9

Antichrists and Christians
(1 John 2:18-27)

Children, it is the last hour; and just as you heard that antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have appeared; from this we know that it is the last hour. They went out from us, but they were not really of us; for if they had been of us, they would have remained with us; but they went out, so that it would be shown that they all are not of us. But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you all know. I have not written to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it, and because no lie is of the truth. Who is the liar but the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, the one who denies the Father and the Son. Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father; the one who confesses the Son has the Father also. As for you, let that abide in you which you heard from the beginning. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, you also will abide in the Son and in the Father. This is the promise which He Himself made to us: eternal life. These things I have written to you concerning those who are trying to deceive you. As for you, the anointing which you received from Him abides in you, and you have no need for anyone to teach you; but as His anointing teaches you about all things, and is true and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you abide in Him. (2:18-27)

Ever since the moment Satan and his demonic forces rebelled against heaven, there has been a supernatural, God-opposing, evil power throughout the universe (“the world” of 2:15-17). From its earliest chapters, the Bible shows that the Evil One (cf. 2:13, 14) and all who function in his kingdom (Eph. 2:2-3; Col. 1:13) have constantly opposed God’s plan (e.g., the fall [Gen. 3]; the flood [Gen. 6:1-13]; the tower of Babel [Gen. 11:1-9]; Satan’s affliction of Job [Job 1:6-2:7]). As the original architect of the anti-God agenda, the Devil has always been the prime example of the antichrist spirit and the energizer of the innumerable antichrists who have followed his lead.

Though the term antichrist occurs only in John’s letters, the concept it expresses appears repeatedly throughout Scripture (cf. Dan. 7:7f.; 9:26-27; 11:36-39; Matt. 24:15; Mark 13:6; 2 Thess. 2:3, 8; Rev. 11:7; 13:1-10, 18; 17:1-18). It is a compound word that transliterates the Greek word antichristos, from christos (“Christ”) and anti (“against,” or “in the place of”). The term denotes anyone who opposes Christ, seeks to supplant Him (Matt. 24:24; Mark 13:21-22), or falsely represents Him. Such opposition always offers distorted and aberrant views about the nature of Christ (cf. 2 John 7); for example, reflected in John’s definitive statement that “every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God; this is the spirit of the antichrist” (1 John 4:3a).

Scripture clearly teaches that during the future seven-year tribulation period (Mark 13:19), one man will emerge as the ultimate Antichrist. Through the centuries, there has been much study and speculation, by both scholars and lay persons, concerning who this final Antichrist will be. People have proposed numerous historical figures, including Nero and other Roman emperors, Muhammad, various popes, Napoleon Bonaparte, Benito Mussolini, and Adolf Hitler. Such ill-advised speculation has always proved futile. When the apostle John wrote this letter, he said many antichrists had already arisen in the brief sixty years since Pentecost, and countless more have plagued the church until now.

In this passage, John reiterates his earlier doctrinal tests (the proper assessment of man’s sinfulness and the correct evaluation of Christ’s nature as the God-man) and moral tests (love for Christ and others, and obedience to the Word). The purpose of these tests, as stated by John in 5:13, was to help his readers assess their true standing before God—whether or not they were saved. The apostle understood that a wrong view of Christ, if not repented of and corrected, would lead to eternal damnation (cf. John 8:24). Such terrifying consequences make the issue black and white, which is why John presented it with such directness: false professors of the faith deny the truth about Christ, revealing themselves to be antichrists; true professors, on the other hand, affirm—along with the other marks—the truth about Christ, revealing themselves to be genuine children of God.

THE CHARACTERISTICS OF ANTICHRISTS

Children, it is the last hour; and just as you heard that antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have appeared; from this we know that it is the last hour. They went out from us, but they were not really of us; for if they had been of us, they would have remained with us; but they went out, so that it would be shown that they all are not of us…. Who is the liar but the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, the one who denies the Father and the Son. Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father; the one who confesses the Son has the Father also…. These things I have written to you concerning those who are trying to deceive you. (2:18-19, 22-23, 26)

The combination of deceptive hypocrisy and demonic heresies made the antichrist teachers doubly dangerous as they intentionally tried to creep into the church unnoticed, before hatching their destructive schemes (cf. Jude 4). In order to warn his readers, John began this section with a brief introduction of the antichrists followed by a description of their characteristics.

