Cambridge Greek Testament Commentary

1 John 2:22

22. τίς ἐστιν ὁ ψεύστης. Who is the liar? R.V. is here again superior to previous English Versions. But we must beware of exaggerating the article in interpretation, although it is right to translate it. It merely marks the passage from the abstract to the concrete: ‘Every lie is absolutely alien from the truth. Who then is the one who speaks lies? There are no liars if he who denies that Jesus is the Christ is not one.’ The exactly parallel construction in 1 John 2:4-5 shews that ‘the liar’ here does not mean ‘the greatest liar possible’. Moreover, this would not be true. Is denying that Jesus is the Christ a greater lie than denying the existence of the Son, or of God? Nor does this lie include all falsehood. A Jew or Mahometan possesses a large portion of the truth along with this falsehood. It is, however, an instance of what Plato calls τὸ ὡς�, a lie περὶ τὰ κυριώτατα, i.e. a veritable falsehood on the most momentous subjects. Cerinthus and his Gnostic hearers, who profess to be in possession of the higher truth, are really possessed by one of the worst of lies (see Introduction).

The abruptness of the Apostle’s question is startling. Throughout these verses (22–24) “clause stands by clause in stern solemnity without any connecting particles” (Westcott).

οὗτός ἐστιν ὁ�. This is the antichrist, as R.V. The article, almost certainly spurious in 1 John 2:18, is certainly genuine here, 1 John 4:3, and 2 John 1:7. But here ὁ� does not seem to mean the great personal rival of the Christ, but the antichristian teacher who exhibits his spirit and acts as his mouthpiece.

ὁ�. πατέρα κ. τ. υἱόν. This clause takes the place of ὁ�. ὅτι Ἰησοῦς οὐκ ἕστιν ὁ Χριστός. The change, which is quite in S. John’s manner, implies that to deny the one truth is to deny the other. Jesus is the Christ, and the Christ is the Son of God; therefore to deny that Jesus is the Christ is to deny the Son. And to deny the Son is to deny the Father; not merely because Son and Father are correlatives and mutually imply one another, but because the Son is the revelation of the Father, without whom the Father cannot be known. ‘Neither doth any know the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son willeth to reveal Him’ (Matthew 11:27). ‘No one cometh unto the Father but by Me’ (John 14:6). Comp. John 5:23; John 15:23. Some would put a full stop at ‘antichrist,’ and connect what follows with 1 John 2:23, thus; This is the antichrist. He that denieth the Father (denieth) the Son also: every one that denieth the Son hath not the Father either.

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Cambridge Greek Testament Commentary

1 John 2:22

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