1 John 2:21

I have not written Literally, as in 1Jn 2:13-14; 1 John 2:26, I wrote not, or, did not write: it is the aorist in the Greek. But (whatever may be true of 1 John 2:13) what we have here is almost certainly the epistolary aorist, which may be represented in English either by the present or by the perfect. -I have written" probably does not refer to the whole letter, but only to this section about the antichrists; this seems clear from 1 John 2:26. -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).

because ye know not the truth; but because ye know it, and that, &c. 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 Wiclif, Tyndale, Cranmer, &c. 2. As R.V.; -because" in each clause. 3. -That" in each clause: -I have not written thatye know not the truth, but thatye know it, and that&c." This last is almost certainly wrong. As in 1 John 2:13 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 intopeople, by screaming it into their ears. We do not suppose that they have any truth inthem 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).

no lie is of the truth Literally, every lie is not-of-the truth:the negative belongs to the predicate (comp. 1 John 3:15). -Of the truth" here is exactly analogous to -of the Father" and -of the world" in 1 John 2:16 and to -of us" in 1 John 2:19. Every lie is in originutterly removed from the truth: the truth springs from God; lying from the devil, -for he is a liar and the father thereof" (John 8:44). See on 1 John 2:16.