The Antichrist: Political or Religious Figure?
The Antichrist in popular culture is a malevolent political leader who unites all nations under one world government, a charismatic ruler expected to deceive the world with reassuring promises of peace while suppressing Christianity. Is this the image found in the Bible?
The term “antichrist” appears only five times in the New Testament and only in First John and Second John (1 John 2:18-22, 4:1-3, 2 John 7). The word is never used anywhere else in the New Testament.
The Greek noun translated as “antichrist” is a compound formed with christs (or “anointed”) and the preposition anti, which means “instead of” instead of “against”. John wrote about many “antichrists”, pluralthat were already active in their day (“just as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, right now many antichrists have come” – 1 John 2:18).
John’s description of multiple “antichrists” does not mean that an individual “antichrist” is not also expected (2 John 7 – “the antichrist”). However, in context John labeled the false teachers active in his time as “antichrists”, men who infiltrated their congregations with deceptive teachings. In another passage he declared, “the spirit of antichrist…is already at work in the world” (1 John 4:1-3).
Predictions of the coming of false prophets and deceivers are frequent in the New Testament and go back to Jesus himself (Matthew 24:4-5, Mark 13:3-5, 2 Thessalonians 2:1-12, 1 Timothy 4:1 -3, 2 Timothy 3:1-5, 2 Peter 2:1). John also referred to “many false prophets which have gone out into the world” (1 John 4:1).
The main reason John wrote his first epistle was to combat these false teachers. They left their congregations but continued to harass them (“they went out from us, but were not of us” – 1 John 2:19). Unfortunately, the information John provided on the content of his teaching is scant. They questioned the genuine humanity of Jesus (1 John 2:22, 1 John 2:23, 4:2-3, 2 John 7). They “walked in darkness” (1 John 1:6, 3:7-10) and claimed to be free from sin (1 John 1:8-10). They failed to keep the “commandments” of Jesus (1 John 2:4). They “loved the world” and conformed their lives to it (1 John 2:15, 4:5). They hated instead of loving true Christians (1 John 3:14-18).
Jesus warned his disciples: “Let no one deceive you by many deceivers will come” (Matthew 24:4-5). His target would not be humanity in general but the followers of Jesus in particular. Not just a few butmany false prophets would come and deceive many(Matthew 24:11). In the days to come “false christs would arise… to deceive, if possible, ‘God’elect(Matthew 24:11).
The Apostle Paul also warned against “false apostles and fraudulent workers who disguise themselves as apostles of Christ…for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. Therefore, it is not strange that his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness” ( 2 Corinthians 11:13-15). Paul was referring to the deceivers active in his day. But Peter also warned of the arrival of “false teachers among you who will secretly introduce destructive heresies…many you will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of truth will be slandered, and in their covetousness they will exploit you with false words” (2 Peter 2:1). What Paul and Peter described was not a phenomenon exclusive to the end of history. phase, but a feature of the history of the Church from beginning to end.
False prophets and teachers do not come to deceive a pagan world. “He already lies in the lap of the Evil One.” Instead, they dedicate themselves to deceiving the disciples of Jesus. The satanic agenda is apostasy from the true faith. The “antichrists” do not proclaim a religion other than Christianity, but a counterfeit version of it. They appear as genuine Christian leaders. Therefore, careful discernment is necessary to recognize them (1 John 4:1, “do not believe every spirit, but try the spirits to see if they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world”).
The “antichrists” John was fighting were deceivers and false teachers springing up within their congregations, not Roman magistrates oppressing Christians. If Biblical precedents teach anything about the coming “Antichrist”, he will be a deceiver, a false teacher active within Christianity rather than a world political leader openly fighting against Christ. He will work cunningly to deceive the followers of Jesus.
In fact, the Antichrist may become a world political leader. But in light of the Scriptures, it is more likely that he is a master deceiver emerging within Christianity. Church history is replete with examples of false prophets and deceivers. Many of those seeking a political “Antichrist” today may be caught off guard when the genuine article appears as “an angel of light” in their midst.
david maas
http://www.evangelioforallnations.org
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