1 John 2[]
1 John 2:1[]
1 My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous:
John has just finished writing to them about being continually cleansed of all unrighteousness if they walk in the light, and then telling them that if they say they don't have sin, they are walking in darkness and are liars. Now, he writes and says that he is writing this letter so that they don't sin! Again, John is an inspired writer here. His words are God-breathed. Therefore, he cannot contradict himself, especially here in the same few lines of writing so close together.
This then is support for the premise that John is not telling the Christians that they are guilty of sin now, or that sin is somehow inevitable and unavoidable. In verses 8 and 10 of the last chapter, he was only telling those who were saved not to claim they had never sinned at all.
He is writing these things to encourage them not to sin. This means that it is entirely possible for a Christian to stop sinning. The word in the Greek is in the aorist tense rather than the present tense. This means John is not telling them to stop continual sin, but to stop sinning altogether. As a newborn babe in Christ, that might be very difficult as habits are hard to break. It takes conscious effort over a significant period of time to make a new habit of doing righteousness to replace the old habit of sin. Thankfully, as John says here, we have an advocate with God the Father, the righteous one, Jesus Christ. When we do sin, even though we are working on not sinning, His blood cleanses us of those sins on a continual basis. He is our advocate before the Father declaring our innocence on the basis of His righteousness until we can conform to Him fully and make His righteousness our own.
How then does one stop sinning? You start by prayer and meditation, spending more time with God, spending more time with your fellow Christians and less time in the world. If you are praying or studying the Bible, it is not likely at all that you have room for sin. If you are spending time with your fellow Christians, you are less inclined to sin, and if you do, they are there to gently and lovingly correct you. Then, you focus and work your way up. Can you go a minute without sin? Five minutes? Can you go a whole hour of worship on Sunday without sin? How about two? As you grow and mature, perhaps you can go an entire day, then a week, then a month, then a year and as you truly realize in your life what it means to be crucified with Christ and have Him live in you as Paul writes in Galatians 2:20, what it truly means to walk in the light of truth, to be reconciled to the Father, sin will become abhorrent to you, a disgusting thing that no longer has any appeal for you. Temptation will hold not power and finding that way out that always exists according to 1 Corinthians 13:10 will become so easy it will be natural to you.
And still, when you stumble, the blood of Christ is washing you continually and you remain unblemished as part of His bride.
1 John 2:2[]
2 And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.
Jesus is the propitiation for our sins. What does this word "propitiation" mean? It is reconciliation through redemption, the paying of a price to redeem, to atone or reconcile all of mankind to God. Jesus died for the entire world because God so loved the world (John 3:16) and provided a means by which man could be reconciled to Him through the sacrificing of His Son on the cross. John writes of nothing but the love God has for man in the context of this letter.
There is no mention of some Calvinistic idea of impending wrath taken out on Christ on our behalf. This idea is completely foreign to the text. 1 John is a potent tool against the Calvinistic doctrines of Limited Atonement (Christ only died for a few) and Penal Substitutionary Atonement (Jesus was punished with all of God's wrath in our place). John explicitly writes that Jesus died not only for the sins of Christians but for the sins of the whole world. That atonement has been made for all. The lost must needs only reach out and take what has been freely offered to them.
1 John 2:3[]
3 And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments.
This verse harkens back to the definition of eternal life as found in John 17:3, that to know Jesus is eternal life. How do we know that we know Him? If we keep His commandments. What did Jesus tell the Apostles about keeping His commandments in John 14:15? If you love me, keep my commandments. To know Christ is to love Christ is to have eternal life. These things cannot be separated. Therefore, those who teach eternal life comes by faith only are not teaching the truth.
1 John 2:4[]
4 He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.
In case that wasn't clear above, anyone who claims to know Christ but does not do as Christ commanded is a liar according to John. The truth is not in him, the light is not in him, and therefore his sins are not cleansed. Those who preach faith alone saves, that remaining faithful is not necessary or that there is nothing we must do to maintain our state in Christ are liars. That's not me saying it. It's the inspired Apostle John.
