Thanks for responding. I also accepted Jesus as a child. You didn't express that in your profile and your answer seemed vague so I wanted to understand better what you were saying.
I read the Cross and the Switchblade years back too. A great book!
John is not calling his Jewish countrymen antichrists. He is speaking of actual people causing problems in the burgeoning congregations of believers. John was writing to the churches regarding the infiltration of false prophets who were denying Christ and the reference to the spirit of antichrist is to them.
You might find the following helpful:
1 John
The First Letter of John was apparently addressed to a group of churches where “false prophets,” denounced as
Antichrist, denied the Incarnation of
Jesus and caused a secession so substantial that the orthodox remnant was sadly depleted. The faithful were deeply disturbed that the
heresy found favour among pagans, and they apparently felt inferior because those who had left their midst claimed to have profound mystical experiences. The heretics asserted that they possessed perfection, were “born of God,” and were without sin. By placing themselves above the Commandments, they in fact sanctioned
moral laxity. John’s letter thus urges the Christian
community to hold fast to what they had been taught and to
repudiate heretical teachings. Christians are exhorted to persevere in leading a moral life, which meant imitating Christ by keeping the Commandments, especially that of loving one another. The spirit of the letter closely parallels that of the
Gospel According to John.
2 John
The second and third letters are closely akin to the first in language and ideas. The Second Letter of John exhorts a
church, fancifully called “the elect lady and her children,” to
boycott the docetic heretics (combated in 1 John), who deny the reality of the
Incarnation. In 2 John, as in the Gospel According to John and 1 John, the light–darkness images are similar to those of the
Dead Sea Scrolls. To “walk in the truth” is to reject heresy and follow the doctrine of Christ.
3 John
The Third Letter of John is addressed to a certain Gaius and complains that “Diotrephes, who lies to put himself first, does not acknowledge my authority”—a hint that
gnostic teachings were severely disrupting the community. The writer is concerned about and has responsibility as presbyter for the missionaries of the church. It is somewhat of a short note concerned with church discipline, encouraging
hospitality to true missionaries, and thus is not unconnected with true doctrine and the command of love.
The above is a very brief description and you can find lots more if you do a search on google or whatever search engine you use. This is from the following
Letters of John | Summary
