How should the church respond to false teachers? The apostle Paul tells us in this chapter what the false teachers do, why they do it, and how we must respond to them.
[powerpress]
When False Teachers Infiltrate The Church
Romans 16:17-20
Paul has taken the first sixteen verses of Romans 16 to send greetings. In these greetings he has been seeking to communicate his love for them. Four different times he refers to someone he is greeting as “beloved.” And then Paul concludes the section by exhorting them all to greet each other with a holy kiss, which was a physical token of their love, unity, and affection for one another.
Then, all of a sudden, he seems to switch gears and start talking about the threat of false teachers to the church. But this is really not such a stark contrast after all. Because Paul has been seeking to help the church make progress in their harmony with one another, he now warns them to watch out for those who would disturb this harmony. The last thing he said in verse 16 was, “all the churches of Christ greet you”, and that may have caused him to remember that many of these churches of Asia had been disturbed by false teachers. In Galatia the false teachers had brought in the teaching that faith in Christ was not enough, but they also needed to obey the law of Moses. In Colossae they had brought in the teaching that they need to treat their bodies severely. In other places they had brought in the teaching that it didn’t really matter how they lived, as long as they professed faith.
And so as Paul reflected on all the trouble these false teachers had brought upon the church, perhaps that caused him to give one last strong exhortation before concluding his letter. He begins verse 17 by saying, “Now I urge you, brethren…” To exhort someone is to urge them to a course of action, and that is exactly what Paul is doing to the church at Rome. He is exhorting them regarding false teachers.
Notice verse 19. Paul is saying there that he is not criticizing or chiding them because they had done something wrong. Not at all! Rather, he was rejoicing over their obedience, and did not want anyone coming and spoiling the beautiful work the Lord had started. Paul wanted to protect them from the harm that these false teachers could bring to the church.
This morning we are going to listen to and hopefully heed Paul’s admonitions to the Romans concerning false teachers. There are 4 things we are going to meditate on:
- The Activity of False Teachers
- The Motive of False Teachers
- The Church’s Response to False Teachers
- The Lord’s Response to False Teachers
1. The Activity of False Teachers
So, what is it that false teachers do?
Cause dissensions. The word “dissensions” means “divisions.” These false teachers were dividing the church. In Galatians 5:20 Paul says that dissensions are one of the deeds of the flesh. What were they doing that would cause the church to divide? Romans 16:17 says that they were causing dissensions contrary to the teaching which you learned. The Roman believers had been taught the truth of the word of God, and Paul is warning them to beware of anyone who would come in and speak contrary to the teaching which they have learned. If they take heed to their false teaching, it will cause dissensions. Division in the church will be the inevitable result. When Paul speaks to the Ephesian elders in Acts 20:29-30, he says, “I know that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves men will arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them.” Perverse things refers to things which they have distorted, twisted, or perverted. God loves the unity of the brethren, and we must be on our guard to jealously watch over the welfare of the flock so that we do not allow anyone or anything to bring about division.
Cause hindrances. The word “hindrances” means a stumbling block or an offense. These false teachers are causing others to stumble in their faith. They are hindering their walk with Christ. Instead of helping them to grow in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, they are hindering them from knowing the truth by teaching things contrary to what they had already been taught. That is what the word “heresy” means. It is belief contrary to orthodox doctrine.
Deceive the hearts of the unsuspecting. “Unsuspecting” refers to those who are naïve or gullible. Some Christians lack the ability to discern between truth and error. Those are the kinds of people these false teachers prey on. How do they do it? “By their smooth and flattering speech.” They tell you what you want to hear. It’s smooth. It’s flattering. 2 Timothy 4:3 tells us the time will come when people will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires who will tickle their ears. That’s what these false teachers do. They tell you that you are a good person. They tell you that it is never God’s will that you suffer or are sick or poor. They tell you it is God’s will for you to be healthy and rich. They speak a lot about using words to call things into being that do not exist. They speak much about positive thinking, success in life, and the fact that God wants you to be happy. In fact, because God wants you to be happy, they say it is okay for you to divorce your spouse and marry that other person, because you’re miserable in your present marriage. They avoid Biblical doctrine like the depravity of man, the necessity of repentance, the certainty of final judgment, and hell. They teach that all a person needs to do to be saved is say the “Sinner’s Prayer”, or answer an altar call, or get baptized. They say that it doesn’t matter how you live, only that you have faith, forgetting that real faith will transform the way you live! They say that you don’t need to submit to Christ as Lord. You can just trust Him as your Savior, and you’ll be saved, whether or not you continue living in your sins for the rest of your life.
And the tragedy is that there are a lot of ignorant, badly taught believers, who will believe them! These false teachers will end up deceiving the hearts of the unsuspecting with their smooth and flattering words. Don’t you be one of them!
Paul tells us that false teachers do three things – they divide, they hinder, and they deceive. When they come into the church, they bring division, hindrances, and deception.
2. The Motive of False Teachers
What motivates false teachers to do what they do? Is it the glory and honor of God? Is it the good of those they teach? Is it to please Christ? Is it to promote the spiritual welfare of those they speak to? No. Paul says it is a very different motivation.
