Passage

1 John 2.19

Book: 1 John · ASV / WEB / KJV / YLT

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV

17. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever. 18. Little children, it is the last hour: and as ye heard that antichrist cometh, even now have there arisen many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last hour.

19. They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they all are not of us.

And ye have an anointing from the Holy One, and ye know all the things. 21. I have not written unto you because ye know not the truth, but because ye know it, and because no lie is of the truth. (1 John 2:17-21, ASV)

WEB

17. The world is passing away with its lusts, but he who does God’s will remains forever. 18. Little children, these are the end times, and as you heard that the Antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have arisen. By this we know that it is the final hour.

19. They went out from us, but they didn’t belong to us; for if they had belonged to us, they would have continued with us. But they left, that they might be revealed that none of them belong to us.

You have an anointing from the Holy One, and you all have knowledge. 21. I have not written to you because you don’t know the truth, but because you know it, and because no lie is of the truth. (1 John 2:17-21, WEB)

KJV

17. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever. 18. 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.

19. They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us.

But ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things. 21. I have not written unto you because ye know not the truth, but because ye know it, and that no lie is of the truth. (1 John 2:17-21, KJV)

YLT

17. and the world doth pass away, and the desire of it, and he who is doing the will of God, he doth remain, to the age. 18. Little youths, it is the last hour; and even as ye heard that the antichrist doth come, even now antichrists have become many, whence we know that it is the last hour;

19. out of us they went forth, but they were not of us, for if they had been of us, they would have remained with us; but, that they might be manifested that they are not all of us.

And ye have an anointing from the Holy One, and have known all things; 21. I did not write to you because ye have not known the truth, but because ye have known it, and because no lie is of the truth. (1 John 2:17-21, YLT)

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Setting

Speaker: the author of 1 John
Audience: a congregation or group of congregations that had suffered a schism
Location: traditionally Ephesus
Time period: late first century

Theological reading

They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us. The verse is addressed to a concrete pastoral crisis: a group has left, and those remaining are shaken by it.

The writer's answer works in two directions at once. It explains the departure, by denying that those who left ever truly belonged, and it reassures those who remain, by treating their continuance as evidence rather than as mere persistence. The stated purpose in the final clause is that they might be made manifest, so the schism is presented as a revealing event rather than as a loss of members.

The verse is a principal text in the perseverance debate and it is often made to carry more than it can. What it states is that these particular departures show that these particular people were not of us. It does not by itself supply a general doctrine covering every case of apostasy, and the letter elsewhere addresses its readers with conditional language and with warnings, which a purely deterministic reading has to accommodate. Traditions that hold to perseverance take the verse as paradigmatic; traditions that do not take it as a description of one class of departures among several. The codex presents both.

The occasion is also worth keeping in view. The dispute behind the letter concerns the confession of Jesus come in the flesh, so what the departing group departed over was christological rather than merely social. The test the writer applies is doctrinal and moral together, which is the pattern of the whole letter.

Key words

Theologically-loaded Greek or Hebrew words in this verse may have entries in the lexicon. Curated to roughly 100 contested terms across the corpus, not every word; see Lexicon Roadmap.

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Quoted in

Arguments and defeaters:

Concepts:

Passages:

Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.