What does the Greek word antichristos, "antichrist" or "instead-anointed" mean?
The term "antichrist" occurs only in John's epistles. The prefix "anti" now has the meaning of "against", and antichrist signifies one who is against Christ. But "anti", the Greek prefix, originally meant "instead of", and this is its significance in "antichrist. An antichrist is one who takes Christ's place, a substitute or counterfeit Christ. John talks of them coming out from among the circle of the saints. They also became a dynasty of Popes.
"...Little children, it is the last hour, and, according as you hear that the antichrist is coming, now also there have come to be many antichrist's, whence we know that it is the last hour. OUT OF US THEY COME, but they were not of us, for if they were of us, they would have remained with us. BUT IT WAS THAT THEY MAY BE MANIFESTED THAT THEY ARE NOT OF US..." [1.John.2:18
The Anti-christ, "man of lawlessness", Paul said he will sit in the temple of God [Gr.naos] demonstrating that he is God. This was indeed accomplished during the 1260 reign of the Papacy. The modern futurist teaching of the clergy is that the "anti-christ" will appear soon to sit in a rebuilt Jewish Temple in Jerusalem. This is not scriptural. The modern clergy have named many as their candidates. The latest I believe is the crown prince of Jordan, Prince El Hassan Bin Talal. Next year they will have another depending on which charismatic leader gets another prophey [so called].
The Greek word used by Paul is "NAOS" The word he would have used if he was referring to some sort of Jewish Temple would have been "HIERON" which is used some twenty five times in the NT to describe the Jewish Temple. In the other epistles of Paul the word "NAOS" has a definite meaning other than the building in Jerusalem.
[1] "...Now what concurrence has a [Gr. naos] temple of God with idols" For you are the temple [NAOS] of the living God, according as God said, that I will be making My home and walking in them.[2.Cor.6:16]
[2] "...Are you not aware that you are the temple [NAOS] of God. If anyone is corrupting the temple [NAOS] of God, God will be corrupting him, for the temple [NAOS] of God is holy, which you are..." [1.Cor.3:16-17]
[3] "...in Whom the entire building, being connected together, is growing into a holy temple [NAOS] in the Lord. [Eph.2:21]
That should be crystal clear to anyone with an open mind. Paul is not teaching about some Jewish sanctuary at Jerusalem that some future Anti-christ or Crown Prince or King would be seated in. Paul is referring to the joint body of Christ made up of individual believers [lively stones] in his evangel and the secret of the evangel which reveals Christ as the pre-existent Logos, Word of God made flesh and in fashion as a man, now roused and seated at the right hand of God waiting for that moment that His body on earth will be snatched away to heaven itself to sit with Him as His complement at the right hand of God. [Eph.1:15-23]
What does the modern clergy say?
"Pope Boniface says in the Unam Sanctum "The Roman Pontiff judges all men but is judged by none...we declare assert and pronounce to be subject to the Roman Pontiff is to every creature necessary for salvation...I have the authority of the king of kings. I am all in all and above all, so that God Himself and I, the "Vicar of God" have but one consistory, and I am able to do almost all that God can do. What therefore can you make of me but God. Notice he named himself the "Vicar of God" [the instead of Christ] the antichrist, sitting in the temple of God [his body] demonstrating that he is God, usurping the place of Christ as the Logos, word made flesh, the Image and Form of the invisible God." [1]
"In 1949 the Irish Roman Catholic Bishops sent a letter to the Pope to congratulate him on his golden Jubilee of his ordination as a priest. Let us look at how they describe him.
"We the Archbishops and Bishops of Ireland prostate at the feet of your Holiness...our thoughts go back to that great event fifty years ago when your holiness was taken from among men...and became A MEDIATOR BETWEEN GOD AND MEN--ANOTHER CHRIST." An instead of Christ, the Greek prefix "anti" or "Antichrist." [2]
Have you never read the dedication prayer in the king James Bible?
"....And this their contentment doth not diminish or decay, but every day increaseth and taketh strength, when they observe the zeal of Your Majesty toward the house of God doth not slack or go backward, but is more and more kindled, manifesting itself abroad in the farthest parts of Christendom, by writing in defense of the Truth, [which have given such a blow to the man of sin, as will not be healed.." JAMES, KING OF GREAT BRITAIN, FRANCE AND IRELAND DEFENDER OF THE FAITH.
