1 John 2:21-23 - Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

I have not written unto you In the manner I have done; because ye know not the truth In which case I must have entered largely into the discussion of this matter; but, on the contrary, I have contented myself with these short intimations; because ye know it Approve of and embrace it, and I am desirous to confirm you in the knowledge of it; and because no lie is of the truth No false doctrine can proceed from, or agree with, that gospel which you have embraced; in other words, that all the doctrines of these antichrists are irreconcilable to it. Or perhaps the doctrine, contrary to that which was taught by the apostles, may be called a lie, because the teachers who propagated such doctrines knew them to be false, especially the doctrines which they propagated concerning the person and actions of Christ. They, therefore, in particular are called ο ψευστης, the liar, as in the next clause. Who is the liar The false teacher foretold to come before the destruction of Jerusalem; but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ Who is guilty of that lying but he who denies the truth which is the sum of all Christianity? That Jesus is the Christ, that he is the Son of God, that he came in the flesh, is one undivided truth; and he that denies one part, in effect denies the whole. He is antichrist He deservedly bears that name; that denieth the Father and the Son Denies God to be the Father of Christ, by denying Christ to be his Son. Or who, in denying the Son, denies the Father also. He denies the Son directly, and by consequence denies the Father, who testified by a voice from heaven that Jesus was his Son, and by all the miracles which Christ wrought. Whosoever denieth the Son Even the only-begotten and eternal Son of God, either in his person, his natures, offices, or merits. The same hath not the Father Has no interest in him as his Father, since that is obtained only through Christ; and, consequently, he hath not communion with the Father. But he that truly and believingly acknowledgeth the Son, hath communion with the Father also The last clause of this verse, in our English Bible, is printed in italic letters, to show that it is not in the common Greek copies. Beza, however, hath inserted it in his edition of the Greek Testament, on the authority of some ancient MSS., and of the Syriac and Vulgate versions. Mill also, on this verse, mentions a number of MSS. which have this clause. Estius reckoned it genuine, as did Doddridge, who says, “It is to be found in so many good MSS. that I cannot but believe it made a part of the original, by whatever accident it was omitted in some early copy, to which, as it seems, too much regard has been paid.”