In contrast to the ones who have left John’s circle, the readers have been anointed by the Holy One and know the truth (2:20-21). Although John does not specifically say this is the anointing of the Holy Spirit, the word anointing found here is used in the NT only with God as the subject and the Holy Spirit as the object. God is the Holy one, but in John’s gospel Jesus is the holy one, “We believe and know that you are the Holy One of God” (John 6:69). In addition Jesus will send the Holy Spirit who “will teach them the truth (John 15:26; 16:7, 12–15)” (Kruse, 103).
By way of contrast, the antichrists who have already gone out from John’s apostolic circle are the ones who are not anointed by God and do not know the truth about Jesus (2:22-23)
- They deny Jesus is the Christ, the messiah.
- They deny the Father and the Son.
- They do not confess the Son or the Father.
- They try to deceive the true believers (v. 26).
Who are these antichrists? Are they even Christians? For John, they are not believers. Either they have rejected their faith or were never really believed in the first place. it is possible they are Jewish Christians who have rejected the idea that Jesus is the Messiah, or they could be Gentiles who have rejected the Jewish-ness of the Christian faith. We just do not know enough to be sure since we do not have anything reporting their side of this conflict with John and the apostolic churches in Ephesus.
But do they think are Christians? As Kruse says, “In their own minds they had not ceased to be Christians, but the author believed they had, for no one could hold their Christology and still remain a Christian” (Kruse, 105). They are Christians who deny something fundamental about Jesus that he is messiah or the son of God, or (as John says later) that Jesus came in the flesh.
Why have they denied Jesus as the messiah? We cannot know for sure since we do not have the writings of the opponents. But if they were Jewish Christians, it is possible the idea of a crucified messiah was offensive to them. If they were Gentiles, converts from the Greco-Roman paganism of Ephesus, perhaps they had no idea what the Jewish Messiah was or why that concept was necessary for being a believer in Christ.
Because the readers have the Holy Spirit, they do not need anyone to tell them the truth. Whether that is the author of the letter, verse 21, or those who have gone out from John’s church.
For John, the ultimate test is one’s confession of Jesus. John will develop what a person must confess about Jesus in the following verses, but for now his point is the ones who have eternal life have confessed the Son and the Father has anointed them with the Holy Spirit.
This is the challenge for me as I read this passage. I find it very easy to look at another Christian denomination, one with a different theological approach than mine, or maybe one that is more legalistic (or more liberal) than me, and think of them as “not really Christians.” But if their Christology is biblical and they demonstrate the love of God, then I cannot really dismiss them even if I don’t like something about their doctrine or practice. This ought to lead to a more broad view of Christianity.
On the other hand, there are groups with claim to be Christian that have denied a biblical Christology (so theologically liberal) or do not practice love towards others. It is possible someone might have proper doctrine and practice hate towards people (common in extremely conservative Christian groups). Someone might demonstrate the love of God to all people in amazing ways, but really have no clue what the Bible actually says about Jesus. For John, both of these extremes are dangerous and obscure the truth of the Gospel. Real Christianity is not just proper beliefs, nor is it just proper behavior. Real Christianity is a balance of both doctrine and practice.
Some versions in some places use the big A as in Antichrist. In my mind Mohammed gets the big A.
The capital letter is only in the English translation, not the Greek Bible.
Thanks
Phillip-thank you for posting! I heard about this from Michael Heiser who referred me to Roger D Aus’ article and commentary. Good work. Thanks. Mark
Some nice points in this article…
1Jn 2:19 They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us.
Also what Antichrist means? it means “in the place of”. Who claims to be in the place of Christ.
Paul describes him as “the man of lawlessness” (changing the commandments of God as given on mount Sinai) that sits in the temple of God and exalts himself, which usually only the popery has done and does.
2Th 2:4 Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.
2Th 2:11 And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:
2Th 2:12 That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
God will give them what they want, to see what will be the results of their wickedness, as to the Pharaoh of old and they that follow the Antichrist will be damned (condemned).
