First John: 1 John 2:22-The Worst Type of Liar and Antichrist Rejects Jesus is the Christ Lesson # 80

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. (ESV)

Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom

Tuesday September 5, 2017

www.wenstrom.org

Lesson # 80

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. (ESV)

“He who denies that Jesus is the Christ” is composed of the following: (1) articular nominative masculine singular present middle participle form of the verb arneomai (ἀρνέομαι), “who denies” (2) conjunction hoti (ὅτι), “that” (3) nominative masculine singular form of the proper noun Iēsous (Ἰησοῦς), “Jesus” (4) emphatic negative adverb ou (οὔ), which is not translated (5) third person singular present active indicative form of the verb eimi (εἰμί), “is” (6) nominative masculine singular form of the proper name Christos (Χριστός), “Christ.”

The verb arneomai means “to reject” since it pertains to refusing to accept something as the truth and is used in relation to the apostolic teaching that Jesus is the Christ and speaks of a person “rejecting” this teaching.

The conjunction hoti is “recitative,” which is a specialized use of the direct object clause after a verb of perception and here in , the verb of perception is absent but implied from the declarative statement which hoti introduces.

Therefore, John is employing the figure of ellipsis at this point in the verse meaning that he is deliberately omitting the verb of perception, which is the nominative masculine singular present active participle form of the verb legō (λέγω) which means, “to say.”

This verb refers to the substance of one of the assertions of the person who is the worst type of liar and the substance of one of their assertions is contained in the following statement, “he who denies that Jesus is the Christ.”

The proper name Iēsous is the Greek spelling of the Hebrew word Jehoshua, “Jehovah saves,” and refers to the human nature of the incarnate Son of God, Jesus of Nazareth.

The verb eimi means “to possess a particular inherent characteristic or attribute,” which is identified by the nominative masculine singular form of the proper name Christos, “Christ.”

The word’s meaning is emphatically negated by the emphatic negative adverb ou, which expresses an absolute, direct and full negation.

Therefore, these three words express the idea that the person characterized as being the worst type of liar asserts that Jesus is unequivocally or emphatically not possessing the inherent characteristic of being the Christ.

The proper name Christos is a technical word designating the humanity of our Lord as the promised Savior for all mankind who is unique as the incarnate Son of God and totally and completely guided and empowered by the Spirit as the Servant of the Father.

“This is the antichrist” is composed of the following: (1) nominative masculine singular form of the demonstrative pronoun houtos (οὗτος), “this” (2) third person singular present active indicative form of the verb eimi (εἰμί), “is” (3) articular nominative masculine singular form of the noun antichristos (ἀντίχριστος), “the antichrist.”

The demonstrative pronoun houtos means “this” and is anaphoric meaning it is pointing back to something in the immediate preceding context and specifically, it is pointing back to the previous declaration of a hypothetical person unequivocally rejecting that Jesus is the Christ.

The verb eimi means “to possess a particular characteristic” which is identified by the noun antichristos, “the antichrist,” which is describing people who rejected John’s apostolic teaching that Jesus of Nazareth is the Christ.

The articular construction of the noun antichristos is generic which distinguishes one class from another and here the generic use of the article serves to distinguish those who reject Jesus is the Christ from those who accept by faith Jesus is the Christ.

“He who denies the Father and the Son” is composed of the following: (1) articular nominative masculine singular present middle participle form of the verb arneomai (ἀρνέομαι), “who denies” (2) articular accusative masculine singular form of the noun pater (πατήρ), “the Father” (3) conjunction kai (καί), “and” (4) articular accusative masculine singular form of the noun huios (υἱός), “the Son.”

Once again, we have the verb arneomai which again means “to reject” and here the word speaks of a person “rejecting” the Father and the Son as a result of rejecting that Jesus is the Christ.

The noun patēr means “Father” referring to the first member of the Trinity.

It emphasizes the familial relationship between Jesus Christ and God.

It also emphasizes this same relationship between God and those who trust in Jesus Christ as their Savior.

The noun huios is used in relation to Jesus Christ and is employed here as a title for His deity describing the relationship between the Father and Jesus Christ.

The articular construction of the word indicates the uniqueness of Jesus Christ in that He is the one and only Son of the Father.

It also functions as a possessive pronoun and can be translated “His” referring to the Father.

Who is the worst type of liar? It is none other than the person who at any time does say, “Jesus is unequivocally not the Christ.” This person is the antichrist: the person who unequivocally rejects the Father as well as His Son. (My translation)

The apostle John continues his discussion regarding the antichrists which began in .

Here in verse 22, he identifies specifically for the recipients of this epistle what characteristic that identifies a person as being a liar as well as what characterizes a person who is the antichrist.

Verse 22 begins with John posing a rhetorical question.

He asks who is the worst type of liar?

By asking this question he is picking up on his last assertion at the end of verse 21, namely that never does any lie originate from the truth.

He then immediately answers this question in verse 22 by asserting that the worst type of liar is none other than the person who at any time does assert, “Jesus is unequivocally not the Christ.”

John then identifies what characterizes a person as being the antichrist by asserting it is the person who unequivocally rejects the Father as well as the Son.

Hiebert writes “not the personal Antichrist but the very embodiment of his spirit.”[1]

Therefore, if we would put these assertions together in , John is asserting that to be characterized as the worst type of liar and that of being characterized as the antichrist are synonymous.

He is also asserting that Jesus of Nazareth is the God-man and eternal Son of God and Savior of the world since He is affirming that Jesus is the Christ and describes Him as the Father’s Son.

He is teaching the recipients of this epistle that to be characterized as the worst type of liar and the antichrist is to unequivocally reject Jesus is the Christ and to do so is to unequivocally reject the Father who sent Him.

That those who reject the Son by rejecting that He became a human being is to reject the Father is indicated by the apostle John’s teaching in in which he asserts that no one who rejects the Son has a relationship with the Father.

To reject Jesus is the Christ is to reject that He is the Son of God and Savior of all sinful humanity since God the Son had to become human in order to provide the perfect sacrifice for sins and sinners.

To reject Jesus is the Christ is to reject the hypostatic union of the Son of God since the title Christ implies that Jesus is God.

John’s teaching in that Jesus is the Christ and the Son of God are fundamental and cardinal doctrines of the Christian faith.

If a sinner rejects that Jesus is both God and man, then they will never enter into a relationship with God and never experience fellowship with Him since the hypostatic union is the basis for entering into a relationship with Him and to experience fellowship with Him.

Exercising faith in the person of Jesus Christ and specifically exercising faith in the Spirit’s testimony through the apostolic teaching that He is the God-man is the basis for entering into an eternal relationship with a holy God.

If Jesus is not God, then they are dead in their sins since the Son of God became a human being to die for the sins of the entire world and to reconcile sinners to a holy God.

If the Son did not become a human being, then there would be no possible way for sinners to experience a relationship and fellowship with a holy God since His death as a human being provides sinners the forgiveness of sins.

His death and resurrection as a human being provided sinners deliverance from eternal condemnation, enslavement to the devil and the sin nature, personal sins, physical and spiritual death, and condemnation from the Law.

It also provided the opportunity to experience an eternal relationship and fellowship with a holy God.

None of this would be possible if the Son did not become a human being and die on the cross and rise from the dead three days later.

Furthermore, to deny that Jesus of Nazareth is both God and man is to deny the resurrection since the resurrection demonstrates that Jesus is God (cf. ).

To deny the deity of Christ is to deny the doctrine of the Trinity.

[1] Hiebert, D. E. (1989). An Expositional Study of 1 John Part 4 (of 10 parts): An Exposition of . Bibliotheca Sacra, 146, 86.