Many Antichrists in the World.
Continuing
our series on what Jesus and the Bible have to say about this world, we now take
a look at the term “antichrist” spoken of in Scripture. It literally means
“against Christ” or “against the Messiah.”
The term itself only appears in the letters of St. John. Tradition and most scholars believe St. John’s letters were written at the end of the First Century, probably between 96-100 AD [although other scholars believe John's writings were considerably earlier], making them possibly the latest writings included in the Bible. It is understandable, then, that roughly 65 years after Christ’s death and resurrection, John might write, “Children, it is the last hour; and as you have heard that antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have come, therefore we know that it is the last hour. They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us.” (1 Jn 2:18-19.)
Secondly,
St. John indicates that the “many antichrists” are persons who were in the
Church, but later apostatized, denying that Jesus is God. John calls them liars
because they now deny that Jesus is the Christ, the Lord God. “This is the
antichrist, he who denies the Father and the Son” (1 Jn 2:22). To deny the Son
is to deny the Father. It is those who do not acknowledge that Jesus is God,
the Son of God, who are the “many antichrists.” “Anyone who denies the Son does
not have the Father. [But] He who confesses the Son has the Father also” (1Jn 2:23).
Later
in the same letter St. John writes, “Every spirit which confesses that Jesus
Christ has come in the flesh is of God, and every spirit which does not confess
Jesus is not of God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, of which you heard
that it was coming, and now it is in the world already.” (1 Jn 4:2-3.) So the
Church receiving this letter had been taught to look out for the coming
“antichrist.” This is a point of Tradition with a capital “T.” It is another
area where the Bible itself tells us that the Apostolic teaching and preaching
included instructions beyond what was written in the Bible, but still was
preserved orally (e.g., also 1 Jn 2:7; 2 Jn 5-6). St. Paul makes similar
statements (e.g., 1 Cor 11:2; Phil 4:9; 1 Thes 4:2; 2 Thes 2:15; 3:6). This
Biblical witness to Tradition is why Catholics cannot accept Luther’s 16th Century
idea of “sola scriptura” (Bible alone), but instead we must see the Scriptures
within the greater context of the fullness God’s revelation, including the
Apostolic preaching, teaching, liturgy, prayer, etc.
Additionally,
St. John teaches the Church not to believe every spirit but to test the spirits
so as to not be deceived by false prophets (1 Jn 4:1) or the antichrists (1 Jn 4:3). It is the same test as St. John gave above: will the spirit (which can be
angelic/demonic, or a human spirit) “confess that Jesus Christ has come in the
flesh [and] is of God”? Is Jesus Christ God incarnate? Then that spirit is of
God. If the spirit will not so confess, then it is not of God, is a false
prophet, an antichrist, is of the world and to which the worldly will listen (1Jn 4:2-3, 5). Further, John says this is how “we know the spirit of truth and
the spirit of error” (1 Jn 4:6).
In
St. John’s second letter he makes one more reference to the antichrist: “For
many deceivers have gone out into the world, men who will not acknowledge the
coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh; such a one is the deceiver and the
antichrist” (2 Jn 7). So “the deceiver” is another name for the antichrist, and
its identification is the same test: Is Jesus Christ God incarnate?
Now although Scripture does not use the term “antichrist” other than these references of St. John, the same or a similar reality is described elsewhere, and we will turn to these shortly.
Dibby Allan Green