Not Needing a Teacher

The Problem: Dissolution and Controversy (2:18 – 19)

THE URGENCY AND passion of John comes through not simply in his form of address (“dear children,” Gk. paidia; cf. 2:13) but in his announcement that it is now “the last hour.” Two things signal to John the arrival of this hour. (1) The appearance of “antichrist,” technically, anyone who opposes Christ, represents a focused hostility toward the gospel. 1 (2) The dissolution of his own congregation (seen in the departure of some Christians) indicates that the antichrist has now laid siege to John’s church.

The first of these signals presents a difficult problem. In what sense is it “the last hour”? How can John be right since, to put it frankly, quite a few “hours” have passed since this letter was written and the end has still not come? Some scholars have been critical, arguing that for New Testament writers like John the phrase “the last hour” implied the period of time just before the end and therefore, logically, John was wrong. This view suggests that the early Christians believed in the imminent arrival of Christ in power (his second coming) and that his delay brought a major crisis on the church. Peter, for instance, acknowledges that people were scoffing at the church because Christ’s announced second coming had not happened (see 2 Peter 3:3-7). 2

However, another view is more helpful. John may be speaking theologically rather than chronologically. The early Christians understood that the first coming of Christ brought a change of eons, an unparalleled period when the knowledge of God, the presence of his Holy Spirit, and the defeat of Satan were at work. They were fond of speaking about this era eschatologically, for it encompassed elements of the “world to come.” Christians were experiencing the last days or the last times, as if to say, all that was left for history to culminate was for Jesus to return a second time; that coming would complete what this era had begun (see Acts 2:17; 1 Cor 10:11; Heb. 1:2; 1 Peter 1:20; cf. Joel 2:28; Mic. 4:1).

In this framework, the last times formed a last hour in which the struggle with evil and the unveiling of God’s power would intensify (1 Tim. 4:1; Jude 18), though the exact knowledge of when the eschatological era was being culminated remained unknown. Jesus was clear that speculation about the end of the world was inappropriate (see Mark 13:32, Acts 1:7). Yet he still gave an outline of those things that would characterize this era (Mark 13:28-37). There would be a cascade of falsehood and evil putting the church on the extreme defense. False christs and false prophets would be one feature (Matt. 24:24; Mark 13:22; cf. Rev. 13; 19:20). Paul even tells the Thessalonians to watch for “the man of lawlessness,” who is the antichrist, a powerful broker of evil forces (2 Thess. 2:1-12). Consequently, John is reminding his readers that the concentration of evil they are now experiencing fits perfectly the formula announced by Jesus and his apostles for the end of time.

The most helpful image to explain this view of history comes from J. H. Newman, a nineteenth-century pastor. 3 History has changed its direction, says Newman. It runs “not towards the end, but along it, and on the brink of it; and is at all times near that great event, which, did it run towards it, it would at once run into. Christ then is ever at our doors.” Since the coming of Jesus, history has a new urgency, a sense that its end is at hand and the powers of the future are impinging upon it. Marshall cites Newman and illustrates his views thus: 4Select all the text in this box and paste your sermon here...

How long will this time take? Sometimes the “last hour” refers to a short period (John 4:23); sometimes its length is longer (John16:2). Peter warns that God’s measuring of time is not like ours, for to the Lord a thousand years is like a day (2 Peter 3:8-10). God is above time. But when the end does come — and here the New Testament writers are in one accord — it will surprise everyone, including Christians. It will be seen by unbelievers as an unexpected catastrophe (Matt. 24:36 – 44; 25:1 – 13, 14 – 30; Mark 13:32 – 36; 1 Thess. 5:2; 2 Peter 3:10).