1 John 2:22

Who is a liar? Rather, “Who is the liar?” that is, who is the great liar?

He that denieth. John has already warned of the presence of false teachers (vs. 18-21), and now proceeds to identify their doctrine. The Greek implies habitual denial.

Jesus is the Christ. See on Matt. 1:1; Phil. 2:5. John sets forth as primary the belief that Jesus of Nazareth is the Christ, the Anointed One, the Messiah, the Son of God, the Saviour of the world (see on Luke 1:35; John 1:14; see Additional Note on John 1). He who denies this has denied the central historical fact of redemption and has thereby made his own salvation impossible (see on Acts 4:12). There can be no more destructive perversion of Christianity than a denial of the deity of Jesus. Docetism, and later Gnosticism and other heresies, grossly distorted the truth concerning Christ’s nature (see Vol. V, pp. 892, 893; Vol. VI, pp. 54-58), and it is to such denials that John primarily refers. For him, a present truth was full acceptance of Jesus as the incarnate Son of God, as he eloquently urges in his Gospel (John 1:1-3, 14) and in this epistle (here, and in chs. 4:1-3, 15; 5:1, 5). The same glorious truth needs emphatic proclamation today, together with messages designed especially for our own time (see on Rev. 14:6-12).

He is antichrist. Literally, “This is the antichrist.” See on v. 18. Here John plainly identifies the antichrist of whom he writes as any supposedly Christian teacher who denies the Father and the Son.

Denieth the Father. So close is union between the Father and the Son that it is impossible to weaken the position of the Son without thereby undermining respect for the Father (see on John 10:30). This the false teachers were doing. Those who refuse to accept the revelation of God in Christ misunderstand the nature and purposes of the Father also (see on John 1:18; 14:6, 9; 2 Cor. 5:19; cf. Matt. 10:32, 33).