2 My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. 2 He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.
Love and Hatred for Fellow Believers
3 We know that we have come to know him if we keep his commands. 4 Whoever says, “I know him,” but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in that person. 5 But if anyone obeys his word, love for God [Or word, God’s love] is truly made complete in them. This is how we know we are in him: 6 Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did.
7 Dear friends, I am not writing you a new command but an old one, which you have had since the beginning. This old command is the message you have heard. 8 Yet I am writing you a new command; its truth is seen in him and in you, because the darkness is passing and the true light is already shining.
9 Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates a brother or sister[ The Greek word for brother or sister (adelphos) refers here to a believer, whether man or woman, as part of God’s family; also in verse 11; and in 3:15, 17; 4:20; 5:16.] is still in the darkness. 10 Anyone who loves their brother and sister[The Greek word for brother and sister (adelphos) refers here to a believer, whether man or woman, as part of God’s family; also in 3:10; 4:20, 21.] lives in the light, and there is nothing in them to make them stumble. 11 But anyone who hates a brother or sister is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness. They do not know where they are going, because the darkness has blinded them.
Reasons for Writing
12 I am writing to you, dear children, because your sins have been forgiven on account of his name.
13 I am writing to you, fathers, because you know him who is from the beginning. I am writing to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one.
14 I write to you, dear children, because you know the Father. I write to you, fathers because you know him who is from the beginning. I write to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God lives in you, and you have overcome the evil one.
On Not Loving the World
15 Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father[Or world, the Father’s love] is not in them. 16 For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world. 17 The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever.
Warnings Against Denying the Son
18 Dear children, this is the last hour; and as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come. This is how we know it is the last hour. 19 They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us; but their going showed that none of them belonged to us.
20 But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you know the truth.[Some manuscripts and you know all things] 21 I do not write to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it and because no lie comes from the truth. 22 Who is the liar? It is whoever denies that Jesus is the Christ. Such a person is the antichrist—denying the Father and the Son. 23 No one who denies the Son has the Father; whoever acknowledges the Son has the Father also.
24 As for you, see that what you have heard from the beginning remains in you. If it does, you also will remain in the Son and in the Father. 25 And this is what he promised us—eternal life.
26 I am writing these things to you about those who are trying to lead you astray. 27 As for you, the anointing you received from him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about all things and as that anointing is real, not counterfeit—just as it has taught you, remain in him.
God’s Children and Sin
28 And now, dear children, continue in him, so that when he appears we may be confident and unashamed before him at his coming.
29 If you know that he is righteous, you know that everyone who does what is right has been born of him. [Related to justification]
NOTES:
2:1 Children: like the term “beloved,” this is an expression
of pastoral love (cf. Jn 13:33; 21:5; 1 Cor 4:14). Advocate: for the use of the
term, see Jn 14:16. Forgiveness of sin is assured through Christ’s intercession
and expiation or “offering”; the death of Christ effected the removal of sin.
2:3–6 The way we may be sure: to those who claim, “I have
known Christ and therefore I know him,” our author insists on not mere
intellectual knowledge but obedience to God’s commandments in a life conformed
to the example of Christ; this confirms our knowledge of him and is the love of
God…perfected. Disparity between moral life and the commandments proves
improper belief.
2:7–11 The author expresses the continuity and freshness of
mutual charity in Christian experience. Through Christ the commandment of love
has become the light defeating the darkness of evil in a new age. All hatred as
darkness is incompatible with the light and Christian life. Note also the
characteristic Johannine polemic in which a positive assertion is emphasized by
the negative statement of its opposite.
2:8 Which holds true in him and among you: literally, “a
thing that holds true in him and in you.”
2:12–17 The Christian community that has experienced the
grace of God through forgiveness of sin and knowledge of Christ is armed
against the evil one.
2:12 For his name’s sake: because of Christ our sins are
forgiven.
2:15 The world: all that is hostile toward God and alienated
from him. Love of the world and love of God are thus mutually exclusive; cf.
Jas 4:4.
2:16 Sensual lust: literally, “the lust of the flesh,”
inordinate desire for physical gratification. Enticement for the eyes:
literally, “the lust of the eyes,” avarice or covetousness; the eyes are
regarded as the windows of the soul. Pretentious life: literally, “pride of
life,” arrogance or ostentation in one’s earthly style of life that reflects a
willful independence from God and others.
2:18 It is the last hour: literally, “a last hour,” the
period between the death and resurrection of Christ and his second coming. The
antichrist: opponent or adversary of Christ; the term appears only in 1 John–2
John, but “pseudochrists” (translated “false messiahs”) in Mt 24:24 and Mk
13:22, and Paul’s “lawless one” in 2 Thes 2:3, are similar figures. Many
antichrists: Matthew, Mark, and Revelation seem to indicate a collectivity of
persons, here related to the false teachers.
2:19 Not really of our number: the apostate teachers only
proved their lack of faith by leaving the community.
2:20 The anointing that comes from the holy one: this
anointing is in the Old Testament sense of receiving the Spirit of God. The
holy one probably refers to Christ. True knowledge is the gift of the Spirit
(cf. Is 11:2), and the function of the Spirit is to lead Christians to the
truth (Jn 14:17, 26; 16:13).
2:22–23 Certain gnostics denied that the earthly Jesus was
the Christ; to deny knowledge of the Son is to deny the Father, since only
through the Son has God been fully revealed (Jn 1:18; 14:8–9).
2:24 Continuity with the apostolic witness as proclaimed in
the prologue is the safeguard of right belief.
2:28–29 Our confidence at his judgment is based on the daily assurance of salvation. Our actions reflect our true relation to him.
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