1Jn 4:2 Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God:
1Jn 4:3 And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.
That spirit of antichrist is been there at that time and then displayed when he sat in the temple of God, pretending that he is God.
To understand more study the book of Daniel and Revelation.
1Jn 2:19 They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us.
Also what Antichrist means? it means “in the place of”. Who claims to be in the place of Christ.
Paul describes him as “the man of lawlessness” (changing the commandments of God as given on mount Sinai) that sits in the temple of God and exalts himself, which usually only the popery has done and does.
2Th 2:4 Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.
2Th 2:11 And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:
2Th 2:12 That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
God will give them what they want, to see what will be the results of their wickedness, as to the Pharaoh of old and they that follow the Antichrist will be damned (condemned).
1Jn 4:2 Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God:
1Jn 4:3 And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.
That spirit of antichrist is been there at that time and then displayed when he sat in the temple of God, pretending that he is God.
To understand more study the book of Daniel and Revelation.
Hillary Clinton is not the Antichrist. Whew, there, I said it. In all seriousness though, the ability to understand who and what the Antichrist is important for us Christians because in the last days they will be prevalent. We don’t know when the last days will bet. It could be next week, so this is why we need to be fervent in our efforts to identify who they are. According to John, the Antichrist are simply non believers. Does this mean that all non-believers are the Antichrist? I think that would be a bit of a stretch. If we took what John says as literal there, then that means that all people who do not believe in the Lord Jesus are the Antichrist? So my dear aunt Janet is the Antichrist as well? Well if we take it literal, then yes. If we view that the other 6 billion people on this earth who aren’t christian as the Antichrist, then how difficult is that going to make it to evangelize to them?
She’s not, you know.
It seems as though this title for your post is click-bate. It does not talk about THE antichrist. It talks about people who oppose right doctrine or orthodoxy. Thus leading to people who do not have orthopraxy or right practice. John is writing to Christians about how they have the truth and can be confident in it because of the Holy Spirit given to them (v. 20). They have been enlightened. This may or may not be evident to another believer. The only way that one could see this evidence is by the fruit that the believer bears. If the believer is bearing fruit that aligns with the virtues of Christ then it is quite possible that this person has the Holy Spirit inside of them. While this is an external proof it will always be subjective. People can seem to bear fruit and have bad doctrine. People can seem to have correct doctrine and not bear fruit.
The balance that your post comes to reminds me of Aristotle’s idea of The Golden Mean. Things are better when balanced. Orthodoxy and orthopraxy become beneficial when in balance with one another. The difficulty that it seems like John is coming to is whether or not the believer believes the same thing as him (clearly not). A title does not always define the same thing. John’s definition of a Christian is different than his “antichrist’s” definition (v. 22). This is similar to my definition being different than a Westboro Baptist’s definition of a Christian. They would still say they are Christians but I do not see the same fruit that Christ bore coming from them. Real Christianity must reflect Christ. In knowledge and faith. In doctrine and practice.
Reading this blog, showed some examples of those who consider antichrists, denial and deception of Yehoshua being the Son of Elohim, rejection of the faith in him. Does the denial of the faith consider those of not being anointing by God? What does anointing looks like on a person? Can God still use those in the world who are brokenhearted, sinners, addicts, to bring news to the one that needs confirmation? How do we determine if someone is anointed? Who gives us the right to analyze someone’s condition of the heart and their relationship with God, if they believe or not? This blog, has me thinking more of how to approach this blog. I’m too, can’t quite give an answer to this blog, other than researching and mediate in the Lord. I think we should be careful with this term antichrist, and the assumptions.
