Who is the liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the Antichrist, he who denies the Father and the Son.
The Gnostics maintained that the man, Jesus, was not the Christ. They said that Jesus was born as naturally as anyone else and lived a normal existence until His baptism. At that time, Christ came from God and adopted the body of Jesus to accomplish His purposes; however, before His death, Christ left the human Jesus to suffer on Calvary. John’s statement indisputably identifies the doctrine of the antichrists. They denied the deity of Jesus and the humanity of Christ; or, they denied that Jesus is the Christ Who came in the flesh. "Jesus" is from Iesous and literally means "Jehovah saves." The very name, "Jesus," proclaims the deity, humanity, and redeeming sacrifice of this One Who was so named. "Christ" is a transliteration of Christos, meaning "the anointed one" and corresponds to the Hebrew word from which we get "Messiah." It is no wonder that the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ is called "the antichrist."