Who was the “man of sin or man of lawlessness” in 2 Thessalonians 2? Who was the antichrist in 1 John 2? Was the antichrist one person? Was the antichrist the same person as the man of sin? Who were the many antichrists going out mentioned in 1 John 2?

First, the man of sin. That “man of lawlessness or man of sin” was predicted by Paul in 2 Thessalonians 2 that he would come before the 2nd coming.

Let’s focus on the “man of sin” first. 2 Thessalonians 2:1 Now we ask you, brothers and sisters, regarding the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, ² that you not be quickly shaken from your composure or be disturbed either by a spirit, or a message, or a letter as if from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come. ³ No one is to deceive you in any way! For it will not come unless the apostasy comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, ⁴ who opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, displaying himself as being God. ⁵ Do you not remember that while I was still with you, I was telling you these things? ⁶ And you know what restrains him now, so that he will be revealed in his time. ⁷ For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only He who now restrains will do so until He is removed. ⁸ Then that lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will eliminate with the breath of His mouth and bring to an end by the appearance of His coming; ⁹ that is, the one whose coming is in accord with the activity of Satan, with all power and false signs and wonders, ¹⁰ and with all the deception of wickedness for those who perish, because they did not accept the love of the truth so as to be saved. ¹¹ For this reason God will send upon them a deluding influence so that they will believe what is false, ¹² in order that they all may be judged who did not believe the truth, but took pleasure in wickedness.

The Thessalonian Christians could identify who man of sin would be if they followed the events happening in their times. Even if they weren’t sure who it would be, a few facts stand out. 1) Someone was restraining the man of sin, keeping him from fully implementing his evil, and that process was “already at work”. That means that the restrainer was a person living at the time Paul wrote to them, and thus that the man of sin whom the restrainer was restraining would be someone living in their near future. This letter was written about 50-52 AD. So this prediction would be fulfilled in their lifetime.

2) Who could this man of sin be then? Paul said that the man of sin would sit in the temple of God and display himself as God. Many commentators think that was Nero, who would indeed be an evil killer of Christians in the near future, but Nero never sat in the temple of God. But the emperor Titus did in 70 AD when he destroyed Jerusalem and the temple. AI: “Historical accounts, primarily from Josephus, state that Titus did enter the inner sanctuary (Holy of Holies) of the Second Temple in Jerusalem just before its complete destruction in 70 CE, finding it empty, and then ordered soldiers to loot its treasures, including the Menorah, which was famously depicted on the Arch of Titus in Rome. He entered with his commanders amidst the fiery chaos, was awed by its beauty but found it deserted, and then the Romans plundered it for the triumphal procession.” Titus also was an emperor who claimed to be God, so he fits the bill completely. I believe the man of sin was Titus. The temple has not been rebuilt since then. If some future antichrist appears, the temple would have to be rebuilt first.

3) This man of sin would be “eliminated” at the coming of Jesus. Since the man of sin was someone living at the time Paul wrote, then that means that this coming in 2 Thessalonians 2 would also have to be
in their lifetime. Even if you are not a full preterist who believes that that all predictions of the 2nd coming were fulfilled in 70 AD when Jesus came in judgment on the Jews, it would seem that this coming would be in their lifetime.

4) There would be an “apostasy” that would happen before the man of sin came. The Greek word for “apostasy” is apostasia: Apostasy, rebellion, defection, falling away. Since the word can mean, rebellion, some have thought this to be the rebellion of the Jews against the Romans in 63 AD which led to the wars of the Jews and the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD. Usually the word refers to a falling away from the faith, as in 1 Timothy 4:1 (the word apostasy is not used there however). Jesus also predicted a falling away of many from the faith that would happen before the temple was destroyed (Matthew 24:10). Jesus predicted false Christs to come before 70 AD (Matthew 24:²³ Then if anyone says to you, ‘Behold, here is the Christ,’ or ‘He is over here,’ do not believe him. ²⁴ For false christs and false prophets will arise and will provide great ^[t]signs and wonders, so as to mislead, if possible, even the elect.” All these predictions would come true before that generation that he was talking to would pass away (Matthew 24:³⁴ Truly I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place.)

Bottom line, the man of sin would be someone living and dying in the first century. I believe it was Titus. But even if that is not correct, we can know that it was not someone living after the first century, that it was not one of the many people put forth to be the man of sin in the last 2,000 years.

Now let’s focus on the “antichrist”. 1 John 2:¹⁸ Children, it is the last hour; and just as you heard that antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have appeared; from this we know that it is the last hour. ¹⁹ They went out from us, but they were not really of us; for if they had been of us, they would have remained with us; but they went out, so that it would be evident that they all are not of us. ²⁰ But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you all know. ²¹ I have not written to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it, and because no lie is of the truth. ²² Who is the liar except the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, the one who denies the Father and the Son. ²³ Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father; the one who confesses the Son has the Father also.”

