Beware of false teachers

 

Believers need to be on guard against false teachers (16:17-18).

“Urge” (Rom. 12:1; 15:30) is a word of strong appeal. Paul is talking to believers (“brethren”) and he shows us how to recognize these false teachers and how to respond when we encounter them.

A. Recognizing false teachers: to spot one you have to know what to look for.

Scholars debate exactly who these false teachers were. Apparently, they had not yet arrived in Rome, so Paul is giving a heads up so that when they arrived, the believers would be able to spot them. We cannot be certain, but since the Judaizers dogged Paul’s steps and tried to bring Gentile believers under the regulations of the Mosaic Law, they may be the ones in view (Douglas Moo, The Epistle to theRomans [Eerdmans], p. 929; Thomas Schreiner, Romans [Baker], p. 803). But the warning is generic enough that it applies to a wide range of false teachers. Paul lists four marks to identify false teachers:

(1). The motivation of false teachers is to promote themselves by causing dissensions and stumbling blocks.

Romans 16:17: “Keep your eye on those who cause dissensions and hindrances contrary to the teaching which you learned….” We need to understand that Paul is not saying that true teachers avoid all controversy! Jesus Himself provoked a lot of dissension by confronting the hypocritical religious leaders (Matt. 10:34-36; 23:1-36). Paul contended vigorously with the Judaizers in Galatians, where he tells how he confronted Peter publicly because he had come under their sway (Gal. 2:11-15). When the gospel or other core biblical truth was at stake, Paul believed in the necessity to contend strongly for the faith. In fact he sums up his entire ministry by saying that he had fought the good fight (2 Tim. 4:7). He was not opposed to controversy when the gospel was at stake.

But the word that Paul uses here translated “dissensions” is a deed of the flesh (Gal. 5:20). And these dissensions are “contrary to the teaching which you learned.” This dissension stems from self-centered, self-exalting motives. False teachers attempt to build a following because they love promoting themselves and being the center of attention. They’re after power, fame, money, or sinful sexual gratification. They don’t seek to exalt Christ and Him crucified. They don’t hold firmly to the gospel of justification by faith alone. By adding the word “stumbling blocks” (9:33; 11:9), Paul shows that these men created dissension by teaching damnable heresies. Invariably, those who stood for the gospel would rightly oppose them. The result was dissension in the churches. But at the root of it, these false teachers were motivated by promoting themselves, not Christ.

(2). The message of false teachers is to contradict core biblical truth.

Their message was “contrary to the teaching which you learned.” Paul is mainly referring to the truth of the gospel which the Romans had believed and which Paul had set forth so clearly in this letter. There are many areas of doctrine where godly Christians may differ and yet still be saved, such as various views of prophecy, baptism, church government, spiritual gifts, and other secondary issues. But there are core doctrines where all true Christians must agree or you cease to be Christian in any biblical sense of the word. All of the cults promote a way of salvation by works that detracts from God’s glory through the cross of Christ. All false teachers undermine the person and work of Christ. If you abandon these core doctrines for the sake of unity, the unity you end up with is not Christianunity. So pay attention to the message.

(3). The master of false teachers is their own appetites, not the Lord Christ.

Paul explains (16:18), “For such men are slaves, not of our Lord Christ, but of their own appetites.” False teachers are in the ministry for their own profit or gain. They take people’s money so that they can live lavishly. They love power and being in the limelight. Often false teachers take advantage of women in their congregation for their own sexual gratification. But they do not preach or live in submission to Christ as Lord. By the way, “our Lord Christ” clearly affirms the deity of Jesus Christ. True teachers seek to submit every area of their lives to Christ as Lord and God.

(4). The method of false teachers is to use smooth and flattering speech to deceive the hearts of the naïve.

