The Pulpit Commentary — 1 John — Section 31

thN1gh in It less degrc-e, because the gi~ of anticlnist. Either the exiAtcncc of the PC'11tccost h1td giYen them powers of insight autichristian cl111rncter, or tho npproBCh of which 01eir pred('ccssors had not possessed. the antiohrist, is given as cvidenco thnt The prcEent text Ecems to be an illustration the d:iv of the Lord is at hnncl. '.l'he lattcl' of this truth. We oon hardly doubt that, in is the· more probnble. A grent persounl saying, "it is the l1tst hour," St. John means opponent to tile personal Christ seems to to imply thnt within a few years, or possibly be indicated both by St. John and St. Pnul even less timo, Christ will return to judg- (2 Thcss. ii. 1-8). 'l'ho Jews expected e. ruent. In this senee tlie statement is not personal opponent of the Messiah to 11recede true. But it mav 11lso mean that the last the Messiah-Armillus, Gog, Antiochus period in the world's history has begun; Epiphe.ncs, and the like (Ezck. xxxviii.; and in this sense we have good ren.son for xnix.; Daa. vii. 25; viii. 25: xi. 36); aud belieYing that the Etatcment is true. "Tbat Christia.us from the earliest times hn,e one day is with the Lord as a thous1md expected n similar prelude to the return of years, and n thousand years as one day " is the Messiah. The term c'r.nlxp,uTos is abso- not rhetoric, but sober fact. By the Di·dne lutely peculiar to St. John in the New standard timee are measured, not according Testament. By the c1,,,,.{xp1uT01 ,roMol he to their duration, but their importance; it p1·obably means those eal'ly heretical is their mraning, not their extent, which teachers, who in various wo.ys denied the gi,es them ,alue.. What arc all the me:isure- Incarnation, and were thus forerunners of lcss prehistoric roans of the material uni- the antichrist-the Nicolo.itnnes, Simon verse compared with the time since the Magus, Cerinthus, Diotrephes, Hymenmus, creation of ra tiona.l life ? What are the and Philetus. Besides these there are thousands of years co,ered by the Old practical an tichrists. " Let us ma1·k, not the Testament compared with the portion of o. tongue, but the deeds. For if all be asked, century co,ered by the New? '.l'he great all with one mouth confess that J csus is the crisis in the history of the world, constituted Christ. Let the tongue keep silent nwhile: by the life and death of Christ, will never ask t.b.e life. If the Scripture itsolf shall be equalled until he comes again. When tell us that denial is a thiug done not only he ascended to heaven tlJe last hour sounded. wit.b. the tongue, but also with deeds, then There may follow a silence (as it seemed to assuredly we find mnny antichrists. . . . If St. John) about the apace of half au hour, deeds are to be questioned, not only do we but (as hUIUan experience may prove) of find many antirhrists gone out, but many nalf a thousand centnrie~. Yet the dura- not yet manifest, who have not gone out at tion of the period, as me.a.sured by man, will all" (St. Augustine). not alter its eosentia.l characteristics; it was, Ver. 19.-They went out from us (/~ is, and will still remain, " the last hour." 11µ.wv l!,j>.6av); just as the evil; spirit went Even as ye heard (when ye were instructed out of the demoniac U!iJMev •~ a.inoii, Mark in the faith) that antichrist cometh (is i. 26). Bnt they were not of us (ob1< ,'jaav •~ destined to come). Antichrist in this also 11µ.wv); they had not their origin with ue, ie assimilated to the Chruzt; he is I, •px&- just as the unbelieving Jews were "not of IJEVos. This was the teaching of ihe gospel God" U1e Toii e,oii ob,c ln{), but of the (Matt. xxiv. 5, 11, 23-26; Mark xiii. 22, 23; devil (John viii. 21:1, H, 47). The emphe.tio comp. Acts u:. 29; 2 Tim. iii. 1; 2 Pet. repetition of 11µ.wv, five times in one verse, ii. 1). What does St. John mean by a.VTl- is quite in St. John's style. The "no XP<UTos? The four passages (eh. ii. 18, 22; doubt " of the Authorized Version, rightly iv. 3; 2 John 7) in which he uses the term omitted in the Revised Version, probably do not enable 1Js to answer the qaestion representd the utique of the Vulgate, which with certaint.v. The predominant idea is is a mistaken attempt to give n sepnrato that of opposition to Christ, and rir!alry of word to translate ;.,, (compare forsitan Christ, :rat.her than merely of counterfeiting in John iv. 10; v. 46. For the elliptical Chrii;t. If a.v-rlxp,uTos were formed on the d>v\' 7va, comp. John i. 8). What follows is analc,gy of ri.VT,R,a.u,>..,us nnd a.v861raTos, it not clear, and is taken in three ways: (1) would mean "vice-Christ, vicar of Christ." "'.l'J:at all are not of us," which seems to It ie, hom,ver, analogous to airr!O,os, c'r.n,- imply that some of them nre of us. This q,,>..&uoq,os; nud the Greek for a counterfeit can hardly be right. (2) "That all of Christ is ,j,,u66xp,aTos (Matt. xxiv. 24). But them are not-of-us;" i.e. nro aliens (ver. we are left in doubt whether this rival of 21 ; eh. iii. 15; Rev. xxii. 8; Mntt. xxiv. Christ is a principle or a person. None of 22 : Mark xiii. 20; Luke i. 37; Rom. iii. the four paseages is decisirn. Here we are 20; Gal. ii. 16; Eph. v. 5). But in tho.t not sure whether the arising of many anti- case we should expect 1r&vTES ob,c elu[v,. not ch.ris!B proves that the epirit of autichrist is obx: eiulv,r&nu. {3) Two thoughts are mixed already in the world, or that by them the together: (a) "'l'hat they mo.y be made way is fully prepared for the one penonal manifest that they are not of us;" (JJ) on. n. 1-20.J 'l'I:IE l1'1RST EPISTLE GENERAL OF JOIIN, 27