1 John 2:22 - Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

Who is a liar, but he that denieth, &c.?— See ch. 1 John 4:3. Some are of opinion, that this was written against Cerinthus, who in his doctrine separated Jesus from Christ, maintaining that they were two distinct persons, and denying Jesus to be the Son of God. The church of Rome denies both the Father and Son, by throwing off the government of God and of his Christ over the Christian church, setting up a pretended infallible head, reversing the laws of Christ laid down in the New Testament, and making laws at pleasure to bindthe consciences of all Christians. The pope therefore, as head of the church, may properly enough be called antichrist. It has indeed very often been inquired, whether the pope be antichrist? This seemed so clear to the famous Lord Bacon, that, being asked by king James 1 whether he thought the pope so to be, he answered, "That if an hue and cry should come after antichrist, which should describe him by those characters whereby he is decyphered in the Bible, he should certainly take the pope for him."