One of the terms used in 2 John is antichrist. Antichrist is a well-known term within Christianity. When we consider the popularity of the term antichrist, we might think the term is used many times throughout the Bible. However, that is not correct. The term antichrist is actually used only five times in the Bible. It is used four times in 1 John, and it is used once in 2 John. The word is never used in the book of Revelation.

We usually think of the antichrist as a future adversary who is coming in the end times. That is true, but that is an incomplete understanding of how the term antichrist is used in the Bible.

In this lesson I'm going to start by looking at some passages in Daniel and 2 Thessalonians to get a broad overview of this future adversary who is coming in the end times. Then I'm going to look at how the term antichrist is used in the book of 1 John. We’ll see that the term antichrist does indeed refer to the end time adversary mentioned in Daniel and 2 Thessalonians; however, we’ll also see there is more than one antichrist. Then I’ll look at 2 John to see what you and I need to do in light of the existence of antichrists.