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| The unity of Christians in the body of Christ is a fact. It is part of our salvation in and through our Lord Jesus Christ. “Ye are all one in Christ Jesus”, Paul tells the Galatians. To the Ephesians he says, “There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all” (4:4-6). Our problem lies not in creating Christian unity. It is manifesting it that we find so difficult, and this problem is clearly evident in the proliferation of Protestant denominations, a fact that the Roman Catholic will seize on as part of the evidence that we have broken away from the unity of the true church displayed by Rome. Ecumenism from that angle is seen as the return of straying sheep to the one sheepfold, and the restoration of communion with the Bishop of Rome.
It is that concept which rightly deters many Protestants from participating in the ecumenical movement. Yet ecumenism in itself is not wrong. Our Lord prayed for the unity of His people. The Scriptures call Christians to demonstrate this unity in their beliefs, in their inner attitudes towards one another, and in their behaviour. It is right that we should be concerned to love our fellow-disciples, and to show visibly our oneness in Christ. We should not be satisfied with things as they are. Yet we ourselves are still imperfect in our understanding and in the lives we live. The devil delights to divide us, and the world imposes its own pressures on us.
So what can we do? What should we do? What pitfalls are there for us to avoid? In these articles that we hope to publish through the rest of this year we shall be looking at absolutely basic questions that lie at the heart of the debate about Christian unity today. We believe that it is the failure to ask these questions, or to be concerned about the answer to them, that has led so many astray in becoming involved with a pursuit of unity that fails to meet scriptural criteria. We believe that this is true of the Churches Together initiative, speaking generally. There may be exceptions in particular areas.
The aim of our writing, however, is not only or mainly negative. It does no credit to our Christian profession to condemn others if we are not actively concerned to implement what we say we believe to be God’s truth in whatever way is open to us. We begin our series by asking a question we have rarely heard asked.
WHY THE WARNINGS AGAINST FALSE TEACHERS?
This question might have been put in a different form. “Where have all the false teachers gone?” Very little seems to be said in ecumenical circles about false teaching or teachers. Differences may be pointed out, but this generally seems to be taken as a lack of understanding or a difference of expression rather than anything to be condemned or shunned. We are told that we should learn from others even if they are teachers of other religions altogether, let alone those holding divergent forms of professing Christianity. To claim that some teaching is false may bring the accusation of lack of charity, and could even lead to being labelled as a bigot.
Why then does the New Testament draw such a clear line between truth and error, between teachers of the truth that saves and the falsehood that destroys? We can look at four reasons for such a distinction.
1. Such False Teachers Actually Exist
Such warnings would be ridiculous if this were not the case. We may take as our starting point under this head Paul’s charge to the Ephesian elders in Acts 20:28-31. Those in positions of leadership are to take heed to themselves and those for whom they carry spiritual responsibility. They are to care for them as shepherds protect their sheep because they are subject to attack. Particularly striking is the warning that such attacks will come from within, not just from outside. False teachers will arise from their own ranks. People will distort the truth to gain a following. Sin’s dynamic can operate within the Christian fellowship. Faithful pastors and elders are to take care because of the preciousness of the church and the price that was paid for it. What is true for the church universal applies to every local congregation.
In his later letter to the Ephesians, and the same letter may have been sent to other churches in the region as well, Paul states the positive (4:4-16), that the Lord has given gifts to certain people to build up the church so that it may attain unity in the faith and not be blown about by every wind of doctrine. He also warns against the craftiness of deceivers. The positive is needed, not simply because we need to learn, but because of the negative activity of those who set out to deceive.
Peter warns in 2 Peter 2:1 about the certainty of there being false teachers who will introduce “damnable heresies”, and in 3:16,17 he speaks of the “unlearned and unstable”, the ignorant and feckless, who twist the scriptures to their own destruction. The Christians are to be on their guard so they are not led astray or fall away.
John’s first letter sets out the tests of a true Christian profession, and warns against the antichrists who appear to have been at one time part of the church but who have now left because “they were not all of us” (2:19). They are described as liars in verse 22 because of the error they teach about the Lord Jesus. In 3:7,8 John counsels the Christians not to be deceived because all this error and sinful behaviour originates with the devil. A little later he tells them (4:1) that not all the spirits are from God. The spirits should be tested because false prophets are a reality.
The Lord Himself was careful to warn His disciples against false teaching. Truth is set beside error throughout the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7) and in 7:15 we find explicit warning against false prophets who look like the real thing but are really “ravening wolves”. False teachers don’t carry a warning label, but are to be recognised by their fruits, their lives and their teaching and its effects. The fact that they call Him “Lord” means nothing without obedience, and their claim to have served Him counts for nothing either.
