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2Jn_1:7. In this verse the apostle addresses himself to the warning against the false teachers, whom he first more particularly characterizes. The ὅτι , with which the verse begins, indicates that the foregoing exhortation to mutual love has its origin in the fear of their being disturbed by the influence of the false teachers; but it is not to be inferred from this that ὅτι is grammatically dependent on ἐρωτῶ σε . It would be grammatically possible also to regard this verse as the premiss on which 2Jn_1:8 is based (Grotius, Carpzovius), but such a construction is at variance with the peculiarity of John’s diction.
ὅτι πολλοὶ πλάνοι ] The expression πλάνοι does not elsewhere appear in John; comp. on the other hand, Mat_27:63; 2Co_6:8; 1Ti_4:1; instead of it in 1Jn_2:26 : οἱ πλανῶντες ὑμᾶς .
With this passage may be compared 1Jn_2:18 ff; 1Jn_4:1.
ἐξῆλθον [ εἰσῆλθον ] εἰς τὸν κόσμον does not denote separation from the Church; κόσμος does not here form the antithesis of the ἐκκλησία τοῦ Θεοῦ ; the sense is rather the same here as in Joh_4:1. The difference between εἰσῆλθ . and ἐξῆλθ . is only this, that by the latter expression the point of departure is more definitely indicated.
οἱ μὴ ὁμολογοῦντες κ . τ . λ .] comp. 1Jn_4:2-3; on the N. T. usage of the article before the participle after πολλοί , comp. Buttm. p. 254; μὴ ὁμολογεῖν = ἀρνεῖσθαι . The μή is not to be explained, with Winer (p. 428; VII. p. 450), by the fact that the participle refers to a representative class (= quicumque non profitentur), but it is used just as in 1Jn_4:3 : ὁ μὴ ὁμολογεῖ ; see on this passage.
Ἰησοῦν Χριστὸν ἐρχόμενον ἐν σαρκί ] is to be taken just as the words 1Jn_4:2, that run almost exactly similarly. The present participle ἐρχόμενον , instead of which ἐληλυθότα is used there, expresses the idea in itself—apart from the idea of time; comp. Joh_6:14; Bengel incorrectly: qui veniebat, with an appeal to 3Jn_1:3, for in this passage ἐρχομένων and μαρτυρούντων , by their close connection with ἐχάρην , are distinctly indicated as imperfect participles; such a connection does not exist here, nor are we to interpret, with Baumgarten-Crusius: “He who was to come;” still more incorrectly Oecumenius takes it as future participle, referring it to the second coming of Christ.
οὗτός ἐστιν ὁ πλάνος καὶ ὁ ἀντίχριστος ] οὗτος refers back to οἱ μὴ ὁμολογοῦντες κ . τ . λ . By ὁ πλάνος the apostle resumes the preceding πλάνοι ; by ὁ ἀντίχριστος he adds a new characteristic.
The definite article indicates these ideas as familiar to the readers; the Antichrist of whom they have heard, comp. 1Jn_2:18.
The singular is here used in collective signification (Lücke); the many are the Antichrist, inasmuch as the same πνεῦμα τῆς πλάνης is in all; comp. further, the remarks on 1Jn_2:18.