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1 Johnchapter 2

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Speaks with:1 John 4×81 John 2×7John 14×81 John 3×5John 1×2John 15×2

Summary

Chapter summary

'If any man sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: and he is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for the whole world' (2:1-2). The tests follow, we know that we know him if we keep his commandments, and he that hateth his brother is in the darkness. John addresses the church in tiers, little children, fathers, young men, then warns: 'Love not the world… the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever' (2:15-17). Then the schism: 'it is the last hour,' many antichrists have arisen, and 'they went out from us, but they were not of us.'

Context

Epistle · John — 1 John overview

  • A. 1–6 We Have an Advocate — and We Keep His Word
  • B. 7–11 An Old Command Made New: Light or Darkness
  • C. 12–17 Fathers, Young Men, Children — Love Not the World
  • D. 18–29 Many Antichrists, and the Anointing That Teaches You

The outline

  1. A.We Have an Advocate — and We Keep His Wordvv. 1 to 6

    Read vv. 1 to 6 →

  2. B.An Old Command Made New: Light or Darknessvv. 7 to 11

    Read vv. 7 to 11 →

  3. C.Fathers, Young Men, Children — Love Not the Worldvv. 12 to 17

    Read vv. 12 to 17 →

  4. D.Many Antichrists, and the Anointing That Teaches Youvv. 18 to 29

    Read vv. 18 to 29 →

Threads

Each of these runs on past this chapter. The passage you have just read is marked.

Hereby we know

Pattern

1 John is built to give assurance, and it says so: these things have I written, that ye may know that ye have eternal life. The refrain hereby we know lands throughout, tying assurance to obedience, to love of the brethren, and to the given Spirit.

Assurance in this letter is not a feeling to work up but evidence to read: commandments kept, brethren loved, the Spirit given. The letter was written so that believers may know, and that stated purpose sets the tone for every hard verse inside it.

  1. 1 John 2:3 you are here

    If we keep his commandments

    Hereby we do know that we know him.

  2. 1 John 3:14

    Because we love the brethren

    We know that we have passed from death unto life.

  3. 1 John 3:24

    By the Spirit which he hath given us

    Hereby we know that he abideth in us.

  4. 1 John 4:13

    Because he hath given us of his Spirit

    Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he in us.

  5. 1 John 5:13

    That ye may know

    These things have I written unto you, that ye may know that ye have eternal life.

Come in the flesh

Pattern

Against teachers who denied that the Son had truly come as a man, John gives the church a confession test: every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God. The test names the denial antichrist and repeats across two letters.

The first great heresy the church faced denied not the deity of Christ but his flesh. John's test guards both ends: the Word made flesh is confessed, or the spirit speaking is not of God. Trying the spirits is commanded practice, because real spirits speak.

  1. 1 John 2:18 you are here

    Many antichrists already

    Ye have heard that antichrist shall come; even now are there many antichrists.

  2. 1 John 2:22 you are here

    The denial named

    Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ?

  3. 1 John 4:2-3

    The confession test

    Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God, and every spirit that confesseth not is the spirit of antichrist.

  4. 2 John 1:7

    The test repeated

    Many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh.

The world behind this chapter

1 John 2
When
The last decades of the first century · c. AD 85–95
Where
A pastor addressing his congregation by age, and naming the split that had just happened
Who first heard it
House churches shaken by respected members leaving and taking others with them

The history

The address to fathers, young men, and children reflects how an ancient assembly actually sat and thought of itself — by household and by age, with elders honored and the young expected to listen. John speaks to each group in turn rather than to an undifferentiated crowd.

'The world' in this letter is not the planet or the people in it but the whole running system of desire, display, and status that a Greco-Roman city was organized around: the pride of possessions, the appetite of the eyes, the ambition that made a man buy a statue of himself.

The split is described in the plainest possible terms — they went out from us, but they were not of us. Ancient associations broke apart the same way, and the departure of prominent members took money, meeting space, and confidence with them.

The anointing the readers have received is set against the secret knowledge the departed teachers were offering. Anointing with oil marked a person set apart, and John tells the ordinary members they already have it and do not need a specialist.

What it meant to them

The hearers were doubting themselves because impressive people had left. John reads the departure the other way: leaving revealed something rather than proving something.

The word 'antichrist' shows up here for the first time in Scripture, and it is used both of a figure still to come and of many already present. For a congregation looking for a monster, John points at the man who denies the Father and the Son, who may be sitting in the next house.

Sources cited

  • Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament
  • Everett Ferguson, Backgrounds of Early Christianity

Every work MannaFest builds on →

The text of this chapter

This page carries no textual note on 1 John 2. Where this site has examined a place the manuscripts differ, the examination is in the manuscripts room. Every place this site examines →

This page draws on Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory; Jamieson, Fausset and Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Calvin, Commentaries; John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament; John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the New Testament; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary.

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