I love the Bible. I love how poignantly clear it is on some points, how epically mysterious it is on others. I love how the text is alive, how it beckons us to immerse ourselves, study more, discuss longer, compare passages. I love how all the truth of the Universe is contained in a single volume of text, that God chose to reveal Himself to us so that we can know Him. I love how I can be hurting, so deeply I can barely verbalize it, and I can turn to the Scriptures and they will comfort me and guide me and remind me where my peace and hope lie.
But then there are things in the Bible that are tough. I mean, there are some really difficult ideas in there, ideas that are hard to understand, and ideas that are hard to carry out. In a discussion I had recently with another Believer, he said, "If you start assembling the teachings of Jesus and His Apostles regarding certain subjects, you come up with stuff American Christians cannot handle. It is not nice at all." We live in a culture where certain ideas are so ingrained that we have just come to regard them as truth, without ever even giving them much thought. And certain mentalities and behaviors are straight-up demanded of us, in all situations (ex: radical and unquestioning tolerance and acceptance, unwavering kindness and gentleness, etc), that again we never stop to question their validity. Are we called on to treat each other gently and kindly in most circumstances? Definitely (Ephesians 4:32). Even when we are called on to call each other out on our sins (ie: admonish), we are counseled to be gentle (Galations 6:1, Timothy 4:2), because Heaven knows that we are all sinners, and next time it might be YOU who needs to be exhorted.
But are we called upon to deal kindly and gently with every single human being who crosses our path? Indeed not. A harsh truth that most of you will really struggle to accept. And since the entire point of this blog is to keenly examine Scripture in order to better understand and practically apply God's revelation to our every day lives, today I want to look at a group of people who the Bible tells us should be dealt with swiftly and harshly and without apology: false teachers.
But are we called upon to deal kindly and gently with every single human being who crosses our path? Indeed not. A harsh truth that most of you will really struggle to accept. And since the entire point of this blog is to keenly examine Scripture in order to better understand and practically apply God's revelation to our every day lives, today I want to look at a group of people who the Bible tells us should be dealt with swiftly and harshly and without apology: false teachers.
False teachers area big subject in the Bible. Paul (2 Corinthians 11:13-15, 1 Timothy 4:1), Jude, (yeah, pretty much the whole book), Peter (Peter 2:1), John (1 John 4:1), and Jesus Himself (Matthew 24:11), they all warned us strongly to be on the lookout for false teachers and false prophets, which gives me the impression that it's kind of a big deal. So this week let's look at how to identify a false teacher, and next week we can talk about what should be done once one is identified. The church in Galatia was apparently dealing with just such a problem around the time that Paul penned them his letter. In chapter 5 he addresses it in a straightfoward manner, and so gives us some basic guidelines for identifying false teachers. Here are the basics:
False teachers are not terribly interested in getting people to obey God. In fact, it's kind of their main goal to convince people that they don't really need to obey God (Galatians 5:7), but since they are working under the guise of a Bible teacher, they can't just say, "Hey, this obedience stuff is stupid, let's all get drunk!" They have to be sly and sneaky. They have to distract you, subtly trip you up, tell you things that sound good and right, but in actuality have no Biblical merit, and usually undermine some of the most basic of Biblical principles (another good reason we should all be fully immersed in the Word and constantly encouraging and admonishing each other)! But oh! Will they ever be convincing! They will usually be gifted orators or wordsmiths, saying just the persuasive things that your ears are longing to hear. It flutters your heartstrings and speaks directly into your life, just exactly what you needed to hear today! But when you really try to break their teaching down into basic principles, you find that it's little but false flattery and empty rhetoric. Really really pleasant words that just don't mean anything. Paul put it best in his second letter to Timothy (4:3-4), when he said, " For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths." Youch. Scary.
False teachers will also be very influential in the church, maybe even gain almost complete control over it (Galations 5:9). You know that verse we've all heard about yeast working through the whole batch of dough? Well, this is what Paul was talking about when he said that. An effective false teacher is going to insert him- or herself right into the inner workings of your church, maybe right up front standing in the pulpit, or maybe, with seeming humility and hospitality and submission, a little more behind the scenes, but still pulling all the unseen strings. And slowly he or she is going to start inserting his or her own deceptive and misleading ideas into the truth-teaching until the whole group has gone entirely off the rails. I don't know about you friends, but I find THAT to be a very frightening and sobering idea.
