MARTINUS C. DE BOER Princeton Theological Seminary, Princeton, NJ 08542 In 1 John 2:19, the author of 1 John indicates that a group has seceded from the community to which he is writing. These secessionists, as R. E. Brown has aptly labeled them,1 are identified as the “antichrists” of the previous verse. In 2:22, “the antichrist” is characterized as “the one who denies the Father and the Son” and is identified with “the liar”
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