False teachers are usually nice, likeable, and winsome. They flatter you by telling you what you want to hear. They smile a lot as they tell you how great you are and how you can have your best life now. They don’t talk about anything negative, like sin and the coming judgment. They say, “People are beat down enough as it is. When they come to church, they need to hear a positive message, like God’s love and acceptance” (apart from repentance, of course). They use biblical verses (often out of context) and biblical language, but they often change the meaning of the terms. For example, both the Mormons and the Jehovah’s Witnesses talk about believing in Jesus as Savior and Lord, but their “Jesus” is not the Jesus of the Bible.

Arius (d. 336), was a heretic who denied the deity of Christ and was the forerunner of the modern Jehovah’s Witnesses. He gained a huge following. The courageous Athanasius battled against him. Parker Williamson describes Arius (Standing Firm: Reclaiming the Chastain Faith in Times of Controversy [Lenoir, North Carolina: PLC Publications, 1996], p. 31, cited by John Piper, “Watch Out for Those Who Lead You Away from the Truth,” on DesiringGod.org):

Here was a bright, energetic, attractive fellow, the kind of citizen whom any Rotary Club would welcome. Singing sea chanties in dockside pubs and teaching Bible stories to the Wednesday night faithful, this was an immensely popular man. His story reminds us that heresy does not bludgeon us into belief. We are seduced.

Note also that the deception takes place on the heart level, which refers both to the mind and the emotions. Deceivers know how to manipulate people’s feelings. They tell you stories that tug on your heart. They get you laughing. They often ridicule those who stand firm for biblical truth and portray them as mean, angry, and unloving. They appeal to greed and the desire that we all have to be healthy. If you’ll just send them a gift, they’ll pray for your prosperity and healing. By preying on your feelings, they lure you into their web of deception. So to recognize false teachers, watch their motives, their message, their master, and their methods.

B. Response to false teachers: Keep your eye on them and turn away from them.

Paul says, “Keep your eye on them and turn away from them.” The noun related to the verb “keep your eye on” is used in Ezekiel 3:17 (LXX) to refer to the watchman on the wall. His job was to keep his eye peeled for the enemy and to sound the alarm when he saw them coming so that they could prepare for battle. Since these false teachers often disguise themselves as “servants of righteousness” (2 Cor. 11:15) or as “wolves in sheep’s clothing” (Matt. 7:15), you have to be discerning to spot them.

Paul does not tell us to engage in dialogue with them or to invite them into our church to see if we can find some common ground as we discuss their ideas. Sometimes division or separation is both the necessary and the godly thing to do. Christian leaders especially have to be careful here. For example, when Billy Graham invited Roman Catholic leaders to sit on the platform with him at his crusades and he used the Catholic Church to follow up with those from Catholic backgrounds who responded to his message, he sent a strong message to the untaught that the Catholic Church preaches the same gospel that we preach. The problem is, they don’t. They preach salvation by grace through faith plus works, which is precisely the Galatian heresy. Paul preached salvation by grace through faith alone. The difference is not minor, because Paul said that the Galatian heretics were damned (Gal. 1:6-9)!

Should you invite cultists who knock on your door to come in and discuss their beliefs so that you might lead them to Christ? Maybe, but be very careful! The cults do a better job of training their people than we do. They can take you to every verse that seems to support their errors. If you’re not knowledgeable, they will confuse you and draw you into their heresies. I usually tell them that I have studied the Bible seriously for over 40 years now. If they’re seeking the truth of how to know God and go to heaven, I’d be glad to talk with them. But if their aim is to convert me to their errors, they’re wasting both their time and mine. Almost always, they say, “Thank you, have a good day,” and walk away.

So believers need to be on guard against false teachers. Also,

2. Even obedient Christians need to be on guard against false teachers (16:19).

Romans 16:19: “For the report of your obedience has reached to all; therefore I am rejoicing over you, but I want you to be wise in what is good and innocent in what is evil.” Why does Paul begin this verse with “for,” which seems to be explaining the warning of verse 18? The sense seems to be that Paul rejoiced to hear about the obedience of the Roman believers to the gospel, but that obedience also made them a prime target for these false teachers. False teachers rarely make converts out of raw pagans. Rather, they go for unsuspecting Christians who lack discernment.

