As if Hellmut Traub had written about the Antichrist in the Bible for today:
Antichrist in the Bible (1954)
By Hellmut Traub
The word is translated by Luther as „Widerchrist“ (anti — against), perhaps due to the ambiguity of the term „Endchrist“ common in the Reformation era. It appears only in the Johannine epistles: 1 John 2:18, 22; 4:3; 2 John 7; in the first instance also in the plural. In 2 Thessalonians 2:3-12, he is described as the man of sin, the son of perdition, the adversary, the wicked one (the mystery of iniquity), who, proclaiming himself to be God, sits in the temple, corresponding to Mark 13:14; Matthew 24:15: the abomination of desolation standing in the holy place. John 5:43, about the one who dares to come in his own name, is also likely to be referred to the Antichrist. In the prophetic image, he is spoken of as the beast from the abyss (Revelation 11:7; 13:1-10; 14:11; 16:2, 10, 13; 17:8-14; 19:19-20; but not in chapters 12 and 20). It is doubtful whether Belial in 2 Corinthians 6:15 can be applied to the Antichrist. In the Old Testament, Behemoth and Leviathan (Job 40 & 41), as well as Gog and Magog (Ezekiel 38), are considered types of the Antichrist and his false prophet, as is the „god of fortresses“ (Daniel 11:36-39).
The Antichrist has no independent theological significance, but only as a sign of the return of Jesus Christ. Christ, the Redeemer, alone knows him in his power, which is unbearable for humanity, and will both reveal and destroy him through the appearance of His coming (2 Thessalonians 2:8). Therefore, Christians are commanded, in the last hour, which is now, to look only to Christ and not to waste time asking who the Antichrist is; such speculation belongs to the deception of the Antichrist. He is the Adversary par excellence. All sin, perdition, and wickedness find their concentration in him, and they find their expression in his denial that Jesus is the Christ and God the Father (2 Thessalonians 2:2; 1 John 2:22). Thereby he becomes the deceiver, by pointing people to themselves for their salvation, through self-help or self-redemption. Coercion and power, whose form can be total state control and economic boycott (Revelation 13), fabricated religion (Matthew 24:15; Revelation 13:4, 12), uniformization of people (13:16) and opinion (17:14), military and war (19:19; 17:14), are his means. He has no independent essence; rather, everything about him is an imitation of the true Christ: „He was, and is not, and will come again“ (17:8); he received „the deadly wound and became alive again“ (13:3, 14); indeed, a kind of satanic trinity—dragon, beast, false prophet—is hinted at (13:4, 11). Luther can therefore call him „God’s ape.“ Hence his most tempting and decisive trick is the worshipable image (13:14f). Not reality, but lies and illusion characterize his dominion. Nevertheless, he has power, and indeed over the whole earth, all kings and peoples (13:7); but it is not his own; rather, it is given to him and will be taken from him.
The significance of the proclamation of the Antichrist is the comfort for the congregation that the suffering which comes upon them through the Antichrist is God’s will and signifies their testing and purification, but above all grants them participation in Christ’s suffering and thus their perfection. Therefore, in the midst of the description of the antichristian realm it says: Here is the patience and faith of the saints (13:10).
Since the last hour is now, the congregation recognizes that even now the spirit of the Antichrist, indeed, many antichrists, are at work (1 John 2:18; 2 John 7). These emerge precisely from the bosom of the congregation. Their distinguishing mark is the denial not of a doctrine, but of the reality that the unique revelation of God saving all people has already taken place in Jesus Christ.
Source: Biblisch-theologisches Handwörterbuch zur Lutherbibel und zu neueren Übersetzungen, edited by Edo Osterloh and Hans Engelland, 2nd edition, Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht 1959, p. 29.
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