1 John 2:21

21. οὐκ ἔγραψα. Whatever may be the explanation of the tense in 1 John 2:14, here we probably have the epistolary aorist, which may be represented by either the present or the perfect in English. But some would refer this also to the Gospel; and the absence of ταῦτα renders this not impossible. More probably, however, as appears from 1 John 2:26, ἔγραψα both here and there refers to this section about antichrists. ‘Do not think from my warning you against lying teachers that I suspect you of being ignorant of the truth: you who have been anointed with the Spirit of truth cannot be ignorant of the truth. I write as unto men who will appreciate what I say. I write, not to teach, but to confirm.’ “S. John does not treat Christianity as a religion containing elements of truth, or even more truth than any religion which had preceded it. S. John presents Christianity to the soul as a religion which must be everything to it, if it is not really to be worse than nothing” (Liddon).

ὅτι οὐκ οἴδατε τ. ἀλ., ἀλλʼ ὅτι οἴδ. αὐτήν, καὶ ὅτι. There are no less than three ways of taking this, depending upon the meaning given to the thrice repeated conjunction (ὅτι), which in each place may mean either ‘because’ or ‘that’. 1. As A.V.; because, … but because … and that. The A.V. follows the earlier Versions in putting ‘that’ in the last clause: so Tyndale, Cranmer, &c. 2. As R.V.; ‘because’ in each clause. 3. ‘That’ in each clause: ‘I have not written that ye know not the truth, but that ye know it, and that &c.’ This last is almost certainly wrong. As in 1 John 2:13-14 the verb ‘write’ introduces the reason for writing and not the subject-matter or contents of the Epistle. And if the first conjunction is ‘because’, it is the simplest and most natural to take the second and third in the same way. The Apostle warns them against antichristian lies, not because they are ignorant, but (1) because they possess the truth, and (2) because every kind of lie is utterly alien to the truth they possess. “There is the modesty and the sound philosophy of an Apostle! Many of us think that we can put the truth into people, by screaming it into their ears. We do not suppose that they have any truth in them to which we can make appeal. S. John had no notion that he could be of use to his dear children at Ephesus unless there was a truth in them, a capacity of distinguishing truth from lies, a sense that one must be the eternal opposition of the other” (Maurice). Comp. ὑπομνῆσαι δὲ ὑμᾶς βούλομαι, εἰδότας ἅπαξ πάντα (Jude 1:5).

πᾶν ψεῦδος ἐκ τ. ἀλ. οὐκ ἔστιν. As in 1 John 3:15, the negative belongs to the verb and not to the πᾶν; “all … not, not any, none’: No lie is of the truth. There is nothing Hebraistic in this form of expression, as in 1 John 2:19 : comp. Ephesians 5:5; John 3:16. Ἐκ expresses origin, as in 1 John 2:16; 1 John 2:19; ἐκ τοῦ πατρός, ἐκ τοῦ κόσμου, ἐξ ἡμῶν. Comp. τὸ βάπτισμα Ἰωάννου ἐξ οὐρανοῦ ἦν, ἢ ἐξ�; (Luke 20:5). Every lie is from its very source utterly removed from the truth. The truth springs from ὁ� (Titus 1:2); lying from the devil, ὅτι ψεύστης ἐστὶ καὶ ὁ πατὴρ αὐτοῦ (John 8:44): ἀλήθεια γὰρ ὀπαδὸς Θεοῦ (Philo Vita Mosis III): πάντῃ ἅρα� (Plato Rep. II. 208 E).