1 John 2:5[]
5 But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him.
As straightforward as it can be. There can be no misunderstanding of these simple words that John speaks. Whoever keeps the words of Christ, keeps His commandments, in that person the love of God is perfected. We grow in love, grow in knowledge, grow in grace, grow in our walk with God and hence we grow in eternal life. That life is more abundant in us (John 10:10). Our love can be completed. It can reach a point of maturity where we do the thing John said we should do...stop sinning! And as we live faithfully, keeping His word, we know that we are in Him and saved. This is true, objective knowledge.
There are many who say that you can't ever truly know if you are saved. They believe in such doctrinal errors as Once Saved Always Saved or however, they frame it these days. Yet when they see people who they believed to be saved before become unfaithful and turn to a life of sin, they say that person was never saved to begin with. It is a necessary corollary to the false doctrine.
Now, note, I am not saying that you have to reach sinlessness to know that you are in Christ. You know you are in Christ by living faithfully, keeping His commandments and, as John said in verse one IF any man sins, we have an advocate with the Father, as John wrote in 1:7 our sins are continuously washed away by the blood of Christ. While this is happening, we know that we are in Christ, even if we have not yet reached a point where we no longer sin.
1 John 2:6[]
6 He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked.
If someone says they abide or remain in Christ, then they should live as Christ lived. We again see this idea of being crucified with Christ and yet alive, because Christ lives in us by faith (Galatians 2:20). Christ kept the commandments of His Father and did not sin. Our goal is to do the same, to grow in our walk with Christ so that we do not sin, all the while being cleansed by His blood as we walk in the light of His word striving for this goal.
1 John 2:7[]
7 Brethren, I write no new commandment unto you, but an old commandment which ye had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word which ye have heard from the beginning.
This is not a new commandment in the sense that God has told men to obey Him since the beginning of time, as far back as the garden of Eden. We know that the Greatest Commands are to love God with all your being (Deuteronomy 6:5; Matthew 22:37) and to love your fellow human beings as yourself (Leviticus 19:18; Matthew 22:39). To love God is to keep His commandments (John 14:15). This beginning then is the beginning of not only the Israelite nation, but also the Christian nation, the kingdom of Christ, which is the church.
1 John 2:8[]
8 Again, a new commandment I write unto you, which thing is true in him and in you: because the darkness is past, and the true light now shineth.
Yet the command has become new because now we are commanded to love God and love others as Christ loves the Father and loves others. We see this first change in 1 John 2:6, to walk even as Christ walked. We see the second command altered in John's gospel account when Jesus is speaking to the Apostles (John 13:34) after Judas left to betray Him. This is the new commandment that John is writing to them, the same as Jesus had given the Apostles to give to the church, not to just love neighbor as self, because self is a poor standard. They are, instead, to love one another as Christ has loved them and even to love their enemies as Christ had loved them (Matthew 5:43-44; Romans 5:8). This commandment is true in those that John writes to because they are keeping that commandment, loving God and loving each other as Christ loved just as it is true in Jesus Himself.
John then talks about this new commandment being written here because. The cause of him writing here is what he says next. The darkness is past. What is this darkness? It is the same darkness of John 1:5, the ignorance of the Jewish nation (Matthew 4:6; Luke 1:79; 1 Thessalonians 5:1-5; 1 Peter 2:9), the darkness of sin (Colossians 1:23) and the former age (Ephesians 6:12; Hebrews 12:18-21) under the veil of the law of Moses (2 Corinthians 3:13-16). We know that sin and ignorance generally remains, so John could not be talking about those in the generic sense. However, as often as ignorance and sin and Satan were tied to the Jews throughout the New Testament (John 8:44; Revelation 2:9; 3:9; Revelation 12), and understanding that the Jewish system had fallen, we can understand that John is talking about the end of the Jewish system here. The true light is the light of Christ (John 1:9; Acts 26:18; Romans 13:12; 2 Corinthians 4:6; 1 Peter 2:9) shining through His church to the world (Luke 12:3; Ephesians 5:8).
