2 John 1:7

For many deceivers are gone forth into the world, even they that confess not that Jesus Christ cometh in the flesh. This is the deceiver and the antichrist.

Antichrist ... Of particular interest is this term, occurring here in the singular; however, it is quite clear that no single person is meant, from John's identification of "antichrist" with "many deceivers." In Campbell's famous debate with Purcell, Campbell did not identify "the man of sin" with John's "antichrist," despite the fact of Purcell's addressing his entire refutation against an affirmation which was not made by Campbell. Despite the general confusion to the effect that Paul's man of sin (2 Thessalonians 2) should be identified with John's "antichrist," there is no solid ground for this. It could be, however, that "antichrist," a spirit already working in John's time, should be identified with the "lawless one" to be revealed shortly before the Second Advent; for, as Paul said, "the spirit of lawlessness" was already working in his time also (2 Thessalonians 2:7); but neither "antichrist" nor the "lawless one" may be absolutely identified with "the man of sin," except in the sense of being an ultimate development of the apostasy evident in "the man of sin."

Many deceivers ... "These were formerly members of the Church who had apostatized (1 John 2:19)."[13]

They confess not that Jesus Christ cometh in the flesh ... The heresy of the false deceivers was that of denying the Incarnation. Various scholars have identified such teachers as Docetists, Cerinthians, and Gnostics. Of significance is the fact that the apostle did not yield in the slightest to any of their speculations. The apostolic doctrine is that Jesus of Nazareth was the Son of God who was Christ, not only after his baptism, but in his death, burial and resurrection as well. With the apostle John, and all the New Testament teachers, the confession of full faith in Jesus Christ as the Son of God was central, imperative and absolutely essential to the Christian faith.

The "many deceivers" mentioned in 2 John 1:1:7 stand in this letter opposed to the "certain of thy children walking in the truth," as mentioned in 2 John 1:1:4, with the possible interpretation that both those walking faithfully and the deceivers were children of a single congregation. Concerning the deceivers, John here presented "a double warning: (1) for the Christians not to be deceived themselves (2 John 1:1:8,9), and (2) not to give any encouragement to the false teachers (2 John 1:1:10,11)."[14]

[13] J. R. Dummelow, op. cit., p. 1061.

[14] John R. W. Stott, Tyndale New Testament Commentaries, Vol. 19 (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1964), p. 208.