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1 John 2:22 Updated American Standard Version (UASV)
²²Who is the liar but the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, even the one who denies the Father and the Son.

Who is a liar. That is, who is false; who maintains an erroneous doctrine; who is an impostor, if he is not? The object of the apostle is to specify one of the prevailing forms of error, and to show that, however plausible the arguments might be by which it was defended, it was impossible that it should be true. Their own knowledge of the nature of religion must convince them at once that this opinion was false.

The one who denies that Jesus is the Christ. It would seem that the apostle referred to a class who admitted that Jesus lived but denied that he was the true Messiah, the divine Son of God. On what grounds they did this is unknown, but to maintain this was, of course, the same as to maintain that he was an impostor. The ground taken may have been that he had not the characteristics ascribed to the Messiah in the prophets; or that he did not furnish evidence that he was sent from God; or that he was an enthusiast. Or perhaps some peculiar form of error may be referred to, like that which is said to have been held by Corinthus, who in his doctrine separated Jesus from Christ, maintaining them to be two distinct persons.—Doddridge.

He is antichrist. Antichrist: (ἀντίχριστος antichristos) The term “Antichrist,” occurs in the NT five times. From those five times, we gather this entity is “against” (i.e., denies Christ) or “instead of” (i.e., false Christs) Jesus Christ. Many antichrists began back in the apostle John’s day and will continue up unto Jesus’ second coming. (1 John 2:18) The antichrist is referred to as a number of individuals taken together, i.e., collectively. (2 John 1;7) Persons who deny Jesus Christ are the antichrist. (1 John 2:22) All who deny the divinity of Jesus Christ as the One and Only Son of God is the antichrist. (1 John 2:22; John 10:36; Lu 9:35) Some antichrists are apostates who left the faith and are now in opposition to the truth. (1 John 2:18-19) Those who oppose the true followers of Jesus are the antichrist. (John 15:20-21) Antichrists are individuals or nations opposing Jesus or trying to supplant his kingly authority. – Ps. 2:2; Matt. 24:24; Rev. 17:3, 12-14; 19:11-21.

Explaining the Doctrine of the Last Things

The one who denies the Father and the Son. That denies the peculiar truths pertaining to God the Father, and to the Son of God. The charge here is not that they entertained incorrect views of God as such—as almighty, eternal, most wise, and good; but that they denied the doctrines that religion taught respecting God as Father and Son. Their opinions tended to a denial of what was revealed, respecting God as a Father—not in the general sense of being the Father of the universe, but in the particular sense of his relation to the Son. It cannot be supposed that they denied the existence and perfections of God as such, nor that they denied that God is a Father in the relation which he sustains to the universe; but the meaning must be that what they held went to a practical denial of that which is peculiar to the true God, considered as sustaining the relation of a Father to his Son Jesus Christ. Correct views of the Father could not be held without correct views of the Son; correct views of the Son could not be held without correct views of the Father. The doctrines respecting the Father and the Son were so connected that one could not be held without holding the other, and one could not be denied without denying the other. Compare Notes, Matt. 11:27. No man can have just views of God the Father who has not correct apprehensions of the Son. In the world, men have right apprehensions of God only when they have correct views of the character of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Matthew 11:27 Note

No man knows the Son – That is, such is the nature of the Son of God, such the mystery of the union between the divine and human nature, such his exalted character as “divine,” that no mortal can fully comprehend Jesus. None but God fully knows him. If he had been only a mere man, this language surely would not have been used of him.

Neither knows any man the Father … – In the original this is, neither knows “anyone” the Father except the Son. That is, no man or angel clearly and fully comprehends the character of the infinite God; none but the Son—the Lord Jesus—and he to whom he makes him known have any just apprehensions of his being and perfections.

By Albert Barnes and Edward D. Andrews