THE NORTHERN KENTUCKY SEARCHER
"Search the scriptures: for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me. " (John 5:39)

VOLUME 3, NUMBER 39, OCTOBER 26, 2003

FALSE TEACHERS?

            There has been considerable discussion among brethren over the last several years concerning who can be rightfully labeled as a false teacher.  The controversy has focused upon 2 Peter 2:1-3.  That passage says, “But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will also be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves.  And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of the truth will be maligned; and in their greed they will exploit you with false words, their judgment from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.”         

            There is no question that this passage has something to say about the motive behind the false teaching that a false teacher does.  Looking just at verse 1, we find, “just as there will also be false teachers among you, who…”  The word “who” is a relative pronoun, the antecedent of which is “false teachers”.  It is “qualitative and intends to characterize and describe”.  Peter follows the word “who” by describing what these “false teachers” do and the motive behind it.   Consequently, it has been argued that a brother who teaches “false doctrine” cannot be accurately  described as a “false teacher” unless his motives are as wicked and insidious as those set forth in 2 Peter 2.  Is that a correct idea?  Does it somehow lessen the seriousness of what is occurring when a brother teaches false doctrine?

            Let’s notice a few things from the scriptures.  First, the opposite of false doctrine is sound doctrine- that which is true and according to the Word of God.  Concerning the importance of sound doctrine, Paul wrote in 1 Timothy 4:6, “In pointing out these things to the brethren, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, constantly nourished on the words of the faith and of the sound doctrine which you have been following.”  Hence, “sound doctrine” is the very nourishment upon which a Christian feeds.  In Titus 2:1, Paul exhorted Titus to “speak the things which are fitting for sound doctrine” and in verse 7 of the same chapter, he urged him to “show yourself to be an example of good deeds, with purity in doctrine, dignified.”  In 2 Timothy 4:3-4, Paul wrote, “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires; and will turn away their ears from the truth, and will turn aside to myths.”  This is in condemnation of those who “will not endure sound doctrine” and who “turn away their ears from the truth”.  The importance of “sound doctrine” of teaching and believing the truth, cannot be over emphasized. 

            How is false doctrine viewed in scripture?  It is condemned and being demonic.  Remember John 8:44, where Jesus said, “You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father.  He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him.  Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature; for he is a liar, and the father of lies.”   How much more forcefully can this point be made than it is in 1 Timothy 4:1-2, where Paul wrote, “But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons, by means of the hypocrisy of liars seared in their own conscience as with a branding iron?”

            The Bible condemns believing false doctrine.  In 2 Thessalonians 2:10-12, we find, “And with all the deception of wickedness for those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved.  And for this reason God will send upon them a deluding influence so that they might believe what is false, in order that they all may be judged who did not believe the truth, but took pleasure in wickedness.”

            The Bible also condemns teaching false doctrine, regardless of what the motive might or might not be.  In Galatians 1:6-9, we read, “I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel; which is really not another; only there are some who are disturbing you, and want to distort the gospel of Christ.  But even though we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to that which we have preached to you, let him be accursed.  As we have said before, so I say again now, if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to that which you received, let him be accursed.”   1 Timothy 6:3-5 also should be mentioned, “If anyone advocates a different doctrine, and does not agree with sound words, those of our Lord Jesus Christ, and with the doctrine conforming to godliness, he is conceited and understands nothing; but he has a morbid interest in controversial questions and disputes about words, out of which arise envy, strife, abusive language, evil suspicions, and constant friction between men of depraved mind and deprived of the truth, who suppose that godliness is a means of gain.”

            Brethren and friends, the Bible even condemns supporting or encouraging those who teach false doctrine in any way whatsoever and it doesn’t do so based solely on the motive behind the false teaching.  In 2 John 9-11, we are told, “Anyone who goes too far and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God; the one who abides in the teaching has both the Father and the Son.  If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house, and o not give him a greeting; for the one who gives him a greeting participates in his evil deeds.”

            If someone teaches something that is absolutely false and is not part of the “teaching of Christ”, yet his motive in doing so is pure and he truly believes what he has taught – does it make it any less false or damaging?    If I believe something false that was sincerely taught to me by one who was honestly mistaken, does that make it any less false?  It certainly seems to me that regardless of what the motive of the teacher might be, the end result of false doctrine will be the same.          

Greg Litmer.