In other words, John is talking about the defeat of the wicked Jews who had been persecuting the church. He is providing comfort and exhortation by saying now that the great adversary of the church, the Jewish state has been defeated, show that love for your fellow man by going out and spreading the gospel.
1 John 2:9[]
9 He that saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother, is in darkness even until now.
John is saying that if a Christian says that he is in the light of God's word, that the Christian says he is keeping God's commands, but he hates his brother in Christ, then he is like the Jews who hated their brethren who converted to Christianity so much they would murder them (see Acts 7 and 9). This hatred is the ignorance and sin of the Jewish people still persisting within the church which should be better than the type which pointed to it, the Israelite nation. It is the darkness of 1 John 1:6 that will keep you from being cleansed by the blood of Christ.
1 John 2:10[]
10 He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is none occasion of stumbling in him.
In contrast, if you love your brother, then you are remaining in the light (1 John 1:7) and you are being continually cleanse of all sin. What's more, when brethren love each other, they are living lives with one another in the light and they keep each other from sinning. This love begets fellowship which begets support and a bulwark against sinning. How hard is it to sin in an environment filled with love and Christ-like living? It's like a spiral upwards towards that perfection that Christ exemplified. Consider brethren who love each other and are in the light, that is they are filled with the truth of God's word by studying constantly together. They are able to see things clearly. There is no occasion of stumbling literally because they aren't stumbling around in the darkness of ignorance and sin, they have light to see by.
1 John 2:11[]
11 But he that hateth his brother is in darkness, and walketh in darkness, and knoweth not whither he goeth, because that darkness hath blinded his eyes.
Yet if you hate your fellow Christians, that light is gone from you. They cannot help you because you refuse to let them. You are not in fellowship with them or Christ. You can't see where you are going and will stumble and fall completely back into sin because that sin of hatred has blinded you. Your brethren are not there as protection and soon you find yourself back with evil companions, evil habits, spiraling down into the life you had left behind when you obeyed the gospel. That's why James 5:19-20 says that if a fellow Christian sins and you convert them out of that, you've saved their soul. They are lost in darkness and cannot see. We, as loving brethren, must restore them, must be the light in their life to show them the way back to Christ.
1 John 2:12[]
12 I write unto you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for his name's sake.
John uses the same terminology here that Jesus used in John 13:33 with the Apostles after Judas left. He calls them little children. Why? We see in Matthew 18:3 that Jesus said we must be converted and become as little children. In Matthew 19:13; Mark 10:14; and Luke 18:16 Jesus said that the kingdom of heaven/God is made up of such as the little children. Here we see again this tie in that little children are sinless. They have become as little children because their sins were forgiven for the sake of the name of Christ.
1 John 2:13[]
13 I write unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning. I write unto you, young men, because ye have overcome the wicked one. I write unto you, little children, because ye have known the Father.
John is writing to those who are older in the faith, those who had been around and converted others. John writes to them because they had known Christ who is from the beginning of all of this, the time of His ministry, His death, burial, resurrection, and ascension, and the events that began the church such as Pentecost. They knew that John was writing the truth here and could be stabilizing force for truth within the churches, teaching the younger that this is indeed how to act, showing them by example.
John also writes to the young men here because they have overcome the wicked one. The wicked one is Satan, but specifically John is referring to the events of Revelation that are now past. Remember, this is in the context of the darkness being past, Satan being defeated and bound, and the victory of Christ and the church over the worst enemy the church ever would face. These young men are the survivors of that, the second generation of Christians now who knew nothing but struggle against the Jewish oppressors their whole lives. Nine times the book of Revelation speaks of overcoming (Revelation 2:7, 11, 17, 26; 3:5, 12, 21; 17:14; 21:7). That last of those reads, "He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son." This is what they have now done by overcoming the wicked one, the Adversary.
