But the {t} anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye {u} need not that any man teach you: but as the same {x} anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him.

(t) The Spirit who you have received from Christ, and who has led you into all truth.

(u) You are not ignorant of those things, and therefore I teach them not as things that were never heard of, but call them to your mind as things which you do know.

(x) He commends both the doctrine which they had embraced, and also highly praises their faith, and the diligence of those who taught them, yet so, that he takes nothing from the honour due to the Holy Spirit.

People's New Testament

2:27 But the anointing which ye have received, abideth in you. See 1Jo 2:20. This anointing is spoken of because it furnishes them a means of guarding against the false teachers and seducers. The passage does not teach a continuous revelation, or that we are to be led by the inner light, but that God has given us means of knowing whether men speak the truth.

Ye need not that any man should teach you. There is another fountain of knowledge so that ye need not the aid of these opposing teachers.

As the same anointing teacheth of you all things. The Holy Spirit bestowed upon you. It was the promise of Christ that the Spirit should guide you into all the truth (Joh 16:13). The Holy Spirit was thus imparted to the apostles and through them spiritual gifts were imparted everywhere in the early church. Among these gifts were wisdom, knowledge, prophecy, and discerning of spirits. These extraordinary gifts continued until the Holy Spirit had prepared the New Testament to guide the church (1Co 13:8). Now we have the Word of God, which the Holy Spirit has given us, and the presence of the Spirit with us to fit us for understanding. The word and the unction still teach us all things.

Wesley's Notes

2:27 Ye need not that any should teach you, save as that anointing teacheth you - Which is always the same, always consistent with itself. But this does not exclude our need of being taught by them who partake of the same anointing. Of all things - Which it is necessary for you to know. And is no lie - Like that which antichrist teaches. Ye shall abide in him - This is added both by way of comfort and of exhortation. The whole discourse, from verse 18 to this, 1Jo 2:18 - 27 is peculiarly adapted to little children.

King James Translators' Notes

in him: or, in it

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

27. But-Greek, "And you (contrasting the believing readers with the seducers; the words 'and you' stand prominent, the construction of the sentence following being altered, and no verb agreeing with 'and you' until 'need not') . the anointing," &c. (resumed from 1Jo 2:20).

received of him-(Joh 1:16). So we "are unto God a sweet savor of Christ."

abideth in you-He tacitly thus admonishes them to say, when tempted by seducers, "The anointing abideth in us; we do not need a teacher [for we have the Holy Spirit as our teacher, Jer 31:34; Joh 6:45; 16:13]; it teaches us the truth; in that teaching we will abide" [Bengel].

and-and therefore. God is sufficient for them who are taught of Him; they are independent of all others, though, of course, not declining the Christian counsel of faithful ministers. "Mutual communication is not set aside, but approved of, in the case of those who are partakers of the anointing in one body" [Bengel].

the same anointing-which ye once for all received, and which now still abides in you.

of-"concerning."

all things-essential to salvation; the point under discussion. Not that the believer is made infallible, for no believer here receives the Spirit in all its fulness, but only the measure needful for keeping him from soul-destroying error. So the Church, though having the Spirit in her, is not infallible (for many fallible members can never make an infallible whole), but is kept from ever wholly losing the saving truth.

no lie-as Antichristian teaching.

ye shall abide in him-(1Jo 2:24, end); even as "the anointing abideth in you." The oldest manuscripts read the imperative, "abide in Him."

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

2:24-29 The truth of Christ, abiding in us, is a means to sever from sin, and unites us to the Son of God, Joh 15:3,4. What value should we put upon gospel truth! Thereby the promise of eternal life is made sure. The promise God makes, is suitable to his own greatness, power, and goodness; it is eternal life. The Spirit of truth will not lie; and he teaches all things in the present dispensation, all things necessary to our knowledge of God in Christ, and their glory in the gospel. The apostle repeats the kind words, little children; which denotes his affection. He would persuade by love. Gospel privileges oblige to gospel duties; and those anointed by the Lord Jesus abide with him. The new spiritual nature is from the Lord Christ. He that is constant to the practice of religion in trying times, shows that he is born from above, from the Lord Christ. Then, let us beware of holding the truth in unrighteousness, remembering that those only are born of God, who bear his holy image, and walk in his most righteous ways.