2:19a

They went out from us: (Meaning) These people whom John has just called “antichrists” had originally been members of the church. Then they disagreed with the other members over whether Jesus was the Christ whom God sent from heaven, and so they left the church. This proved that they had never really been true Christians (2:19d).

2:19b

they did not belong to us: (Meaning) John means that those people had never really been members of the group of believers. They were never true Christians like himself and his readers.

2:19d

(Good News Translation) they left so that…: (Meaning) John is not saying that these people left the church with the purpose in their minds of showing that they were not really Christians. Rather he is saying that God’s purpose in their leaving was that it should have the effect of making clear that they were not Christians. See Berean Standard Bible, New International Version (2011 Revision), Phillips’ New Testament in Modern English, Living Bible.

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All Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible. BSB is produced in cooperation with Bible Hub, Discovery Bible, OpenBible.com, and the Berean Bible Translation Committee.