whom that denial reaches its consummate expression and who will play a key role in the final stage of history. The word “antichrist” occurs only four times in the New Testament, all in John’s epistles (2:18, 22; 4:3; 2 John 7). In 2:18, John refers also to “many such antichrists.” John assumed that his Christian readers knew about the Antichrist and had been taught to expect his coming (2:18–27). The presence of many antichrists, in fact, indicated that the end time had arrived. But John warned that