Lastly, he again uses the phrase "little children" and so encompasses all of them, the innocent ones, the saints. He writes unto them because they have known the Father. To know the Father is to keep His commandments is to love the Father is to have eternal life. It cannot be stressed enough how much these concepts all go together. This is what it means to walk in the light, to remain faithful to God and have eternal life.
1 John 2:14[]
14 I have written unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning. I have written unto you, young men, because ye are strong, and the word of God abideth in you, and ye have overcome the wicked one.
This verse seems to start the same as the last, but there is a subtle difference here. Instead of John writing "I write to you", he says "I have written to you". So the last statement was him writing to them about now things, but this one is about things he had written to them before. He has encouraged the older Christians of that first generation who are leaders in the church (elders or teachers or just examples) before about their witness to the rest of the church as it was being established.
He wrote to the young men before because they are strong spiritually, they have persevered through the darkness of persecution that the Jews brought on the church and remained faithful. They did not give up their faith, but the word of God remained in them which is what made them strong and which enabled them to overcome the wicked one, the Adversary, the persecuting Jews.
Note that there is no parallel reference in this verse to the "little children" of verse 13. He has already written to them that they know the Father because they have known Him through the teachings of Jesus which some heard firsthand and some heard through the teachings of the Apostles (John 14-17).
I want to iterate a point here because it is important to the discussion of eschatology. This book, along with all of the books bearing John's name, were written after the fall of Jerusalem. I have shown that here in these verses talking about the darkness being past and them overcoming. This is important because there are those who have said that all the books of the NT were written before AD 70. This cannot be as John would not be writing of the darkness being past and the church being overcomers already. This is also important because in the same breath, John shows that the events of Revelation are past tense now, so any reference to future fulfillment becomes null and void.
1 John 2:15[]
15 Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
The world here is the same world we see in John 17. It is all people who are outside of the body of Christ that Christians are trying to save. They are lost, they are walking in darkness of sin and ignorance, they are even a corrupting influence. They, like the physical kosmos at large, are temporal and a passing thing, just as the darkness of Judaism was a passing, temporary thing.
To love the world in this context is to love sin. It is as Lot's wife, looking back to the sin and evil that was left behind, and just as dangerous. There is nothing in the world but evil (1 Corinthians 6:9-10; Galatians 5:19-21). To love the world is to love sin, and thus the love of the Father is not in such a person. This doesn't mean that God does not love this person. It means that this person does not have the love that God has, that they are not a reflection of Christ.
1 John 2:16[]
16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.
John continues here by saying what I said above, that the world contains nothing but sin. Here he summarizes that sin into three categories:
- lust of the flesh - these are the sins born of the inordinate desires of our bodies, hunger turned to gluttony, the desire to marry and procreate turned to fornication and adultery.
- lust of the eyes - these are the inordinate desires of the mind, jealousy, covetousness, lust for a person that is not our spouse and focusing lasciviously on such a person, desiring anything and everything we see out of greed
- the pride of life - these are sins that center around self, particularly the reliance on self to the exclusion of God. It is the human who lifts up their own accomplishments above others rather than lifting up God in thanks for their accomplishments.
Our lusts are born from our own desires when they become inordinate (Colossians 3:15), when the flesh is in the driver's seat and not the spirit (Romans 7-8:9).
John declares that these things are of the world and not of the Father. That means that God is not the originator of such thoughts and desires nor is He the cause of them in men. As James writes in James 1:13-15:
- Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man: But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.
There are those who claim that God determines all things, that even sin is done according to His will. Both John and James here explicitly deny that claim. Sin is not of God. To say that it is, is to attribute evil to God, which is blasphemy.
1 John 2:17[]
17 And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.
This world must be the world that existed after the fall of Jerusalem because that is the time in which John writes. He has declared that the darkness is past, that they have overcome the wicked one. Thus, the current world is the more generic use of the term and that is passing away along with its lusts. What does that mean? In short, entropy. The world is a temporary thing. It was created that way and man's corruption of it by sin only added to that entropy. This world is truly not our home and we are just passing through.
