Some Comments on 1 John 2:27

As for you, the anointing you received from him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about all things and as that anointing is real, not counterfeit—just as it has taught you, remain in him. (1 John 2:27)

Given this passage, do we need preachers? Teachers? Sunday school?

The “you” in “remains in you” is not singular; instead it should be “y’all”; the anointing “remains in y’all,” “among us,” etc. as a community - it is communal, and it is the Church that does not need external teachers, not individual Christians.  We all, as Christians, have the Holy Spirit. If we emphasize the anointing as too individual, then the spirit’s ministry would be primarily interior and too self-focused. (Robert Yarbrough for this point)

The anointing and the Word were given at the same time; a Christian does not need any additional teaching beyond what he has “received.” “See that what you have heard from the beginning remains in you.”  So the Word and anointing are tied.  The reason you don't need anyone to teach you is because you've already been taught it when you received the Word.  This is the key to properly understanding this passage.

“You do not need anyone to teach you.”  “Anyone” is probably alluding to the heretics leading the Christians astray.  You don’t need *those* teachers to teach you.  You don’t need them to teach you anything new, because what you’ve already received (Word and Spirit) are enough. “So, when John says they do not need anyone to teach them the ‘anyone’ is speaking of those giving new revelations.”

This heightens the fact that our preachers are not teachers of *new* stuff, but teachers, expositors, applicators, of what we have already received.

“Teaches you all things.” We’re not made omniscient by the Spirit.  “All things” refers to the things under discussion, whether Jesus came in the flesh.

As John emphasizes, the role of the inner witness is as a testimony to the received Word or tradition given by the apostles – “what you have heard from the beginning” – and not the role or source of new revelation.

Supplementary points:  
This passage must be consistent with the teaching authority and office as outlined in other New Testament books.  
John is himself teaching, or “reminding,” in this book.  If teachers or instruction were unnecessary, then his letter would be unnecessary.