The spirit of "antichrist" is already in the world and may be known by certain definite characteristics. One is the denial that Jesus is the Christ. The second is disowning the Father as well as the Son. [I and My Father, "We are one" John.10:30] The third is the disavowal of the flesh of Christ, that He has come in the flesh in the past [1.John. 4:3] and that He is coming in the flesh in the future. [2.John.7.] To be admired [marveled] at in all those that believe.[2.Thess.1:10.C.V.].
It is clear that only those that emphatically deny these things are in reality possessed of the spirit of antichrist. You must not be deceived into thinking it is applied to all those who oppose Christ outright. It was those who deceived by pretending to be of Christ while they "deny" Him by "denying" Him His place as the logos [word] having become flesh and dwelling among humans in fashion as a human. The apostle Paul emphatically presents Him as the One Who inherently possessed the form of God, yet laid it aside and became [flesh] a human.
"...Who, being inherently in the form of God deems it not pillaging [def/article] "the" to be equal with God, nevertheless empties Himself, taking the form of a slave, coming to be in the likeness of humanity, and being found in fashion as a human, He humbles Himself, becoming obedient unto death, even the death of the cross..." [Phil.2:5-8]
Who are these antichrists? They are many, and one main group is the "radical Unitarians" who emphatically deny these [Gr. graphon propheetikon] "prophetic writings" [Rom.16:25-27] of Paul for the Ephesians, Philippians and the Colossians, and infer He was only the son of David born into the world through Mary and had His beginning from that point of history at Bethlehem. The force of the word "inherently" inhering: [Gr. [h] up archo] UNDER-ORIGINATE used here, is not that the form was inward but that this outward appearance belonged to Him by right. His appearance in the form of God before He was born in Bethlehem was not improper but was His by authority. This is emphatically denied by the radical Unitarians who possess the Hebrew mind-set.
In the Unveiling Christ Jesus speaking said,
"...Who has an ear, let him hear what the spirit is saying to the ecclesia.
"And to the messenger of the ecclesia in Laodicia write:
"Now this is saying the Amen, the Faithful and True Witness, and God' creative the Original:.." [Rev.3:13-14]
Tell me, are you going to believe what the Amen, the Faithful and True Witness, and God's creative Original said? Or are you going to follow the radical Unitarian anti-christ spirit of error? Jesus gave a terrible warning to those that will not believe that He is the pre-existent "I am." [God' creative Original]
"...You are of this world; I am not of this world. I said, then, to you that you shall be dying in your sins. For if ever you should not be believing Me that "I am", you shall be dying in your sins." [of unbelief. John.8:23-24]
This confirms [Col.1:15-17] "..Who is the Image of the invisible "the" God, Firstborn of every creature, for in Him is "the" all created.the" that in the heavens [Eph.1:10. 3:10 4:10] and :the" that on the earth. Paul said "...all is created through Him and for Him, and He is before all, and "the" all has its cohesion in Him.." [Col.1:16-17]
Speaking to the Pharisees Jesus said,
"...Abraham, your father exults, that he may become acquainted with My day, and he was acquainted with it and rejoiced.
The Jews then said to him, You have not lived fifty years, and you have seen Abraham!" Jesus said to them, Verily, verily, I am saying to you, Ere [Gr. prin ere, an Adverb, "before in time"] Abraham came into being "I am." They pick up stones then, that they should be casting them at him..." [John. 8:56-59]
Again speaking to the Pharisees Jesus said,
"... My sheep are hearing My voice, and I know them, and they are following Me. And I am giving them life eonian, and they should by no means be perishing for the eon, and not one shall be snatching them [My sheep] out of My hand. My Father , Who has given them to Me, is greater than all, and not one is able to be snatching them out of My Fathers hand. I and the Father, We are one."
Again then the Jews bear stones that they should be stoning Him.
Jesus answered them, Many Ideal acts I show you from my Father. Because of what act of them are you stoning Me?
The Jews answered Him, For an ideal act we are not stoning you, but for blasphemy, and you being a man, are making yourself God..." [John.10:27-33] They knew exactly what He had said to them, and they were about to stone Him.
The radical Unitarians tell us that Abraham rejoiced to see Jesus day in the spirit and the prophecies of the prophets of old that foretold the coming of the Messiah Who would be the Christ. This they claim is the Hebrew mind-set that speaks of the future as the present. Let us test that theory?