Unlike the world, those who do the will of God remain forever. This isn't just those who believe alone, but those who do God's will. Those who don't, even Christians who don't, do God's will, will not remain forever. As Jesus said in John 15:6, "If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned." We must live faithful lives to remain in Christ and enter eternity with them when this temporary world ends.
1 John 2:18[]
18 Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time.
Again John addresses them as "little children". He is reminding them constantly of their position in Christ, in His kingdom, of their innocence and purity.
The "last time" here in the KJV is eschata ora, literally the last hour. There are a number of places in scripture where we hear about the last times (eschatos chronos - e.g. 1 Peter 1:5, 20) or the last days (eschatos hemera - e.g. Acts 2:17; 2 Timothy 3:1). These are the prophesied days of the end of Judaism (Genesis 49:1) when the kingdom of Christ would be set up (Isaiah 2:2; Micah 4:1). However, the last hour is the very end of that period, the point when all was being wrapped up and coming to a conclusion. Not that time itself is ending, but the end of the time prophesied when the Jewish system under Moses would end, all of the New Testament would be revealed and written down, and the church fully established. In this little phrase, John is saying that most everything is concluded now and soon the mature church would be a grown up, able to stand on its own, the establishment process finished.
Part of that last hour is a final enemy, the spirit of antichrist. This is something they had heard about before. I want to spend a moment here to address this idea of them hearing about it before, though, as we do not have a mention of "antichrist" in scripture in anything written before 1 John and it is only in these smaller letters of John that we see the word used. This was not something that had been written about yet. It was part of that miraculous prophecy that was an oral teaching up until now. During the first century, there were many things that they were taught by the direct power of the Holy Spirit because not everything that was needed was written down yet. John is referencing this type of teaching here. They had heard about the spirit of antichrist before, but now that doctrine was finally being written down as were all other things that pertain to life and godliness given to the Apostles (2 Peter 1:3; Jude 3). So that there remained after this time no further revelation, no more oral tradition with authority, nothing more that the church needed that was not written down after these last few letters from John and Jude.
Finally, in this verse, we cover the idea of what it was they had heard. They had been taught orally, and now in written form, that antichrist would come. This is not a singular man. It is not The Antichrist (TM) we are talking about here. There are, in fact, many antichrists, many individuals who have this spirit. John will talk about what that word means in verse 22, but they already know so he does not lead off with that definition. What he does tell them is that even now that is, in the day that John was writing this towards the end of the first century, there were already many antichrists. Those looking for The Antichrist (TM) today are ignoring this point that John is making. The first century church was dealing with this spirit of antichrist already and there were many individuals that carried it. John will talk about them now for a bit in his letter.
1 John 2:19[]
19 They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us.
The word "they" refers back to the antichrists. These antichrists had gone out from the congregations but they had never really been a part of their fellowship. John says that if they had been true Christians, they would have remained with them and "continued with us". This is the idea of fellowship, of teaching the same doctrines, holding the same practices. But they didn't. They left and in this leaving it showed that those who taught as they did, those who had this spirit of antichrist were not like the Christians.
This verse is used by some, typically Reformed and Calvinists, to apply to anyone who leaves the church and falls back into sin. They will use this passage to say that people who do that were never really saved in the first place and so they will attempt to use this as a prooftext for once saved always saved or whatever label like it that they want to prop up. This is not at all what this verse is teaching. It is not about apostasy. It is not a universal application. It is very specifically about the antichrists (which we will learn in a moment are the Gnostics). This verse does not prove that everyone who leaves the church was never part of the church to begin with. It is a verse that specifically covers these people who intentionally came into the church to teach these heretical ideas, to draw people away with their false doctrine, and who subsequently were discovered, challenged, and fled because they weren't really there to be part of the fellowship.
