2:19a

They went out from us: (Meaning) These people whom John has just called “antichrists” had originally been members of the church. Then they disagreed with the other members over whether Jesus was the Christ whom God sent from heaven, and so they left the church. This proved that they had never really been true Christians (2:19d).

2:19b

they did not belong to us: (Meaning) John means that those people had never really been members of the group of believers. They were never true Christians like himself and his readers.

2:19d

(Good News Translation) they left so that…: (Meaning) John is not saying that these people left the church with the purpose in their minds of showing that they were not really Christians. Rather he is saying that God’s purpose in their leaving was that it should have the effect of making clear that they were not Christians. See Berean Standard Bible, New International Version (2011 Revision), Phillips’ New Testament in Modern English, Living Bible.

© 2000 by SIL International®

Made available under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License (CC BY-SA) creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0

All Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible. BSB is produced in cooperation with Bible Hub, Discovery Bible, OpenBible.com, and the Berean Bible Translation Committee.

Paragraph 2:18–21

Read 2:18–21 in both Berean Standard Bible and Good News Translation. Compare the two versions.

Paragraph Theme: In these verses John reassures his readers that they have received the Holy Spirit, and so they know God’s truth. In this way they are different from the false teachers.

2:18a

Children: (Cross-cultural Difference) Here, as in 2:1, John is writing as a respected leader to churches for which he is responsible. He is showing fatherly affection.

the last hour: (Meaning) John is saying that the time when the world will come to an end is no longer distant and that we are in the last period of the world’s time. As this is a metaphorical use of the word “hour” it may be more natural in your language to translate it as “the last days” or “the time when the world is about to end.”

2:18b

you have heard: (Lexical Problem) In some languages it may be necessary to state who told them this. In that case it should be expressed as indefinite, “One told you,” or as “We (John and the other apostles) told you.”

2:18c

the antichrist: (Biblical Term) In this letter John uses this term in the sense of a person who is opposed to Christ, “the enemy of Christ.”

is coming: (Meaning) This means that the antichrist will appear in the world, not that he will come from some other place.

2:18d

so now many antichrists have appeared: (Focus) John is not telling his readers this as if they did not know it. He is reminding his readers of what they already know—that there are many false teachers about. He does this in order to prove that they really are in the last days of the world and therefore they do need to hold on firmly to God’s word.

2:18e

This is how we know: (Pronoun Reference) The word this refers to the fact that many antichrists have appeared.

© 2000 by SIL International®

Made available under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License (CC BY-SA) creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0

All Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible. BSB is produced in cooperation with Bible Hub, Discovery Bible, OpenBible.com, and the Berean Bible Translation Committee.