THE INTRODUCTION OF ANTICHRISTS

Children, it is the last hour; and just as you heard that antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have appeared; from this we know that it is the last hour. (2:18)

Again John addressed his readers as children (paidia; cf. 2:13), identifying them as those who belonged to the family of God, and those whom their Father desired to warn that there was impending danger. It is essential that Christians, especially those who are less spiritually mature and hence most vulnerable, understand the serious threat that antichrists pose.

Further underscoring the urgency of the subject, John reminded his readers that it is the last hour. The phrase literally reads, “last hour it is,” the word order making it an emphatic expression. The last hour refers to the present evil age, one of only two ages—along with the age to come—that the New Testament outlines (cf. Matt. 12:32; Mark 10:30; Eph. 1:21; Heb. 6:5). The last hour began at the first coming of Jesus Christ (cf. 1 Cor. 10:11; Gal. 4:4; Heb. 1:1-2; 9:26; 1 Peter 1:20), and will end when He returns. (The age to come encompasses all of the future, including the millennial kingdom, the thousand-year earthly reign of Christ when righteousness will prevail in the world [Isa. 9:6-7; 11:2, 6-9; 30:23-26; 35:2-6; 45:22-24; 65:18-23; 66:13; Ezek. 34:25; 47:12; Joel 2:28-32; Amos 9:13; Zech. 14:16-21; 1 Cor. 15:24-28; Rev. 20:4; cf. 2 Sam. 7:16; Matt. 19:28; Rev. 3:21; 5:10].)

Christ’s arrival aroused Satan’s opposition to an intensity not seen before or since, resulting in the rise of many antichrists. After three years of relentless hostility toward Him (cf. Acts 4:26-28), His enemies finally had Him nailed to the cross. That same malignant antichrist spirit has continued to flourish to this day (1 John 4:3).

This verse is the first New Testament use of the term antichrist, yet it is certainly not the first biblical introduction to the concept. As John himself pointed out, his readers had already heard that antichrist is coming. Since they knew about the coming of the Christ from the Old Testament prophecies, some may have known about antichrist from the same sources. The prophet Daniel foresaw a human leader, satanically energized, who will come to Jerusalem, enforce his will, exalt himself above all other people and gods, and wreak havoc and slaughter (Dan. 7-8; 9:26-27; 11). The final Antichrist will be an imposing, intimidating figure of superior intellect and oratorical skills, possessing advanced military and economic expertise, who becomes the leader of the world. He will be so convincing as an ally and deliverer that Israel will sign a pact with him to be her protector. Then he will turn against the nation and will occupy the throne in the sanctuary of the rebuilt temple, which for Israel will still symbolize the presence of God, and blasphemously present himself to the world as if he were God. (For additional details of Antichrist’s actions, see Revelation 13, 17 and my commentary on those passages in Revelation 12-22, The MacArthur New Testament Commentary [Chicago: Moody, 2000], 35-65, 155-72; see also Rev. 6:2; 16:13; 19:20.)

The prophet Zechariah also foresaw the future Antichrist:

At the end of the age God will permit an evil shepherd (Antichrist) to arise, who will be the antithesis of the Good Shepherd. This man will be a false shepherd who does not love sheep but slaughters them to fill his insatiable hunger. Zechariah portrays Him as a son of destruction devoted to violence and devastation. Though his arm represents his great strength and his eye his intelligence, he is doomed. God will destroy that Antichrist when His sword of vengeance falls on him.

John’s readers surely would also have known about Jesus’ Olivet Discourse, in which He made reference to the same Antichrist-related events as those already prophesied in the Old Testament:

The recipients of John’s letter most likely also would have been familiar with Paul’s words, written four decades earlier, that clearly predicted the coming Antichrist. He instructed the Thessalonian believers as follows:

Paul declared that those climactic events would not occur until “the apostasy comes first.” “Apostasy” is the transliteration of apostasia (“a falling away,” “a forsaking,” “a defection”). Theologically, it is the deliberate abandonment of a formerly professed position. But in this context the word denotes more than a mere general abandonment of God and Christ. Throughout redemptive history a certain general apostasy will always be occurring in the churches, in keeping with the ever-present Laodicean spirit (Rev. 3:14-16; cf. Heb. 10:25-31; 2 Peter 2:20-22). In fact, as time passes there will be an escalating defection from the truth:

