The Knowledge of the Truth and the Antichrist

To know the Truth is to walk in harmony with God, not just to believe, but to live what we believe.

We cannot overemphasize the importance of knowing the Truth. Jesus himself said, “You shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free.” (John 8:32). He also said, “This is life eternal, to know you the only true God and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” (John 17:3).

Knowledge of the Truth sets us free and gives us the opportunity for eternal life. What we must understand, however, is that this knowledge is more than just academic head knowledge. It’s more than just acknowledging the validity of a list of truisms. When Jesus spoke those words to the Jews, he spoke to people who knew Scripture very well. They had a lot of head knowledge but hadn’t grasped the true principle behind it. And they didn’t truly know God, and certainly did not know His Son. The kind of knowledge we need is one in which we are in tune with God. We know what He is about, and while it springs from academic head knowledge, unless it turns into something meaningful and practical as we endeavour to glorify God, it is not truth.

In his three letters, the Apostle John writes extensively about knowledge and truth. He also uses the term “antichrist,” and using that term as an example, we can see the difference between truth and error while acknowledging the truism of the existence of antichrist. The main error behind the term is found in Christendom’s use of it, particularly in the evangelical community, with their teaching of the future antichrist theory. However, we know that John (the only author who uses the term) did not speak of an antichrist in the futurist sense. He said, “Ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now there are many antichrists.” (1 John 2:18). The common understanding not only distorts the period of when antichrist should come, but misses the whole point behind its meaning. Evangelicals will tell you that the Antichrist is a future militant figure, either Satan in human form or one of Satan’s minions. He will do all the things we Christadelphians believe Christ will do, such as making a covenant with the Jews and destroying the Russian armies that come against the land of Israel. So nominal Christianity will mistake Christ for Antichrist when he returns and fight against him, or at least that’s how it appears things will turn out, according to the false idea of Antichrist.

On the other hand, the topic of antichrist is far more fundamental than an eschatological figure. Instead, it centers around the importance of knowledge of the Truth. In 1 John 2:18, the Apostle says, “Whereby we know that it is the last time.” The problem with the futurist view is that it totally misses the point about the “last time” in the context of John’s epistle. He is not talking about the last days when Christ returns, but about the end of the Jewish world. Jesus, when he said, “The truth shall make you free,” was talking to a generation that would see the end of their religious system being replaced by a truth that understood the principles behind the Law they misunderstood. Only when we understand concepts like Antichrist in that context can we appreciate the importance of the knowledge of the Truth.

Paul also spoke of the last times when he said:

The spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron; forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God has created to be received with thanksgiving of them that believe and know the truth. (1 Timothy 4:1-3).

Like John, the apostle is not discussing some future time just before Christ returns. He’s talking about the first century when apostasy would begin to set in to the early ecclesia. We see the seeds of some Roman Catholic teachings in the phrase “forbidding to marry” and “commanding to abstain from meats.” Interestingly, the Roman Catholic Church is built on the same mindset as the Jewish religion of the time of Christ, emphasizing legalistic adherence to ritual and tradition. In that sense, they have missed the entire point of the gospel and corrupted the Truth so badly that it is almost unrecognizable. That’s what happens when true doctrine fails to find its central focus. The result was centuries of persecution by the Church against true believers who refused to conform to their man-made religion, just as the Jews persecuted Christ and the apostles. Error is not just being wrong about something; it causes behavior completely out of tune with God and His Son.

Notice that Paul says, “Some shall depart from the faith,” and talks about false doctrines in that context. “The faith” is not just about trusting in God (although of course that is central to it, as believing that God is right), but it’s also about adhering to core teachings. There are true doctrines and there are erroneous ones. It matters what we believe.

Jude reminded his readers of the Apostles’ words that “There should be mockers in the last time.” (Jude 17-18) and so exhorts his readers to “earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.” (v. 3). The only sense in which faith can be “delivered” is in a set of teachings and this is again the way in which we need to understand “the faith.” It’s not just faith itself, but core doctrinal understanding. Things had become so bad by the time Jude wrote his epistle that he said false teachers were “denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.” (v. 4).

