The heretics that John attacks in his epistles are said to deny that Jesus came in the flesh. The coming is past in 1 John 4:2, but the tense is different in 2 John 7. Stott comments, “In strict grammar this should refer to a future coming, and some have wondered if a reference to the parousia, mentioned twice specifically in the first letter (2:28; 3:2), is intended.”
Stott goes on to argue that John is referring to the incarnation, and that may be right. But the notion that John is referring to heretics who doubt the parousia is suggestive. Though Stott says that there’s no evidence of any groups that denied the parousia, 2 Peter certainly gives evidence that some were becoming restive about it as the apostolic generation drew to a close. And, as Brown points out, a reference to the parousia in verse 7 sets up for the reference to rewards and loss in verse 8.
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