However, Paul wrote to the Thessalonians about a unique, identifiable, historical event—the apostasy. Before the day of the Lord comes, there will be a climactic act of apostasy led by the man of lawlessness, or son of destruction. That man—the Antichrist—will openly defy God’s rule and live without regard for His law (cf. 1 John 3:4). The only thing that “restrains him [the final Antichrist] now, so that in his time he will be revealed”(2 Thess. 2:6) is the Holy Spirit, whom God, in His perfect timing, will take out of the way. Thus Satan’s man of sin and destruction cannot arrive apart from the divine timetable. (For a fuller discussion of 2 Thessalonians 2:1-12, see 7 & 2 Thessalonians, The MacArthur New Testament Commentary [Chicago: Moody 2002], 263-85.)

THE CHARACTERISTICS OF ANTICHRISTS

They went out from us, but they were not really of us; for if they had been of us, they would have remained with us; but they went out, so that it would be shown that they all are not of us…. Who is the liar but the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, the one who denies the Father and the Son. Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father; the one who confesses the Son has the Father also…. These things I have written to you concerning those who are trying to deceive you. (2:19, 22-23, 26)

Antichrists who infiltrate the church and mingle among true believers, attempting to destroy by spreading lies and deceptions, are clearly identifiable by three primary characteristics. First, they depart from the fellowship. They enter the church only to sabotage it through an often-sophisticated strategy of false teaching and lies. But eventually most depart, separating from true Christians, leaving a path of spiritual destruction in their wake, and inevitably taking some of the weak with them.

Some who remain are confused and left wondering if the false teachers and their “converts” took the real truth with them when they left. They might also find themselves asking why their professed brethren, if they had really been part of the true church, had so readily followed the antichrists. Such questions were apparently being asked by John’s readers. And the apostle addressed all those doubts with the simple statement, They went out from us, but they were not really of us.

If those teachers and their adherents had possessed the true eternal life, John elaborated, they would have remained with us. God allowed—and still allows—liars, deceivers, and false teachers to come into the assembly of believers to purge it, so that it would be shown that they all are not of the fellowship. Those who defect give clear evidence of their true character and unregenerate condition. Thus, in His perfect plan, God uses false teachers to draw away false believers from the church, so they will not remain in the assembly as harmful and corrupting influences (cf. 1 Cor. 5:6; Gal. 5:9). He permits antichrists to do their sinister work in His own church for the ultimate good of His body (cf. Gen. 50:20). In a surprising way, He allowed a messenger from Satan to fracture the Corinthian church in order to wound the apostle Paul and produce in him greater humility, trust, and strength (2 Cor. 12:7-10). Of course, false teachers are fully responsible for their heinous actions, earning for themselves the severest eternal judgment (cf. Jude 13; 2 Peter 2:12). Nevertheless, in spite of their hatred for God, they serve His end to purify His people. Satan and all his demons, in the final analysis, serve the sovereign purposes of God.

Genuine believers need not fear some fatal influence from the activities of antichrists, because the children of God will always stay true to the faith and persevere to the end (John 10:27-30; Phil. 1:6; 1 Peter 1:5; Jude 24-25). Paul assured the Colossians that because they were reconciled to God they would not defect (Col. 1:21-23), and the writer of Hebrews gave a similar assurance (Heb. 3:6, 14). On the other hand, those who oppose the truth or engage in apostasy (cf. Num. 16:1-35; 22-25; 1 Tim. 4:1-3; 2 Peter 2:1-9; Jude 10-13), or are not anchored in the truth (Matt. 7:26-27; Mark 4:17; Heb. 6:4-6), have no real salvation.

The second clearly recognizable characteristic of antichrists is that they deny the faith. Specifically in this context they fail John’s Christological test. The spirit of antichrist is that of the liar … who denies that Jesus is the Christ. A right view of Jesus Christ—His person, work, and saving message—is an essential mark of genuine saving faith; no one can be saved who rejects the biblical revelation about Christ (John 8:24; cf. 1:12-13; 3:18, 36; Acts 4:12; Rom. 10:9-10; 1 Cor. 15:1-4). Nor is there hope for one who relies on some personal, speculative notion of who He is (cf. Matt. 16:13-14). Genuine salvation requires embracing Him as the anointed Messiah of God (John 1:43-49), affirming that He is the one and only God-man (1 Tim. 2:5; Titus 2:13), and obeying His gospel teachings (Mark 1:15; John 3:36; 15:10).

