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19. The relation of these antichristian teachers to the Church of Christ. They were formerly nominal members, but never real members of it. They are now not members in any sense. Note the repetition, so characteristic of S. John, of the key-word ἡμῶν, which means the Christian Church. It occurs five times in this one verse.
ἐξ ἡμῶν ἐξῆλθαν. Tenses, which in other respects are second aorists in form, frequently in LXX. and N.T. have the α of the first aorist. Comp. 2Jn 1:5; 2Jn 1:7; 3Jn 1:7. Winer, 86, 87. Note the chiasmus: ἐξ ἡμῶν stands first in the one clause and last in the other for emphasis. ‘Out from us they went; it was their own doing,—a distinct separation from our communion: but that very fact proves that their origin is not from us’. We can hardly express in English the simple and forcible antithesis of ἐξ ἡμῶν. It is incredible that the first clause means ‘they proceeded from us Jews.’ What point is there in that? Moreover, S. John never writes as a Jew, but always as a Christian to Christians. Ἡμῶν includes all true Christians, whether Jews or Gentiles in origin. Comp. καὶ ἐξ ὑμῶν αὐτῶν ἀναστήσονται ἄνδρες λαλοῦντες διεστραμμένα (Act 20:30), which may refer to these very antichrists (the words are addressed to the Ephesian presbyters): and ἐξηλθον ἄνδρες παράνομοι ἐξ ὑμῶν καὶ ἀπέστησαν τοὺς κατοικοῦντας τὴν πόλιν αὐτῶν (Deu 13:14). In the second clause ἐξ ἡμῶν is exactly analogous to ἐκ τού πατρός and ἐκ τοῦ κόσμου in 1Jn 2:16. The contrast between the single act of departure (ἐξῆλθαν) and the lasting condition of origin (ἦσαν) is clearly marked by the tenses. Comp. Joh 4:27; Joh 4:47; Joh 4:50; Joh 5:9; Joh 6:1-2; Joh 6:16-17; Joh 6:66; Joh 7:14; Joh 7:30-31; Joh 7:44.
μεμεν. ἄν μεθ ̓ ἡμῶν. They would have abided with us. See on 1Jn 2:24. The ‘no doubt’ of A.V. corresponds to nothing in the Greek, and the intrusion is interesting. Almost all the earlier English Versions go wrong as to ‘no doubt.’ Tyndale and Cranmer have ‘no dout,’ the Genevan has ‘douteles,’ and the Rhemish ‘surely.’ Probably these are attempts to translate the utique of the Vulgate, permansissent utique nobiscum: and the utique, which is as old as Tertullian (De Praescr. Haer. III.), is a mistaken endeavour to give a separate word to represent the Greek particle ἄν. Wiclif (not Purvey) has ‘sotheli’ to represent utique; ‘sotheli they hadden dwelte with us’. Luther inserts ‘ja’; ‘so wären sie ja bei uns geblieben’; which looks as if he also were under the influence of the utique. There is a similar instance Joh 8:42, where Wiclif has ‘sotheli ye schulden love Me’, Cranmer, ‘truly ye wolde love Me’, and the Rhemish, ‘verely ye would love Me’, because the Vulgate (not Tertullian) gives diligeretis utique Me for ἠγαπᾶτε ἂν ἐμέ. Comp. 3Jn 1:9, where the Vulgate has scripsissem forsitan to represent the reading ἔγραψα ἄν. The meaning here is that secession proves a want of fundamental union from the first. As Tertullian says: Nemo Christianus, nisi qui ad finem perseveraverit. Note that S. John does not say ‘they would have abided among us (ἐν ἡμῖν)’, but ‘with us (μεθ ̓ ἡμῶν)’. This brings out more clearly the idea of fellowship: ‘these antichrists had no real sympathy with us’.
ἀλλʼ ἵνα φανερωθῶσιν. Ἀλλ ̓ ἵνα is an elliptical expression very frequent in S. John’s Gospel (Joh 1:8; Joh 9:3; Joh 13:18; Joh 14:31; Joh 15:25). The ellipse may be filled up thus; ἀλλὰ τοῦτο γέγονεν ἵνα, or by supplying a verb from the previous sentence; ἀλλʼ ἐξῆλθαν ἵνα. Winer, 398, 774. The Apostle’s favourite construction with ἵνα (see on 1Jn 1:9) again points to the Divine government of events. It was God’s will that these spurious members should be made known as such. The κρίσις, which all through the Gospel is given as the necessary result of the manifestation of the Son, still continues after His return to the Father—the separation of light from darkness, of the Church from the world, of real from unreal Christians (see introductory note to John 5). S. John assures his readers that the appearance of error and unbelief in the Church need not shake their faith in it: it is all in accordance with the Divine plan. Revelation of the truth necessarily causes a separation between those who accept and those who reject it, and is designed to do so. God does not will that any should reject the truth; but He wills that those who reject should be made manifest. S. Paul states this truth the other way; that the faithful need to be distinguished from the rest: δεῖ γὰρ καὶ αἱρέσεις ἐν ὑμῖν εἶναι, ἵνα οἱ δόκιμοι φανεροὶ γένωνται ἐν ὑμῖν (1Co 11:19).
ὅτι οὐκ εἰσὶν πάντες ἐξ ἡμῶν. Does this mean ‘that not all are of us’, as in the margin of R.V., or ‘that they are not, any of them, of us’? Certainly the latter. ‘That they were not all of us’, as A.V. is doubly wrong. Where the negative immediately precedes πᾶς, it negatives the πᾶς, and the meaning is non omnis, ‘not every one’ or ‘not all’. Where the verb intervenes, the οὐ negatives the verb and not the πᾶς: ‘not any one’ or ‘all … not’. This idiom appears to be a Hebraism, far more common in LXX. than in N.T.; comp. Exo 12:16; Exo 12:44; Exo 25:40; &c. &c. Contrast οὐ πᾶσα σὰρξ ἡ αὐτὴ σάρξ (1Co 15:39) with οὐκ ἂν ἐσώθη πᾶσα σάρξ (Mat 24:22). Wiclif, Tyndale, and Cranmer rather avoid the difficulty by omitting ‘all’; but the omission gives the right sense in a weakened form. The erroneous ‘were’ comes from Tyndale and Cranmer: Wiclif, the Genevan and the Rhemish are right. For οὐ … πᾶς comp. Rev 21:27; Luk 1:37; Rom 3:20. Winer, 214.
In this verse S. John does not teach that the Christian cannot fall away; his exhortations to his readers not to love the world, but to abide in Christ, is proof of that. He is only putting in another form the declaration of Christ, ‘I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, and no one shall snatch them out of My hand’ (Joh 10:28). Apostasy is possible, but only for those who have never really made Christ their own, never fully given themselves to Him.