Yet Jesus said, "...Ere [Gr. prin ere, an Adverb "before in time"] Abraham came into being I am..." Jesus told the Pharisees that before Abraham was born, He was "I am" and they immediately took up stones to stone Him. They knew exactly what He said. He never said Abraham seen him only in the prophecies that were yet future. He said "before Abraham was born I am." And the Hebrew mind-set immediately took up stones to stone Him.
Because He claimed to be the "I am" of Exodus.
"....And Moses said unto God, behold, when I come unto the children of Israel. and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you: and they shall say unto me, What is his name? what shall I say unto them?
And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said Thus shall thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you..." [Ex.3"13-14]
This is why they took up stones to stone Him. They thought He was [supposedly] the carpenter, son of Mary and the brother of James and Joseph and Judas and Simon? And are not these his sisters here with us.?" And they were snared at him when He said He was the I am even before Abraham was born! [Mark.6:3] It never dawned on them that He could be the pre-existent "I AM" of the Exodus. The logos, word of God. The Image of the invisible God and Form of God Who before He was made flesh was the great "I am" of Exodus!
Neither has it yet dawned on these modern radical Unitarians, who claim to have the same Hebrew mind-set that the Pharisees were suffering from. The modern radical Unitarians gloat about their Hebrew mind-set that Paul said he counted as nothing but REFUSE! It is this mind-set that is the covering on their eyes of their hearts.
One day Jesus "reminisciencing", concerned with "retrospection" said to Judah Israel;
"...Jerusalem! Jerusalem! who art killing the prophets and pelting with stones those who have been dispatched to her! [Matt.22:1-7] How many times DO I WANT TO ASSEMBLE YOUR CHILDREN in a manner a hen assembling her brood under her wings and you will not! Lo! left is your house to you desolate. For I am saying to you: You may by no means be PERCEIVING [Gr. eidon, get knowledge by means of any or all the senses.] ME henceforth, till you should be saying, Blessed is He Who is coming in the name of the Lord!..." [Matt.23:37-39]
Speaking to the nations, [Corinthians]Paul said,
"...Now, If our evangel [Gr. well message, or good news] is covered, also, it is covered in those who are perishing, [Just as Judah Israel rejected Christ] so that the illumination of the evangel of the glory of Christ [Who, PRE-EXISTED as the great I AM] Who is the Image of the invisible God, does not irradiate them [the antichrist radical Unitarians].
For we are not heralding ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, yet ourselves your slaves because of Jesus, for the God Who says that, out of darkness light shall be shining, is He Who shines in our hearts [those that believe Paul's evangel] , with a view to the illumination of THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE GLORY OF GOD IN THE FACE OF JESUS CHRIST..." [2.Cor.4:3-6]
Brethren, if you are in a group who is telling you that Jesus never pre-existed as the Logos, Word of God, the Image and Form of the invisible God, get out of there before those anti-christ radical Unitarians rob you of your inheritance in Christ Jesus. They are of the antichrist spirit that is prevailing amongst those who are still ignorant of Paul's "evangel" and "the secret of the evangel" which is able to establish you [Rom.16:25-27] in this administration the grace of God, [Eph.3:1-3] and the dispensation of the secret economy of which Paul who was the least of all saints yet by the grace of God was given the stewardship of the nations. Eph.3:1-11]
Brethren, you must believe God and not what the modern antichrist radical Unitarian clergy is telling you! Paul said at Christ Jesus gave him the revelation his "my evangel" [Gal.1:10-12] The anti-christ spirit which is the "instead of Christ" is leading the radical unitarian anti-christ message that denies the Father and the Son ["WE ARE ONE" [ John.10-30]
"...Thomas is saying to Him, "Lord, we are not aware whither Thou art going, and how can we be aware of the way?
Jesus is saying to him, "I am the Way and the Truth and the Life. No one is coming to the Father except through ME. If thou had known ME, you would have known MY FATHER also. And henceforth you KNOW HIM and have SEEN HIM
Phillip is saying, Lord show us the Father, and it is sufficing us."
Jesus is saying to him, "...So much time have I been with you, and you do not know ME? Phillip! He who has seen ME has seen the Father, and how are you saying, Show us the Father" Are you not believing that I am in the Father and the Father IS IN ME?..." The anti-christ radical Unitarians are not believing either!
May I say that it cannot be put any clearer than this. The Father is "invisible" and "inaudible." Not one has seen the Father at any time or heard His voice. Jesus is the Logos, Word, Voice, and the Image and Form of the invisible God. We see the Father and hear His Voice in Him, Christ Jesus. If you cannot see this it is because God has given you a delusion to believe a lie. If you reject Paul's evangel and the secret of the evangel, God will send you a delusion so that you cannot see the truth.