As elsewhere in this letter and in his gospel (1:3; 4:2-3, 9-10; cf. John 1:1, 14; 5:23; 10:30; 12:45; 14:7-10), John stresses the inseparable divine equality of the Father and the Son, noting that an antichrist is one who denies them both. He further emphasizes this point by asserting that whoever denies the Son does not have the Father (cf. 4:2-3). Despite their claims to the contrary, those who deny the deity of Jesus Christ do not know God (cf. Matt. 11:27; Luke 10:16; John 5:23; 15:23-24; 2 John 9).

Any denial, deviation, or distortion of the scriptural view of Jesus Christ—His incarnation (Matt. 1:18-25; John 1:14); that He is both Son of God (Mark 1:1) and Son of Man (John 9:35-37), the promised Prophet (Deut. 18:15, 18), Priest (Heb. 4:14-5:10), King (Isa. 9:7; John 12:12-15), and Redeemer (1 Cor. 1:30; Gal. 3:13; 4:4-5; cf. Isa. 59:20)—constitutes the spirit of antichrist.

An equally intolerable view, and one more common in John’s day when incipient Gnosticism threatened the church, is to deny that Christ—born, living, dying, rising, and ascending as a real man—came in human flesh (cf. Phil. 2:5-9; Col. 2:9). In his second letter, John wrote, “Many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh. This is the deceiver and the antichrist” (v. 7). That heretical perception of Christ several decades later became a major tenet of Gnosticism. Its unbiblical philosophy envisioned a “Christ spirit,” an ethereal but powerful supernatural being who descended on a man named Jesus at His baptism and left Him just before His death. Thus the “Christ spirit” was not fully human but only temporarily indwelt a man through whom that spirit, before departing, demonstrated extraordinary power and wisdom.

Third, antichrists by nature try to confuse the faithful. John warned his readers that he had written to them concerning those who were trying to deceive them. False teachers persist in trying to mislead the saints, but ultimately they cannot cause believers to abandon the faith. Regarding their futile efforts, Jesus said, “False Christs and false prophets will arise and will show great signs and wonders, so as to mislead, if possible, even the elect” (Matt. 24:24; cf. John 10:4-5). They can muddle the simplicity of believers’ devotion to Christ (cf. Gal. 1:6-9; Col. 2:4-5, 16-19), tamper with their spiritual confidence (cf. 1 Tim. 6:3-5a), cause them to doubt the sufficiency of the Word (2 Tim. 3:16-17; cf. Col. 2:20-23) and be confused or uncertain about key doctrines (Gal. 3:1), but they cannot take away the faith that secures them to Christ or the eternal life that belongs to those who are truly elect and regenerate (John 10:27-29).

THE CHARACTERISTICS OF CHRISTIANS

But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you all know. I have not written to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it, and because no lie is of the truth…. As for you, let that abide in you which you heard from the beginning. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, you also will abide in the Son and in the Father. This is the promise which He Himself made to us: eternal life…. As for you, the anointing which you received from Him abides in you, and you have no need for anyone to teach you; but as His anointing teaches you about all things, and is true and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you abide in Him. (2:20-21, 24-25, 27)

Opposite antichrists are true Christians who are people committed to the truth. In his second letter, John wrote to the church, “I was very glad to find some of your children walking in truth” (v. 4a); and again in his third epistle he encouraged his readers with the following: “I have no greater joy than this, to hear of my children walking in the truth” (v. 4). The apostle’s portrait of Christians as ones who walk in the truth (cf. 2 Cor. 4:2; Eph. 6:14; 1 Thess. 2:13) is in sharp distinction to the antichrists who propagate spiritual lies. In the end, there are two obvious reasons that believers are not led astray: they accept the faith, and they remain faithful to it.

