1 Yohanes 2:18

Warning About False Teachers

2:18 Children, it is the last hour, and just as you heard that the antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists ¹  have appeared. We know from this that it is the last hour.

1 Yohanes 4:20

4:20 If anyone says ²  “I love God” and yet ³  hates his fellow Christian, ⁴  he is a liar, because the one who does not love his fellow Christian ⁵  whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. ⁶ 

[2:18]  ¹ sn Antichrists are John’s description for the opponents and their false teaching, which is at variance with the apostolic eyewitness testimony about who Jesus is (cf. 1:1-4). The identity of these opponents has been variously debated by scholars, with some contending (1) that these false teachers originally belonged to the group of apostolic leaders, but departed from it (“went out from us,” v. 19). It is much more likely (2) that they arose from within the Christian communities to which John is writing, however, and with which he identifies himself. This identification can be seen in the interchange of the pronouns “we” and “you” between 1:10 and 2:1, for example, where “we” does not refer only to John and the other apostles, but is inclusive, referring to both himself and the Christians he is writing to (2:1, “you”).

[4:20]  ² tn Grk “if anyone should say…”

[4:20]  ³ tn “Yet” is supplied to bring out the contrast.

[4:20]  ⁴ tn See note on the phrase “fellow Christian” in 2:9.

[4:20]  ⁵ tn See note on the phrase “fellow Christian” in 2:9.

[4:20]  ⁶ sn In 4:20 the author again describes the opponents, who claim to love God. Their failure to show love for their fellow Christians proves their claim to know God to be false: The one who does not love his fellow Christian whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen.