As I said earlier, Christ's hostile audience would have been ecstatic if they believed that He was pre-announcing someone who would be opposing Him.Exacty. But John in the gospel of John contains what Jesus said witnessed by John years earlier. What John told them in 1 John (probably to Christians at Ephesus) is what Jesus talked about years before and written down in John 5. You can set John 5 side to side with 1John - and the relationship is obvious.
Years back, I noticed the connection when I read through the preceding verses in John 5 that precede the John 5:43 verse which is commonly used to support the concept of an Antichrist person coming.
1. The another the Jews would accept instead of him as their King of Israel. John 5:43
2. The relation between the Father and Son - that to deny is antichrist in nature, John 5:23-25
3. Denial that Christ came in the flesh - that is antichrist is nature, John 5:37-38
I concur that there are similarities in Christ's descriptions in John's gospel and those in John's epistle. But both are referring to a class of individuals whose (dis)beliefs and behaviors identified them as antichrists -- of which there were many.
Doubtless Christ was also referring to the following, who Scripture and history confirm appeared in the period leading up to 70 AD:
Matthew 24:5
For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.
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