by Garreth L. Clair<\/p>\n
The English word\u00a0Antichrist<\/strong> is taken from the Greek \u1f00\u03bd\u03c4\u03af\u03c7\u03c1\u03b9\u03c3\u03c4\u03bf\u03c2 (ant\u00edkhristos)<\/em>, which literally means\u00a0“instead of Christ”<\/em><\/strong>.<\/p>\n The words “Antichrist” and “Antichrists” appear only five times in the Bible – in two of the Apostle John’s three letters in the New Testament, I John and II John:<\/p>\n 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<\/em>. (I John 2:18, ESV)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n This passage tells us that antichrist is coming in the last hour; i.e. the last hour or dispensation began on Pentecost (Acts 2), all those that denied Christ during this time were antichrists as well as those in the future from that time until the end of the world.\u00a0<\/p>\n And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world<\/em>. (I John 4:3, ESV)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n There is little to doubt about who is meant in this verse, surely the Gnostics which surely were many during the early period of the church after Pentecost are intended here. The Gnostics were a religious group that denied the flesh and blood of Jesus Christ, they believed that Divinity could not reside in flesh and blood because of the physical body’s ability to decay and go back to dust.\u00a0<\/p>\n Many deceivers have gone out into the world; they do not confess the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh. This is the deceiver and the antichrist<\/em>. (II John 1:7, ESV.)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n In this verse we have a further description of antichrist, antichrist is one who denies that Jesus Christ is the Messiah [i.e. Divine]. This is a good description of the Gnostic religious philosophy and they are surely included in this description.<\/p>\n Antichrist is therefore anyone who denies that Jesus Christ is divinity or denies that Jesus Christ of Biblical history has not come. This idea of limiting antichrist to one person [i.e. a particular person in history is without Biblical support. Because of these facts, we conclude that antichrist is <\/p>\n by Garreth L. Clair The English word\u00a0Antichrist is taken from the Greek \u1f00\u03bd\u03c4\u03af\u03c7\u03c1\u03b9\u03c3\u03c4\u03bf\u03c2 (ant\u00edkhristos), which literally means\u00a0“instead of Christ”. The words “Antichrist” and “Antichrists” appear only five times in the Bible – in two of the Apostle John’s three letters in the New Testament, I John and II John: Who is the liar but he…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[868,591,344],"class_list":["post-58460","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-antichrist","tag-gnosticism","tag-premillennialism"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":7833,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/he-is-antichrist\/","url_meta":{"origin":58460,"position":0},"title":"He Is Antichrist","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 20, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"by Kent Heaton Few words bring to mind such fear as those who look for an \u201cAntichrist\u201d to lead the forces of Satan against the Son of God in a great apocalyptic conflagration in the final days. The dramatists of the left behind religions of our day predict the terrible\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/08\/antichrist.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":7836,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-antichrist\/","url_meta":{"origin":58460,"position":1},"title":"The Antichrist","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 20, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Text: I John 2:18-29 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A good mystery thrills many people. It stirs the imagination. It gives puzzles to work on. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Mysteries within the Bible are popular with false teachers because they can use them as the launching point of all sorts of fanciful ideas. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0B.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u201cScripture teaches Antichrist to be\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":27618,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/you-dont-understand-the-antichrist-is-coming\/","url_meta":{"origin":58460,"position":2},"title":"You don’t understand. The antichrist is coming!","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 29, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: My Friend, I think you better do some further research on your position. The son of perdition is the coming antichrist. You seem to be a little uneducated on current world affairs. This is but a taste of what you need to look into- The EU, Tony Blair, Javier\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":19425,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/are-all-prominent-theologians-saying-obama-is-the-antichrist\/","url_meta":{"origin":58460,"position":3},"title":"Are all prominent theologians saying Obama is the antichrist?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 10, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I was just talking to a friend of mine (who also happens to believe in UFO's) saying that Obama is the antichrist and going on and on with all these flimsy arguments. He claims that all these prominent theologians are all saying the same thing. Is this true? What\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":31828,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-man-of-sin\/","url_meta":{"origin":58460,"position":4},"title":"The Man of Sin","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 9, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: II Thessalonians 2:1-12 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Have you noticed that when little is said on a particular topic that it generates more discussion than when much is said? \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Of course, when little is said the range of possibilities is wide open. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0B.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0It generates strong opinions (not truths,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":27201,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-can-you-teach-that-revelation-has-already-happened\/","url_meta":{"origin":58460,"position":5},"title":"How can you teach that Revelation has already happened?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 12, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I read\u00a0your article against Jack Van Impe. I am so amazed that you can teach that Revelation has already happened. Are you unable to read? John starts right out being told these visions are of what was, is, and is to come! But what I really want to know\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58460","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=58460"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58460\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=58460"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=58460"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=58460"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\nWho is the liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, he who denies the Father and the Son<\/em>. (I John 2:22, ESV<\/em>)\n<\/blockquote>\nThis passage gives us the answer to the age-old question, The text here says the antichrist is anyone who denies that Jesus Christ is the Messiah [i.e. the Son of God].\u00a0\u00a0\n
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