1 John 2:18–27

Warnings Against Denying the Son

¹⁸Dear children, this is the last hour;^o and as you have heard that the antichrist is coming,^p even now many antichrists have come.^q This is how we know it is the last hour. ¹⁹They went out from us,^r but they did not really belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us; but their going showed that none of them belonged to us.^s

²⁰But you have an anointing^t from the Holy One,^u and all of you know the truth.^{ev 21}I do not write to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it^w and because no lie comes from the truth. ²²Who is the liar? It is whoever denies that Jesus is the Christ. Such a person is the antichrist—denying the Father and the Son.^{x 23}No one who denies the Son has the Father; whoever acknowledges the Son has the Father also.^y

²⁴As for you, see that what you have heard from the beginning^z remains in you. If it does, you also will remain in the Son and in the Father.^{a 25}And this is what he promised us—eternal life.^b

²⁶I am writing these things to you about those who are trying to lead you astray.^{c 27}As for you, the anointing^d you received from him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about all things^e and as that anointing is real, not counterfeit—just as it has taught you, remain in him.^f