The English word Antichrist is translated from the combination of two ancient Greek words αντί + Χριστός (anti + Christos). In Greek, Χριστός means "anointed one" and the word Christ derives from it. "Αντί" means not only anti in the sense of "against" and "opposite of", but also "in place of". Therefore, an antichrist opposes Christ by substituting himself for Christ.
Appearance of the word in the New TestamentContrary to a popular misconception and to the surprise of many Christians and Non-Christians alike, the Book of Revelation never refers to a person named or described as The Antichrist; in fact the actual words "Antichrist" or "Antichrists" themselves do not appear at all in the entire text of the Book of Revelation, nor the Book of Daniel, nor in Paul's passages on the "Man of Sin" in 2 Thessalonians 2 (though it has been erroneously added in the Amplified Version). The words "Antichrist" or "Antichrists" are never used at all by Jesus during his ministry including in his discussion about the signs of the "End of the Age" in Matthew 24 or in its parallels in the other gospels. He spoke of other aspects of the Second Coming, so why did He not speak of this one if it were as important as those who teach about the Antichrist would have us believe?
The words "Antichrist" and "Antichrists" appear only five times in the Bible - all in the first two of the three letters in the New Testament written by the Apostle John:
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. (1 John 2:22, ESV)
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. (1 John 2:18, ESV)
and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already. (1 John 4:3, ESV)
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 (2 John 1:7, ESV.)
Will the Real Antichrist Please Stand Up!!!Paul's Second Epistle to the Thessalonians, in particular the 2nd chapter, summarizes the nature, work, coming, and revelation of a person Paul calls the "Man of Sin" - this passage is often regarded as referring the antichrist. Irenaeus (2nd century AD – c. 202) identified Paul's Man of Sin with the Antichrist, the Little Horn of Daniel 8, and John's Beast of Revelation 13 and this error has been passed down, generation by generation, as though it were truth.
1 John 2:22 defines "Antichrist" as a liar who denies that Jesus is the Christ, or who denies the father and the son. This is supported by 2 John 1:7 and 1 John 2:18. All of these scriptures seem to paint antichrist as a spirit or an attitude rather than a specific person - 1 John 4:3 actually refers directly to antichrist in this way. All seem to indicate a single spirit of deception that motivates false teaching in the place of the truth that Jesus taught. As the name implies, antichrist promotes alternatives to Christ, which either look or act like Him or pupport to represent him, but are fakes. For me, that is as accurate a description of antichrist as you can get.
Many Christians teachers identify antichrist with the man of sin or son of perdition mentioned in 2 Thessalonians 2, and also with several figures in the Book of Revelation including the Dragon, the Beast, the False Prophet, and the Whore of Babylon. Such a connection is based on supposition and there is nothing anywhere in the Bible that directly links these beings with the antichrist or says directly that they are one and the same, perhaps because all parade themselves as alternatives to Christ and therefore could be said to be operating in the spirit of antichrist. I John speaks of "many antichrists" who typify the "spirit of antichrist" that was both present in the first century ("is in the world already" 1 John 4:3) and continues to exist down to this day. If these antichirsts were specific people, and one of them would become a world ruler, as many teach, if that person around when John was alive as he indicates, there would be no doubt as to his identity were he alive today as he'd be around 2,000 years old by now!
Matthew 24 warns of "false Christs" in several places, and of deceivers who would appear claiming falsely to be the returned Christ. (Matt. 24:5, 24), however Jesus clarifies that they will appear within the lifetime of his listening audience (Matthew 24:34), so they have no relevance to the church of today, though undoubtedly the deceptive spirit that motivated them lives on.
Antichrist is variously understood by some to be a group or organization, such as a consummately evil system of government or a false religion; or, more commonly, as an individual, such as an evil government leader, a religious leader that sets up false worship in place of the worship of Christ, the incarnation of Satan, a son of Satan, or a human being motivated by Satan. This perception has been reached by linking a number of Old and New Testament scriptures, and then drawing the conclusion that they collectively describe a single person, being or system of Government.
