Chapter
1 2 3 4 5
Verse

1 John 2:18

ESV Children, it is the last hour, and as you have heard that antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have come. Therefore we know that it is the last hour.
NIV Dear children, this is the last hour; and as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come. This is how we know it is the last hour.
NASB Children, it is the last hour; and just as you heard that antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have appeared; from this we know that it is the last hour.
CSB Children, it is the last hour. And as you have heard that antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come. By this we know that it is the last hour.
NLT Dear children, the last hour is here. You have heard that the Antichrist is coming, and already many such antichrists have appeared. From this we know that the last hour has come.
KJV 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.
NKJV Little children, it is the last hour; and as you have heard that the Antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come, by which we know that it is the last hour.

What does 1 John 2:18 mean?

This verse begins a new section, extending through verse 27, focused on warning against "antichrists." These are not the same as the end-times figure mentioned in the book of Revelation. John begins with the preface, "Children, it is the last hour." He considered his time as part of the "last hour" or end times. Though the end times are hotly debated today, it is clear the apostles believed they lived in some sense of "the end times," starting after the ascension of Jesus.

John's reason for referring to the current time as "the last hour" was the emergence of so many of these antichrists. John had personally encountered those who were against Christ, teaching against the true gospel and character of Jesus. John is the only writer to mention the word antichrist, defining an antichrist as "he who denies the Father and the Son" (1 John 2:22), does not confess Jesus (1 John 4:3), and does not confess Jesus as coming in the flesh (2 John 1:7).

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