Knowing Your Heretics, Part 1

February, 2008

by: Edward Wilde

Richard Rogers, a Puritan Pastor in Wethersfield, Essex, England was once asked why he was so “precise” (the Puritans were also called “precisians”). Rogers replied, “I serve a precise God.” (Quoted in J.I. Packer’s, A QUEST FOR GODLINESS, p. 114).

We live in a world which is very imprecise when it comes to things of God. Most ideas held by most people about God are vague, at best. For most people, it is simply more important to know about sports, or entertainment figures, or politics than to know about God.

There are other people who claim to know a great deal about God, but in fact know nothing but half-truths and untruths and plain lies. Many of these people claim to be “Christians” or claim to be speaking on behalf of or about Jesus.

In a series of articles, we’re going to take a look at various heresies, that is false statements about God, Jesus and the Gospel.

As initial matter, we are going to consider some good direction given by the Apostle John about false teachers. In 2 John the Apostle writes about the necessity of truth. In the first four verses, he repeatedly emphasizes the importance of truth, particularly “walking in the truth”. This is a point which you must understand, to be a Christian is to be deeply concerned with the “truth”.(John MacArthur recently published a book on this topic called “The Truth War”.)

The Apostle John continued in his letter to give a very brief discussion of the doctrine, the teaching, about Jesus. John notes a particular doctrine about Jesus then troubling the Church, a false teaching that Jesus was not really a human being: that Jesus “did not come in the flesh”.

Having written about the importance of truth, the importance of true and false teaching about Jesus, John gives instruction as to how to respond to a false teacher: “If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house, and do not give him a greeting; for the one who gives him a greeting participates in his evil deeds.” Verses 10-11.

As Jesus’ disciples sometimes said, “This is a hard saying!” What does this mean? Does this mean that we can never talk to someone who is not a Christian? Obviously we may talk to non-Christians: How else would we ever proclaim the Gospel? Does it mean that we can’t say “Hi” to the Mormon Missionary who knocks at our door? Not exactly.

Well, then, what does it mean?

A little historical context: At the time John was writing, the Church as an Empire-wide body was loosely connected. Due to the distance between churches, communications were fundamentally more difficult in the first century than now. If someone did or said one thing in one place, it would take serious effort to communicate that information to a church hundreds of miles distant. The difficulty with communications made it possible for a deceiver to say one thing in one place and something else in another place. It would also make it easy for someone to convey a false message and pretend that it came from an apostle. (Such a thing apparently happened to the church at Thessalonica. 2 Thes. 2:2.)

In the early church, there were people who took advantage of the difficulties with communications and the often limited information people would have concerning Christian doctrine (remember, the New Testament was not completely written; and even after it was written, it took time for the various books to be collected and distributed throughout the Church). These deceivers would set themselves up as teachers and would spread destructive lies. John refers to them in 2 John 7.

When Paul addressed the Ephesian elders, he warned them about these false teachers, which he called “savage wolves”, “savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves men will arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them.”Acts 20:29-30. Likewise, the first instruction Paul gave to Timothy concerning the church was to protect the church against false teachers. 1 Tim. 1:3.

So, there were people traveling among the churches pretending to be teachers of the truth. They were really false teachers, savage wolves who were seeking to destroy souls and lead believers astray.

In his second letter, John was providing a necessary command concerning such people: He identified a false teaching then in circulation. He then told the Church how to respond to the false teachers: Don’t give any ear to their lies; don’t give any support to their work. If you assist them, you’ll partake of their sin.

What then do you do with the Mormon missionary, the Jehovah’s Witness, or the like, who come to your door with a “plan of salvation”? You don’t give them help in spreading their lies. You don’t support their work. You don’t send money to false teachers on television who promise you worldly dreams. You don’t listen to their lies.

You do what you would do to anyone who is lost: Tell them the Gospel.

Over the next issues, we’ll be looking at what sort of false teachers there are about in the world, so you know how to spot them when they are coming.