ANTICHRISTFact or Fiction?

Class 2 : A Test Case for Antichrist.

1 John 4:1-31 John 4:1-3

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 ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God: And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should

come; and even now already is it in the world.

 

A TEST CASE FOR ANTICHRIST

Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world. 

2 Corinthians 11:4

For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him.

1. What do you think the word “spirit” is referring to in 1 John 4? ______________________________________________“spirit” = breath, speech, teaching, doctrine

Try the spirits

 2. ‘try’ - Greek#___________

Meaning: _____________________________________ 

In this Old Testament passage, the children of Israel were told to put false prophets to the test.

Deuteronomy 13:1-5Deuteronomy 13:1-5 ______________________________________________ 

______________________________________________

______________________________________________ 

1381

to test , discern, examine, prove

Performing a sign or wonder (even predicting the future)

does NOT make a prophet true. It’s the words he speaks!

Are they consistent with the Truth of God’s Word?!

False Prophets 3. ‘many false prophets’ Greek# _________

Meaning: _______________________________________

 (Notice that in 1 John 4:1 – ‘the spirits’ that are to be tested are linked to the ‘false prophets’)

 In the following passages note any information about who the false prophets were and what they would be doing:

 Matthew 7:15 ______________________________________________ 

Matthew 24:11 ______________________________________________

 2 Peter 2:1 ______________________________________________

5578

a spurious prophet, or religious impostor

Wolves in Sheep’s clothing – DECEPTION!

Jesus predicted MANY would arise – to deceive!

False prophets from AMONG believers – ECHO to Antichrist!

A Popular System

CLUE #8: Would the work of the false prophets concern a few people or many? ______________________________________________The “Antichrist movement” would be large and popular.

Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is

come in the flesh is of God:

 1. ‘confesseth’ – Greek #__________ Meaning: _______________________________________________

How strong a word is this? Is it talking about a firm belief, or just a casual understanding?

2. ‘flesh’ - Greek# ___________ Meaning: _______________________________________________ _______________________________________________

3670

to assent, covenant, acknowledge, promise.

4561

human nature, with its frailties (physically or morally) and passions.

Note how this word is used in the following passages: To get a “biblical definition”!

 Romans 7:5, 18 _______________________________________________ 

Romans 8:3, 5, 6 _______________________________________________

3. Give a biblical definition of what “flesh” is: _______________________________________________

 4. What does it mean to “confess” that Jesus Christ came “in the flesh”?

_______________________________________________

That which is in us that causes us to sin. Proneness to sin.

Jesus came with this “flesh” – that is a “carnal” nature.

Our nature which is instinctively opposed to the things of God.

To believe WITHOUT reservation that Jesus had OUR nature.

To further examine the New Testament teaching about Jesus’ nature – comment on these passages:

Hebrews 2:14-18 ________________________________________________

Hebrews 4:14-16 ________________________________________________

Based on these passages, what type of nature did Jesus have? Was it human nature like ours, able to sin - OR - a nature like God’s, pure and incapable of sin?

(see James 1:12-15)

“he also himself likewise”!! – He had the same nature as US!

“in all points TEMPTED like as we are”!

And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist,

whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.

CLUE #9: What teaching about Christ’s nature distinguishes between true teachers and those of Antichrist?

_________________________________________________

_________________________________________________

CLUE #10: Again, is the Antichrist system something only to exist in the future, or was it already in existence before the New Testament was completed? Why is this significant?

__________________________________________________________________________________________________

The truth is that Jesus had human nature. Antichrist teaches something opposed to this.

These false ideas (of Antichrist) were in existence in the First Century. Antichrist is NOT just a future concept!

The Doctrine of the Trinity

Three hundred years after Jesus' crucifixion, the Roman Empire witnessed the first major turning point in the history of Christianity. The violent debate, known as the Arian Controversy, lasted more than 60 years, dividing the Roman Empire and forever changing the face of the Christian Church. Was Jesus of Nazareth God Himself, walking the earth in human form? Or was he a uniquely holy man adopted by God as His Son and raised to divine rank?(R. Rubenstein, When Jesus Became God, Inside Jacket Cover)

Why does it matter what you believe?

Is the correct understanding important?

These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, FatherFather, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee: As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him. And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only the only true Godtrue God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. John 17:1-3

First Century TeachingThe Apostle Paul (Ephesians 4:4-6) - Divinely Inspired

There is: one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling;One Lord, one faith, one baptism,One God and Father of all, who is above all, ...