CHRISTIANS ACCEPT THE FAITH

But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you all know. I have not written to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it, and because no lie is of the truth…. As for you, the anointing which you received from Him abides in you, and you have no need for anyone to teach you; but as His anointing teaches you about all things, and is true and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you abide in Him. (2:20-21, 27)

The false teachers who threatened John’s readers employed the terms for knowledge and anointing to describe their religious experience. They arrogantly saw themselves as possessing an elevated and esoteric form of divine knowledge, and as the recipients of a special, secret, transcendent anointing. That led them to believe they were privy to truth that the uninitiated lacked. John’s response, which was both a rebuttal to the antichrists and a reassurance to the believers, was to assert that, in reality, all true Christians have an anointing from the Holy One.

Because believers have received that anointing, they have the true understanding of God that comes exclusively through Jesus Christ (2 Cor. 4:6), “in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Col. 2:3). They do not need any secret, special, or transcendent understanding or esoteric insight. Anointing (chrisma) literally means “ointment” or “oil” (cf. Heb. 1:9). In this text it refers figuratively to the Holy Spirit (cf. 2 Cor. 1:21-22), who has taken up residency in believers at the behest of Jesus Christ, the Holy One (cf. Luke 4:34; Acts 3:14), and reveals through Scripture all they need to know (John 14:26; 16:13; 1 Cor. 2:9-10).

In verse 21, John reiterates that believers have true knowledge of God by saying he had not written to them because they did not know the truth, but because they did know it. He then closes the verse with the axiomatic statement that no lie is of the truth—something cannot be simultaneously true and false. Because Christians are taught by the Spirit to know the truth, they can recognize doctrinal error for what it really is (cf. 1 Cor. 2:10-16). The apostle wrote as he did because his readers already knew the gospel and its attendant truths and would understand his appeal to the exclusivity of biblical truth. (For a basic discussion of truth’s incompatibility with error, see John MacArthur, Why One Way? [Nashville: W Publishing, 2002], 59-65; cf. John 14:6; Acts 4:12; 2 Cor. 6:14-18; Gal. 1:6-9; 2 John 9-11.)

Verse 27 reiterates the truth that the anointing [Spirit-given knowledge of the truth] which John’s readers received from Him abides in them. They possessed the truth; it resided in them permanently (John 14:16-17; Rom. 8:9; Eph. 1:13); they had no need for anyone to teach them. And because God’s truth is all-sufficient (Ps. 19:7-14; 2 Tim. 3:16-17) and incompatible with error, His anointing teaches … about all things, and is true and is not a lie.

When the apostle asserted that believers do not need other teachers, he was not advocating a mystical anti-intellectualism that spurns all human teachers. On the contrary, the Lord has given the church godly pastors, elders, and teachers “for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ” (Eph. 4:12; cf. v. 11; 1 Cor. 12:28). John’s point is that believers must not rely on human wisdom or man-centered philosophy (cf. 1 Cor. 1:18-2:9; Col. 2:8) but on the teaching of God’s Word by Spirit-gifted human teachers and the illuminating work of the Holy Spirit.

CHRISTIANS REMAIN FAITHFUL

As for you, let that abide in you which you heard from the beginning. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, you also will abide in the Son and in the Father. This is the promise which He Himself made to us: eternal life. (2:24-25)

Although John knew that the true sheep could never lose their salvation (John 10:27-29; cf. 1 Peter 1:5), he exhorted his audience to persevere, to let that [truth] abide in them which they heard from the beginning. Believers are commanded to actively persevere in the truth because it is the gracious means by which they are sanctified (John 8:31; 1 Cor. 15:1-2; Phil. 2:12-13; Col. 1:22-23; 2 Tim. 3:14) even as faith is the means by which they are graciously justified (Rom. 3:24-26). The word twice rendered abide and once abides is from menō, which refers to a continual action of remaining (cf. its use in John 6:56; 8:31; 14:17; 15:4, 9-10; 1 Cor. 13:13; 2 Tim. 3:14). Those who continue in what they have heard show that what they have heard from the beginning abides in them, and they also will abide in the Son and in the Father (1 John 3:17; 4:13).

The ultimate prize for those who remain faithful is, of course, eternal life. Concerning Himself, the true Bread of Life, and those who are spiritually united to Him, Jesus promised,

The contrast between antichrists and Christians is absolutely clear. Antichrists deny the faith, depart from the faith, and seek to deceive the faithful. Christians, on the other hand, affirm the faith and remain faithful to the end—they cannot be permanently deceived. The Westminster Confession of Faith sets forth the following regarding the understanding of truth and perseverance:

All Christians can have lasting comfort in the truth of those words.