1 John 2:26

These [things] have I written unto you,.... The little children, who were most likely to be imposed upon by antichrists and deceivers: concerning them that seduce you.

These things have I written unto you concerning them that seduce you. These things - (1 John 2:18-25.) Have I written - resumed from 1 John 2:21; 1 John 2:14. Seduce you - try to lead you into error.

So much he thought requisite to be said, in respect of their danger by seducers, though their safety was principally to depend upon what he next mentions... See Poole on "".

26 These things have I written unto you concerning them that seduce you. Ver. 26. That seduce you] That carry you into byways, highways to hell.

(8) THE OF (1 John 2:18-28). (a) Signs whereby they should know the forerunners of the last time (1 John 2:18-23). (b) Exhortation to continue in the light (1 John 2:24-28). After cheering his readers by stating the grounds of his writing, and the opinion which he has of them, he reminds them of the momentous epoch at which they are living, of the discriminating effect which it has had on mere nominal Christians, and of the signs by which such might be known, introducing, as in 1 John 2:12, a saving clause to separate his friends from the condemnatory category. The train of thought connected with “the last hour” is suggested by 1 John 2:17, “the world passeth away,” and is appropriate to the treatment of the general subject of light as it brings the manifestation of its contrary. (18) The last time.—Rather, hour. Until the visions of the Apocalypse, St. John naturally thought from Christ’s words, “If he tarry till I come” (John 21:22), that he would see the last days before the Second Advent. Our Lord, in Matthew 24:36, distinctly asserted that not even the angels knew the day and the hour; and on this subject accordingly the Apostles were evidently left to their own conjectures. St. Paul expected a speedy return (1 Thessalonians 4:17); so did St. Peter (2 Peter 3:12-15). In the same way St. John thought that he recognised in the serious signs of his time that final period spoken of in Isaiah 2:2; Micah 4:1; Acts 2:17; 1 Timothy 4:1; 2 Timothy 3:1; and 2 Peter 3:3. And it was indeed true that with the approaching death of the last living witness of the Lord’s life, the new revelation was being finally closed, miraculous outpourings of the Spirit were ceasing, heresies and opponents were growing, and the lives of Christians were beginning to fade into the light of common day. Antichrist.—See Introduction. Of the terrible personage or power prophesied in 2 Thessalonians 2:1-12, Revelation 11, 13, 17, the “liars” already mentioned in 1 John 1:6, and afterwards in 1 John 4:3; 1 John 4:14; are regarded as forerunners. So might Hymenæus and Philetus (2 Timothy 2:17), Diotrephes (3 John 1:9), the Nicolaitanes (Revelation 2:6), or Simon Magus, Cerinthus, Ebion, any who opposed the teaching of Christ from within or without. (Comp. also Jude 1:4.) See Excursus on 2 Thessalonians 2:3-12. (19) They went out.—The special instances in his mind were of men who had seemed to belong to the body of Christ, but were never really penetrated by His Spirit. (Comp. Matthew 13:3-7; Matthew 13:24-30; Matthew 13:47-50.) St. John is not pronouncing a general law that “grace is indefectible;” but in looking back on each case of apostasy he sees there must have been some element in the character not subdued to Christ.

Verse 26. These things have I written] Either meaning the whole epistle, or what is contained in the preceding verses, from the beginning of the 18th to the end of the 25th. 1 John 2:18-25 Them that seduce you.] Περιτωνπλανωντωνὑμας· That is, the deceivers that were among them, and who were labouring to pervert the followers of Christ.

26. These things have I written unto you] ‘These things’ probably mean the warnings about the antichrists, not the whole Epistle. ‘I have written’, or ‘I wrote’, is the epistolary aorist as in 1 John 2:21.that seduce you] Better, that lead you astray, i.e. that are endeavouring to do so. It is the active of the verb which is used in 1 John 1:8 (see note there); and the present participle, which indicates the tendency and habit, but not the success, of the antichristian teachers.

These things have I written unto you concerning them that seduce you - Respecting their character, and in order to guard you against their arts.

26. These… written—Reviewing from 1 John 2:20. Them that seduce you—The deniers of the bodily Jesus.