I’ve been reading the three
epistles of John, and it struck me how blunt he is about the false
teachers that were creeping into the early church. He repeatedly
points to signs of the truth. Here are just a few:
“If we say we
have fellowship with Him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not
practice the truth” (1 John 1:6 ESV).
“Whoever says
he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness” (1
John 2:9).
“No one who
denies the Son has the Father. Whoever confesses the Son has the
Father also” (1 John 2:23).
“If you know
that He is righteous, you may be sure that everyone who practices
righteousness has been born of Him” (1 John 2:29).
“By
this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the
children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not
of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother” (1 John
3:10).
“By
this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that
Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that
does not confess Jesus is not from God...” (1 John 4:2-3a).
“Everyone
who goes on ahead and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does
not have God. Whoever abides in the teaching has both the Father and
the Son” (2 John 9).
John obviously thought
that false teachers were a significant danger to the church, and he
warned the believers to be on their guard. I think we can tend to be
guilty of “chronological snobbery” (to use C.S. Lewis’s
excellent term) and think that we are immune to that danger.
Obviously the early church didn’t have all the Scriptures compiled
and Christians didn’t have multiple copies of the Bible sitting on
their shelves, so they didn’t have a quick reference for orthodoxy.
But on the other hand, they also didn’t have access to billions of
books, podcasts, blogs, and Facebook posts that claim to be
proclaiming truth but could be based on anything from rumor and
innuendo to the so-called prophets of other religions. If anything,
we need even more discernment to sift through all the information
that bombards us every day.
All around us there are
people who claim to have some kind of relationship with God, and they
may even claim to know Jesus Christ, but they aren’t pursuing
righteousness and living in the light. There are those who say they
are Christians, but they do not love others as Scripture commands.
Even within the church there are many who are “cultural Christians”
but don’t have true faith. Although the image is alarming, I think
there will be a long line of people to whom Jesus says, “Depart
from Me, I never knew you” (Matthew 7:23), because “The gate is
wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction and those who
enter by it are many” (v. 13).
In our culture of
tolerance and acceptance, we may unwittingly be allowing heretics to
preach their own gospels in our churches and homes. We each need to
seek truth in God’s Word and allow the Holy Spirit to cultivate
discernment in us. Only when we know well the One who is the Truth
can we be free from the deceptions that the enemy throws our way.
“Beware of false
prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are
ravenous wolves. You will recognize them by their fruits” (Matthew
7:15-16a).
© 2019 Dawn Rutan.
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