1 John 2:20[]
20 But ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things.
This word "unction" means anointing. It is used again in verse 27. This is that special seal of the Holy Spirit that the first century church had to help with the establishment of the church. It was the miraculous power that guided them and protected them from error while the Apostles wrote down the revealed word. Thus, they already knew that these antichrists were false teachers and did not listen to them. They knew all things is a callback to Paul's concept of miraculous knowledge in 1 Corinthians 13. This kind of knowledge was about to pass away because the end of the beginning was coming when all would be written down. In this last hour, though, they still had it and it protected them by providing them with knowledge against this particular threat. That is why John could say "you have heard that antichrist will come" in verse 18 even though we see nothing written about it in earlier writings of the New Testament.
The reason we don't see it written in earlier books is that the primary enemy of the church had been the Jews up until AD 74. Now that this threat had been overcome, this other threat that the Holy Spirit and the apostles had warned them about could be addressed head on. It would be one that they had to deal with for the next couple of centuries, eventually without the direct guidance of the Holy Spirit. Thus, John is writing down these instructions.
1 John 2:21[]
21 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.
John isn't writing to them about something they didn't know, but something they did know. This is, again, how the New Testament came to the church. Jesus had taught the Apostles all truth (2 Peter 1:3). When He ascended into Heaven, He sent the Comforter to guide the Apostles into all truth and to bring it all to their memory (John 14:26; 16:13). This Comforter, the Holy Ghost, would be passed on to others in the church by the laying on of the Apostle's hands (Acts 8:12-17; Acts 19:1-6; Romans 1:11) to help establish it. It was then being written down to fully equip the saints with all they would need (2 Timothy 3:16-17; Ephesians 4:11-15). Until this process was completed (Jude 3) they still needed that supernatural help and oral tradition. Thus, John writes "I'm not writing to you about something you don't know, but something that you do." He was completing that writing process here in the last hour of the establishment of the church.
He says "you know the truth and that no lie is of the truth". A general statement that is self-evident, but here is specifically being tied to the lies of the antichrists that John is warning them about in writing.
1 John 2:22[]
22 Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son.
Still writing to them about what they know, but thankfully being explicit for our sakes who do not have that direct divine guidance, John defines who and what an antichrist is. They are liars and the truth is not in them. They deny that Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah, the Anointed One of the Father. This denial of Jesus takes on a specific form in the doctrine of the antichrists, though. John will write of that doctrine in chapter 4 verse 3 and in his next letter in 2 John 1:7. This doctrine is that Jesus did not come in the flesh, that He was not an incarnate being. We will talk more about the implications of this doctrine when we reach the place where John explicitly defines that teaching. Here it is sufficient to note that these antichrists are denying that Jesus is who the scriptures say that He is and thereby they are denying both the Father and Son. John will expand on this in his next thought.
1 John 2:23[]
23 Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father: he that acknowledgeth the Son hath the Father also.
What John means here is that the antichrists (Gnostics) are explicitly denying who Jesus is, that He came in the flesh, that He died on the cross to provide that propitiation from verse 2 above. In that explicit denial, they also implicitly deny the Father. The reason for that is that Jesus was sent by the Father, taught what the Father told Him to teach, and was doing the will of the Father. Read John 14-17 and see how many times Jesus ties His teachings and actions into the Father's will. So, John says, if you deny Jesus, you don't have the Father either. You can't deny one and claim to be in fellowship with the other.
He that accepts and acknowledges, the idea here is not just internal but external confession, the Son has the Father also. In accepting Jesus explicitly, you are accepting the Father who sent Him implicitly.
1 John 2:24[]
24 Let that therefore abide in you, which ye have heard from the beginning. If that which ye have heard from the beginning shall remain in you, ye also shall continue in the Son, and in the Father.
John then encourages them to let the teachings about Christ that they had heard from the start (Pentecost onward) remain in them instead of displacing those teachings with this new stuff from the antichrists (Gnostics). If they hold to those teachings, which were from eye-witnesses, those with direct access to Jesus, then they will continue in the Son and in the Father. They will continue to have fellowship, continue to walk in the light, and continue to have their sins washed away.
