Theology is the study and interpretation of the Word of God. Keep in mind, that any interpretation by a theologian is influenced by his or her religious affiliation. A Catholic theologian will have a different interpretation of the Holy Scriptures than a Lutheran or a Presbyterian or a member of any other denomination. This is especially the case when interpreting specific topics such as the meaning of Church, penance, the priesthood or salvation.
Theology is not about ministry or preaching. Theologians are scholars who focus on academic research and institutional interpretation as it applies to the Word of God.
There is no official religious doctrine on Antichrist. The term is loosely used to describe an impostor who challenges the divine identity and power of Jesus Christ.
Among the traditions concerning the last days, the belief of Antichrist has a special pastoral function to fulfill. It serves to arm the believing community to do battle with the compact forces of darkness, in the form in which they encounter them in their own age.
K. Frör
This second article focuses on the meaning of “Antichrist” in the First and Second Letters of John, the semantic content of which is linked to the Gospel of John and the creation narrative in Genesis. The goal is to reveal the relevance and meaning of key words to identify what the author says about Jesus’ humanity and divinity. Attributes that are negated by the Antichrist.
The term Antichrist appears only in 1 and 2 John. It does not appear in Revelation to John, also known as Apocalypse of John. The word Antichrist, from the Greek antichristos, refers to an impostor with equal influence and power who stands as an adversary to Jesus Christ. In terms of biblical etymology, the word “apocalypse” is synonymous with “revelation”, and the word “Satan” is synonymous with “adversary”.
There is no scholarly consensus on the authorship of the First and Second Letters of John. However, it is agreed that the First Letter shares similar vocabulary, ideas, themes and style with the Gospel of John. All narratives attributed to John are dated to the end of the first century CE. John the Evangelist did not know Jesus personally. His written testimony relies on varied oral accounts and narratives describing the life of Jesus.
One John relates to “end of times”, or the “final hour”, not as a distant future but as an imminent threat to Christians and their community by a deceiver(s) or seducers(s) who claims that Jesus is not Christ, did not exist in the flesh, and is not the Son of the Father. These claims are made by individuals who were once members of the community and have since left, spreading false information about Christ’s humanity and divinity.
1 John 2:18 Children this is the final hour;
You have heard that the Antichrist is coming,
and now many Antichrists have already come;
from this we know that it is the final hour.
19 They have come from among us,
but they never really belong to us;
if they had belonged to us they would have stayed with us.
1 John 2:22 Who is the liar,
if not one who claims that Jesus is not the Christ?
This is the Antichrist,
who denies both the Father and Son.
1 John 4: 2 This is proof of the spirit of God:
any spirit which acknowledges Jesus Christ,
come in human nature, is from God,
3 and no spirit which fails to acknowledge Jesus is from God;
is the spirit of Antichrist,
whose coming you have heard;
he is already at large in the world,
2 John 7 There are many deceivers at large in the world, refusing to acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in human nature. They are the Deceiver; they are the Antichrist.
The main point made by the Deceiver is that Jesus is neither not human or God. Thus, it is central to understand what the Evangelist means by Christ’s humanity. Let’s start with John’s first three verses which reveals key words about Christ’s essence of being. They are; beginning, hearing, seeing, touching, the Word of Life made visible.
1 John 1 Something which has existed since the beginning,
which we have heard, which we have seen with our own eyes,
which we watched and touched with our own hands,
the Word of Life ‒this is theme.
That life was made visible;
we saw it and we are giving our testimony,
declaring to you the eternal life,
which was present to the Father and has been revealed to us.
John explains the eternal of life embodied by Jesus Christ has existed since the creation of the world. God made this life visible by sending his Son, Jesus, in the flesh for us to see and hear. Specifically, “we have heard…seen… touched the” “Word of life… was made visible” is linked to “In the beginning was the Word” and “The Word became flesh” in the Gospel of John.
John 1:1-5 In the beginning was the Word:
the Word was with God and the Word was God.
2 He was with God in the beginning.
3 Through him all things came into being,
not one thing came into being except through him.
4 What has come into being in him was life,
life that was the light of men;
5 and light shines in darkness,
and darkness could not overpower it.
1:14 The Word became flesh,
he lived among us, and we saw his glory,
the glory that he has from the Father only Son of the Father,
full of grace and truth.
Jesus’ humanity is outlined by his presence among his disciples, his followers and the people he healed and raised from the dead. However, the most critical aspect of his humanity is identified as the Word became flesh. John highlights an often-overlooked aspect of Jesus’ humanity: Jesus spoke his message to his faithful. Without God’s creative essence to speak, the world would not have known the Son of God. As such, speech is a divine attribute that connects the beginning and the present. The Word IS eternal, and Jesus made the Word alive by his presence. Speech is what makes Jesus fully human and divine, without which his message of love could not be revealed.
In Genesis, God spoke creation into being. He created heaven and earth. And he made man with the dirt taken from earth’s soil, and “God blew the breath of life into his nostrils and man became a human being”. In Hebrew, the words for Spirit, breath and wind are synonymous, exemplifying the divine essence of human breath and life.
God created man and woman in his image and in his likeness. In Genesis 1:26, tselem is the Hebrew word for “image”, is loosely translated into shadow, or contours of a shadow. Demut is the Hebrew word for “likeness”, conveys a resemblance in terms of bloodline, akin to progeny or descendants, and, to a certain extent, procreation of human life.
God created Adam and Eve in his likeness with ability to hear his Word, speak, and procreate. Throughout the Old Testament, God spoke to his chosen people. He spoke to Adam and Eve, to Abraham, Moses and his prophets. Speech is God’s primal essence, without which he could not communicate his will to his people. Ultimately, God is made present by whomever reads and speaks His Words.
John’s perspective on Jesus’ humanity is that he came to this world in the flesh and could speak his Word to the people. This is revealed through the presence he shared with his followers, to whom he spoke his message of love, sharing and forgiveness.
John’s Antichrist is a person who was once a member of the Christian community but abandoned the congregation. After leaving, he and other renegades spread lies about Jesus, denying he came in the flesh or was the Son of God. The Deceiver spread falsehoods claiming Jesus is neither Christ nor the Lord, nor the human incarnation of the Word from the beginning. Denying his Word is eternal and sovereign.
1 John 1 Something which has existed since the beginning,
which we have heard, which we have seen with our own eyes,
which we watched and touched with our own hands,
the Word of Life ‒this is our theme.
