![]() ![]() But more often, the danger of false teaching comes from other avenues. We should not be naive and ignore signs of such attacks. ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ” (Jude 4). Such tactics certainly are possible, for the New Testament does record instances of “the false brethren who had sneaked in to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus” (Gal. After all, the first attack on man was not, “How can you possibly believe that?” but, “Did God really say that?”Īnother thing we need to remember is that false teaching does not always come into the church as a result of deliberate attempts to deceive Christians and trick them into denying the faith. The enemy of our souls prefers a subtler approach, sowing doubts and twisting the truth to make falsehood acceptable. It is true that great falsehoods have been found in the church, but not typically in a sudden fashion. Let me tell you what the Bible really teaches.” Do we expect bold declarations that strike at the heart of the Bible’s teachings such as “God is not real” or “Jesus is not God”? If we expect that a sudden and dramatic falsehood will enter the church, we will not be looking in the right place. ![]() Since we are called to be alert to the threat of false teaching in our midst, for what should we be looking? Should we expect someone to stand up in the middle of a worship service and declare: “The church has had it all wrong for years and years. How, then, can we afford to be complacent? If doctrinal aberrations can spring up in churches that were nurtured with the teachings of the Apostles, what makes us think we are immune? Paul had to warn the Galatians about false teaching on the central doctrine of the faith-how man is justified before God-when the generation of disciples that were taught directly by Jesus was still walking the earth. When we are tempted to think we are beyond such threats because we have it all together, we will do well to remember the Apostle Paul’s warning to the Corinthian church, which thought it was beyond the errors that had sprung up during the days of Old Testament Israel: “Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall” (1 Cor. The Bible’s testimony about false teaching should make it clear that we are not invulnerable to this threat. Simply put, false teaching is not just a problem for other people and churches out there it is a problem about which all believers must be vigilant and against which they must be on guard. The Apostle Paul continually warned the churches that he served that if false teachers in their midst were left unchecked, the results would be disastrous (Gal. Peter tells us that false teachers can also arise from within the community of believers, bringing doctrine that is destructive and poisonous (2 Peter 2:1). Jesus warns us that false teachers will come from outside the community of believers, trying to hide their true intentions (Matt. We must recognize it as a threat because the Bible continually warns us that it is a threat. False teaching is not a threat only in certain circumstances, or only in churches with certain governmental structures, or only in certain places and cultures in the world. ![]() The Reality of False Teachingįalse teaching is a real threat to the church. It is exactly what the enemy wants-for us to be asleep and unaware of his efforts to attack believers through false teaching. Churches and individual believers make a serious mistake if they think to themselves, “It can’t happen here.” Thinking we are immune to error places us in a very dangerous position. Interaction with culture, difficult passages in the Bible, and the power of sin to affect the mind have contributed to the formulation and dissemination of false or incorrect teaching. But efforts do not always bring about results. teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.” As a result, the church has always made great efforts to teach the Bible. 28:18–20), perhaps the most well-known passage on the purpose of the church, has at its core this concept: “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations. ![]() Following the true teaching of the Lord Jesus Christ is central to what it means to be a Christian. ![]()
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