Messiah Or Not?

This week (except for Sunday) all our first readings have been from the first letter of John.    This letter was not written by one of the apostles or by the author of the Gospel of John, although there are common themes such as: light and darkness; the word and incarnation; eternal life; and love.

The letter appears to have been addressed to a late 1st century community (about year 100) experiencing conflict and division.   It speaks of those “who went out from us,” and they are called “antichrists.” 

In fact, this is the only place in the New Testament (except for one mention in 2 John) where the word “antichrist” is found – not even in Revelation.  That’s a revelation to us because we often have heard “antichrist” applied to those promoting anger, division, hatred, and chaos.  A few references in 1 John appear to have created the expression that if we are not for Christ, we’re against Christ – we are anti.  The antichrist is in league with the devil and is out to deceive us, so many of us have been falsely schooled to believe.  

So much has been made of this term when in fact the author of 1 John was simply saying that antichrists were those who denied that Jesus was the Messiah; denied he came “in the flesh,” or denied he came “by water and blood.”  This was an unorthodox view of Jesus (perhaps an early form of Docetism) that although he seemed and appeared to be human, he was divine and not human.

Ominously, this view of the antichrist – not believing Jesus is the Messiah – was applied to the Jews who still waited for the Messiah.   This different belief helped lead to terrible persecutions and create the dark underbelly of Christianity aptly described by James Carroll in his 2001 book, “Constantine’s Sword – The Church and the Jews: A History.”

As stated in 1 John 2:22: “…Who is the liar?  Whoever denies that Jesus is the Christ.  Whoever denies the Father and the Son, this is the antichrist…”  In response a Jew might cry: “Oy vey!”

As we begin the New Year, let’s resolve to respect others' views whether they are anti to ours or not.  In particular, let’s resolve to remove antiquated, conflict-causing “antichrist” from our vocabulary and focus on 1 John’s main message: “God is love; let us love one another; and whoever loves God must also love his brother.”

Deacon David Pierce