1 John 2:18-29 New International Version

18 Dear children, this is the last hour; and as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come. This is how we know it is the last hour. 19 They went out from us, 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.

20 But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you know the truth.[a] 21 I do not write to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it and because no lie comes from the truth. 22 Who is the liar? It is whoever denies that Jesus is the Christ. Such a person is the antichrist—denying the Father and the Son. 23 No one who denies the Son has the Father; whoever acknowledges the Son has the Father also.

24 As for you, see that what you have heard from the beginning remains in you. If it does, you also will remain in the Son and in the Father. 25 And this is what he promised us—eternal life.

26 I am writing these things to you about those who are trying to lead you astray. 27 As for you, the anointing you received from him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about all things and as that anointing is real, not counterfeit—just as it has taught you, remain in him.

28 And now, dear children, continue in him, so that when he appears we may be confident and unashamed before him at his coming.

29 If you know that he is righteous, you know that everyone who does what is right has been born of him.

 

• First Impression

“Antichrist” was dominant, “anyone who denies” was impactful, and “you know” was promising. As noted later, it was hard to get past the part of antichrist and antichrists.

• Last Hour, Anitchrist, Did not really belong to us: Do we picture antichrists as false teachers? Do we behave accordingly?

I never really equated false teachers to antichrists. We discussed that antichrist really only means “against christ” as a word, but we so often associate it with “The Antichrist” from the end times, that I miss other applications. Others had the right thoughts, but we did not really discuss how to “combat” an antichrist acting as a false teacher to deceive believers. Someone must, but …

 

• Liar, antichrist, deny Jesus: Do we picture antichrists as non-christians? Do we behave accordingly?

Following from above, I have not. I tend to think in two buckets: saved or needing salvation. This whole anti process is new.

 

• No father, without Christ, with Christ as Father: Is the phrase “whoever is not against us is for us” or “whoever is for us is not against us”? What difference does it make? Do your paradigms need to change?

I and at least one other in the group specifically thought about the time His disciples asked Jesus about what to do about others who were casting out demons in Jesus’s name. From that lesson, we learn that Jesus is not exclusive and anyone who knows Him can follow Him regardless of whether we know them. The idea in the question was to follow this lead of non-christians as antichrists and how are we to respond to them: as enemies or as potential children of God? The answer is we are to love our enemies, and therefore everyone, and therefore there is not a third bucket of “enemy to act against”, so much as the idea that we need to correct or encourage.

 

• Lead you astray: Have you ever questioned whether someone was trying to lead you astray? If so, how did you respond?

I never really thought I was in such a situation. I probably was, but part of my naivety is founded on my utmost belief in Christ and His Lordship over me.

 

• Confident, Unashamed, Righteous, Anointed, Know, Acknowledges, Has, Heard, Remain, Promised Eternal Life, Real, Continue, Does what is right: So much positivity. Did you feel positive when reading these verses?

No one felt this. I did not see it until I went back over the verses looking for what I might have missed. The antichrist aspect dominates the passage, but only because we have been taught to fear by those who went before us. This is a wonderfully positive passage, if only we can see past that fear and soak in the message God has given us through John. When I learn stuff like this, I really feel the joy from my relationship to God.

 

• Do not need anyone to teach you: Do you agree?

Arrogance is part of pride. I have a echo of a phrase in my head about pride going before the fall and meaning that when we hold onto pride, it causes our downfall. This phrase is not about arrogance, but confidence. We are not to follow whatever some “leader” tells us about God. God has given us a brain and He has given us the Holy Spirit. We do not need someone else to be our guide for what is right. God has set what is right, He has written about it in the Bible, and He has given us the Holy Spirit to help us discern for ourselves. There is much that we can learn from others and the more we soak in from teachers, then the more we know. But we are to know that not every leader is of God, not every “lesson” is of God, and that we can discern what is Holy from what is not. We must lean not on our own understanding, but we must learn to discern.