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1Jn_2:21. οὐκ ἔγραψα ὑμῖν ] does not refer to the whole Epistle (Beza), but to that which is said of the antichrists; comp. 1Jn_2:26.[170]
ὅτι οὐκ οἴδατε τὴν ἀλήθειαν κ . τ . λ .] ὅτι = because (comp. 1Jn_2:12-14); the apostle does not want to teach the anointed Christians for the first time the truth which was revealed in Christ, but he is writing to them because they know it; a Lapide: non ut haec vos doceam, sed ut doctos confirmem.
καὶ ὅτι πᾶν ψεῦδος κ . τ . λ .] This ὅτι is not co-ordinate with the preceding one, but is dependent on οἴδατε . Luther, correctly according to the sense: “but ye know it, and know that,” etc.
πᾶν ψεῦδος , quite generally, though with special reference to the antichristian doctrine; ψεῦδος : “not merely error, but lie” (de Wette)—the absolute antithesis of ἀλήθεια ; Lange quite arbitrarily thinks that the abstract is here put for the concrete: “that no false teacher can be a genuine Christian.” It is incorrect to take πᾶν … οὐ as a Hebraism = οὐδέν ; οὐ belongs rather to the predicate.
ἐκ τῆς ἀληθείας οὐκ ἔστι ] ἐκ here also indicates the source, and does not express merely the connection (de Wette, Baumgarten-Crusius). Because the lie is not of the truth, so also it has no connection with it; Lorinus: ex vero non nisi verum sequitur, et verum vero consonat. Whence the lie, which is not ἐκ τῆς ἀληθείας , originates, Christ says in Joh_8:44 : The truth is from God, who is Himself the truth; the lie from the devil, who is not in the truth.
[170] Ebrard refers this ἔγραψα also arbitrarily to the Gospel of John.