Paul also says, “I want you to be wise in what is good and innocent in what is evil.” J. B. Phillips paraphrases it, “I want to see you experts in good, and not even beginners in evil.” Or, in Jesus words (Matt. 10:16, ESV), “Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.” In the context, “good” refers to sound doctrine in line with the gospel. “Evil” refers to the corrupt doctrine of the false teachers. While it’s helpful to have a basic knowledge of what the cults and other false religions teach so that you can avoid their errors and witness to them, it’s not edifying to study these errors in depth. Some who are targeting a particular false religious group may need to study their teachings more thoroughly. But our focus should be on being wise in the Scriptures. Knowing the truth will equip you to refute the errors of false teachers.

Paul concludes with a promise and a blessing:

3. Ultimately, it’s the God of peace and His grace that protect us from falling prey to false teachers (16:20).

Romans 16:20: “The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you.”

A. The God of peace is able to crush Satan under our feet as we trust in Him.

This is Paul’s first mention of Satan in Romans. He is no doubt thinking of the first temptation in the garden, when the serpent deceived Eve. God promised that her seed (Christ) would crush the serpent’s head (Gen. 3:15). The implication is that Satan is behind these false teachers who deceive the hearts of the unsuspecting, just as he deceived Eve. Note that in this context of spiritual warfare, where God will crush Satan, Paul calls Him “the God of peace.” He makes peace both between us and Him and peace between believers through the cross of Jesus Christ (Eph. 2:14).

Satan was defeated at the cross (Col. 2:15). But until Christ returns the battle rages as the enemy seeks to deceive and devour Christians. We win the battles against him as we put on the full armor of God and resist his evil schemes (Eph. 6:10-20; 2 Cor. 2:11; James 4:7; Rev. 12:11). He will be finally defeated when Christ throws him into the lake of fire (1 Cor. 15:25; Rev. 20:10). While we should not ignore Satan and we should respect his cunning and power, we should not fear him. The Bible is clear that God will finally triumph and Satan will lose (1 John 4:4).

B. The grace of our Lord Jesus will protect us from the errors of false teachers as we walk closely with Him.

“Grace” takes us back to Romans 1:7: “Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” Grace really is the theme of Romans because God’s grace is at the heart of the gospel. False teachers invariably subvert the grace of God, either by teaching salvation by works (legalism) or by promoting licentiousness. Knowing and experiencing God’s grace sustains us in the battle against the enemy. His grace motivates us to study His Word of truth, which protects us against the deceptive lies of false teachers.

 So let’s begin with Jesus. Matthew 7:15: “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves.” And the word beware means all of us should be alert, but especially shepherds, to identify not just false teaching, but false teachers, whose ways are subtle. They’re clothing themselves with lamb’s wool while they’re wolves.

And Paul used the same Greek word for beware in Acts 20:28–29 when he said, “Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. . . . I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the.”

“In order to protect the flock, we should expose false teachers and minimize the spread of the gangrene.”

Jesus used the same word again in Matthew 16:6, but he got more specific: “Watch and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” Paul had the same kind of group in mind and the same kind of error in mind in Philippians 3:2 and 3:18: “Look out for the dogs, look out for the evildoers, look out for those who mutilate the flesh.” And then verse 18: “For many, of whom I have often told you and now tell you even with tears, walk as enemies of the cross of Christ.” Then in Romans 16:17, he warned, “Watch out for those who cause divisions and create obstacles contrary to the doctrine that you have been taught; avoid them.”

Avoid, Rebuke, Call Out

To avoid them, you have to know who they are. You can’t avoid somebody if you don’t know who they are. This idea of identifying and avoiding shows up in 1 Corinthians 5:11; 2 Thessalonians 3:6, 14; 2 Timothy 3:5; 2 John 10. In other words, Christians, and shepherds in particular, should be discerning and alert to behavior and teaching that dishonors Christ and destroys people — and not treat it in a casual or harmless way.