The expected role of the AntichristChristian denominations disagree about what will happen in the end times, and the role that Satan and the Antichrist - if indeed there will be such a person - will play. Some believe that the Antichrists of whom John wrote will be a single individual and expect this person to arise in the future, and the general consensus being that it will be some time prior to the expected return of Jesus. They state there will be a period of "great tribulation" during which the Antichrist, inspired by Satan, will attempt to win supporters, and will silence anyone or make enemies of any country that refuses to approve of him. This metaphor is written as "receiving his mark". In this view, an event popularly termed the "White Throne Judgment" will take place, at which time both the living and the dead will be resurrected, some to everlasting life, and some to everlasting death.
All those who worship God and Jesus will be admitted to the presence of God; but everyone who would not repent of the Antichrist will be sent to an outer darkness. Finally, the "Dragon" (often interpreted as Satan), the Beast (often interpreted as the Roman Catholic Church) and the False Prophet (interpreted in many ways) who compels the world to worship the Beast, and all who received his mark (it is the Beast's mark, not the antichrist's - he doesn't have one), will be thrown into a lake of fire together with death and Hell. This scenario is based on various interpretations of the Book of Revelation, all of which seem to forget that the first verse of the Book of Revelation states that the events described in the book are depicted with symbolism. The fate of the Antichrist is not stated, which is probably because you cannot determine the fate of someone who doesn't exist.
The most common interpretation continues to be that the Antichrist will be some sort of high-ranking political leader, who will initially do very good, popular things, which will win him many followers. It is said that the Antichrist will recreate the miracles of the first century, alluding to the miracles rendered by Jesus Christ. These are supposed to include, but are not limited to, raising the dead, curing the blind, alleviating hunger via loaves to fishes, etc. In the end however, he is supposed to become increasingly totalitarian and elicit more and more sacrifices from his followers until eventually his evil ways become known, and the era of "trials and tribulations" begins. In spite of the very specific details of this theory, none of them are documented anywhere in scripture.
The scenario is arrived at by piecing together a variety of verses from the Books of Revelation with bits from Daniel and calling it the events that will lead up to the Great Tribulation spoken of in Matthew 24. Unfortunately, it is an historical fact that the Great Tribulation referred to in Matthew 24 took place in the seven years from 67AD to 73AD, in the timeframe Jesus said it would. Furthermore, none of the references from the Book of Revelation used to support this theory even mention the Antichrist. Matthew 24 is supposed to indicate that Anitchrist will to enter into a new covenant with many and put an end to sacrifice and offering, but Matthew 24 was clearly referring to Jesus - any Christian worth their salt knows that Jesus entered into a new covenant with many (the New Testament) and put an end to the need for sacrificial offerings when he died on the cross. The scenario only has any sort of credence if one believes that the Beast of the Book of Revelation and the Antichrist of 1 John are one and the same, however, there is nothing in any scripture that states they are. The only connection is that they both oppose Christ.
In other views, the role is far less dramatic - the Antichrist is simply understood to be a group of unconnected individuals or organizations, who, after a lifetime of deception, are finally destroyed for all time by God at the Battle of Armageddon. How this can happen is also never explained, given that in the verses relating to Armageddon there is no battle, and being in the Book of Revelation it is probably symbolic of something else anyway.
The Identity of the AntichristOver the years, many people, nations and movements have been thought by some to be the Antichrist who appeared to fit the description by the peoples of their time. The most all-encompassing version propogated by the son of a Lutheran minister, Friedrich Nietzsche, wrote that the only true Christian was Yeshua bin - Joseph. Writers and artists such as Robert Anton Wilson and Norbert H. Kox have expounded on this belief by examining how the innacurate translations have led to irreversible transformations of what once was the probable messiah into anti-Christ.
