Who is the Antichrist?
Few Bible subjects attract more speculation than the Antichrist, and the commentators here insist on starting with what Scripture actually says: the title belongs to John, and it describes a real man still to come, not a mood or a movement.
The Name and Where It Occurs
The word itself is a compact definition — someone set over against Christ. One writer notes how few places the title appears, and where its imitators are found:
W. W. Fereday"The Antichrist" is a title only found in John's first epistle (1 John 2:18-22). Other titles belonging to the same offender are scattered over the Book of God. Almost from the beginning of Christianity there have been antichrists, but this does not touch the fact of a personal Antichrist yet to come, with whom no others can be confused… "Antichrist" means one who sets himself in opposition to Christ, and this clearly where Christ should be exalted. This is enough to let us know where to look for antichrists in our own day — not in the atheist lecture hall, but in the Christian university and pulpit.
A Person, Not a Principle
Some read the word as shorthand for an evil system. The commentary rejects that, and draws a conclusion about his background from Jesus' own words:
Edward DennettNow it must be clearly understood that antichrist is not a figurative term for some evil principle or system, but that it points to an actual person. Anyone who will take the trouble to read the various scriptures where he is mentioned will see this at once. There is reason, moreover, to conclude that he will be not a Gentile, but a Jew. So our Lord, doubtless referring to this embodiment of evil, says, "If another comes in his own name, you will receive him" (John 5:43); and this is unthinkable unless he were of their own nation.
"Antichrists" and "The Antichrist"
John's own wording separates two things, and one reference work presses the difference — including against a popular identification. (The older text names "Popery"; the point is the papal system.)
Morrish Bible DictionaryIt is important to distinguish between an antichrist and the antichrist… He is the consummation of the many antichrists… many have concluded that the papal system is the antichrist, and have searched no further into the question, whereas the passage above refutes this conclusion, for it does not deny the Father and the Son; and in Revelation 17, 18, it is pointed out as quite distinct from "the false prophet," which is another name for the antichrist.
What He Denies
His work is not politics but religion — an attack aimed at the Person of Christ from two directions at once:
J. N. DarbyThe Antichrist is not spoken of by name except in the Epistles of John, where his character is religious, not secular — apostate and heretical activity against the Person and glory of Christ and the essential doctrines of Christianity. He denies the Father and the Son. He does not confess Jesus Christ come in flesh. He denies that Jesus is the Christ, which seems rather Jewish in its connection and evil… In a word, Antichrist is marked by religious energies of evil in connection with Christianity and Judaism.
Commentators differ on exactly how he relates to the other figure of Revelation 13: Darby places him as a kind of deputy under the first beast, while others identify him with the second beast and with the "man of sin" of 2 Thessalonians. What they agree on is his method — imitation:
Walter ScottHe assumes Christ's place, titles, and functions on earth. He works miracles. Supernatural signs support his mission, and by these he deceives guilty Christendom, and so lures it on to hopeless destruction.
The Test That Applies Now
John's readers were told the last hour had come because many antichrists were already at work. That gives believers a working test in the present:
C. CrainOur apostle tells us that every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus Christ, the Incarnate One, is not of God, but is the spirit of antichrist (v. 3)… John, the last of them, now tells them that it has already come. It is not that the Antichrist himself has come, but that many have come who are marked by his spirit — the spirit of insubjection to the incarnate Son of God, Jesus Christ. We are right, therefore, to reject as not of God every system of teaching in which Jesus Christ come in flesh is disowned or dishonoured.
The test is sharper than it first looks, because silence counts:
F. B. HoleWe need not wait for a flat denial — even the failure to confess the truth betrays the spirit of antichrist.
How It Ends
His career closes without a struggle, and his punishment is exceptional:
W. W. FeredayOne word from the Lord, and the career of these messengers of Satan is over for ever… Pre-eminent in wickedness, they shall be pre-eminent in punishment. All other transgressors will pass through death, and be raised to stand before the Great White Throne, and from there be sent to the lake of fire; these men are solemn exceptions. Without passing through death at all, they are cast in at least a thousand years before the mass of the ungodly.
Summary
- Person — Antichrist is a man still to come, not a symbol for an evil system; the many "antichrists" John saw are the run-up to him.
- Pretender — His name means one set against Christ, yet his method is imitation: he takes Christ's place, titles and functions, backed by miracles.
- Denial — He denies that Jesus is the Christ, and denies the Father and the Son — striking at both Jewish hope and Christian revelation.
- Pulpit — His spirit is already working, and not among open unbelievers; it shows up wherever Christ should be honoured and Jesus Christ come in flesh is not confessed.
- Perdition — One word from the Lord ends him; he and the beast go into the lake of fire alive, without waiting for the judgment of the rest.