1 John 2:18

It is the last hour (escath wra estin). This phrase only here in N.T., though John often uses wra for a crisis ( John 2:4 ; John 4:21 John 4:23 ; John 5:25 John 5:28 , etc.). It is anarthrous here and marks the character of the "hour." John has seven times "the last day" in the Gospel. Certainly in verse John 28 John makes it plain that the parousia might come in the life of those then living, but it is not clear that here he definitely asserts it as a fact. It was his hope beyond a doubt. We are left in doubt about this "last hour" whether it covers a period, a series, or the final climax of all just at hand. As ye heard (kaqw hkousate). First aorist active indicative of akouw. Antichrist cometh (anticristo ercetai). "Is coming." Present futuristic or prophetic middle indicative retained in indirect assertion. So Jesus taught ( Mark 13:6 Mark 13:22 ; Matthew 24:5 Matthew 24:15 Matthew 24:24 ) and so Paul taught ( Acts 20:30 ; 2 Thessalonians 2:3 ). These false Christs ( Matthew 24:24 ; Mark 13:22 ) are necessarily antichrists, for there can be only one. Anti can mean substitution or opposition, but both ideas are identical in the word anticristo (in N.T. only here, Mark 2:22 ; Mark 4:3 ; 2 John 1:7 ). Westcott rightly observes that John's use of the word is determined by the Christian conception, not by the Jewish apocalypses. Have there arisen (gegonasin). Second perfect active indicative of ginomai. Many antichrists (anticristoi polloi). Not just one, but the exponents of the Gnostic teaching are really antichrists, just as some modern deceivers deserve this title. Whereby (oqen). By the fact that these many antichrists have come.