Second Century TeachingThe Apostles Creed – Second Century

"I believe in God Almighty,And in Christ Jesus, His only Son, our Lord,Who was born of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary, Who was crucified under Pontius Pilate and was buried.And the third day rose from the deadWho ascended into heavenAnd sitteth on the right hand of the FatherWhence he cometh to judge the living and the dead;And in the Holy Spirit....

Third Century TeachingOrigen

"Jesus Christ himself who came into the world, was born of the Father before all creatures; that, after he had been the servant of the Father in the creation of all things - "For by him were all things made" - he in the last times, divested himself of his glory, became a man, and was incarnate although God, and while made a man, remained the God which he was; that He assumed a body like to our own, differing in this respect only, that it was born of a virgin and the Holy Spirit..." (Preface to De Principiis)

Fourth Century TeachingThe Nicene Creed (325 AD)

"I believe in one God, the Father almighty...And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God. Born of the Father before all ages. God of God, light of light, true God of true God. Begotten not made; being of one substance with the Father...."

By the 5th Century....The Athanasian Creed

"We worship on God in Trinity, and Trinity in Unity; Neither confounding the Persons, nor dividing the Substance [Essence]. For there is one Person of the Father, another of the Son, and another of the Holy Ghost. But the Godhead of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost is all one, the Glory equal, the Majesty co-eternal. Such as the Father is, such is the Son, and such is the Holy Ghost. The Father uncreate, the Son uncreate, and the Holy Ghost uncreate...The Father eternal, the Son eternal, and the Holy Ghost eternal. And yet they are not three eternals, but one eternal...So the Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Ghost is God. And yet there are not three Gods, but one God... the Unity in Trinity and the Trinity in Unity is to be worshipped."

We, then, following the holy Fathers, all with one consent, teach men to confess one and the same Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, the same perfect in Godhead and also perfect in manhood; truly God and truly man, of a reasonable [rational] soul and body; consubstantial [co-essential] with the Father according to the Godhead, and consubstantial with us according to the Manhood; in all things like unto us, without sin; begotten before all ages of the Father according to the Godhead, and in these latter days, for us and for our salvation, born of the Virgin Mary, the Mother of God, according to the Manhood; one and the same Christ, Son, Lord, only begotten, to be acknowledged in two natures, inconfusedly, unchangeably, indivisibly, inseparably; the distinction of natures being by no means taken away by the union, but rather the property of each nature being preserved, and concurring in one Person and one Subsistence, not parted or divided into two persons, but one and the same Son, and only begotten, God the Word, the Lord Jesus Christ; as the prophets from the beginning [have declared] concerning Him, and the Lord Jesus Christ Himself has taught us, and the Creed of the holy Fathers has handed down to us. The Calcedonian Creed AD 451

The Trinity is NOT Biblical

"The formulation “one God in three persons” was not solidly established, certainly not fully assimilated into Christian life and its profession of faith, prior to the end of the 4th century. But it is precisely this formulation that has first claim to the title the Trinitarian dogma. Among the Apostolic Fathers, there had been nothing even remotely approaching such a mentality or perspective."

(New Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Guild Publishers; 1967-1974. Trinity;14:299)

The Great DebateAlthough Athanasius claims to believe that the New Testament is the Word of God, he simply ignores the words that are inconsistent with his theory! In fact, since he cannot find any basis in Scripture for his conception, he and his friends borrow a word from Greek philosophy - homoousios - to express it!(R. Rubenstein, When Jesus Became God, pg. 118)

Historically Christ’s nature WAS the issue!

For the anti-Arians, the problem was how to devise a statement of faith that the "subordinationists" could not interpret in their own way. The answer, so they thought, was to be found in one Greek word - perhaps the most important nonbiblical word in Christian history -homoousios. Ousia is usually translated as "essence" or "substance"; homo means "the same". If a creed were to declare that Jesus Christ and God were homo-ousios, meaning that they were essentially the same...Homoousios would become a test of faith and a method of smoking out those unable to accept Jesus' identity with God...to say that two things are similar in essence means that they share a common nature.(R. Rubenstein, When Jesus Became God, pg.79-81,198)

The “typical” view today

"Even though God is one in His essential being or nature, He is also three persons...Christ possesses the moral attributes of God. These are attributes which deal with the character of God. Holy: This means that God is pure, He cannot sin, and is unspoiled by evil or sin either by act or nature. Christ also possesses this attribute...Man's basic nature is sinful and has the tenancy to continue to sin. He is bounded by and infected with his sin nature which results in disobedience to God's standard."(Josh McDowell, Handbook of today's Religions)

Not much has changed in 1600 years!

Within the unity of the One God there are three persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit; and these three share the same nature and attributes. In effect then, the three persons are the One God. (Dr. Walter Martin, author of The Kingdom of the Cults.)

