Recognising the Antichrist and resisting him (1 John 2:18-27)

We have seen already that John in this letter is concerned with barriers and hindrances to Christian fellowship. In the passage we will consider now he focuses on the barrier of false teachers and their ideas. The presence of false teachers is not limited to the time of John. In fact, there have been false teachers in every period of church history and there are plenty of them around today.

One of the preoccupations of many Christians is the identity of an individual whom the Bible calls the Antichrist. When I became a Christian in the early 1970s, and in the decades since then, several people were and have been linked with this individual, including the leaders of America, Europe, Russia and China, as well as others. The one common feature of all these suggestions is that they were wrong and the various individuals so identified have passed off the scene. No doubt many other persons will have this tag attached to them in the years ahead.

We may respond to this preoccupation by concluding that it is best to avoid even thinking about the matter. Nevertheless such a response would be wrong because it would mean that we would have chosen to ignore important passages in the Bible. Both the apostle John here and the apostle Paul in 2 Thessalonians 2 give details about the antichrist. Yet he did not appear in the lifetimes of those original readers. So why were they given such details? Because no one in the church knows when he will appear, therefore we have to know what he will be like so that he will be recognised when he does appear. After all, when he does appear, he will have neighbours, and what if some of them are Christians?

Five reasons for knowing about the Antichrist

John provides several reasons why his readers should pay attention to what he writes. First, there is the time in which we live, which John calls ‘the last hour’. This description covers the entire period between the first and second comings of Jesus, or between his ascension and his return. It is during this time that the antichrist will appear. We need to recognise the significance of the time in which we live. It is the last hour of the old world that is coming to an end, and it is the last hour before the arrival of the new world and the commencement of the new heavens and new earth.

Second, there is the truth that we should have been taught. John reminds his readers that they had heard that antichrist is coming, which obviously indicates that teaching about this individual had been given to the churches to which John was writing at this time. Similar teaching should be given to the churches in all ages. At the very least, it is a reminder that there is an enemy kingdom opposed to the kingdom of Christ.

Third, there is the number of false teachers in the world. John reminds his readers that many antichrists had already gone into the world, each of them trying to deceive the disciples of Christ. Of course John was only repeating the teaching of Jesus in the Olivet discourse: ‘For false christs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect’ (Matt. 24:24). That was the case in John’s day, and the number of them has greatly increased in our day. Such false teachers do not come along wearing T-shirts on which they have written, ‘I am an antichrist.’ They can only be identified by us if we know what kind of teaching such people will have.

Fourth, there is the location from which these false teachers will come, and this location may surprise us because it is the church. John says about them in verse 19: ‘They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us.’ No doubt John initially is referring to the false teachers that had infiltrated the churches to which he wrote. If we assume that those congregations included Ephesus and the six other churches of Asia mentioned in Revelation 2 and 3, which were all near to Ephesus, we can see that several of them had been affected by false teachers. Paul had predicted this when he warned the elders of the church in Ephesus in Acts 20:29-30 that false teachers would come from within the church as well as from outside it: ‘I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things, to draw away the disciples after them.’ The fact of the matter is that most heresies affecting the Christian church throughout history have risen within the church. This is why the compilers of the Westminster Confession of Faith indicated that the Pope is the Antichrist – at that time he authorised false teaching and opposed orthodox teaching within the professing church.

Fifth, a common feature of wrong teaching will be errors about the person and work of Jesus Christ. In verses 22 and 23, John points to an aspect of false teaching that his initial readers were facing: ‘Who is the liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, he who denies the Father and the Son. No one who denies the Son has the Father. Whoever confesses the Son has the Father also.’ In John’s day, a heretical group taught that Jesus of Nazareth was not the real Christ. Instead they suggested that the Christ somehow indwelt him, but then left him before he was executed on the cross. John gave that notion its correct description – it was a lie.

That teaching is not around today, but plenty other false teachings about Jesus are being spread. There is the teaching of the Jehovah Witnesses that denies that Jesus is fully divine, that instead he was the first and most important creature that God made. If any of them comes to your door and offers you any literature, take as much as you can and fling it in the fire. There is the teaching of the Roman Catholic Church which suggests that the ascended Jesus needs the help of his mother who is elevated by them into a position that belongs only to God. There is the teaching of liberal Christianity that limits Jesus to the level of a good man or to the role of a revolutionary leader.

In contrast, a true teacher will always confess the equality of the Father and the Son. Many people today say that we all worship the same God. The fact is that it is possible for people to worship a wrong god instead of the true God. How do we know that we are worshipping the true God? We know that we do when we worship the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, the Trinity. We also know that we worship the true God when we approach him through the Son of God who became a man, died for sinners on the cross, rose again from the dead, ascended to heaven to reign and is waiting until the time when he shall return.

