1 John 2:18-29
18 Little children, it is the last hour; and as you have heard that the Antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come, by which we know that it is the last hour. 19 They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us; but they went out that they might be made manifest, that none of them were of us.
20 But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you know all things. 21 I have not written to you because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and that no lie is of the truth.
22 Who is a liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist who denies the Father and the Son. 23 Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father either; he who acknowledges the Son has the Father also.
24 Therefore let that abide in you which you heard from the beginning. 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 that He has promised us—eternal life.
26 These things I have written to you concerning those who try to deceive you. 27 But the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you, and you do not need that anyone teach you; but as the same anointing teaches you concerning all things, and is true, and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you will abide in Him.
28 And now, little children, abide in Him, that when He appears, we may have confidence and not be ashamed before Him at His coming. 29 If you know that He is righteous, you know that everyone who practices righteousness is born of Him.
“The Antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come.” The Antichrist—the one whom St. Paul describes in 2 Thessalonians 2—had not yet come when John wrote these words. But already in John’s day antichrists—teachers who denied God’s Son had come in the flesh and paid for the sins of the world to justify believers—had come. They came from the church. These false teachers went out from the church but they were not of the church. Jesus foretold such men, calling them wolves in sheep’s clothing. They use the Scriptures, but mutilate them to fit their own teaching. They prophesy, cast out demons, and do wonders in Jesus’ name, yet did not know Him by faith. They deceive themselves and their hearers.
John’s hearers have no need of these men to teach them. He tells them, “Abide in you which you heard from the beginning. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you.” Having heard the gospel from Christ’s apostle, they are to remain in what they heard from John, who heard the gospel from Christ. Through this gospel they received the Holy Spirit, whom John calls “the anointing.” “The anointing which you have received from Him abides in you, and you do not need that anyone teach you.” He doesn’t mean this an an absolute sense so that they need no one ever to teach them. He himself had taught them the gospel. Christ Himself “gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers” (Eph. 4:11). Since John’s hearers had received the Holy Spirit through His teaching and preaching, they were equipped to spot anti-christian teachings and abide in Christ’s gospel alone.
The world is still full of antichrists. Some have gone out from the church and revealed themselves. Others are still within the visible church, wearing the sheepskin as they teach a different doctrine than Christ’s while using Christ’s name. It is vital for all Christians to abide God’s Word and Christ’s doctrine, because there the Spirit teaches us the truth, leading us into faith in His promises and faith’s end: eternal life.
Let us pray: Give us Your Holy Spirit through Your Word, O Lord, that we abide in You and endure in faith. Amen.