This blog has got me thinking of how to approach this. I will try to think of what to say in this blog post. There are non-believers and maybe few Christians that are the antichrist. There are Christians will take it the wrong way or twist words. I know a few celebrities call themselves “Christians” which is not right in my eyes. The Lord knows who true Christian believers are. Celebrities that are “Christians” say they will pray for what is going on in the world which I hardly will believe that they will put effort into praying or reading the Bible. There also can be a problem with Christian pastors as well that can be antichrist too! I can question about mega churches or any other churches whether they believe in something or not or take it in a different direction. There are “Christian” pastors that will give out these messages that may or may not be true but make a lot of money to become famous and will do anything to keep going. People will actually believe that including Christians as well and will probably defend the pastor of what he or she is doing right in their sermons. It bothers me how people, few pastors and celebrities will do anything that is “Christian” that people will like and go for it. There are groups that claim to be Christian that have denied a biblical Christology or do not practice love towards others (P. Long, 2020). I get what P. Long is talking about the group of Christians that demonstrate the love of God in different ways but does not know anything from the Bible. I just hope one day that the Christians do seek the truth in the Bible and ask God for guidance.
This is a topic that has interested me since I was young and watched the movies Left Behind as well as read the books. The antichrist and the rapture are very unknown while still being known to an extent because of what scripture tells us. John teaches that those who do not believe that Christ came in the flesh antichrist (1036). Anyone who opposing the teaching of Christ’s death, which is the main point of the Gospel, cannot then believe that there is any atonement for sin either (1037). According to John, the antichrists are those who are not anointed by God and do not know the truth. This is very interesting to me because as a kid I was in strong belief that the antichrist was one man alone which is not the case according to John’s writing. The final words of this post “real Christianity is a balance of both doctrine and practice” stick out to me as well as what was written about before that. I too find myself discounting another form of Christianity if they are different from mine. This is wrong, first before being able to know these things I would need to research and see what they teach and how they live their lives. If they teach the Gospel and live lives’ honoring God, then I need to not see them as any different. I would be really interested in learning more about the Antichrist in Revelation next after hearing of the beginning uses of antichrist in scriptures.
The concept of antichrist is something that is interesting to me as it is something that has come to be known as something far removed from its original meaning. The antichrist within contemporary pop culture is some sort of figure that stands as an allegory of pure evil, a form of a demonic beast, or for some whatever political figure they disagree with. The prefix anti-, translating to against helps to outline what the antichrists were in the way that John defined them, those “against-Christ.” In verse 22, “Such a person is the antichrist—denying the Father and the Son,” (1 John 2). As John wrote, the antichrists were those who denied Christ as the Son, thus they did not “have the father” (v23). Antichrists reveal the true nature of their namesake in their misleading of practicing Christians (v26). This is where they stand truly in defiance of God and against Christ, actively attempting to lead others astray from Jesus. I find the question of, “Why have they rejected Jesus as the Messiah?”, to be quite interesting as the question remains open ended with several plausible answers. The point made at the end of the post in regard to the denominational differences in beliefs can raise questions that are difficult to navigate. The conclusion to this thought is that it’s important to agree to disagree on some matters as the love for God and biblical view of Christ are the defining characteristics of a Christian. This sentiment is an important one in such a turbulent world in which brothers in Christ should be able to connect with each other.
That term antichrist is interesting because, I don’t want to compare the antichrist to Jesus, they are comparable in the fact that they are opposite. But like Jesus, whoever the Old Testament was prophesying was mysterious, but we could get an idea of who he would be. The anti-Christ has prophecies about its coming and we are given only a couple of hints to what they will be like. But one obvious characteristic is that they will be deceivingly “good” or they will appear like they are a humanitarian, probably a very great humanitarian. Even only Satan is referred to as the great deceiver, the anti-Christ is also a great deceiver. But this is why in the letters of John the anti-Christians are not following the truth, they follow the partial truth, which is a method used multiple times by the devil. An unfortunate truth of probably most of the antichrists in John is that they didn’t know that what they were being taught wasn’t the truth and were misled by their elders. At that time having elders and or pastors that were well versed in scripture was what determined the success or failure of a church. Or the disastrous spreading of false doctrine that ruins multiple churches.