Who is the antichrist?  There are only four verses in the whole Bible that mention the term antichrist and they are all found in 1st and 2nd John.

1 John 2:18 Little children, it is the last hour; and as you have heard that the Antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come, by which we know that it is the last hour.

1 John 2:22 Who is a liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist who denies the Father and the Son.

1 John 4:3  and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the world.

2 John 1:7 For many deceivers have gone out into the world who do not confess Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist.

We need to be clear about the meaning of the term “antichrist”.  The word “antichrist” is translated from the Greek word antichristos which simply means an enemy of Christ.

It is also useful to understand the meaning of the term “deceivers”, mentioned in 2 John 1:7.  These are false teachers who deceive others with their false teaching of denying that Jesus Christ came in the flesh.

From these Scriptures we are told:

1) An Antichrist is coming.
2) Many deceivers and antichrists have already come.
3) Whoever denies the Father and the Son or does not confess that Jesus Christ came in the flesh is a deceiver and an antichrist.

Let’s go into more detail for each of these.

An Antichrist is coming

The apostle John used the term “the Antichrist” to refer to some end time leader, presumably religious, who will figure prominently on the world scene.  John did not provide any details about this, but perhaps he was referring to the “man of sin” the apostle Paul wrote of in 2 Thessalonians.

2Th 2:3  Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition,
2Th 2:4  who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.
2Th 2:5  Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things?

Many antichrists have come

There is not just one end time Antichrist, but there are many antichrists who have already come and gone.

Whoever denies the Father and the Son or does not confess that Jesus Christ came in the flesh is an antichrist

To deny the Father and the Son is to deny who they are.  In particular, to not confess that Jesus Christ came in the flesh is to deny the Son.

What did the apostle John mean by the expression, “Jesus Christ came in the flesh”?  John explained this in his gospel account.

Joh 1:1  In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
Joh 1:2  He was in the beginning with God.

John 1:14  And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, …

John 1:14 clearly shows that the Word is Jesus Christ.  Thus, John 1:1 shows that in the beginning there were two divine beings, the Word (Jesus Christ) and God (the Father).  This is more easily understood by thinking of “Word” as a first name and “God” as a family name.  Thus, one might say of a father called Mr Smith and his son John, “There was John, and John was with Smith, and John was Smith”.

So in the beginning, if you were to ask, “Where is God?”, the answer would be: the Word (Jesus Christ) and God (the Father) are both in heaven.

Then the Word came to earth as a human being.

John 1:14  And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, …

When Jesus Christ came in the flesh, He divested himself of His divinity and became a human.  He didn’t “possess” a human body and live vicariously through it.  He actually became a human being. 

Php 2:5  Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus,
Php 2:6  who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God,
Php 2:7  but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men.
Php 2:8  And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.

So, when Jesus Christ was on earth, if you were to ask, “Where is God?”, the answer would be: Jesus Christ is on earth and God the Father is in heaven.

When Jesus Christ died that excruciatingly painful death on the cross, He stopped living as all humans stop living on their death.  However, Jesus’s spirit returned to God.

Luk 23:46  And when Jesus had cried out with a loud voice, He said, “Father, ‘INTO YOUR HANDS I COMMIT MY SPIRIT.’ ” Having said this, He breathed His last.

Joh 19:30  So when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished!” And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit.

This was no different to any other man whose spirit returns to God upon his death.

Ecc 12:7  Then the dust will return to the earth as it was, And the spirit will return to God who gave it.

Act 7:59  And they stoned Stephen as he was calling on God and saying, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.”

The spirit in man is part of man, but it is not the living, conscious part of man.  The spirit in man cannot be the living conscious part of man for the dead know nothing, do no work, and have no thoughts nor knowledge.

Eccl 9:5  For the living know that they will die; But the dead know nothing, And they have no more reward, For the memory of them is forgotten.

Eccl 9:10  Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might; for there is no work or device [cheshbon] or knowledge or wisdom in the grave where you are going.

The Hebrew word translated device is cheshbon, which can mean “reasoning or reckoning”.  The dead do not think.  See “What is the spirit in man?” and “Do you have an immortal soul?” for more information.

So, when Jesus Christ was dead for three days and three nights, if you were to ask, “Where is God?”, the answer would be: Jesus Christ is dead and God the Father is in heaven.  For those three days and nights the no one could talk to Jesus Christ – not even the Father – for the dead have no thoughts.  For those three days and nights there was only one God being alive – the Father. 

Finally, after the resurrection of Jesus Christ, if you were to ask, “Where is God?”, the answer would be: Jesus Christ and God the Father are both in heaven.

That is what it means to believe that “Jesus Christ came in the flesh”.

The Implications

Most Christian denominations, such as the Catholics, believe that God is a trinity.  Here are two quotes from the Catholic Catechisms.

We firmly believe and confess without reservation that there is only one true God, … the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit; three persons indeed, but one essence, substance or nature entirely simple. Catechism of the Catholic Church, Part One, Section Two, Chapter One, Article 1, Paragraph 202.
https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/__P16.HTM

The Trinity is One. We do not confess three Gods, but one God in three persons … Catechism of the Catholic Church, Part One, Section Two, Chapter One, Article 1, Paragraph 253.
https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/__P17.HTM

The important point to note with the trinity doctrine is that God is one God in three persons.  Thus Jesus Christ cannot have died (that is stopped living) without the Father and Holy Spirit dying too.  The Catholic theologians seem to have recognised this as they teach that upon His death Jesus preached to the dead souls in the grave.  Here is what the Catholics teach concerning Jesus Christ’s time in the grave for three days and nights.

The frequent New Testament affirmations that Jesus was “raised from the dead” presuppose that the crucified one sojourned in the realm of the dead prior to his resurrection.  This was the first meaning given in the apostolic preaching to Christ’s descent into hell [grave]: that Jesus, like all men, experienced death and in his soul joined the others in the realm of the dead. But he descended there as Savior, proclaiming the Good News to the spirits imprisoned there. Catechism of the Catholic Church, Part One, Section Two, Chapter Two, Article 5, Paragraph 632.
https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/__P1R.HTM

The Catholics believe that when Christ died, his soul lived on, and for those three days and nights that Jesus Christ was in the grave, He was preaching to the wicked spirits.

So, we see quite clearly that trinitarians do not believe that Christ stopped living for three days and nights when he was in the grave.  They don’t believe that “Jesus Christ came in the flesh” in the way Scripture teaches.  The Bible says such are deceivers and antichrists regardless of how sincere and loving they are.

Conclusion

Who is the antichrist?

There will be a prominent end time false religious leader who the Bible refers to as “The Antichrist”.

There have also been, and are, many “antichrists” who the Bible defines as those who do not confess that Jesus Christ came in the flesh.  The trinitarian belief denies that Jesus Christ came in the flesh the way the Bible teaches.  The shocking truth is that those who teach trinitarianism are deceivers and antichrists.