“THE ANTICHRIST”

Understanding certain parts of the Bible can be a difficult endeavor. But it is the opinion of this writer that the Bible is not nearly as difficult to understand as people make it out to be. By keeping statements and verses in their context, and remembering the overall context of the New Testament as it was written in the first century, will help one immensely in not only having a better knowledge of what is said, but a better awareness of what is NOT said. It will guard us against the tendency to read things into the Bible that WERE not there and therefore ARE not there. The text cannot mean now what it did not mean when it was written. That is a good rule of interpretation to remember.

What the Bible teaches about “last things,” or “end times,” or “tribulation” or “antichrists” would not be nearly as confusing if they were kept in their proper first century context. We can do better about understanding the Bible, and especially about the way we present its teaching to others.

This constant predicting the future based on “Bible prophecy” where the predictions of the those who claim to have figured out a prophecy puzzle are wrong must stop. This makes the cause of Christ look very silly, and it is totally wrong. Again, we can do better.

Much of what the Bible teaches about “the end” had to do with the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. At the same time, there are some things in the Bible that have yet to be fulfilled—namely, the bodily return of Jesus and the final judgment. But the “final coming” of Christ, literally in the clouds, is the only Bible prophecy left to be fulfilled and the only thing for which we are waiting.

What the Bible teaches about “the antichrist,” for example, does not have reference to one person still to come in the future. It has nothing to do with a world leader that will accomplish this or that in the coming days. It was rather a first-century phenomenon. What the Bible teaches about the antichrist had reference to the ungodly opposition to the Gospel that was present then. Antichrist was a systemic and concentrated opposition to the teaching that Jesus is Lord and Christ.

With all that is said and taught about “the Antichrist,” and with all of the questions that people ask about it, you would think that the Bible talks about it constantly. The reality is, however, that the term “antichrist” only appears in the apostle John’s short epistles.

In 1 John 2:18, John wrote, “Little children, it is the last hour; and just as you have heard that antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have already come. By this we know that it is the last hour.” There are many things to learn from this statement, the two main ones being the following.

First, this is definitely not a single individual who will appear at the literal end of time. It was already “the last hour” when John wrote that many antichrists had already come. So this is not a global evil leader of some kind coming in the future even now in 2025.

Second, we learn that there were already many “antichrists” who were working their nefarious schemes in the early church at the time John wrote this letter. The epistle of 1st John was written to people in the first century, not directly to us.

So what was this “antichrist” doctrine all about? Well, John actually defines it for us. “Whoever denies that Jesus is the Christ” is antichrist (1 John 2:22). The prefix “anti” means against, so whoever is against Christ is antichrist.

“For many deceivers are presently at work in the world, those who do not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh. Such a person is the deceiver and the antichrist” (2 John 7). Antichrists were already at work in the world in the first century. And it is clear that John was dealing with a specific kind of false doctrine that had to do with Jesus being human, God in the flesh.

We don’t know everything about the false doctrines that John was opposing, but we see easily the point. Some were denying that Jesus was who He claimed to be, and John was fighting that. Anyone who did the same thing today would be antichrist and we would fight against their doctrine.

So John was clearly talking about a system of unbelief and the collective work of some who were denying central parts of the Gospel. He was not speaking of political figures in his own day, much less one worldly political leader 2,000 years away in the future.

If this is the correct interpretation, then that would mean that other figures referred to in the New Testament would also have likely been descriptions and warnings for the people to whom they were written. The “Beast” in Revelation 13, for instance, referred to the Roman empire—and Nero Caesar specifically—and its persecution of Christians in the first century. Because of the brutality of the Roman Empire’s persecution of Christianity, it and its leader would have been perfectly symbolized by a beast working by the power of the devil.

Likewise, Paul’s “man of lawlessness” in 2 Thessalonians 2:3–4 had reference to something in the first century. Paul wrote that this person “exalts himself against every so-called god or thing that is worshipped,” and that the “spirit” of this man was already at work but being restrained back then (2 Thessalonians 2:6–7).

So the doctrine that “the Antichrist” has not come yet, but is still some future “global bad guy” who will come to power during a “seven year great tribulation” is not in harmony with what the Bible teaches. Since the introduction of dispensationalism into Christian thought in the mid-19th century, people have been looking out for and “identifying” the Antichrist (Hitler or Mussolini or a U.S. president that they do not like, as examples). Brothers and sisters, they are always wrong because these things were not at all in the mind of John in the first century.

Any system, doctrine or teacher who opposes Christ is the spirit of antichrist. Therefore, antichristism is an ongoing reality. Every generation will face those who oppose who Christ is and what He means to the world. And like John did, we must oppose them with the true Gospel of Jesus.

This interpretation fits with the context of John’s writing. For example, he says in 1 John 4:3, “Every spirit that confesses not Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is already in the world.” There is nothing here about a single person rising in the last days of time, but about the constant threat of false teaching concerning Jesus that must be opposed by every generation.

So the Bible’s teaching about the antichrist is much simpler than the fantastic speculations of modern day “prophecy experts.” These things just lead to confusion and more confusion as well as false “prophecies.” What the Bible teaches about the antichrist simply references those who would participate in false doctrine concerning our Lord Jesus Christ or lead others away from their focus on and worship of Him.

There is no doctrine of “the” Antichrist in the Bible. Instead, our focus should be on what is said about remaining in the truth of Christ (1 John 2:24) and testing doctrines by comparing them with the Word of God (1 John 4:1). We should focus on living for, loving, preaching and teaching Jesus and stop talking about “the Antichrist.”

This interpretation may not be as “exciting” to the flesh as the “left behind” folly, but it is more firmly grounded in the stable doctrine of Christ as revealed in the Bible.

       Bryan Dewayne Dunaway