ANTICHRIST, a term of Biblical origin, but occurring only in the Epistles of John, where it signifies a person or persons who deny the Father and the Son and disown the incarna tion and messiahship of Jesus. They are de ceivers whose presence in the world betokens the last time. This writer seems to have in mind numerous false human teachers, origin ally membtrs of, but always alien to the fol lowers of Christ. He seems also to refer to some single arch-deceiver of whom all false teachers are exponents, and in whom is concen trated all antagonism of error and ill will to Christ and His kingdom of truth and grace. There are, however, other Biblical passages in which such antagonisms find acute and cul minating expression, and it has been the custom of students to handle all these sections under the study of the Antichrist. Such passages are Matt. xxiv, with its allusions to false prophets and false Christs; 2 Thess. ii, with its °man of sin 't; Rev. xi, xii, and xiii, with its dragon and beast; and Daniel vii and viii, with its fig ures of the terrible beast and the he-goat. In all these passages a central feature is the mighty opponent and assailant of the people and purposes of God. Clustered about this central personified or personal antagonist of all worshipers of the true God numerous signifi cant features continually recur. Such are names, times, places, forms. These features, variant in themselves when differently com bined by would-be interpreters, yield perplex ingly manifold and divergent schemes, as the history of the theme abundantly displays.
The history of interpretation shows four names to have special eminence alongside the name Antichrist, thus: Dragon, Satan, Demon, Belial. The efforts to identify him cluster around typical views. Some deem him to be a form of Jewish antagonism to the Christian faith. Here he is traced to Capernaum, Chora zin, Bethsaida or to Jerusalem. Frequently he is described as hostile to the Jews, being the counterfeit and foe of the Jewish Messiah. Very many identify him in some way with Rome, naming pre-eminently Nero, or a Nero redivivus, or Titus, or Caligula. Quite com monly in the Middle Ages he was seen in Mo hammed or in the Turks. Still later some Catholics identified him with Luther, while the Reformers identified him with the Pope. Many emphasized in the Antichrist, whatever his form, the energy or wisdom or very being of Satan or the Dragon. Many writers refer all the Biblical allusions to events current at the time of writing. Many others deem the reference to events still future. Still
others hold the Biblical teachings to be pre eminently predictive, but find their fulfilment partial and manifold throughout all Christian history, until their final consummation will mark the end. As to the place of his appear ance or activity mention may be found of the Jewish Temple, Jerusalem, Mount of Olives, heaven itself. Closely connected with these central features are various attendant elements such as Michael, his great antagonist and vic tor; Gog and Magog and the nations which are his minions; the miracles which he works; the two witnesses, Enoch and Elijah, whom he the sign of the Antichrist and the Son of Man; his world dominion; and his final doom. It is manifest that this theme presents a program of thought and activity of most profound significance, however perplexing its solution. The persistence of its main elements through such a long train of history attests something vital in human life. But its out line is nowhere complete. In recent years the effort to solve its mystery and find its mean ing has taken new form and course. Scholars are trying to trace every element of the Anti christ tradition to its historical source. The leaders here are Dieterich, who, in his 'Abraxas) and 'Nekyia,' traces parallelisms in Greek myths; Gunkel, who, in his 'Schiipfung and Chaos,' attempts the same task in old Babylonian mythology; Bousset, who, in his 'Der Antichrist,' explores post-Christian liter ature of all types for echoes of the tradition; and Friedlander, who, in his 'Der Antichrist in den Vorchristlichen Jiidischen Zuellen,) tries to show that every essential trait of the Anti christ is traceable in Jewish circles before the destruction of the temple. The writer last named conceives the Babylonian dragon myth, the Hebrew sons of Belial, the foes of God and his Messiah in Ps. ii, the Zedim of Ps. cxix, the minim of various Jewish writings, the Belial of the Sybilline oracle, the Gnostics, the great antagonist of Daniel, the man of sin in 2 Thess. ii, the false Christ of Matt. xxiv, the Antichrist of John's Epistles, and the dragon of Rev. xi, to be all and severally various phases in one consistent development of the Antichrist idea. These studies, though but the early stages of a mighty task, disclose a com manding theme. For a history of the expo sition of 2 Thess. ii consult Bornemann's 'Com mentary' in the Meyer series. For a thorough statement of the Nero speculations consult De Wette's 'Excursus' in his' 'Commentary on Revelation xvii' ; also Charles, R. H., 'The Ascension of Isaiah' (§ 17).