And then in 1 Timothy 5:19–20, Paul went beyond just “avoid them” to “rebuke them publicly.” So, speaking of elders who persist in error, he said, “Do not admit a charge against an elder except on the evidence of two or three witnesses. As for those who persist in sin” — and that can be sin of false doctrine or sin of evil behavior, anyone who does not accept correction — “rebuke them in the presence of all, so that the rest may stand in fear..”

And then Paul went on and actually named destructive false teachers:

• “Demas, in love with this present world, has deserted me” (2 Timothy 4:10).
• “You are aware that all who are in Asia turned away from me, among whom are Phygelus and Hermogenes” (2 Timothy 1:15).
• “By rejecting this [faith and a good conscience], some have made shipwreck of their faith, among whom are Hymenaeus and Alexander” (1 Timothy 1:19–20).
• “Their talk will spread like gangrene. Among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus” (2 Timothy 2:17).

Paul names at least six false teachers that the church should watch out for.

So, I infer from Jesus and Paul and Luke and John that false teaching and destructive behavior are present dangers in this fallen world for the church. And all of us — especially shepherds, pastors — should be alert and discerning to identify and, in appropriate ways, expose. In order to protect the flock, we should expose them and minimize the spread of the gangrene (as Paul calls it).

Expose Evil

Now, in 1 Corinthians 4:5, Paul is talking about how the Corinthians should assess Paul and Cephas and Apollos, because the people are choosing sides and boasting in their favorite teacher. He says,

I am not aware of anything against myself, but I am not thereby acquitted. It is the Lord who judges me. Therefore do not pronounce judgment before the time, before the Lord comes, who will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart. Then each one [Paul, Cephas, Apollos] will receive his commendation from God. (1 Corinthians 4:4–5)

“The best protection against the darkness of error is the light of truth.”

So Caden is asking whether the words “do not pronounce judgment before the time” should keep us from identifying false teachers or from naming them. I don’t think so. “Don’t pronounce judgment before the time” means “Don’t do what only Christ can do at that last day — on the day of judgment.” Don’t presume to know the heart like Jesus will know the heart on that day. Only Christ “will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart.”

But for now, our job is indeed to do mouth judgment, writing judgment, behavior judgment — not a heart judgment, but mouth and writing and behavior judgment. When a mouth speaks unbiblical, destructive teaching, when a blog or an article or a book publishes unbiblical and destructive teaching, when a body — a human body, a physical body — behaves with unbiblical and destructive behavior, in all these cases, we are to be discerning. And according to Ephesians 5:11, we are to expose the error. “Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them.” “Censure them; show them to be wrong” is what the word elegchōmeans.

Five Factors for Calling Out False Teachers

So the question is how and when — not if. And here I think the Bible calls for wisdom, rather than telling us who and when and how. The question we ask is this: How can we best — in our situation, with our gifts and our responsibilities — help the most people believe and live the most truth, and how can we protect the most people from destructive beliefs and behaviors?

And here are five factors perhaps to consider when deciding whether to name a false teacher publicly.

1. The seriousness and deceitfulness of the error.
2. The size of the audience. Is it growing?
3. The duration of their ministry. Did they make one blunder or are they constantly doing it?
4. The vulnerability of the people for whom you are responsible.
5. The role you have in influencing shepherds who really need to be discerning for who the false teachers are.

When you do name a false teacher, it’s best to do it in a setting where you do more than name-drop. You explain the error, you give reasons for rejecting it, you communicate complexities, you set a tone of longing for truth and love — you’re not just slinging mud.

The last thing I would say is to let your teaching be so powerful in clarifying the greatness and the beauty and the worth of God’s truth that your people will smell error before it infects their lives. The shape of error is always changing. You can’t preach enough negative sermons to stay ahead of it. And you don’t have to. The best protection against the darkness of error is the light of truth.