Was John predicting that a certain individual would be “that antichrist” who is coming? If so, the man of sin of 2 Thessalonians 2 could be the antichrist that Paul is speaking of. That has been the most common view of Christian commentators. AI: “the Antichrist is widely understood in Christian eschatology as a specific, powerful individual who will appear before Jesus’ return, embodying ultimate evil and opposing Christ. Throughout history, figures like Nero, the Roman Papacy/Catholic Church (especially during the Reformation), and more recently political leaders like Hitler, Stalin have been identified as the Antichrist. Luther left no doubt where he stood concerning the Papacy when he wrote, “This teaching [of the supremacy of the pope] shows forcefully that the Pope is the very Antichrist, who has exalted himself above, and opposed himself against Christ, because he will not permit Christians to be saved without his power”.

So maybe John was predicting an individual to be the Antichrist. He added “just as you have heard”, so some prophecy or prediction had been made of an Antichrist arising. Was this a reference to Paul’s prediction of the man of sin, thus equating the man of sin with some Antichrist? So was the Antichrist in 1 John 2:18 Titus?

But for sure, the term also applies to any person or movement denying Jesus, as “many antichrists have already come” (1 John 2:18). So, it could be both a singular figure (also called the “man of lawlessness”) and a general term for Christ-opponents.

So what was the error taught by the generic antichrists when John wrote 1 John? First notice that John said that it was already the “last hour” at the time he wrote. That would have to be the last hour of the last days. The last days referred to the 40 years from AD 30 to AD 70, the last days of the Jewish Age, the last days of the old covenant before it “disappeared” in 70 AD (Hebrews 8:13), the last days of the Jewish kingdom being God’s chosen people (Matthew 21:43). The phrase “last hour” indicates that John is writing at some time near the end of the last days. Otherwise, “last hour” would make no sense. Now that means that John wrote 1 John before 70 AD. Some might object to that view since most think that John lived to the age of 100, wrote 1,2,3 John and Revelation in the 90’s, and died a peaceful death at the age of 100. But a very early church father, Papias (60-130 AD), said that John died a martyr’s death at the hands of the Jews just as Jesus predicted that the brothers James and John would die a martyr’s death in Mark 10:35-40. That would have be some time before 70 AD since the Jews did not have the power to kill anyone by the end of the 1st century. So if John was martyred before 70 AD (his brother James was killed by Herod in Acts 12), just as James the brother of Jesus was martyred by the Jews before 70 AD, then John must have written 1,2,3 John and Revelation before 70 AD. So the phrase “it is the last hour” makes more sense that it refers to writing 1 John at some time close to 70 AD. BTW if John lived till the age of 100 and died a peaceful death as many claim, then Jesus’ prediction of his martyrdom is a failed prediction and Jesus is a false prophet.

It is interesting that the antichrists of 1 John 2 “went out from us (i.e. us apostles) but were not really of us”, so they were false teachers who once were part of the Christian fellowship. So what error were the antichrists teaching that John was condemning. They were denying that Jesus was the Christ (the Greek translation of the Hebrew word Messiah). 1 John 4:²² Who is the liar except the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ?” 1 John 4:1 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. ² By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God; ³ and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God; this is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming, and now it is already in the world. 1 John 5:1 Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves the child born of Him.” We don’t know the nature of their arguments against Jesus being the Messiah.

John adds another teaching that the antichrists were probably denying. 1 John 5:⁵ Who is the one who overcomes the world, but the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? ⁹ If we receive the testimony of people, the testimony of God is greater; for the testimony of God is this, that He has testified concerning His Son. ¹⁰ The one who believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself; the one who does not believe God has made Him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has given concerning His Son. ¹¹ And the testimony is this, that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. ¹² The one who has the Son has the life; the one who does not have the Son of God does not have the life.” At Jesus’ baptism, God declared “This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased”. John’s gospel is full of declarations that Jesus is God’s Son, equal to the Father in essence. If the antichrists were denying that Jesus was the Christ (Messiah), then surely they were also denying that he was the Son of God.

There are so many antichrist religions in history and today that teach these same errors that the antichrists of John’s day taught. The Jews deny that Jesus is the Messiah. Many groups deny that Jesus is the Son of God. The Jews tried to stone Jesus for claiming to be equal with the Father (1 John 5:18). Mohammed in the Koran said that God did not have a Son. Many groups deny the deity of Jesus, such as Jehovah’s Witnesses, Christian Scientists, and Unitarian Universalists (and many smaller Christian groups). Notice that, like in 1 John 2, these are “Christian” groups and not non-Christian beliefs. We don’t have to fully understand how Jesus can be fully God and fully man at the same time, but we must believe that Jesus is the Son of God in order to be saved. There can be no compromise on that doctrine.

So there is no prediction of some powerful world leader in our future who will be the Antichrist just before the 2nd coming, but there are many false teachers of the antichrist spirit today.

What about the antichrist in the book of Revelation? AI: “While the specific word “Antichrist” isn’t in Revelation (it appears in John’s epistles), Revelation 13 describes a powerful, deceptive figure known as the “Beast” from the sea, widely interpreted as the Antichrist figure, who rises to global power, demands worship, persecutes saints, and is associated with the number 666. This beast embodies the spirit of antichrist described by John, opposing Christ and leading people to worship him instead.” That might be true, but there is no certainty that the Beast in the book of Revelation is the Antichrist of 1 John 2. Luther and the Reformers definitely taught that the beast and Antichrist were the same in Revelation and that it referred to the papacy.

Thanks for reading.