Look for a certain amount of prideful behavior (Jude 1:11, RE: "the way of Cain"). In my experience (both personally and with others) pride can be sneaky and sometimes masquerade as its exact opposite, humility. Look for a person who is angry, defensive, passive aggressive, or downright hostile when challenged; who throws around his or her weight, sometimes subtly, sometimes not so much, in an attempt to intimidate; who shuts down, ignores, or derides your honest questioning. A true Gospel teacher wants nothing more than to engage you about Biblical truths, and will delight in your questioning and leap to the challenge to hash out tough ideas with you. A false teacher wants you to shut up and listen, fall in line, and not cause any problems. And for Heaven's sake, if you have questions or disagree, don't say anything! But friends, this is not Biblical, this is not sound doctrine. Paul told us that OF COURSE there will be divisions among you (1 Corinthians 11:19), and he was delighted when the Berean Jews questioned everything he said and weighed it against Scripture (Acts 17:11). Because a true Bible teacher has nothing to fear from your doubts or questions, and will in fact be thrilled that you are actively seeking and searching truth!
A question to ask is, is he or she consistently only preaching half or part of the Gospel? This part is tricky, because it might take years before you realize that you have been learning at this person's feet all this time and you have NEVER heard certain ideas or doctrines even discussed! Giving money to the church, serving in your community, treating others compassionately - these are all wonderful ideas, but they are NOT the Gospel of Jesus Christ. They're just little bits of it, and if you are not consistently being preached and taught the whole truth, you are either being unwittingly cheated (your preacher/teacher is misguided) or intentionally misled (false teacher).
Probably the most important question you can ask is, who does he or she say Jesus is (Matthew 16:15-16)? If you find yourself under the sway of someone who is iffy about Who Jesus is - who might balk at being asked to confess the Lordship of Jesus Christ (ie: Jesus is Lord <Romans 10:9>, there is only one God, <John 17:3>, and Jesus and God are one and the same <John 10:30>) - who refuses to define where he or she stands on (or maybe even out-and-out denies) the substitutionary atonement (ie: Jesus died so that we wouldn't have to, and through Him and Him alone are we saved (1 Peter 3:18, John 14:6), - who occasionally makes broad statements about how maybe we can't exactly know the truth, that they themselves are too humble to embrace certainty, that maybe other faiths and religions have some merit and we should not write them off, that we're all on our own path but they are all leading to the same God - that condemn others for declaring that the truth IS knowable (John 8:32, 1 Corninthians 2:16) and make any sort of suggestion that this truth should be unquestioningly obeyed - if you find you are under the sway of such a person, run away.
Run away screaming.
Because friends, Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, the Son of God and the Lord of all, the one and only Redeemer, and anyone who truly knows Him will be willing to shout that from every rooftop in town.
Friends, only by being thoroughly familiar with the truth will we be able to recognize a counterfeit. And we ARE talking about a counterfeit here, right? So what are the characteristics of an effective counterfeit? It's not going to be obvious; how would that fool anybody or lead anyone astray? No, a false teacher will very likely seem to possess many of the characteristics that we have come to associate with Godliness or Christ-likeness: humility, gentleness, a willingness to serve, compassion, etc etc. Don't be fooled! Test their spirits (1 John 4:1), and don't be deceived, because these false prophets, they are indeed among us. The Scriptures are so clear on these ideas, if we will just study! If we will just read, and then get together and talk!
There are several books of the Bible that were written specifically to warn us against false teaching within the church: Galatians, 2 Peter, 1 John, 2 John, and Jude. It is really challenging to identify a false teacher, Satan masquerades as an angel of light (2 Corinthians 11:14), and his ministers masquerade as servants of righteousness (2 Corinthians 11:15). Please friends, I urge you to daily arm yourselves with the Truth, because our human natures are so easily deceived. It's so easy to accept teaching that tickles our ears but does nothing to further the Kingdom of God.
As always, I welcome comments, questions and dissent, and I say that with all grace and honesty; it's not a challenge but an invitation. The entire spirit of this blog is summed up by Colossians 3:16: "Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts." I'm just one voice, but the pursuit of Christ is a corporate one, so I beg of you to lend me your voice as well, that we may sharpen each other as iron sharpens iron, and together reach a better, fuller, and more effective understanding of the the Word of God.
As always, I welcome comments, questions and dissent, and I say that with all grace and honesty; it's not a challenge but an invitation. The entire spirit of this blog is summed up by Colossians 3:16: "Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts." I'm just one voice, but the pursuit of Christ is a corporate one, so I beg of you to lend me your voice as well, that we may sharpen each other as iron sharpens iron, and together reach a better, fuller, and more effective understanding of the the Word of God.
TRUTH!
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