Bible Figure
Antichrist
imposter, anti-messiah, and enemy of Christ
Antichrist is a New Testament term for opponents who deny the true identity of Jesus Christ; it is not the personal name of a single figure in the biblical text.
Biography
The word 'antichrist' occurs in the letters of John. First John says that many antichrists had already appeared and describes the antichrist as one who denies the Father and the Son and refuses to confess Jesus Christ rightly. Second John similarly warns about deceivers and identifies such a deceiver as the antichrist. Other New Testament passages describe end-time opposition, such as the man of lawlessness and the beasts of Revelation, but the Bible itself does not explicitly give those figures the name Antichrist.
Biblical Significance
For AVWJ this entry should distinguish the actual Johannine usage from later Christian synthesis. The term is biblically important, but presenting every end-time enemy as explicitly named 'the Antichrist' would go beyond the wording of Scripture.