All those who have obeyed the gospel need to be reminded that the devil's power to destroy people lies in his ability to deceive them, leading them away from the truth upon which their salvation depends (Jn. 8:31,32; 2 Cor. 11:1-4). His weapon has always been the lie (Jn. 8:44), and it is still the horrible means by which he defrauds people of their hope (Col. 2:8,18). For this obvious reason, the New Testament warns against what the devil can do. In particular, it warns against what he can do through those human teachers who further his program by being false teachers. Let's look at some of these warnings.

(1) Jesus taught, "Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits" (Mt. 7:15,16).

(2) When Paul met with the Ephesian elders for the last time, he said, "For I know this, that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. Also from among yourselves men will rise up, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after themselves. Therefore watch, and remember that for three years I did not cease to warn everyone night and day with tears" (Ac. 20:29-31).

(3) Paul said that he was afraid that some of the Corinthians might be misled. "But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ" (2 Cor. 11:3).

(4) To the Galatians, Paul expressed grave concern. "I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel, which is not another; but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ" (Gal. 1:6,7). "O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you that you should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed among you as crucified?" (Gal. 3:1).

(5) Occasionally, Paul warned against specific false teachers. "Alexander the coppersmith did me much harm. May the Lord repay him according to his works. You also must beware of him, for he has greatly resisted our words" (Phil. 4:14,15).

(6) The Second Epistle of Peter was written primarily to warn its readers about false teachers. A detailed study of this letter would in itself be an education in the importance of maintaining God's teaching and rejecting the devil's. For our purposes here, we can only mention one or two of Peter's points. In 2:1,2, he writes that "there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction. And many will follow their destructive ways, because of whom the way of truth will be blasphemed." In 3:17,18, he concludes by saying, "You therefore, beloved, since you know this beforehand, beware lest you also fall from your own steadfastness, being led away with the error of the wicked; but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory both now and forever. Amen."

(7) In Revelation, Christ rebuked the church in Pergamos for their indifference toward the false teachers in their midst: "But I have a few things against you, because you have there those who hold the doctrine of Balaam . . . you also have those who hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, which thing I hate" (Rev. 2:14,15).

In numerous other passages, we hear of things like "false brethren" (Gal. 2:4), "false apostles" (2 Cor. 11:13,14), "false prophets" (Mt. 24:11), and even "false christs" (Mk. 13:22). Wherever we go in the Bible, we're confronted with this reality: the existence of any true thing is always accompanied by the devilish possibility that it will be counterfeited. Perhaps the Psalmist summed it all up long ago: "Through Your precepts I get understanding; therefore I hate every false way" (Psa. 119:104). Whatever is false is to be rejected, no matter who promotes it or under what circumstances. There is a great need for us to beware.

It seems to me, however, that we should try to keep our balance here (not to mention our humility). After all, a failure to be vigilant about doctrinal truth is not the only thing that can cause us to be lost. There happen to be some other bewares in the New Testament. One of them is in Ac. 13:40, where Paul warned his audience, "Beware therefore, lest what has been spoken in the prophets come upon you." He then quoted Hab. 1:5, a prophetic condemnation of those who would reject God's truth, and applied it to his Jewish hearers. They were rejecting the truth because it didn't agree with the "official" position they accepted as normative, and they'd be lost for their failure to rethink their tradition. What about this possibility today? Are we so foolish and arrogant as to think that the beware of Ac. 13:40 applies only to our doctrinal opponents and never to ourselves? The Christian who has a healthy aversion to false teachers will never ignore the possibility that he himself may be the false teacher (2 Cor. 13:5). And even when the truth is what we're teaching, there is still the beware in Gal. 5:15, where, after having warned his readers to remain doctrinally sound, Paul also warns them, "But if you bite and devour one another, beware lest you be consumed by one another!" Having all the doctrinal truth in the world won't save the soul of the teacher who bites and devours his brethren.

