Who is the liar, if it is not the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, who denies the Father and the Son.
Parallel translations
- WEB Who is the liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the Antichrist, he who denies the Father and the Son.
- KJV Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son.
- NKJV Who is a liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist who denies the Father and the Son.
- NASB 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.
- NLT And who is a liar? Anyone who says that Jesus is not the Christ. Anyone who denies the Father and the Son is an antichrist.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
The liar and antichrist is the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ, thereby denying the Father and the Son. Rejecting the true Christ rejects God.
Overview
John identifies the central error: denying that Jesus is the Messiah. To deny the Son is also to deny the Father, since the two cannot be separated. This is the mark of the antichrist spirit. The verse makes confession of Jesus as the Christ the dividing line between truth and deadly error.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 11
- 2 Jn 1:7For many deceivers have gone out into the world, refusing to confess the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh. Any such person is the deceiver and the antichrist.
- 1 Jn 4:3and 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 which is already in the world at this time.
- 1 Jn 2:18Children, it is the last hour; and just as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have appeared. This is how we know it is the last hour.
- Jude 1:4For certain men have crept in among you unnoticed—ungodly ones who were designated long ago for condemnation. They turn the grace of our God into a license for immorality, and they deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.
- 1 Jn 2:23Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father, but whoever confesses the Son has the Father as well.
- 1 Jn 2:4If anyone says, “I know Him,” but does not keep His commandments, he is a liar, and the truth is not in him.
- 1 Jn 4:20If anyone says, “I love God,” but hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen.
- 1 Jn 1:6If we say we have fellowship with Him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.
- John 8:44You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out his desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, refusing to uphold the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, because he is a liar and the father of lies.
- 1 Cor 12:2–3You know that when you were pagans, you were influenced and led astray to mute idols.
- Rev 3:9Look at those who belong to the synagogue of Satan, who claim to be Jews but are liars instead. I will make them come and bow down at your feet, and they will know that I love you.
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Christ at the center
Jesus is the Word of life made manifest, the propitiation for our sins, the Son in whom is eternal life — 'that you may know that you have eternal life.'
How 1 John 2:22 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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