Your word is a lamp to my feet
And a light to my path. (Psalm 119:105) Mount
Baker
Beacon Volume 03, Number 10
03/10/2024 Published by
Mt. Baker
church of Christ Location:
1860 Mt. Baker HWY
Mailing Address:
P.O. Box 30821
Bellingham, WA 98228
(360) 752-2692 Sunday:
Bible Classes..........9:30 AM
Worship..10:30AM; 6:00PM
Wednesday:
Bible Classes.........7:00 PM
Web site: Mt. Baker church
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Editor......John Bass
| In this issue:
HOW TO IDENTIFY FALSE TEACHERS
Danny Linden "Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves” (Matthew 7:15). Jesus warns us of the danger of false teachers, whom He describes as ravenous wolves.
The danger posed by false teachers. False teachers are dangerous because they alter something of great value. Immediately after his admonition to “rightly handle the word of truth”, Paul says in 2 Timothy 2:16 to “avoid irreverent babble, for it will lead people into more and more ungodliness.” The contrast is unmistakable. God’s word provides us with the tools we need to be effective, faithful workers. Unholy false doctrine is nothing more than babble to be ignored. That’s why Paul goes on to call out Hymenaeus and Philetus as two men who had “swerved from the truth… they are upsetting the faith of some” (v.18). False teachers like Hymanaeus and Philetus are destructive forces.
Wolves in sheep’s clothing. The frightening part of these spiritual wolves is that they do not announce themselves as such. It would be easier if everyone were clearly labeled! A physical shepherd can usually identify a wolf because it looks nothing like a sheep. Unfortunately, it is not that easy for us spiritually. I can’t imagine that anyone bold enough to teach another, whether publicly or privately, has ever claimed to be a false teacher. Paul calls false teachers “evil people and imposters, deceiving and being deceived” (2 Timothy 3:13). That reveals a remarkable truth about false teachers. They lie to their listeners, of course, but they also lie to themselves. It is tempting to believe that false teachers are sworn servants of Satan, plotting day and night how to keep more people from Heaven, but this is not the case. Many sincere, zealous people are actually the ravenous wolves that Jesus warns us to avoid.
Identifying the wolf. How can we know if someone is a false teacher?
study. We don’t have to wonder or guess, thankfully. The Bible tells us exactly how to identify one. First, though, let’s consider a couple ineffective standards some have for defining false teachers.
“A false teacher must be an evil and malicious person.” To many people, a person has to have malicious intent in their teaching to qualify as a false teacher. We should be able to see a problem with this immediately based on the verses we have already considered here. 2 Timothy 3:13 tells us that many imposters are themselves deceived! There is no malicious intent here, only sincere inaccuracy. The other issue with this is that this standard requires us to judge the heart. When a man preaches a lesson, how can anyone truly know if he is being sincere? We can judge many aspects of his teaching – the content, organization, delivery, etc. – but we cannot judge whether he is sincere. Solomon, in all of his wisdom, acknowledged in a public prayer to God that “You, You only know the hearts of all the children of mankind” (1 Kings 8:39). If this is what is required to identify a “ravenous wolf”, we simply would not have the capability to do so, making Jesus’ warning of little use.
“A false teacher must be greedy and seek personal gain.” This basically boils down to the belief that the only kind of person who can be called a false teacher is someone trying to cheat money from people. This is the motivation for many false teachers, but it is not what defines one as such. “If anyone teaches a different doctrine and does not agree with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching that accords with godliness, he is puffed up with conceit and understands nothing. He has an unhealthy craving for controversy and for quarrels about words, which produce envy, dissension, slander, evil suspicions, and constant friction among people who are depraved in mind and deprived of the truth, imagining that godliness is a means of gain” (1 Timothy 6:3-5). Paul is certainly acknowledging the fact that many will use godliness (or, rather, a twisted form of it) as a means of gain. But, if we are to assume that this means that all false teachers are greedy, then we would have to extend that logic to the other things mentioned in this passage. Are argumentative people greedy? Some of them are, but not all. The logic doesn’t make much sense when you break it down. 2 Timothy 3:13 shows us clearly that some can be false teachers without even knowing it, but how could this be possible? Imagine a person who sincerely believes that they are serving God faithfully and teaching accurately, yet simultaneously and deliberately uses the word of God as a tool to swindle money from people. This might correctly describe a few, but not many.
Jesus’ instructions for identifying false teachers. Rather than endlessly speculate ways to identify false teachers, let’s just keep reading from the text we started with and see what Jesus says. “You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus you will recognize them by their fruits” (Matthew 7:16-20). Twice in this passage Jesus says that we judge teachers by their fruit. This is an example that makes intuitive sense to us when we’re talking about trees. How do you know what type of trees an orchard has? The easiest, most accurate way is to look at the fruit on the trees. If you see lemons, you have a lemon tree. If you see oranges, you have an orange tree. No one would assume that a tree with lemons on it was actually an orange tree. In the same vein, Jesus says that teachers are judged by what they produce, which in this case can only be their teaching! To be clear, teachers will be judged on their sincerity and motives as well, but not by their fellow man. God will take care of that. What we humans are capable of and need to do is to test the words of everyone who claims to teach God’s word. Consider passages like Revelation 2:2; 1 John 2:22; 2 John 7-11; 1 John 4:1-4; and Acts 17:10-14. In all of these verses, teachers are judged by what they claim and teach. This is consistently the responsibility that God gives to us – nothing more, nothing less. When a teacher, no matter who he is, teaches something that is not in line with the Bible, he is a false teacher. By extension, we must be wary and on guard, knowing the danger that such an individual poses.
Conclusion. We cannot blindly accept everything we hear. Every teacher (including myself) must be held to the standard of God’s word. When that teaching deviates from the truth, it must be rejected. When a teacher persists in teaching false doctrine, he must be recognized for what he really is—a wolf who is danger to everyone who listens to him. Top
PSALM 139:17-24 “How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God!
How great is the sum of them!
If I should count them, they would be more in number than the sand;
When I awake, I am still with You.
Oh, that You would slay the wicked, O God!
Depart from me, therefore, you bloodthirsty men.
For they speak against You wickedly;
Your enemies take Your name in vain.
Do I not hate them, O Lord, who hate You?
And do I not loathe those who rise up against You?
I hate them with perfect hatred;
I count them my enemies.
Search me, O God, and know my heart;
Try me, and know my anxieties;
And see if there is any wicked way in me,
And lead me in the way everlasting.”
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Top
Created by John Bass, last updated. 03/09/2024 The Mount Baker Beacon is a weekly publication of the Mt. Baker church of Christ, Bellingham, WA.
Send all questions, comments to the editor, John Bass at (360) 325-5149 or johnbass2468@gmail.com |
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