Mark 13:21-23 warns against false claims and a reliance on “signs and wonders”. Paul’s teaching in 2 Thessalonians 9,10 ties in with this. There are genuine works of God described in the New Testament, but not all miracles come from Him. There are “lying wonders” that will lead astray those who do not love the truth. The corollary is that love of the truth will protect us, and help us distinguish the true from the false. We certainly need all these warnings, given on so many occasions, because false teachers do exist.
2. The Devil Is Subtle
Scripture says that the devil is a liar and a deceiver. We need to recognise that he is the cleverest liar, the most plausible deceiver there has ever been, and he is utterly opposed to God and His people. He is our greatest enemy. He would like to dethrone God if he could. He cannot do that and so he attacks God’s children instead.
When Paul wrote 2 Corinthians he was deeply concerned about the members of the church there. False teachers had been making headway, drawing people away from the true apostolic teaching. In chapter 11 Paul speaks about the depth of his concern and the fact that the Christians there are meant to be loyal to Christ alone. He fears, though, that they are being led astray, and that they could accept someone preaching another “Jesus”, another spirit, or another gospel. They are in danger as Eve had been in the Garden of Eden. The teachers who had come were “false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ”, but this is not surprising “for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light”. What a warning that is for us. He can be as convincing as that today, just as he was then. Similarly, those who appear to be ministers of righteousness may be his ministers.
If we are careless or naïve we could be hoodwinked like the Corinthians appear to have been, but we have the Scriptures and the Holy Spirit to help us recognise Satan’s workings. We should be able to identify his fingerprints betraying his activities. It is for us to keep alert, knowing and applying the scripture teaching and tests, and not under-estimating the devil’s subtlety.
3. The Consequences Of False Teaching
Paul has drawn the attention of the Corinthians to Eve (ch.11). She listened to the serpent, acted on its falsehoods, and the result was the Fall. The whole human race was henceforth plunged into misery and death, physical and spiritual, alienated from God. Now the way of salvation through faith in our Lord Jesus Christ has been revealed, but Satan’s aim is to provide alternatives to the truth that will keep people under his sway. His subtlety is seen in the way he puts forward “other gospels”. He takes the truth and adds to it, or he may take the same truth and subtract from it. Either way, he provides another “Jesus” and another way of salvation, opposed to the truth of Scripture.
We have to realise that it is not enough for people to use the same words as we do and to speak of the Lord Jesus, of salvation from sin, atonement, the grace of God, the new birth, and forgiveness, for example. It is the content given to what is said that is all-important. Is it really biblical or has it been adulterated or added to in some way?
The consequences of this are brought out most clearly perhaps in Paul’s letter to the Galatians. Here believers are in danger of turning from the grace of Christ to another gospel. Paul uses strong language concerning himself or anyone else bringing them such a gospel (1:8,9). He does this because the truth and their very salvation are at stake. In this instance, Gentile believers were being told that they must obey the Jewish law and be circumcised if they want to be saved. The false teachers are adding something. It is Jesus plus. If the Galatians act on this Paul warns, “Christ will profit (them) nothing… Christ is become of no effect unto you… ye are fallen from grace” (5:2,4). Nothing could be clearer. You won’t be saved unless you depend only on the Lord Jesus Christ and His complete and finished work. There is no other way. If we allow that there is, or do not speak out against teaching that alters the Gospel, we are endangering our own eternal salvation as well as that of others. By keeping silent we are implicitly agreeing with that false teaching.
4. We Must Act
All this is not a matter of academic theology for discussion. The risen Lord, in His letters to the churches of Asia Minor in Revelation 2,3, gave commands to churches where false teaching was flourishing or being tolerated. They were to act on those commands. They were not to tolerate the continuance of such teaching. The consequences of failure to be obedient would be drastic.
It is clear from the New Testament that Christians are to know the truth, act on the truth, teach that truth, and live by that truth. Jude 3 tells us that we must contend for the faith where it is under attack as it is today. Verses 20-23 give us instructions to follow. There is good work that we can do for the Lord and for those who have gone astray. If we are daunted by this verse 24 gives us reason to take courage, and verse 25 makes plain where all the glory belongs.
May we know the grace of God helping us to honour and glorify Him by our faithful adherence to His truth and our demonstration of its powerful effect in our lives. These are days of great spiritual need, but we need not draw back if we realise that our sufficiency, like that of the apostle and every other believer, is of God.
Originally published in March - April 2005 issue of Protestant Truth. |
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