Antichrists question

[edjco]

Hey everyone,

Thanks in advance for your help. I just ran across this passage:

1 John 2:18-19: “Children, it is the last hour, and just as you heard that the antichrist was coming, so now many antichrists have appeared. Thus we know this is the last hour. They went out from us, but they were not really of our number, if they had been, they would have remained with us. Their desertion shows that none of them was of our number.”

When I read that, something jumped out at me: Are these people, who “were not really of our number”, the same people who left Jesus in John 6:66? I also just noticed the verse number I quoted. That’s weird…

Anyway, I was just curious if anyone has ever commented on this connection before (if there even is one).

 

[Christy_Beth]

So many people are willing to belive when things go their way. But, let God ask more of them, and they don’t want to give. I have found that we are quick to overlook the suffering of other Christians. But the bible does say that when one member suffers, all members suffer. We shy away from suffering and of giving of ourselves that which God demands of us. Being a Christian isn’t easy, but many want it to be so.

 

[COPLAND_3]

So many people are willing to belive when things go their way. But, let God ask more of them, and they don’t want to give. I have found that we are quick to overlook the suffering of other Christians. But the bible does say that when one member suffers, all members suffer. We shy away from suffering and of giving of ourselves that which God demands of us. Being a Christian isn’t easy, but many want it to be so.

Excellent answer!

It refers to a variety of different people who either do the Church thing but they are not there for the right reasons and they do not maintain the Christian life. It can refer to those who simply are a part of the Faith but are unwilling to repent when they fall short due to pride, and since God knows through foreknowledge that they will never repent then they are not of the elect. It could be those who appear to come into the Faith with good intentions but have the intentions of being turn-coats and trying to cause as much disfunction as possible. There are other meanings too.

 

[Nita]

Hey everyone,

Thanks in advance for your help. I just ran across this passage:

1 John 2:18-19: “Children, it is the last hour, and just as you heard that the antichrist was coming, so now many antichrists have appeared. Thus we know this is the last hour. They went out from us, but they were not really of our number, if they had been, they would have remained with us. Their desertion shows that none of them was of our number.”

When I read that, something jumped out at me: Are these people, who “were not really of our number”, the same people who left Jesus in John 6:66? I also just noticed the verse number I quoted. That’s weird…

Anyway, I was just curious if anyone has ever commented on this connection before (if there even is one).

I don’t think the verse is meant to include those who left Jesus in John 6:66. That incident occurred before Christ established His Church. In his epistle, St. John seems to be referring to those who had been members of the Church (that is, baptized) and at some later point, chose to leave (“went out from us”).

Since he calls them “antichrist’s”, it appears it was more than just doubt, laziness or apathy. They were probably openly proclaiming that Jesus was not God and/or the Messiah.
1 John 2:22 Who is the liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, he who denies the Father and the Son.

1 John 4:3 and every spirit which does not confess Jesus is not of God. This is the spirit of antichrist, of which you heard that it was coming, and now it is in the world already.
(At the time of the incident in John 6:66, the people, including the apostles, had not yet come to realize that Jesus was God.)

 

[edjco]

Thanks to you all!