Pagan Influence on Christian Thought

"The Trinity is a corruption borrowed from the heathen religions and engrafted on the Christian faith."(A Dictionary of Religious Knowledge. Lyman Abbott; 1875. Trinity;944)

"The trinity was a major preoccupation of Egyptian theologies. Three gods are combined and treated as a single being addressed as singular. In this way the spiritual force of Egyptian religion shows a direct link with Christian theology." (Morenz, S. Egyptian Religion. Cornell: University Press; 1973:254-257)

Alexandrian Christianity had a special flavour. In this turbulent and intellectually saturated melting pot, outstanding thinkers drew on the latest trends in Greek philosophy to explain biblical texts and expound Church doctrines.(R. Rubenstein, When Jesus Became God, pg. 5)

The Trinity was “new”!Those for whom Christianity seemed a natural extension of and improvement on Judaism, tended to be Arians. By contrast, the strongest anti-Arians [Trinitarians] experienced their present as a sharp break with the past. It was they who demanded, in effect, that Christianity be "updated" by blurring or even obliterating the long- accepted distinction between the Father and the Son.(R. Rubenstein, When Jesus Became God, pg. 74)

The doctrine [of the Trinity] was too novel, too paradoxical, too mystifying, too clever...but to many skeptics, the new theology's most troubling feature was that, in redefining the relationship of the Father to the Son, it altered the Christian understanding of God.(R. Rubenstein, When Jesus Became God, pg. 208)

"...the doctrine of the Trinity...formed no part of the original message. St. Paul knew it not, and would have been unable to understand the meaning of the terms used in the theological formula on which the Church ultimately agreed." Dr. W.R. Matthews, former Dean of St. Paul's, London. (God in Christian Thought and Experience, p. 180)

Who conquered Who?

"If Paganism was conquered by Christianity, it is equally true that Christianity was corrupted by Paganism. The pure Deism of the first century Christians was changed by the Church of Rome, into the incomprehensible dogma of the trinity. Many of the pagan tenets, invented by the Egyptians and idealized by Plato, were retained as being worthy of belief." (Gibbon, E. History of Christianity. New York: Arno Press; 1972)

What are the practical implications?Trinity: God "gave himself" as a substitute We just need to "belong" to a strong Church to be saved“Nicene Christianity, with its majestic Christ incorporated into the Godhead, its pessimistic view of human nature, and its bishops and saints playing dominant roles, was better suited to express the hopes and fears of Christians...to determine how fallen humanity could be saved by God's sovereign grace through the sacraments of the Church.” (R. Rubenstein, When Jesus Became God, pg. 224,228)

Truth: God sent His Son in our nature as a representative We need to develop "Christ-like" characteristics to be saved

“The heart of Arianism was the idea that radical improvements in human behaviour need not await the apocalypse or be limited in this world to a cadre of religious specialists...Arius' Jesus was a beacon of moral progress sent not so much to rescue helpless humans as to inspire them to develop their own potential for divinity.”(R. Rubenstein, When Jesus Became God, pg. 218-219)

Statements of Faith Today

"In God there are three Persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. Each of the three Persons possesses the one Divine Essence." Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma

"In the Unity of this Godhead there be three Persons of one substance, power and eternity, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost." Introduction to the Church of England (Anglican)

"God is revealed to men as the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. This One Person, whom we worship as the true and living God, is manifested in three characters, each of these being personal in nature." What Baptists Believe

The Godhead exists eternally in three Persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. These three are one God, having the same nature and attributes... Pentecostal

The “nail in the coffin”!The Trinitarian Jesus did NOT have our nature!

Jesus chose to set aside some of His attributes to become the God-man. He chose to subordinate Himself - not only to God the Father, but also to man.This is not a commentary on His nature, which of course no one can change, but on His purpose - His office while on earth...He subjected Himself to the Father while on earth.

RBC Ministries, The Man who said He's God, page 23

The Bible was right about “Antichrist”

A Trinitarian writes: "The term Trinity is not a Biblical term, and we are not using Bible language when we define what is expressed by it as the doctrine that there is one only and true God, but in the unity of the Godhead there are three coeternal and coequal Persons, the same in substance but distinct in subsistence." (International Standard Bible Encyclopedia)

This view IS against Christ since:

he doesn't really exist (he is "swallowed up" in the "Godhead")

His "victory" was hollow at best (he was God - it was impossible for him to fail!)

True ONENESS

Jesus and God ARE one!

Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; That

they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the

world may believe that thou hast sent me. And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that

they may be one, even as we are one: I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one;

and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.

John 17:20-23