Antichrist characters have been the continuing subject of speculation and attraction, often explored in fiction and media, and the character has developed its own fictional mythology apart from biblical scripture. For example, the Book of Revelation does not say the Antichrist will be the son of Satan (it does not even mention him), but the idea was made popular in at least two movies, The Omen, and its sequels, with the evil child, Damien, who grows up with the destiny to rule and destroy the world, and Rosemary's Baby with her son, Adrian.
In fact, the uses of the term "antichrist" or "antichrists" in the Johannine epistles (1 John 2:18; 4:2–3; 2 John 1:17; 2:22) do not clearly present a single latter-day individual Antichrist. The articles "the deceiver" or "the antichrist" are usually seen as marking out a certain category of persons, rather than an individual.[1]
Consequently, attention has been placed on 2 Thessalonians 2 (1–4, 7–10) to identify information about an Antichrist, although the term "antichrist" does not occur here.[2][3] Although the word "antichrist" (Greek antikhristos) is used only in the Epistles of John, the similar word "pseudochrist" (Greek pseudokhristos, meaning "false messiah") is used by Jesus in the Gospels (Mark 13:22; Matthew 24:24).[4]
The articles in front of "deceiver" (ὁ πλάνος, ho planos) and "antichrist" (ὁ ἀντίχριστος, ho antikhristos) should be seen as marking out a certain category of persons (Wallace 1996: 227–30). This is a common Johannine usage (1 John 2:23)
(2) Does the New Testament support the notion of an individual Antichrist in whom all the anti-Christian strife of all ages will be concentrated? 2 Thess 2 answers the second question in the affirmative: an individual Antichrist will bring evil to its ...
Whereas Berkouwer states, "There is no reason to posit with certainty on the basis of the New Testament that the antichrist ... 2. particularly his statements about the "restrainer," compel us to believe that there will be a future, individual antichrist.
From Josephus's writings we collect, first of all, without much critical comment, some statements showing the close affinity of the … nowhere in his extensive accounts of the Jewish–Roman war uses the word "pseudo-Christ" (pseudochristos).
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