They are motivated by their own appetites. Paul says they are slaves. They are not slaves of Christ, like they should have been. Instead, they are slaves of their own appetites. In other words, they served their appetites, rather than Christ. They were motivated by fulfilling the cravings of their appetites, rather than by bringing glory to God.
Perhaps a look at 2 Peter chapter 2 will help us here. In 2 Peter 2, Peter is speaking about false prophets and false teachers.
2 Peter 2:1-3, “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. 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.”
Peter mentions their sensuality and greed. Sensuality refers to the craving for illicit sex, and greed refers to the craving for money and possessions.
2 Peter 2:10 speaks about these false teachers indulging the flesh in its corrupt desires. Verse 14 says they have eyes full of adultery.
Folks, find almost any cult leader, and you will find someone who fulfills his illicit sexual lusts with abandon with many women, and you will find someone who has found a way to become rich on the backs of his people. Jim Jones had a multitude of women that gave him sex, and others who brought in millions of dollars. Keith Ranier, leader of NXIVM, had his harem of women who were branded with his initials. Or you could look at David Berg, and the Children of God that grew out of the Jesus Movement. In this cult, he taught the women to do “flirty fishing”, where they would go out and solicit men for sex in order to witness to them about the gospel! Or we could look at Warren Jeffs and the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, who had 87 wives. I’ve watched documentaries on Youtube, and this is the one thing that almost all of them have in common – sexual immorality. Most of them have found a way to use their cult to bring them material wealth as well. They are slaves, not of our Lord Christ, but of their own appetites.
However, false teachers are not restricted to non-Christian cults. They would include the prosperity gospel teachers who have become immensely wealthy by persuading others to give to their ministry. These teachers have their own multi-million dollar private jets, mansions, and everything else money can buy. They are slaves of their own appetites. The tragic thing is that many who give to these televangelists, are living on social security checks, but believe that if they give their seed faith to Kenneth Copeland or Benny Hinn or Creflo Dollar they too will become rich!
3. The Church’s Response To False Teachers
Keep your eye on. What does Paul mean by this? He means that the church needs to be on the alert and on their guard about anyone who would begin to teach false doctrine in their midst. They must not be asleep when it comes to those who would distort or pervert the truth.
Perhaps it will be helpful to consider how verse 17 is translated in various translations:
NLT: “watch out for people who cause divisions and upset people’s faith by teaching things contrary to what you have been taught. Stay away from them.”
KJV: “mark them which cause divisions… avoid them”
So, the first thing the church must do in regards to false teachers is be aware of them. They must know they are there. They must watch out that these people do not begin to do spiritual harm to the body of Christ. And notice, that Paul did not address this exhortation only to the pastors or spiritual leaders of the church. He addressed it to “brethren”. In other words, he is calling the entire church to do this.
Turn away from them. Paul does not tell the church to just love them and ignore what they are teaching. He doesn’t tell them to agree to disagree agreeably. He also doesn’t tell them to argue and debate with them. No, they are to turn away from them. What does that mean? The church must have nothing to do with false teachers. They must shun them. They must let them know in no uncertain terms that they are not welcome to attend the meetings of the church unless they repent of their false teaching. Members of the church should not seek to have fellowship with them or welcome them into their homes. The Biblical command is to turn away from them. Now, that may seem harsh, especially if you have come to love this person. However, it is the word of God.
This is the same biblical exhortation that the church must follow with anyone who is living in sin and will not repent. In 1 Corinthians 5 where Paul is addressing the situation of a man committing sexual sin with his stepmom, he tells the entire church that they are not to associate with him. In 2 Thessalonians 3:6 Paul writes, “Now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you keep away from every brother who leads an unruly life and not according to the tradition which you received from us.” Jesus even taught in Matthew 18 that if someone is living in sin and will not repent when confronted privately, then with 2 or 3 witnesses, and then when the whole church confronts him, he is to be to them as a Gentile and a tax collector. A Jew would not associate with a Gentile or a tax collector, and that is Jesus’ point. So, the exhortation Paul is giving to turn away from false teachers is the exact same exhortation he gives many times in his letters regarding their response to any professing Christian that will not repent.
4. The Lord’s Response to False Teachers
The God of peace. Interesting title! These false teachers had brought in so much unrest and conflict and division. But God is a God of peace.
Will soon crush Satan under your feet. Paul here is alluding to Genesis 3:15, the very first prophecy of the coming Messiah. He would crush Satan’s head, while Satan would strike His heel. We are told that God will soon crush Satan under your feet. He doesn’t say that you will soon crush Satan under your feet. And he doesn’t say that God will soon crush Satan under His feet. No, there are two parties involved in this victory over Satan – God and the church. God is the one who crushes Satan, but when He does it, Satan is under the church’s feet. In other words, the feet of the church are pressing down on Satan’s neck.
Soon. That word tells me that Paul probably does not have in mind the second coming of Christ. Rather, I think he is simply saying that as the Roman believers obey Paul’s exhortation to turn away from these false teachers, God will get the victory in the church, and the works of Satan that are manifest in these false teachers will be crushed.
