2 John 7
Memory Verse
Because many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not verbally agree that Jesus Christ has come in flesh. This is the deceiver and the antichrist (2 John 7).
The deceiver is someone who leads others astray from the truth. In the times we are in now, many will depart from the faith, giving heed to spirits that cause them to wander and to the teachings of demons (1 Timothy 4:1). These are those who teach righteousness by works, the observance of days, and traditions rather than the word of God. They have their own conscience seared, permitting them to lie without remorse. They are among those who turn the grace of God into licentiousness and teach that gain is godliness (1 Timothy 6:5).
The antichrist is one who stands against Christ. This is not synonymous with the man of lawlessness or the beast of Revelation. There are many antichrists already; they deny that Jesus is the Messiah (1 John 2:18, 1 John 2:22). Some claim Jesus, the Son of God, could not possess a human body because all matter is evil—a heresy asserting Jesus was only a phantom. Most mainstream denominations reject this, affirming Jesus’s full humanity and divinity. However, the doctrine persists in certain modern groups such as the Ecclesia Gnostica and Apostolic Johannite Church.