For many Christians, the Bible is crystal-clear on the subject: Anyone who denies that Jesus is the Christ (the Messiah) is a liar and an antichrist (see 1 John 2:22). After all, these Christians reason, if you are not for Christ you are against Him, and that makes you literally “anti-Christ.” As Jesus said, “Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters” (Matt. 12:30, NIV). Based on that logic, Jewish leaders like Ben Shapiro and Dennis Prager, despite their conservative values and side-by-side work with Christians, are both antichrists. Is this true?
On the one hand, it is undeniable that the New Testament divides human beings into the kingdom of God and the kingdom of Satan, light and darkness (see Col. 1:13, 1 John 5:19). And it is also true that the New Testament declares that salvation for every human being, both Gentile and Jew, comes through Jesus the Messiah alone (see John 14:6, Acts 4:12). Outside of Him, the New Testament teaches, we are lost.
In that sense, we can agree that, spiritually speaking, those who are not for Jesus are thus against Him. But are they the ones John is describing in 1 John 2:22 as “antichrists,” and should we refer to Shapiro and Prager as “antichrists,” as some Christians have done? A resounding no.
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In 1 John, the author is dealing with heretical pseudo-believers who were once part of the local Christian fellowships but who have now departed. He writes:
Dear children, this is the last hour; and as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come. This is how we know it is the last hour. They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us; but their going showed that none of them belonged to us (1 John 2:18–19, author’s emphasis).
Notice, “they” were once part of our communities, but now “they” have left. These are the “antichrists” John is writing about. How do we recognize people like this?
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