Book of Common Prayer

Children, Antichrists Have Arisen

¹⁸ Children, it is the last^[a] hour. And just as you heard that the Antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have arisen— from which we know that it is the last hour. ¹⁹ They went out from us, but they were not of ^[b] us. For if they had been of us, they would have remained with us. But they went out in order that they might be made-evident that^[c] they all are not of us.

You Have God’s Anointing And You Know The Truth. Let It Abide In You And You In It

²⁰ And you have an Anointing^[d] from the Holy One, and you all have-knowledge^[e]. ²¹ I did not write to you because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and that^[f] every lie is not from^[g] the truth. ²² Who is the liar if not the one denying that Jesus is the Christ? This one is the antichrist, the one denying the Father and the Son. ²³ Everyone denying the Son does also-not have the Father. The one confessing^[h] the Son also has the Father. ²⁴ Let what you heard from the beginning be abiding in you. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, you also will abide in the Son and in the Father. ²⁵ And this is the promise which He Himself promised to us: eternal life. ²⁶ I wrote these things to you concerning the ones deceiving you. ²⁷ And the Anointing which you received from Him is abiding in you. And you have no need that anyone should be teaching^[i] you; but as His Anointing is teaching you about all things, and is true and is not a lie, and just as it^[j] taught you, be abiding^[k] in it^[l].

Abide In Christ So That If He Appears You May Have Confidence And Not Shame

²⁸ And now little-children, be abiding^[m] in Him so that if He appears, we may have confidence and not be put-to-shame^[n] by Him at His coming.

Abiding Means Doing Righteousness, Which Characterizes All Those Born From God

²⁹ If you know^[o] that He^[p] is righteous, you know that everyone also doing righteousness has been born^[q] from Him.

In The Fifteenth Year of Tiberius, John Is Sent Out By God

3 Now in the fifteenth^[a] year of the government of Tiberius^[b] Caesar— Pontius Pilate^[c] being-governor of Judea, and Herod^[d] being-tetrarch^[e] of Galilee, and Philip^[f] his brother being tetrarch of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias being tetrarch of Abilene, ² in-the-time-of the high priest Annas and Caiaphas— the word of God came to^[g] John, the son of Zechariah, in the wilderness.

John Proclaims a Baptism of Repentance, In Fulfillment of Isaiah

³ And he went into all the surrounding-region of the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, ⁴ as it has been written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet [in Isa 40:3-5], “A voice of one shouting in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord; be making His paths straight. ⁵ Every valley will be filled and every mountain and hill will be made-low. And the crooked paths will become straight, and the rough will become smooth paths. ⁶ And all flesh will see the salvation of God’”. ⁷ Therefore he was saying to the crowds coming out to be baptized by him, “Brood of vipers— who showed^[h] you to flee from the coming wrath? ⁸ Therefore produce fruits worthy of repentance. And do not begin to say within^[i] yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father’. For I say to you that God is able to raise-up children for Abraham from these stones! ⁹ And indeed the axe is already lying^[j] at the root of the trees. Therefore every tree not producing good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire”.

The People Ask John What They Should Do To Produce Fruit Worthy of Repentance

¹⁰ And the crowds were questioning him, saying, “What then should we do?” ¹¹ And having responded, he was saying to them, “Let the one having two tunics^[k] give to the one not having, and let the one having food be doing likewise”. ¹² And tax collectors also came to be baptized. And they said to him, “Teacher, what should we do?” ¹³ And the one said to them, “Be collecting nothing more than the amount having been commanded”. ¹⁴ And ones serving-as-soldiers also were questioning him, saying, “And us, what should we do?” And he said to them, “Do not violently-extort^[l] anyone, nor extort-with-false-charges. And be content with your wages^[m]”.