ACC ~ 1 John 2 v19

PLAIN TO ALL. CYPRIAN: This verse makes it plain that all who are known to have withdrawn from the love and the unity of the universal church are adversaries of the Lord and antichrists. LETTERS 69.1.

SOME WILL NOT PERSEVERE. AUGUSTINE: It seems to us that all who appear to be good and faithful ought to receive the gift of final perseverance. God, however, has judged it better to mingle some who will not persevere with the certain number of his saints, so that those for whom security in the temptations of this life is not helpful cannot be secure. ON THE GIFT OF PERSEVERANCE 8.19.

THEY WERE NEVER REALLY WITH US. ANDREAS: John says this because there were some people who had become teachers but had subsequently departed from the truth in order to follow the blasphemies of their own minds. But even if they were once among us, John adds, they were never really part of us, since if they had been, they would have stayed with us. CATENA.

THE BENEFIT OF REMOVING A TUMOR. BEDE: John says that the antichrists have gone out from us but then adds the comforting words that they were never really with us beforehand. In fact, he is saying that no one except an antichrist would even leave us, for those who are not against Christ will cling to his body. In the body of Christ there are those who are still being healed and who will not be fully well again until the resurrection of the dead. But there are also others who are malignant tumors, and when they are removed the body is spared. Thus it is that the departure of such people is of great benefit to the church. ON 1 JOHN.

THEY WENT OUT FROM US. OECUMENIUS: Some people will ask where the antichrists have come from, and the sad answer is that they have come from our midst. That way they can pretend to have all the credibility of true disciples and stand a better chance of seducing the unwary. They became disciples themselves at first but then departed from the truth and invented their own blasphemies to replace it. COMMENTARY ON 1 JOHN.

1 Jn