What Does 1 John 2:18 Mean?
Little children, it is the last hour, and as you have heard that the one against the Anointed One is coming, even now many have become those against the Anointed One. By this we perceive that it is the last hour.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time.THE KEY
The “last hour” is already present: its sign is the opposition to the Anointed that has appeared among you.
THE MEANING
The verse names this as the last hour because many antichrists are already present. What is expected is also discernible now, in opposition to the Anointed one.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The last hour does not depend on a single future arrival before it can be recognized; the verse says many antichrists are already here.
THE ROOT
ἀντίχριστος
antíchristos
GROWS FROM
χρίω (chriō), joined with ἀντί (anti)
χρίω means to anoint; ἀντί means against or in place of.
“the one against the Anointed One” in this verse is antíchristos. The word joins ἀντί (anti, against or in place of) with χριστός (christos, the anointed one). It names opposition to, or a counterclaim in place of, the Anointed, and the verse says this opposition is already present in many forms.
ALSO GROWS
christos: Anointed one
χριστός
This is the word at the heart of “antichrist”; the opposition is defined in relation to the Anointed.
chrisma: Anointing
χρῖσμα
This shares the anointing root and shows that the word concerns the anointed identity, not merely a generic opponent.
THE PATTERN
The last boundary is recognized through what is already being disclosed in the present.
And it will come to pass in the last days, God says, I will pour out my breath upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters will prophesy, and your young men will see visions, and your old men will dream dreams.In these last days he has spoken to us in a Son, whom he set as heir of all things, through whom he also made the ages.And every breath that does not speak the same of Jesus does not come out of God. And this is the breath of the one against the Anointed One, which you have heard is coming, and now it is already in the world.THE THREAD
And every breath that does not speak the same of Jesus does not come out of God. And this is the breath of the one against the Anointed One, which you have heard is coming, and now it is already in the world.This verse repeats ἀντίχριστος (antíchristos, against or in place of the Anointed) and says its spirit is already in the world. It opens 1 John 2:18 further: the expected opposition is present in many forms now.
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