(8) THE MANIFESTATIONS OF DARKNESS (1 John 2:18-28).
(a)
Signs whereby they should know the forerunners of the last time (1 John 2:18-23).
(b)
Exhortation to continue in the light (1 John 2:24-28).
After cheering his readers by stating the grounds of his writing, and the opinion which he has of them, he reminds them of the momentous epoch at which they are living, of the discriminating effect which it has had on mere nominal Christians, and of the signs by which such might be known, introducing, as in 1 John 2:12, a saving clause to separate his friends from the condemnatory category. The train of thought connected with “the last hour” is suggested by 1 John 2:17, “the world passeth away,” and is appropriate to the treatment of the general subject of light as it brings the manifestation of its contrary.
(18) The last time. — Rather, hour. Until the visions of the Apocalypse, St. John naturally thought from Christ’s words, “If he tarry till I come” (John 21:22), that he would see the last days before the Second Advent. Our Lord, in Matthew 24:36, distinctly asserted that not even the angels knew the day and the hour; and on this subject accordingly the Apostles were evidently left to their own conjectures. St. Paul expected a speedy return (1 Thessalonians 4:17); so did St. Peter (2 Peter 3:12-15). In the same way St. John thought that he recognised in the serious signs of his time that final period spoken of in Isaiah 2:2; Micah 4:1; Acts 2:17; 1 Timothy 4:1; 2 Timothy 3:1; and 2 Peter 3:3. And it was indeed true that with the approaching death of the last living witness of the Lord’s life, the new revelation was being finally closed, miraculous outpourings of the Spirit were ceasing, heresies and opponents were growing, and the lives of Christians were beginning to fade into the light of common day.
Antichrist. — See Introduction. Of the terrible personage or power prophesied in 2 Thessalonians 2:1-12; Revelation 11:13; Revelation 11:17, the “liars” already mentioned in 1 John 1:6, and afterwards in 1 John 4:3; 1 John 4:14; are regarded as forerunners. So might Hymenæus and Philetus (2 Timothy 2:17), Diotrephes (3 John 1:9), the Nicolaitanes (Revelation 2:6), or Simon Magus, Cerinthus, Ebion, any who opposed the teaching of Christ from within or without. (Comp. also Jude 1:4.) See Excursus on 2 Thessalonians 2:3-12.
(19) They went out. — The special instances in his mind were of men who had seemed to belong to the body of Christ, but were never really penetrated by His Spirit. (Comp. Matthew 13:3-7; Matthew 13:24-30; Matthew 13:47-50.) St. John is not pronouncing a general law that “grace is indefectible;” but in looking back on each case of apostasy he sees there must have been some element in the character not subdued to Christ. The writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews (Hebrews 6:4-6) regarded it as possible for those who have been made partakers of the Holy Ghost to “fall away.” They might have partaken of the Holy Ghost in some degree, and yet not have been wholly Christian. Safety lies in the continual appeal to Christ.
(20, 21) But ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things. I have not written unto you because ye know not the truth, but because ye know it, and that no lie is of the truth. — If the Antichrists had formerly any unction at all from Christ, the Holy One (comp. John 15:26; 2 Corinthians 3:17-18; Ephesians 3:16; Philippians 1:29), they must have grieved His Spirit. But St. John’s hearers were still “holding the Head,” and therefore had the divine instinct which “guided them into all truth.” If they trusted to the Spirit in simplicity, questions of morality and religion, all that concerned the soul, would be made sufficiently plain to them. He does believe this of them; humbly he begs them not to think that he distrusts them. If he did not think that they had the eye of their understanding spiritually enlightened, he would know that there would be no response in their hearts to his words, nor interest about them in their intelligence.
(22) Who is a liar? — Rather, the liar, the enemy of light above ail others. St. John thrusts home his point by a lively personal reference. All who err from Christ’s teaching are liars; the greatest of all, he who may be called actually Antichrist, is he who denies that the Crucified is the Son of God. Such a man, with the opportunity of seeing and believing in the light, by refusing to do so loses the knowledge of God in the impressive beauty of His relation as Father revealed in Jesus. And a God who cannot be revealed, who has no Son, who cannot be heard or seen, is at best a cold abstraction.
(23) Whosoever denieth the Son.... — The sentence in italics has good authority, and should stand as part of the text. “Acknowledging” here, as the opposite of that denial which involved such weighty consequences, implies, as Bede says, “the confession of the heart, the mouth, and the deed.”