It is difficult to imagine these false teachers getting up and saying, “God and Jesus don’t exist, we don’t believe in them,” and in fact that probably wouldn’t have motivated Jude to write his epistle because it’s so obviously wrong in context of the first century ecclesia. False doctrine is more subtle than that, and their error probably led them to lose their knowledge of God and Christ. In the sense of John 17, they were out of tune. These were people who pretended to be true believers but followed in the way of Cain, Balaam, and Korah (v. 11). While being great orators they were teaching doctrines that were simply wrong (v. 16). In contrast to that, Jude tells us we must be “building up yourselves on your most holy faith.” (v. 20). Again, we need to understand that truth is important, and it has a practical outworking in our lives.

Returning to the Apostle Paul’s warnings, perhaps his most famous prediction of false teaching concerns the man of sin. It seems the Thessalonians were troubled by some teachings that the day of Christ (in the sense of his return) was nigh at hand (2 Thessalonians 2:1-2). And Paul puts them straight by talking about the rise of an apostate system: “Except there comes a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed.” (2:3). Like what John says about antichrist, Paul told the Thessalonians, “The mystery of iniquity does already work.” (2:7).

It was no future phenomenon but happening right there and then, at least the seeds were being sown. However, he also says the spirit of the man of sin would continue until the return of Christ (2:8)—meaning we need to be adept Bible students to identify the nature of the apostasy. And again, it is full of false doctrine, “with all deceivableness of unrighteousness…because they received not the love of the truth, that they should believe a lie.” (v. 9-11). Just like Jude, Paul finishes by again emphasizing the importance of truth: “God has from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the spirit and belief of the truth.” (v. 13). If truth were not necessary, Paul would not have written this. We need to believe the Truth, not just believe!

Many expositors have seen a prophecy in these words about the Roman Catholic apostasy, and there is no reason to differ from them. However, we must understand that Christendom is a giant visual aid, an object lesson on the importance of truth. When error comes in and replaces that truth, the practical outcome can be very frightening indeed.

So, truth matters. Coming back to John’s epistles, this is precisely what he says. Speaking of the antichrists that were already there in his days, he says:

They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us…I have not written unto you because you know not the truth, but because you know it, and that no lie is of the truth. (1 John 2:19, 21).

There are truths, and there are lies. We need to understand the difference. As John says, “no lie is of the truth,” and those who spoke lies eventually left “the Truth” (as we call it).

John uses two words for knowledge in his epistles—ginosko and oido, which are key words throughout. One (ginosko) tends to imply more of an intimate kind of knowledge, the kind of knowledge where we understand and are in tune with God and have experienced His mercy. Both words tell us about the importance of accepting truth and rejecting error. Knowledge is important. Being a true Christian is not just about being a “nice” person. It’s about acknowledging the importance of true knowledge, rejecting error, grasping the fundamental principles behind knowledge rather than the surface ritualism and tradition, and applying the knowledge in practical ways to glorify God.

The importance of knowledge and truth tells us several things:

• We need to avoid undue emphasis on man-made traditions.
• Other so-called holy books have no relevance for the true believer.
• We should not tolerate false ideas.
• It is not good enough just to have a vague belief in God.

John, in writing about the spirit of antichrist, covers a great deal of first-principle doctrine. Consider the second occurrence in his epistles where he says, “Who is a liar but he that denies that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist that denies the father and the son. Whosoever denies the son, the same has not the father.” (1 John 2:22-23).

The knowledge that Jesus is the Christ was, of course, denied by the Jews and still is today. However, Christendom went on to inherit that rejection even while calling their version of Jesus the “Christ.” That word carries with it several important ideas: the promises to the fathers and David concerning the land and seed, the Kingdom of God on earth, and the Resurrection and Judgment.

