Knowing Your Heretics, Part 2

March, 2008

by: Edward Wilde

The word “heresy” is from a Greek word which is translated as “sect” in the New Testament. For example, in Acts 28:22, the “local leaders of the Jews” come to see Paul in prison in Rome. They refer to Christians as a “sect”: “But we desire to hear from you what your views are; for concerning this sect, it is known to us that it is spoken against everywhere.”

A “sect” is neither bad nor good; it’s just a particular group. During the Middle Ages, the word came to refer to someone who disagreed with the Roman Catholic Church. Again, the person who disagreed, the “heretic”, may have disagreed on either a bad or a good basis.

Since that time, the words “heretic” and “heresy” have been used to cover all sorts of disagreements. People can be political heretics or scientific heretics or any other sort of heretic you could imagine.

There are two things which are necessary for a position to be a “heresy”. First, there must be a disagreement. Second, the disagreement must concern “authority” not “personality”: It would not be right to say that every time two people disagree they will consider each other to be a heretic.

The disagreement must concern an authority as to what is true or what is right. The authority creates a boundary; the authority states something is true and something else is false. If you agree with that authority, you are “orthodox”. If you disagree, you are a “heretic”.

Thus, a question about “heresy” is really a question about authority. A heretic is someone who disagrees with the authority’s statement as to what is true. So, when we refer to some person as a “heretic”, we mean that person disagrees with what we hold to be the authority.

This really makes the question about “heresy” and “heretics” much easier to understand. You don’t necessarily have to understand everything about someone else’s teaching if you do know what that other person considers to be an authority. If they have a different authority, they would be a “heretic”.

Christians have always held to Scripture as the authority for determining what is right and wrong. For example, Basil of Caesarea (330-370), a prominent early Christian, stated that when there is a dispute, a Christian should “let God-inspired Scripture decide between us”. The Reformers held to the position of Sola Scriptura – Scripture alone is the authority for a Christian.

The second question of the Westminster Shorter Catechism puts the matter thus, “What rule hath God given to direct us how we may glorify and enjoy him? The Word of God, which is contained in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, is the only rule to direct us how we may glorify and enjoy him.” Thomas Watson wrote, “The Word is judge of controversies… That only is to be received for truth which agrees with Scripture…”2 Tim. 3:14-17.

Here then is the authority for Christians: the Word of God as recorded in Scripture. Thus, the first test of whether one is “orthodox” or whether one is a “heretic” is what one does with the Scripture. If the person rejects the authority or adds to the authority, then such person would be a “heretic”. Here are some questions to consider:

Does the person consider the Bible to be true? A person who rejects the authority outright must necessarily be a heretic. However, many people do not actually reject the Bible outright; rather, they reject it part-by-part, throwing out whatever becomes uncomfortable. The Incarnation of Christ becomes intellectually embarrassing, so it is rejected. Another rejects a teaching about sin, because that sin is simply too desirable to be let go.

This part-by-part rejection, a belief that perhaps this part or that part of the Bible is not “historically true” has led to the shipwreck of many. As Thomas Brooks wrote, “Ah! how many in these days have fallen, first to have low thoughts of Scripture and ordinances, and then to slight Scripture and ordinances, and then to make a nose of wax of Scripture and ordinances, and then to cast off Scripture and ordinances, and then at last to advance and lift up themselves, and their Christ-dishonoring and soul-damning opinions, above Scripture and ordinances. Sin gains upon man's soul by insensible degrees.”

Others claim that they do not reject the Bible; however, they find the Bible to not be enough. These people reject authority without admitting they are rejecting the authority. These people will take the Bible, but they also take along “another testament of Jesus Christ” or “tradition”. Their extra authority makes the Bible into a “nose of wax” which can be twisted this way and that, and so reject the authority of the Bible.

Some claim to accept the Bible alone, but the Bible they accept is so twisted and turned by means of a “translation” that the original Bible cannot be found through all the additions and revisions and interpretations which have been layered upon the words. When a person comes to your door bearing a Bible that looks nothing like any translation you have ever seen, they have rejected the Bible outright and claim to have done nothing of the sort.

In short, the first test of heresy is a test of authority: Will this person have God’s Word to be the authority or not?