A Few Words About the Antichrist

anti-christ Hello! And thank you for letting me into your head for a few moments. If you will, permit me to say a few words about the Antichrist.

He doesn’t exist.

Not with a capital A, anyway. All the denominational obfuscation and science fiction to the contrary, the Bible is clear: There is not an Antichrist.

There are many.

             The word “antichrist” is only used in four verses in the New Testament – all from John’s Epistles, and all refer to a plurality of antichrists. In I John 2.22 the antichrist is described as “whoever.” In I John 4.3 the antichrist is described as “everyone who.” In II John 7 the antichrist is described as “many.” The first reference to “antichrist” in scripture is found in I John 2.18, where John says plainly:

Children, it is the last hour. You have heard an antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have arisen – this is how we know it is the last hour.

            The scripture is clear – there is not an Antichrist, there are many antichrists. Anyone who fits the profile of antichrist is an antichrist. The Bible is also clear what that profile is. An antichrist is someone who teaches falsehood about the person of Jesus.
            There are many enemies of the Kingdom in the New Testament. Early on there were the Jews who dogged Paul his entire career. Later there were the Roman officials who insisted on idolatrous observances. There were Jews and Gentiles who just didn’t accept the Gospel message. None of these fit the specific profile John gives to one who would warrant the title “antichrist.”
            Specifically, an antichrist is anyone who “does not acknowledge Jesus as coming in the flesh” (I John 4.2, II John 7); one who denies that Jesus is himself the Christ (I John 2.22). An antichrist is not someone who rejects the Gospel outright, but one who distorts the truth about Jesus: “They went out from us, but they were not of us…” (I John 2.19). The pagan is not an antichrist. The Jew is not an antichrist. The secularist is not an antichrist. The one who wears Christ’s name, and teaches what is false about Him is an antichrist.
            There is a qualitative difference, then – a line drawn in the New Testament between the one who rejects the Gospel, and one who teaches a false gospel. And of the two, the greater enemy of The Cross is the latter.

            The great enemy of the cross, then, is the one who teaches what is false about Jesus!
            It is not the one who openly rejects the Gospel altogether.

            John never sanctioned joining with the Gnostics across town, or cooperating with the Docetic congregation down the street to become one big, happy army for Jesus in the Culture Wars!! In fact John specifically forbade such cooperation:
            If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching do not receive him into your house and do not give him a greeting. The one who does participates in his evil deeds. II John 10-11.
            The message is clear: We are not to collaborate or cooperate with people who teach what is false about Jesus!
            Every election cycle the Evangelical subculture gets all energized about moral issues we largely agree with – and many of us get all energized with them, and think of ourselves as fighting shoulder to shoulder with them for the Lord. This is a lie. When I fight shoulder to shoulder with someone who denies what is true about Jesus I am not fighting for Him – whatever the outcome!
            The will of God is incontrovertible. The victory of the Gospel has already been achieved. This presidential election will not affect these facts one whit. Neither will the passage or failure of particular propositions alter this outcome. As I have often said from the pulpit, the civic blessings we are asked to pray for in I Timothy 2.1-2 have been given to us, in the United States of America, in a greater measure than any people have ever enjoyed them. Let us appreciate those blessings. We are given the opportunity to assert our values with our vote. Let us seize that opportunity – and in doing so fulfill our responsibility to our God and our Nation. But our primary citizenship is in Heaven (Philippians 3.20), and political success or failure – even the success or failure of our Nation will not change that.

            And so we have nothing to gain (and how much to lose?) when we cooperate with the those who teach what is false about Jesus.
(Note to the reader: upon proofreading this essay, I noticed that there may be a less than judicious use of bold letters, exclamation marks, and capitalization in it. Although I might, at a later date, be less assertive with the keyboard, I will, I believe, be just as assertive about the truths communicated here.)