English Standard Version ESV
The Message Bible MSG
18 Children, it is the last hour, and as you have heard that antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have come. Therefore we know that it is the last hour.
18
Children, time is just about up. You heard that Antichrist is coming. Well, they're all over the place, antichrists everywhere you look. That's how we know that we're close to the end.
19 They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us.
19
They left us, but they were never really with us. If they had been, they would have stuck it out with us, loyal to the end. In leaving, they showed their true colors, showed they never did belong.
20 But you have been anointed by the Holy One, and you all have knowledge.
20
But you belong. The Holy One anointed you, and you all know it.
21 I write to you, not because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and because no lie is of the truth.
21
I haven't been writing this to tell you something you don't know, but to confirm the truth you do know, and to remind you that the truth doesn't breed lies.
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.
22
So who is lying here? It's the person who denies that Jesus is the Divine Christ, that's who. This is what makes an antichrist: denying the Father, denying the Son.
23 No one who denies the Son has the Father. Whoever confesses the Son has the Father also.
23
No one who denies the Son has any part with the Father, but affirming the Son is an embrace of the Father as well.
24 Let what you heard from the beginning abide in you. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, then you too will abide in the Son and in the Father.
24
Stay with what you heard from the beginning, the original message. Let it sink into your life. If what you heard from the beginning lives deeply in you, you will live deeply in both Son and Father.
25 And this is the promise that he made to us--eternal life.
25
This is exactly what Christ promised: eternal life, real life!
26 I write these things to you about those who are trying to deceive you.
26
I've written to warn you about those who are trying to deceive you.
27 But the anointing that you received from him abides in you, and you have no need that anyone should teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about everything, and is true, and is no lie--just as it has taught you, abide in him.
27
But they're no match for what is embedded deeply within you - Christ's anointing, no less! You don't need any of their so-called teaching. Christ's anointing teaches you the truth on everything you need to know about yourself and him, uncontaminated by a single lie. Live deeply in what you were taught.
28 And now, little children, abide in him, so that when he appears we may have confidence and not shrink from him in shame at his coming.
28
And now, children, stay with Christ. Live deeply in Christ. Then we'll be ready for him when he appears, ready to receive him with open arms, with no cause for red-faced guilt or lame excuses when he arrives.
29 If you know that he is righteous, you may be sure that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of him.
29
Once you're convinced that he is right and righteous, you'll recognize that all who practice righteousness are God's true children.
The English Standard Version is published with the permission of Good News Publishers.
Published by permission. Originally published by NavPress in English as THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright 2002 by Eugene Peterson. All rights reserved.