1 John 2:25[]
25 And this is the promise that he hath promised us, even eternal life.
There are many who try to define the promise of God that Christians were given in various ways. John is explicit here. The promise is what it has always been since Eden (Genesis 3:15), since Abraham (Genesis 12:2-3). It is eternal life through Jesus the Christ/Messiah. Any other promises, gifts, etc. are secondary to and in support of this. The land promise to Israel, the promise of the Holy Ghost, etc. All of these were not the ultimate promise. Eternal life in Christ is.
He reminds them of this in conjunction with reminding them of the first teachings. He is essentially saying, you are here for eternal life. That's what you want. If you go off after these antichrists, you go back into darkness and no longer have that eternal life that you want now. Abide in the teachings of Christ and reject these antichrists and eternal life will remain yours.
1 John 2:26[]
26 These things have I written unto you concerning them that seduce you.
Let me emphasize again that transition from what was spoken to what is written. They already have these teachings in oral form. Now they are receiving the more permanent, perfect communication that will endure, the written. He has already told them to avoid the antichrists, to not let them seduce them away from the truth into their false knowledge that is not light but darkness. Now he is writing it down so that, after he is gone, they (and future generations) will still have his inspired words as a standard by which to judge.
1 John 2:27[]
27 But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him.
The "anointing" here is the same word for "unction" above. Not sure why the translators used two different words in the English, but they mean the same thing. John is referring to the miraculous gifts they received by the laying on of the apostle's hands. As long as that gift remained within them, they wouldn't need these teachings. They are already directly taught by the Holy Spirit. Yet John is still writing it to them because this is the process. To write it down so that the whole body of knowledge would be available to those of future generations who would not have this anointing.
This teaching that they have, that now John is writing down, will allow them and those who read John's words to remain in Christ. This is important from the standpoint of the purpose for the writing and the process of establishment during the first century. It is also important from the standpoint of showing that once saved always saved/eternal security/perseverance of the saints is a false doctrine. They were taught to abide in Christ by the Holy Spirit and John by continuing to do what they had been taught to do because it was possible for them not to. If it were not possible, this encouragement is pointless.
1 John 2:28[]
28 And now, little children, abide in him; that, when he shall appear, we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before him at his coming.
As a preterist, some might expect me to immediately jump to "his coming" being a reference to AD 70. Yet that is inconsistent with what John is writing here. Remember, the darkness has past. They have already overcome the wicked one. We are past AD 74 and the end of the Jewish Revolt. This coming that John refers to is that of 1 Thessalonians 4 and 1 Corinthians 15. It is the final coming of Jesus at the end of time.
He reminds them yet again of their status as sin-free (little children) and encourages them to remain in Christ. This implies the possibility of them not remaining in Christ, the possibility of apostasy, of leaving the faith they once held. A saved person can die spiritually again through willful rebellion, through not remaining in the teachings and practices given by the Lord. Those who do remain in Christ, remain in that relationship with Him through the keeping of His law (not the law of Moses), can have confidence that they will have no shame when Jesus returns for the Resurrection and Judgment, which were yet future for them as they are for us today.
1 John 2:29[]
29 If ye know that he is righteous, ye know that every one that doeth righteousness is born of him.
A powerful conditional statement here. IF you know that Jesus is righteous, and they do, then you know that those who DO righteousness are born of Him. this harkens back to Jesus's words that John records in John 3:21. "But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God." These passages are parallel and are two part. First, you must do truth to come to the light. This isn't faith only, this is active, living faith doing and coming on the part of the individual. The second part is that, in the doing truth to come to the light, doing righteousness to be born of Him, also shows that you are in Christ, in God. In 1 John 2:29, the second part is contained in the phrase "you know".
God is the author of eternal salvation unto all that obey Him, to all those who do truth, do righteousness. Faith alone is insufficient.
In Truth and Love.
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1 John 2
1 John 4
1 John 5