1 John 2:18-20
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)
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- 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).
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