Anointing. 24 (F)Let what you heard from the beginning remain in you. If what you heard from the beginning remains in you, then you will remain in the Son and in the Father.[e] 25 And this is the promise that he made us: eternal life.(G) 26 I write you these things about those who would deceive you. 27 As for you, the anointing that you received from him remains in you, so that you do not need anyone to teach you. But his anointing teaches you about everything and is true and not false; just as it taught you, remain in him.
Children of God. 28 [f]And now, children, remain in him, so that when he appears we may have confidence and not be put to shame by him at his coming. 29 If you consider that he is righteous, you also know that everyone who acts in righteousness is begotten by him.
Read full chapterFootnotes
- 2:18 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 Mt 24:24 and Mk 13:22, and Paul’s “lawless one” in 2 Thes 2:3, are similar figures. Many antichrists: Matthew, Mark, and Revelation seem to indicate a collectivity of persons, here related to the false teachers.
- 2:19 Not really of our number: the apostate teachers only proved their lack of faith by leaving the community.
- 2:20 The anointing that comes from the holy one: this anointing is in the Old Testament sense of receiving the Spirit of God. The holy one probably refers to Christ. True knowledge is the gift of the Spirit (cf. Is 11:2), and the function of the Spirit is to lead Christians to the truth (Jn 14:17, 26; 16:13).
- 2:22–23 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 (Jn 1:18; 14:8–9).
- 2:24 Continuity with the apostolic witness as proclaimed in the prologue is the safeguard of right belief.
- 2:28–29 Our confidence at his judgment is based on the daily assurance of salvation. Our actions reflect our true relation to him.
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