NT Text: 1 John 2:18
OT Source(s):
Source: Theoretical
Reference Type: Allusion
Connection Method(s): Promise-Fulfillment + Longitudinal Theme
Significance: John's declaration that "it is the last hour, and as you have heard that antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have appeared" (antichristoi polloi gegonasin) draws on the Danielic tradition of an eschatological opponent who opposes God and his people. Daniel 7:25 describes the "little horn" who "speaks against the Most High," "oppresses the saints," and "tries to change the set times and the laws" — a figure who concentrates opposition to God in the final period of history. John's innovation is twofold: he pluralizes the concept ("many antichrists") and locates them in the present ("even now"), applying the inaugurated eschatology of the apostolic era to the Danielic framework. The "last hour" echoes Daniel's temporal language of appointed times and final periods. John's antichrists — those who deny that Jesus is the Christ (2:22) — are present-tense manifestations of the Danielic opposition pattern, confirming the eschatological location of the church.