But that said, let's come back to the point. We need to beware of false teachers. Though vulnerability to false teaching is a special problem for the inexperienced, all of us need to be alert. If any of us thinks we've never been led away from the truth, we're being silly. "Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall" (1 Cor. 10:12). Let's face it: testing for truth requires more self-honesty and hard work than most of us are disposed to. When we're "listening" to someone else, we're often not really listening. And when the time comes to "evaluate" what's been taught in the light of the Scriptures, we often don't really test the teaching against the Scriptures. We test it against what we've previously believed or what certain others believe. William James once said that "a great many people think they are thinking when they are merely rearranging their prejudices." Most of us are personally acquainted with that tendency, aren't we?

Since what takes up residence in our minds is of great consequence with regard to our salvation, we must constantly be on guard. We mustn't just say we're being careful, we must actually be careful. We must really and truly apply the Berean test to everything we hear: "These were more fair-minded than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so" (Ac 17:11). As long as we live in this world, John's warning will always be needed: "Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world" (1 Jn. 4:1).

Warnings in the Bible

The Bible is full of warnings against false prophets. Jesus said, “Take heed that no one deceives you. Many false prophets will rise up and deceive many” (Matt. 24:4, 11). The context of this statement is the last days before Christ returns to the earth; Jesus was emphasizing that false prophets will multiply during that time. Paul, Peter, John, and Jude also warned us about the inevitability of false prophets rising up. (See warnings about false prophets from Paul, Peter, John, and Jude in 1 Timothy 4:1–2, 2 Peter 2:1–3, 1 John 4:1, and Jude 1:3–4.)

In Disguise

False prophets are well disguised. Jesus didn’t say, “Beware of false prophets who come with fangs and horns protruding.” No. He said that false prophets come “in sheep’s clothing” (7:15). In the early twentieth century, when liberalism invaded the churches, the scholars who brought this liberal theology insisted that they were Christians, although they denied all the essentials of the Christian faith. Sadly, much of the church believed them. When John Gresham Machen wrote a book declaring these people false teachers and stating unequivocally that they were not Christian, he was driven out of his denomination. This is what happens when people don’t take seriously the warning that false prophets will be well disguised.

False prophets are deadly. Jesus said that these men come “in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves” (7:15). That’s a serious picture. Ravenous wolves tear any living thing to shreds, and false prophets come to destroy people’s spiritual lives.

Jesus told us how to recognize false prophets: “Men don’t gather grapes from thorn bushes or figs from thistles. Every good tree bears good fruit. A bad tree bears bad fruit” (see 7:16–18).

Good Fruit

True prophets bear good fruit: They hold fast to sound doctrine; they live holy lives; and they desire to glorify God rather than promote themselves. (See the marks of a true prophet [he holds to sound doctrine; he honors holy living; he is humble] in Titus 2:7, 1 Timothy 6:11, and 2 Corinthians 4:5.)

False prophets, on the other hand, handle the Word of God dishonestly and irreverently. They deny the authority of the Bible and put in its place the teachings of men. They deny or distort the great doctrines of the Christian faith: the deity of Christ, His virgin birth, His sinless life, His miracles, His atoning death, His bodily resurrection and ascension, and His second coming. They declare that all these things are myths borrowed from the religions of the surrounding nations to Israel.

Among the most dangerous false teachers today are those who downplay or reject the inspiration, inerrancy, and authority of the Bible. Beware of them.

False prophets are alive and well today, gaining influence not only in the church but out in the world at large. Some have been written about in popular magazines and major newspapers, being hailed as the new generation of Christian leaders whom the world can work with. They are well spoken of by the cultural elite. They are the ones Jesus was referring to when He said, “Beware when all men speak well of you, for so they spoke of the false prophets” (see Luke 6:26).

Safeguards

If we want to avoid being led astray by false prophets, the best safeguard, beyond all question, is the regular study of the Word of God. God’s Word to Joshua long ago is the word for us today: “This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night. Then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success” (Joshua 1:8).