1 John 2:22Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

Since falsehood has multiplied, I said that many antichrists have appeared. For if Christ is the truth (Jn 14:6), and you who have known Him have the truth within yourselves, then clearly the liar who opposes the truth, that is, Christ, is an antichrist. And who is the liar? He who says that Jesus is not the Christ. Thus the most vile Simon babbled emptily that Jesus is one and Christ another. Jesus, he said, was born of the Virgin Mary, while Christ descended from heaven upon the Jordan. Therefore whoever agrees with this falsehood is an antichrist.

This was said about the heresy of Simon Magus, who claimed that Jesus and Christ were two different persons. They want Jesus to be a man upon whom Christ descended from heaven at the Jordan in the form of a dove. Therefore John anathematizes those who think in this way and applies to them the name and work of the devil. "He who denies the Father and the Son." Again, some other heretics appeared, saying that one must distinguish the Father from a certain nameless divinity apart from the Father of Christ. They also deny Jesus, since they call Him a mere man and not God by nature, as One who is from God.

It has already been said that every liar is not of the truth. But because there are many kinds of falsehood in the world, and they are not equal among themselves, John now singles out the falsehood of refusing to acknowledge Christ.

This falsehood is so terrible and abominable that all else is either slight or nothing in comparison with it. It belongs to the Jews, who assert that Jesus is not the Christ.

Yet heretics who teach wrongly concerning Christ also do not acknowledge that Jesus is the Christ. They receive and confess not the teaching of divine truth, but the teaching of their own vainglory.

Warning believers against false teachers, St. John points to the chief kind of false teaching or deception. It is the denial of the true understanding of Jesus Christ as the promised Savior, King, and God.

"Who is the liar, if not he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, who denies the Father and the Son." Who lies, deceives, or errs more than the one who does not acknowledge, or denies, that Jesus is the promised Messiah?

He is the Savior of the world, the Son of God, true God and man. Whoever denies these prerogatives in Jesus is one of the antichrists now beginning to appear. He does not acknowledge the Father and the Son.

"Who is the liar, if not he who denies that Jesus is the Christ?" To show the force of the heretics' falsehood, the Apostle says that he alone is the liar, ψεύστης, the liar in the proper sense and above all others.

This is the one who denies that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, who came for the salvation of men. The heretics did not acknowledge Jesus Christ as the Son of God, but boasted that they knew God the Father.

Such were the Jews, and the Christian heresy of the Ebionites that degenerated from them. Such also were the Gnostics. They boasted of the knowledge of God and reduced Jesus to the rank of ordinary men.

How fearful it is to be called an antichrist. If Jesus Christ is not God and not the God-man, but only a wise man, then the world has not yet been redeemed. We still have no Savior, and we all remain in a hopeless state.

What joyless unbelief this is. No, not only verbal objection, but even wavering in thought and secret double-mindedness concerning the Godhead of Jesus Christ is ruinous for faith.

The human actions of the Savior, such as eating and sleeping, show only that He was truly a man, as we are. Yet His extraordinary birth, through the Virgin's conception by the Holy Spirit, His sinlessness and holiness in all things, His almighty power in miracles, and the testimony concerning Him from above reveal in Him the true Divine Person.

Only such a One could be the Savior of the world.

How should one understand the words, "you know all things," if shortly before this it was said that only the fathers, and not the children or young men, had known the One without beginning? If all in the Church know all things equally, what is the advantage of the fathers?

If their advantage is that they have known the One without beginning, does it not follow that others do not yet possess this advantage? We must acknowledge that when the Apostle says, "you have an anointing" and "you have no need that anyone teach you," he means by "you" the whole local Church.

He does not mean each individual member separately, for among its members there were also children. The Church truly knows all things, because within her there are those who know and are able to teach others.

"Who is the liar, if not he," and so forth. To warn his beloved children against the antichrists who had already appeared and would still appear, the Apostle points to the surest and most decisive mark by which believers can recognize false teaching and false teachers.

By antichrists he means false teachers, heretics, or deceivers. Their mark is the denial or distortion of the true understanding, teaching, or dogma concerning Jesus Christ, the promised and foretold Only-begotten Son of God, who appeared in the flesh.

"Who is the liar, if not he who denies that Jesus is the Christ?" (1 Jn 2:22). The Apostle John sets forth the dogma concerning the divine Person of Jesus Christ as the touchstone for judging the true worth of people's religious convictions.

He seems to say that various mistaken opinions about nonessential matters of faith may still be bearable. But whoever denies the Christian dogma of the divinity of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is plainly the most dangerous liar.

Or, as the Apostle expresses it even more strongly: "This is the antichrist, who denies the Father and the Son" (1 Jn 2:22). Therefore all communion with such a one must be broken off.

Directing Christians' attention especially to heretical false teaching, the Apostle points to the most important error preached by the Ebionite Cerinthus and his followers, who denied the Godhead of Jesus Christ.

Without entering into a detailed refutation of this error, and without offering biblical or other proofs of its falsehood, the Apostle views it from his lofty theological standpoint. From there its absurdity is clearly revealed.

Having in mind the clear teaching of Jesus Christ concerning His consubstantiality with the Father (see Jn 1:1; 1 Jn 1:1-4), he says that heretics of this kind deny the Father also.

To remain in communion with God, one must not only renounce attachment to the goods of this world. One must also shun false teachers, the antichrists, who are opponents of Christ.

The Apostle does not set forth the errors of the false teachers in detail, because he says: "You have an anointing from the Holy One, and you know all things." By "anointing from the Holy One," the Apostle means the imparting of the gifts of the Holy Spirit to believers in the mystery of chrismation.

At the same time, he means the knowledge believers receive when they enter the Church and accept the gifts of the Holy Spirit. This knowledge is enough to distinguish falsehood from truth. One need only abide in the teaching taught by "this anointing."