The New Testament · Hebrews and the Catholic Letters · Book 69 of 73
Prophecy in 1 John
The only book of the Bible that uses the word “antichrist” is also the one that says “God is love.” The two belong together. John tells his children that it is the last hour and that deceivers have gone out, and then tells them how to recognize the truth: by faith in Jesus come in the flesh, and by love.
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The book at a glance
The letter names no author, but it opens with the witness of one who has seen, heard and touched “the Word of life” (1:1), and its language is close to the Gospel of John. Tradition attributes it to St. John the Apostle. Many scholars think it comes from a disciple or a circle of disciples in the Johannine community, written around the end of the first century after a group had broken away (2:19). The Church receives it as inspired Scripture either way.
It holds little prediction in the strict sense. Its prophecy is a reading of the present in the light of the end: “it is the last hour.” The antichrist is spoken of as expected and also as already at work in many antichrists. Over against them stands the promise: we are God's children now, and “we shall see him as he is.”
Key to the labels
How a passage stands
Fulfilled Accomplished in history, above all in Christ.
Unfolding Being worked out now in the life of the Church.
Future Clearly still to come at Christ's return.
Mystery Its meaning or moment is not yet settled.
What kind of passage it is
Prophecy God's word through a prophet, or Christ, about what will come.
Promise A pledge God makes, kept over generations.
Type A person or event that foreshadows Christ or the Church.
Image A picture Scripture returns to and completes at the end.
Apocalypse A vision unveiling history from heaven's side, in symbols.
More on the labels
| Passage | Subject | Standing |
|---|
| 2:18–22 | The last hour; the antichrist and many antichrists | Unfolding Future |
| 2:28 | Confidence at his coming | Future |
| 3:2–3 | We shall see him as he is | Future |
| 4:1–4 | Test the spirits | Unfolding |
| 4:16–18 | God is love; no fear in love | Fulfilled Future |
The passages
“Children, it is the last hour; and just as you heard that the antichrist was coming, so now many antichrists have appeared. Thus we know this is the last hour.”
- Reading
- John's readers had been taught that the antichrist would come. John tells them he is already at work in many: those who “went out from us, but they were not really of our number” (2:19). He gives the mark plainly: “Who is the liar? Whoever denies that Jesus is the Christ. Whoever denies the Father and the Son, this is the antichrist” (2:22). The NABRE note explains that “antichrist” means opponent or adversary of Christ, that the word appears only in 1 and 2 John, and that the figure is related to the false messiahs of the Gospels (Mark 13:22) and to Paul's lawless one (2 Thessalonians 2).
- Why two labels
- The “last hour” is the whole time between Christ's first coming and his return. The Catechism quotes this verse for it: “We are already at ‘the last hour’” (CCC 670). The spirit of antichrist is already at work in every denial of Christ. The Catechism also cites these verses, with 2 Thessalonians 2 and 2 John 7, when it teaches that before Christ's return the Church must pass through a final trial, and that “the supreme religious deception is that of the Antichrist” (CCC 675).
- Note
- John's emphasis falls on the many, not on speculation about the one. The Church names no one as the Antichrist, and neither does this site. St. John Henry Newman, following the Fathers, held both truths together: forerunners in every age, and a final adversary still to come (Newman on the Antichrist).
“And now, children, remain in him, so that when he appears we may have confidence and not be put to shame by him at his coming.”
- Reading
- This is the only place in John's letters where the word parousia, coming, appears. The way to be ready is not to calculate but to “remain in him,” a favorite word of John's (John 15:4–10). The one who remains has confidence, not fear.
- See also
- 1 John 4:17; Matthew 25:31–46.
“Beloved, we are God's children now; what we shall be has not yet been revealed. We do know that when it is revealed we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.”
- Reading
- “See what love the Father has bestowed on us that we may be called the children of God. Yet so we are” (3:1). The present gift is already real; its full shape is hidden. The Catechism draws on this verse for the vision of God in heaven: those who die in God's grace “see him as he is,” face to face (CCC 1023). Revelation says the same of the servants of the Lamb: “They will look upon his face” (Revelation 22:4).
- For now
- “Everyone who has this hope based on him makes himself pure, as he is pure” (3:3). The hope of seeing him shapes how we live now.
“Beloved, do not trust every spirit but test the spirits to see whether they belong to God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.”
- Reading
- The test is Christ: “every spirit that acknowledges Jesus Christ come in the flesh belongs to God” (4:2). The spirit that does not is “the spirit of the antichrist that, as you heard, is to come, but in fact is already in the world” (4:3). The Catechism cites these verses on the confession of the Incarnation as the distinctive sign of Christian faith (CCC 463, 465).
- Why unfolding
- Testing the spirits is the Church's ongoing work. It is one reason she weighs claimed revelations carefully (CCC 67; see Apparitions).
- For now
- John adds a word of courage: “You belong to God, children, and you have conquered them, for the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world” (4:4).
“God is love, and whoever remains in love remains in God and God in him.”
- Reading
- This is not prophecy, but it is the light in which all prophecy is read, and the first rule of this site. “We have come to know and to believe in the love God has for us” (4:16). The Catechism teaches that “God's very being is love,” revealed in the sending of the Son and the Spirit (CCC 221). The day of judgment is then no longer a terror: “In this is love brought to perfection among us, that we have confidence on the day of judgment” (4:17).
- Why two labels
- God's love has been revealed in Christ, once for all (4:9–10). Its perfecting in us looks to the day of judgment.
- For now
- “There is no fear in love, but perfect love drives out fear” (4:18). Any reading of the last things that leaves people afraid rather than loving has missed John's point.
Still to come on this pageFurther passages to add: the darkness passing away and the true light already shining (2:8), the world and its enticement passing away (2:17), the Son of God revealed to destroy the works of the devil (3:8), and the victory that conquers the world, our faith (5:4–5).
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