Is an "anti-Christ" the same as an "unbeliever."

Response to comment [from a Christian]: "I'm going to put my 3 cents worth in here..."

2 cents 3 cents

"...[E]very unbeliever may be trying to replace Christ with themselves, but it isn't an explicit and direct denial of who Christ was. Just a rejection of Him."

Rejecting him is rejecting who he is (Jn 14:6, 3:19). You can't say: I don't reject you. I just reject who you are. You are who you are.

Men reject the Father (1 Sam. 8:7), God's Word (1 Sam. 15:23, 26), God’s knowledge (Hos. 4:6) and Christ (Mark 8:31).

God rejects man as an unbeliever (Jn 12:48), for being divisive (Tit 3:10), unfruitful (Heb. 6:8) and reprobate (Heb. 12:17).

"If you blow off God, He'll blow you off too." ~ Doug Giles

See:

1 Jn 2:18 McGee, MacArthur

The Jesus test, the gospel test, and the fruit test

"John was trying to make it clear what differentiated them (and, by extension, every false doctrine, teaching, brother etc...) from those who were truly in Christ.  I'm not saying that one can reject who Christ was but not Christ Himself. Rather, that what John was dealing with was those who say they are believers but are not (thus, the "anti" in antichrist meaning "instead of")."

Yes, opposed to, instead of, not in. John was dealing with that. And I think it's entirely possible that one can believe he is a Christian but not be the real deal. That's why the apostle Paul encouraged us to examine ourselves to see if we are in the faith (2 Co 13:5). We can lie to ourselves and then we're in big trouble. Only God knows us. We barely know ourselves (Pr 16:2).

See:

The Wounded Spirit by Timothy Keller

Is an "anti-Christ" the same as an "unbeliever."