"...because they do not receive the love of the truth for their salvation. [Paul's "evangel" and "the secret of the evangel."] And therefore God will be sending them an operation of deception, for THEM to believe falsehood, that they may be judged who do not believe the truth, but delight in injustice..." [2.Thess.2:11-12]
Read these verses?
"..By many portions and many modes, of old, God, speaking to the fathers in the prophets, in the last of these days speaks to us in a Son, Whom He appoints enjoyer of the allotment of all, through Whom He also makes the eons...." [Heb.1:2]
If He said, through Whom HE makes a birthday cake. You would know exactly what He said. You would say, Isn't wonderful, Jesus baked a cake. But when He says, "..through Whom He also makes the eons..." Suddenly all understanding ceases and it cannot be true. Error takes over and the radical Unitarians go into a frenzy about the Trinity doctrine!
The writer of Hebrews continues,
"... Who being the Effulgence of His glory and Emblem of His assumption, besides carrying on all by His powerful declaration, making a cleansing of sins, is seated at the right hand of the Majesty in the heights; becoming so much better than the messengers as He enjoys the allotment of a more excellent name than they..." [Heb.1:1-4]
Jesus Himself said,
"...You are of that which is below; I am of that which is above. You are of this world; I am not of this world. I said, then, to you, that you shall be dying in your sins. For If ever you [RADICAL UNITARIANS] should not be believing Me that "I AM", you should be dying in your sins...They said, then, to Him, Who are you? Jesus, then, said to them, "For the beginning, what I am speaking also to you. Much I have been speaking and judging concerning you, but He Which sends Me is true, and what I hear from Him, these things I am speaking to the world." They know not that He said this to them of the Father.
Take particular notice to the question asked of Jesus while He was teaching in the sanctuary,
"...Who are you?..." This is the same question Moses said the children of Israel would ask him. [Ex.3:13-15] Take notice of His answer. "....I am that I am: and He said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I am hath sent me unto you...And God said moreover unto Moses, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, The Lord God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me unto you: this is my name for ever, and this is my memorial unto all generations. Go gather the elders of Israel together, and say unto them, The Lord God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and of Jacob, appeared unto me saying I have surely visited you..." [Ex.3:16]
Is this not what Christ Jesus the Lord said to Paul?
"...Now I say, "Who art thou Lord?" Now the Lord said I am Jesus, Whom you are persecuting. But arise and stand on your feet, for I was seen by you for this, to fix upon you before for a deputy and a witness both of what you have perceived and that in which I will be seen by you, extricating you from the people and from the nations, to whom I am commissioning you, to open their eyes, to turn about from darkness to light and from the authority of Satan to God..." [Acts.26:11-18]
When Paul gathered the elders of Judah Israel together at Rome and they rejected the king and kingdom for the third and final time and he quoted Isaiah's prophecy of doom [Isa.6:9-10] and the administration of the law and the prophets was suspended. Paul then turned to the nations and fulfilled his commission to the nations and wrote the [Gr. graphon propheetikon] "prophetic writings [Rom.16:25-27].
Jesus then said to them again that "Whenever you should be exalting [lifting up] the Son of Mankind, then you will know that "I AM", and from Myself I am doing nothing, but according as My Father teaches Me, these things I am speaking. And He Who sends Me is with Me. He does not leave Me alone, for what is pleasing to Him am I doing always...." [John.8:23-29]
Surely it is obvious by now that not one has ever seen the Father and heard His voice because He is invisible and inaudible. It was the Lord as the Logos, or Word, made flesh [John.1:1-14] that Jesus spoke the words of His Father and it was as the "Image" and "Form" that they saw the Father in Him. [Col.1:15-17]
May "...the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory be giving you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the realization of Him, the eyes of your heart having been enlightened, for you to perceive what is the expectation of His calling, and what the riches of the glory of the enjoyment of His allotment among the saints, and what the transcendent greatness of His power for us who are believing..." [Eph.1:15-23]
[1] Anti-Christ Revealed in History and Prophecy. Alan Campbell. Pages 6-7.
[2] Anti-Christ Revealed in History and Prophecy. Alan Campbell. Page. 7.
May God bless you real good.
David and Carol Buckman,
Down-under in the land of OZ