Five realities that protect Christians

In addition to giving those five reasons for knowing what the antichrist will be like, John also mentions two realities that will prevent Christians from being deceived by false teachers. One of them is external and the other is internal, and both have to do with knowledge. The external is the truth that they were taught and the internal is the anointing that they had received. And both are intimately connected.

First, the description ‘the anointing’ is a reference to the Holy Spirit. The imagery is connected to the way that God’s servants, such as prophets, priests and kings, were equipped for service in Israel during the Old Testament period. What was symbolised by the outward pouring of oil is realised in the experience of all the disciples of Jesus. They have been anointed with the Holy Spirit.

Second, from whom do they receive this heavenly anointing? The answer to this question is that they each receive it from Jesus himself. This was and is and will be Jesus’ gift to every one of his disciples. It is important to note that the gift is universal as far as true disciples are concerned. No Christian has ever existed without the indwelling Spirit and anyone who suggests otherwise is a false teacher.

John uses a beautiful title to Jesus in verse 20 – he is the Holy One. The title was often used of God in the Old Testament and sometimes it is used of Jesus in the New Testament. It is used by demons in Mark 1:24: ‘What do you have to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are — the Holy One of God!’ It is used by the disciples in John 6:69: ‘and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God’; and it is used by Peter in Acts 2:27 (‘For you will not abandon my soul to Hades, or let your Holy One see corruption) and by Paul in Acts 13:35 (‘Therefore he says also in another psalm, “You will not let your Holy One see corruption”’). Jesus uses it of himself in Revelation 3:7: ‘And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write: “The words of the holy one, the true one, who has the key of David, who opens and no one will shut, who shuts and no one opens.”’ When John uses it here we can sense one or two aspects of his attitude towards his beloved Master. One aspect is that the title indicates the reverence with which John regarded Jesus – John acknowledged as often as possible that Jesus was God, and he does so here by using this title. A second aspect is that the title suggests the recollections on which John loved to dwell – he delighted to recall the many precious memories he had witnessed of the beautiful and holy character of Jesus.

Third, John points out that the indwelling of the Spirit is permanent. Perhaps some of the false teachers were suggesting otherwise. Whether they did or not, it is the case that Jesus has provided the Spirit as the ever-present Companion and Guide for each of his followers. This is a very assuring reminder for all Christians concerned about how they will cope with persuasive false teachers.

Fourth, the indwelling Holy Spirit teaches his people about all the truth that God has revealed in his Word. John stresses this in verse 27: ‘But as his anointing teaches you about everything – and is true and is no lie, just as it has taught you.’ Again this promise is very reassuring because there are deep truths in the Bible as well as easier ones. A believer may ask himself as he listens to or reads the Bible: ‘How can I understand such complex matters?’ The answer is not to go to a false teacher who promises an explanation. Instead the disciple should wait upon the Spirit to give his own light on a difficult passage, which he can do in several ways: by an orthodox teacher, or by an evangelical book or by a discussion among true disciples.

Fifth, the result of this ongoing work of the Spirit in teaching his people from the apostolic Word is that they remain in fellowship with the Father and the Son (v. 24). They will experience the reality of what Jesus has promised, which John says is eternal life. It is an interesting question to ask ourselves: ‘What do I think the meaning of eternal life is?’ Perhaps some may say endless existence or even endless happiness. Yet such descriptions only describe the effects of eternal life and not its essence. The essence of eternal life is knowing the Father and the Son, and in saying this John is merely repeating what he heard Jesus say in his prayer recorded in John 17:2. Maybe we are asking ourselves this question, ‘Do I have eternal life?’ If you think about the Father and Jesus and talk to the Father and Jesus, then you have eternal life.

Three important applications

The first lesson is the importance of being informed. This application is based on John’s insistence that his readers had been taught about the antichrist. Some professing Christians imagine that it is a good thing not to be delving into the teachings of the Bible. But that is a big mistake and such will be easy prey for false teachers. Our range of intellectual knowledge should be all the doctrines of the Bible.

A second lesson is that the Holy Spirit is heavenly protection from error. We need not be concerned if we ask him for his help. Connected to this application is the fact that the Holy Spirit always teaches in harmony with apostolic truth found in the Bible. So it is good to ask for his discerning grace when we listen to a preacher or read a book or watch a video. I don’t understand why Christians should listen, read or watch what they know is wrong. It won’t do them any spiritual good.

The third lesson is the necessity of being reminded repeatedly about what Jesus wants his disciples to know. This is why he instituted preaching as a means of grace. Life in this world is spent in the heavenly schoolroom being reminded of the great and beautiful truths about the Father and the Son. There are many of them, and the effects of them as Paul indicates in the greetings beginning his letters is grace and peace.