Add parallel Print Page Options

19 They went out from us, but they were not really of our number;[a] 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,[b] and you all have knowledge.(A) 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.(B)

Read full chapter

Footnotes

  1. 2:19 Not really of our number: the apostate teachers only proved their lack of faith by leaving the community.
  2. 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).

19 They went out from us,(A) 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.(B)

20 But you have an anointing(C) from the Holy One,(D) and all of you know the truth.[a](E) 21 I do not write to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it(F) and because no lie comes from the truth.

Read full chapter

Footnotes

  1. 1 John 2:20 Some manuscripts and you know all things