Biblion Bible Commentary
Read the introduction to 1 John · About this commentary
They Went Out from Us
1 John 2:18-19
18 Little children, these are the end times, and as you heard that the Antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have arisen. By this we know that it is the final hour. · WEB
The word the letter uses for the opponents occurs five times in Scripture and every one is in these letters, and here it is put in the plural.
Verse 18 introduces a term the readers already know — as you heard that antichrist is coming — so the expectation is older than this letter and is not being invented for the occasion. What the letter adds is that the thing expected has a present plural form: even now many antichrists have arisen.
The word occurs five times in all of Scripture, and all five are in these letters 1 John 2:22 1 John 4:3 2 John 1:7. It is worth stating what it means, since the letter defines it rather than leaving it atmospheric: the definition arrives four verses later and it is doctrinal, not political 1 John 2:22. And the prefix carries both against and in place of, which suits a movement that left a congregation while claiming to be its advanced form.
Verse 19 explains the departure, and it is the only concrete event this letter records. They went out from us, but they were not of us. The going out did not make them outsiders; it revealed that they already were.
The conclusion the letter draws is the pastoral point. Readers watching respected people leave would naturally ask what that says about the ground they are standing on. The letter answers that the departure was disclosure — painful, and informative. It does not say the leaving was harmless, and it does not say it was a surprise to God.
held with reason What this mark means