Those things are fundamentally spoken against by those who teach heaven-going at death, and that the Kingdom is merely spiritual. The teachings of Christendom are fundamentally anti-Christ because they contradict everything about him. We cannot have anything to do with a doctrine that denies that Jesus is the Christ because it takes away our vision of the Kingdom and the correct motivation a true believer should have in their life.

In 1 John 2:23, it also says it is antichrist to deny the Father and the Son—something that would take away from eternal life (John 17:3). We need to know who the Father and Son are, their relationship to each other, their character, and their purpose. We need to experience the work of God and His Son in our lives, and that’s where true knowledge comes from. It does not come from, for example, ideas that contradict the statements about God and Jesus in Scripture. John is very concerned about these things and goes on to say,

“And this is the promise that he has promised us, even eternal life. These things I have written unto you concerning them that seduce you.” (1 John 2:25-26).

Those who would say our concept of who God and Jesus are, and the fact that Jesus is the Christ, are not important, and replace that principle with doctrines that are easy to the ear and tolerant of erroneous ideas, are seducing true believers away from what matters, which is the knowledge of the Truth.

Interestingly, John uses the example of Cain in 1 John 3:

For this is the message that you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another. Not as Cain, who was of that wicked one, and slew his brother. And wherefore slew he him? Because his own works were evil, and his brother’s righteous. (1 John 3:11–12).

Why bring up Cain in this context? Not just to demonstrate the antithesis of true Christian love. If we look at the story of Cain, we see a man who appeared to be the promised seed of the woman (Genesis 4:1), and he was not an irreligious person. He’s even the one who seems to be following God’s instructions, for God had cast man out of the garden to till the ground (Genesis 3:22-23). Cain was a tiller of the ground (Genesis 4:2). However, we know God rejected his offering, and subsequently, he showed his true colors.

Cain was the prototype false teacher and believer, pointing forward to such people as the chief priests and the Roman Catholic Church. They, too, had a religion based on rote following of ritual, which appeared religious but did not follow truth. Each subsequently persecuted and killed those who should have been their brethren. God, of course, could have told Cain, “It doesn’t matter. At least you offered something. I don’t care.” It would have avoided what followed. But God values truth and the actions that follow truth. Cain’s offering was wrong, and God sought to instruct him about the truth. Unfortunately, some will react against the concept of truth, and their actions will be antagonistic towards those who value it.

John continues to speak on the topic of antichrist doctrine:

Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world. Hereby know you the spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God. And every spirit that confesses not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God, and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof you have heard that it should come; and even now already it is in the world. (1 John 4:1-3).

The beginning of many false doctrines connected with the nature of Christ began in the time of John, and he tells us it is vitally important to know the truth of who Christ is. The Bible teaches us that Christ did come in the flesh and that he died as our representative. It also teaches us that the doctrine of the atonement is not a philosophical idea to be debated, and everyone’s ideas are equally valid. It matters what we believe!

The priesthood of Christ hinges on his being of the same nature as his brethren, and so does his example for us. Deny these things and you cannot live the life God wants you to lead, and that’s why we thoroughly reject doctrines like the Trinity, penal substitution, and original sin, which are firmly antichrist in nature. Doctrine connected with the Trinity, for example, effectively denies Jesus was truly human, truly tempted, truly died, and truly rose from the dead. In effect, it is a doctrine that destroys the gospel message.

This adherence to true doctrine is something so important that John repeats the warning in his second epistle (2 John 7) where he goes on to say, “Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God.” (v. 9). Doctrine matters! Truth matters! The seeds of the apostasy were sown in the first century and led to errors that completely dismantled the true message of the Bible, and the warning is just as relevant for us today as it was in the first century. Doctrine affects behavior and our ability to worship and serve God in sincerity and truth. As John says:

Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of him. By this we know that we love the children of God when we love God and obey his commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome. For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? (1 John 5:1-5 ESV).

Richard Morgan,
Simi Hills Ecclesia, CA