Paul of Tarsus has been theorized by some (among them Thomas Jefferson, Albert Schweitzer, George Bernard Shaw, Carl Sagan and Carl Jung) to have fulfilled the role of the Antichrist within the chronicles of the New Testament of the Bible itself. This theory is premised on the notion that the original teachings of Christ were subverted by Paul. The evidence for this argument is overwhelmingly strong (see my detailed study elsewhere), though I feel it more appropriate to identify antichrist as the spirit behind Paul's theology, rather than the man himself. He better fits the role of False Prophet.
Another idea that began appearing early in the history of the Christian church is the notion that the Antichrist will be an apostate priest or Christian secular ruler, perhaps a Pope or other high leader of the Christian church, or a pretender to the Papacy. Some Christian sects have made it an issue of faith to identify the Bishop of Rome and the papal system as the Antichrist, a declaration that is in fact included in the Westminster Confession. Thus, whilstever Australia has the British monarchy as its Head of State, Australia's offical statement of belief on religious matters declares the papal system as the Antichrist. Virtually all popes have been called the Antichrist by their enemies, though many popes have applied this title of "Antichrist", "son of perdition", or "man of sin", to their enemies.
St. Bellarmine gave in full the theory set forth by the Greek and Latin Fathers of a personal Antichrist who will come just before the end of the world. He will be accepted by the Jews and enthroned in the temple at Jerusalem. St. Bellarmine's theory is widely accepted by many fundamental christians today. Some Christians claimed the Antichrist was Muhammad, founder of Islam, because they consider him a false prophet who placed himself above Jesus, and whose religion conquered Jerusalem and forcibly converted Christians, Jews, and others to Islam.
Identifying the Antichrist has returned as a task in the Internet age, and has created a body of literature in its own right. Candidates for the Antichrist have been men in virtually all positions of public influence, the most frequent modern candidates: Charles Prince of Wales, Napoleon Bonaparte, Sam Walton, Bill Gates, Michael Jackson, Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin, John Lennon, Nelson Mandela, various Popes or the Roman Catholic Church, the World Council of Churches, the European Union and various Presidents of the United States. Since the September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attack, theories about Osama bin Laden, Saddam Hussein, and George W. Bush have been put forward. In addition, apocalyptic Christians such as Herb Peters and Constance E. Cumbey point to Javier Solana.
Claims about world leaders echo the plot of the "Left Behind" series of novels by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins that the Antichrist may be the Secretary-General of the United Nations. LaHaye and Thomas Ice published a newsletter that speculates about these matters, and they have also suggested that the rise of militant Islam in the 21st Century is a possible sign of the End Times, as being the false religion of the Antichrist and his partner, the False Prophet. The pro-Falun Gong newspaper The Epoch Times ientified the Beast as the Chinese Communist Party. In addition certain occultists and Satanists have proclaimed themselves to be the Antichrist.
If one chooses to believe that the Antichrist is a person or organization, there are too many missing pieces in the puzzle to draw a convincing conclusion as to his/its true identity. But one thing is for sure - when he finally does appear he won't be too hard to spot. According to the epistles of John, Antichrist was alive when he was writing his epistles. As he wrote them nearly 2,000 years ago, Antichrist should be getting ready to celebrate his 2,000th birthday by now, so he should be easy to identify!
If we use only those scriptures that refer directly to the Antichrist by name as our sole source of reference to determine his/its identity, any false teacher or false prophet or corrupter of the Christian faith represents Antichrist. Those scriptures seem to indicate that Antichrist is neither a man nor an organisation but a single spirit of deception that promotes a false representation of who Jesus is and what he accomplished.
If one adopts this view, the spirit of Antichrist can be seen as the motivating force behind the activities of the Beast and false prophet spoken of by the Old Testament prophets and in the Book of Revelation. As the word Antichrist means "instead of Christ", anyone who teaches a Gospel that replaces Christ or his teachings can accurately be called Antichrist. Perhaps the man who originally wrote about antichrist, the writer of the 2nd epistle of John, should have ther last say. These were his closing comments on the matter: 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 (2 John 1:7, ESV).
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