There have been much effort of trying to identify "the antichrists" with certain individuals, such as Pompey, Nero, or Muhammad (this latter person being named by Pope Innocent III in 1213 C.E.) or with a specific organization, as the in the Protestant view of "the antichrist" as applying to the papacy.
But how many have read carefully what the apostle John wrote in about 98 C.E., that gives us a glimpse of what the antichrist is ? How many grasp what the word "antichrist" really means ? To start off, apparently almost none, but have the same misguided view that it is still coming, or applies to a specific individual.
The apostle John wrote: "Young children, it is the last hour (last hour of what ? The moments before the "weeds" or imitation Christians ["tares", King James Bible] overtake genuine Christians or the "wheat", effectively strangling them until the "harvest season" or our time frame since 1914 C.E., see Matt 13:24-30), and just as you have heard that the antichrists is coming (in the first century C.E., not waiting until now), even now many antichrists have appeared, from which fact we know that it is the last hour (before full blown apostasy of the Christian congregation occurs and imitation Christians almost completely snuff out true Christianity). They went out from us, but they were not of our sort; for if they had been of our sort, they would have remained with us. But they went out so that it might be shown that not all are of our sort".(1 John 2:18, 19)
So, what can be learned from John's words ? First off, John establishes that the antichrists came from within the Christian congregation, "but they went out from us", pushing religious teachings and practices that are not Christian, such as starting to promote a "clergy-laity class" in about 110 C.E.(see Jesus words at Matt 23:8-10), the Trinity that became an established teaching of imitation Christianity by the end of the 4th century C.E. (see Jesus words at John 14:1, 28, whereby he distinguishes himself from God, as well as being called "the only-begotten Son of God", not "God the Son", whereby "begotten" means to have a father, see John 3:16, as well as Gal 4:14 whereby Jesus is shown as an angel), that Jesus died on a cross rather than recognizing he died on a torture stake.(see Deut 21:22, 23 that explains that Jesus had to die on a stake to fulfill his role as an "accursed one" for the Jews, see Gal 3:13), "hellfire" or "hell" that is an inaccurate translation of three Greek words (Hades [Rev 20:13], Gehenna (Matt 5:30] and Tartarus [2 Pet 2:4]) and one Hebrew word of Sheol.(see Ps 16:10 in the King James Bible, which says that Jesus went to "hell" when he died; see Peter quoting from Ps 16:10 at Acts 2:27, 31)
It further needs to be understood what the word "antichrist" means, that of "against (or instead of) Christ", so that the antichrists are anyone who supplants true Christianity with fake Christianity (see the apostle Paul's words at Galatians 1:6-9), slipping themselves in place of Jesus Christ as speaking for him, telling falsehoods so that they are "against" him, and (2) that the antichrists were already beginning to grow within the Christian congregation when John penned his first letter in about 98 C.E.
John's inspired words shows the term of antichrist to be broad in its application, embracing all those who deny that "Jesus is the Christ", and who deny that he is the Son of God who came "in the flesh", which the Trinity doctrine denies, saying that Jesus is God instead of the Son of God.(Note: this is where the meaning "instead" comes into play)
John’s statement at 1 John 2:18, 19 shows that there are many individual antichrists, though all together they may form a composite person designated “the antichrist.” (see 2 John 7 in which John writes: "For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those not acknowledging Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh [such as ones who say that Jesus is "fully God and fully man", for Jesus said to the Samaritan woman at the well that "God is a Spirit", not a man of flesh and blood, John 4:24]. This is the deceiver and the antichrist")
But now lets consider 2 Thessalonians 2 in conjunction "the antichrists", which describes that before "the day of Jehovah", that "the apostasy comes first and the man of lawlessness gets revealed, the son of destruction".(2 Thess 2:2, 3)
This "man of lawlessness" is that which "stands in opposition and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he sits down in the temple of God, publicly showing himself to be a god".(2 Thess 2:4) So, who is this "man of lawlessness" that places himself above every one else, wanting others to believe that he is "a god" ? Who has honorific titles that makes him be looked on as "a god" ? The religious leaders of Christendom who have such titles as Pope (meaning "papa"), Reverend, Right Reverend, Most Right Reverend, the Very Reverend, Most Reverend Bishop (or Archbishop), Father, Reverend Father, Monsignor (that means "my lord"), Bishop (that comes from the Greek word episkopos that means "overseer"), Archbishop (or one who is really high on the ladder of the Vatican) and Cardinal, etc.
These are the ones who want glory for themselves, putting on display of piousness. These are the ones who are as Isaiah 66:5 says: "They say, ' Keep to yourself; do not approach me, for I am holier than you" and of which Jehovah God says: "These are a smoke in my nostrils, a fire burning all day long", showing how angry he is with such ones and that he will deal with them by means of the political "ten horns", all the member nations of the United Nations.(Rev 17:12, 16, 17)
Jesus said that these are the ones, as the religious leaders of Christendom, who feel that they will be "first" to receive a blessing from God, but are in fact, "last" (Matt 20:16), telling his disciples an illustration of "the master of the house who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard.....for a denarius a day".(Matt 20:1, 2)
The first workers (or 12 hour workers) were hired (which represented the Jewish religious leaders serving at first the tabernacle and then the temple [that was completed in 1027 B.C.E.] and continued to do so until the arrival of the Messiah in 29 C.E.).
Then all during the day, this "master of the house" (the "master of the house" or owner of the "vineyard" is Jehovah God) kept hiring workers to work in his vineyard (the "vineyard" represented the nation of Israel that was to be "cultivated" by the Jewish religious leaders, see Isa 5:1, 2, 7) till at the 11th hour, some more workers were hired.(Matt 20:6, 7)
These 11th hour workers were those that came to be Jesus disciples from 29 C.E onward, and of which Jesus told the Jewish religious leaders this illustration about 2 children, in which the "first" declined their father's command to "go work today in the vineyard", replying "I will not, but afterward.....felt regret and went out", while the second child said "I will" but did not go out.(Matt 21:28-30)
So, Jesus now asks "the chief priests and elders of the people" (Matt 21:23): "Which of the two did the will of the father ?" to which they had to respond "the first", and to which Jesus now tells the Jewish religious leaders: "Truly I say to you that the tax collectors and the prostitutes (both of which were considered as "sinners", ones to avoid) are going ahead of you (making the Jewish religious leaders "last" or not at all, being rejected by Jehovah God) into the Kingdom of God. For John came to you in a way of righteousness, but you did not believe him. However, the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him, and even when you saw this, you did not feel regret afterward so as to believe him".(Matt 21:31, 32)
Hence, the religious leaders of Christendom are "the man of lawlessness" who will be "last", being "revealed" as the one "whom the Lord Jesus will do away by the spirit of his mouth and bring to nothing by the manifestation of his presence".(2 Thess 2:8)
On the other hand, those who who honor Jehovah (1 Sam 2:30) are the ones who will be "first", receiving everlasting life, either in heaven as "king and priests" (Rev 5:9, 10) or the paradise earth as "meek" ones (Ps 37:11, 29; Matt 5:5) as their "reward" for doing his will.(Matt 7:21) So the "antichrists" are all those who have accepted Christendom's false teachings and practices, with its religious leaders, "the man of lawlessness" promoting such falsehoods from their pulpit.