What does 1 John 2:22 mean?

John next defines the kind of liar he has in mind: someone who denies that Jesus is the Christ, meaning the Messiah. The concept of a liar is mentioned four other times in this letter (1 John 1:10; 2:4; 4:20; 5:10). A liar denies Jesus is the Savior. A liar may acknowledge some aspects of who Jesus is, but does not accept the true message of Jesus as both fully human and fully divine.

After mentioning "antichrists" in verse 18, John adds that an antichrist denies the Father and Son. One noted aspect of an antichrist, or false teacher, in this verse, is that the false teacher denies the triune God. Many religious groups accept God the Father or Jesus or the Holy Spirit, but not all three persons as the one triune God. Any religion that accepts Jesus as something less than eternal God, fully human and divine, is a false religion and fits the description of false teachers called antichrists in this passage.