After this description of the manifestations of darkness in their midst, and of his trust in them, he winds up with some forcible practical appeals, weaving together with concentrated power ideas which have already been suggested, and introducing the most familiar associations of the Lord’s teaching.
(24, 25) As for you (omit “therefore”), that which ye heard from the beginning, let it remain in you. If there remain in you that which ye heard from the beginning, ye in your turn shall remain in the Son and in the Father. And this is the promise which He Himself promised to us, the life eternal.
He turns over in his mind the question, “What shall I say to my dear children about these sad apostasies that shake the faith and darken the heart?” Well, there is nothing new to tell them; they have heard it all, only let it remain fixed and fresh in them! Then all he could wish will be theirs; they will be living and moving and having their being in the life and mind and love of the Son, the beloved Lord who has ascended, and through Him not less in the Father Almighty Himself. And the great promise which the Son made to them and to the world transcends all else, for it is of life eternal.
(24) Let that therefore abide. — An echo of John 15:7.
Which ye have heard from the beginning. — Since each individual first felt the gospel brought home to his heart. Its message is always the same.
(25) Eternal life. — The life which cannot be measured by days and years, but is the enjoyment of the blessedness of virtue. This is a present fact, begun as soon as the believer begins to be in Christ, growing more and more unto the perfect day as he walks more closely with God, secured for ever when he enters into his rest, and perfected in the glory of heaven. (Comp. John 5:21-26; John 10:10; John 10:27-28; John 11:25-26; John 17:3.) That this life, depending on knowledge of God, is begun here, does not lessen the reasonableness of its being perfected hereafter, any more than its future completion prevents its present beginning.
(26) These things have I written. — To remind them that he is still on the subject of the Antichrists, and to sum up what he has said about them.
(27) But the anointing. — He reverts to 1 John 2:20-21 as a favourite ground of consolation and encouragement. Anointing played a great part in the physical life of Eastern races. The climate was dry, sultry, and enervating; unguents restored freshness, elasticity, and life to the parched and feeble frame. So, like dew reviving the verdure of the hill-side, or ointment restoring the vigour of muscles and sinews, the healing, soothing, influence of the Divine Spirit breathes about the children of God, unfolds the meaning of what they have heard, brings all things to their remembrance, and guides them into all truth. They needed not the pretended discoveries of false teachers; all they wanted was the unction of God to bring home what they had heard from the beginning.
Shall abide in him. — Rather, abide ye in Him (imperative). These words are the conclusion to the four parallel clauses of the last half of 1 John 2:27. On the grounds that their minds were visibly alive to spiritual insight; that this insight was from God, a living power, witnessed to by the life of Christ and His Apostles, and all the phenomena of Christianity; that it was no mere human theory like the speculation of false teachers, demonstrably at variance with Christ; and, lastly, that it had already brought home to their inmost souls the priceless lessons of which they were aware, he earnestly charges them, “Abide ye in Christ!”
(28) And now. — As in John 17:5; Acts 3:17; Acts 4:29; Acts 7:34; Acts 10:5; Acts 22:16; 2 Thessalonians 2:6, these words mark a conclusion arising naturally from previous thoughts. As they have this holy anointing, and can exercise the Christian critical ability, and can see the truth, all they have to do is to let their whole being rest in the Son; this cannot be urged upon them too often, or too simply. Their safety depends on the exercise of their own will. (Comp. John 15:1-6.)
Little children. — Tenderly, as in 1 John 2:18.
When he shall appear. — Rather, if Compare 1 John 2:18 for the thought of the possible nearness of Christ’s Second Advent. He passes to the first person plural, to place himself under the same experiences, laws, promises, hopes, fears, as his friends. It would be foreign to his nature to express a personal wish that he himself might not be ashamed on the score of their declension.
So ends the treatise on LIGHT. From the thought that the true fellowship excluded sin, he passed on to forbid the concealment of sin. for sin could not be altogether banished; then he spoke of the remedy for sin; then of the test of walking in the Light; so he was led to speak of the chief Christian characteristic; and then of the things to be forsworn. That led him to think of nominal Christians who had been unable to forswear them, and had therefore become enemies of Christ and beacons of warning. His friends needed no practical counsel except reminders of what they knew, and exhortations to exercise their moral choice by holding on to Christ.