The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you. Again the emphasis is on the grace of Jesus, not the ability or performance of God’s people. Yes, there are certain things we must do to crush Satan’s advances, but all the while we depend on and trust in the grace of God to do it through us.
Practical Spiritual Lessons
- Every Christian Should Be Able to Discern Truth from Error. Paul is not exhorting the pastors or elders in verse 17. He is exhorting the entire church. And the entire church is to be able to spot someone who causes dissensions and hindrances by teaching contrary to the teaching which they had learned. Evidently, there was a body of doctrine communicated by the apostles to the churches they planted, and it was not okay for anyone to come in and teach something different from that body of doctrine. We could say that this body of doctrine was orthodox doctrine. Heresy is any belief or opinion that is contrary to orthodox doctrine.
So the point here, is that every Christian must learn what is orthodox doctrine and what is heresy. And in order to know that, they must learn what the Bible says about the essentials of the faith. Moreover, they should learn what the Church has always taught about these issues. Notice, I said “essential issues.” I’m not saying that every Christian must agree with every other Christian on every minor point of difference. But when it comes to the essentials of the faith, there must be agreement. If you differ on an essential point of doctrine with what the Church has always held, you are guilty of heresy.
Let me give you an example. The Church has always taught that Jesus is God. He is divine. He has always existed, sharing the same perfections as God the Father. Arius lived from 256-336 A.D. Arius taught that Jesus was created by God, and thus there was a time when He did not exist. At the First Council of Nicea in 325 A.D. Arius’ views were condemned as heretical. From that time until this, the entire Church has agreed that Jesus is God and has always existed. The only religious group that I am aware of that still holds to the teachings of Arius are the Jehovah’s Witnesses. Christians believe that Jehovah’s Witnesses are guilty of heresy in their understanding of the Person of Jesus Christ.
Other essentials of the faith would include the virgin birth of Christ, His sinless life, His substitutionary atonement and bodily resurrection, ascension to the right hand of God, and the second coming of Jesus Christ. Additionally, it would include the truth that we are saved by God’s grace, and not our works. We might sum it up by saying that we are saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, to the glory of God alone.
Brothers and sisters, doctrine is not a dirty word. Doctrine simply means “teaching.” Every Christian needs to know what teaching is considered pure and true by the Church, and what teachings are considered corrupt. In the Pastoral epistles, Paul refers to sound doctrine four times. Every Christian needs to be able to discern healthy doctrine from unhealthy doctrine, pure doctrine from corrupt doctrine. This is not just a job for pastors. It is your job. All of God’s people must be concerned about believing and knowing truth. I am amazed at how many professing Christians swallow false doctrine. Just turn on Christian television, and listen to what the people are saying. Then realize that hundreds of thousands if not millions of people around the world are listening to it, believing it, and sending in their money to support it!
2. How Can A Christian Discern Truth From Error?
Realize where truth is found. Jesus said in John 14:6, “I am the way, the truth and the life.” Jesus is the truth. Truth is found in Him. Jesus said in John 17:17, “Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth.” So, the truth is found in Jesus and in God’s Word. But, how can you make sure you are understanding God’s Word accurately?
Learn to read the Bible in context. In other words, when you read your Bible, don’t play Russian Roulette. Don’t open up your Bible at random and say, “this is God’s Word for me today.” When someone did that once they read, “Judas went and hanged himself.” Then they flipped to another part and read, “Go and do thou likewise”! If you want to know the meaning of a particular verse of Scripture, back up and read from the beginning of the chapter. Then continue reading after that verse to the end of the chapter. You need to decide how the verse in question fits into the argument of the entire paragraph and chapter. Sometimes people will try to decide on the correct interpretation of a verse by looking up the Greek words. When they look it up in Strongs Concordance or a lexicon, what they will find is a range of meaning for a particular Greek word. Most Greek words can have several meanings or shades of meaning. Then they will apply every possible meaning to that Greek word to every verse in which they find it. That is exactly backwards. The meaning of each word is determined by the context. You need to find out what the author is saying, and then determine the meaning of each word that fits that context. Context is king!
Learn to discover the intent of the original author to his audience. We call this authorial intent. We don’t go to the Bible to get a message directly to us. God has already spoken in the Bible, and it wasn’t to us. It was to a particular audience. Jesus spoke to the people of his day. Paul wrote to first century churches he had planted. Moses wrote to the Jewish people of his day. You can’t bypass this step. You need to find out what the original author was seeking to communicate to his particular audience. Once you understand that, you can extract timeless principles which you can then apply to your own life situation.
Learn to Look for the Plain Meaning of the text. Some people are looking for some deep mystical meaning in every passage of the Bible they are reading. They see the Bible as a magical book. They see meanings in every number. They see allegory and metaphors and symbols everywhere. Now, when you are reading a parable, or psalm or prophecy, there is a greater likelihood that the author is communicating in symbols or metaphors. But if you are reading one of the gospels, or Acts, you are reading history. Don’t look for deep symbolic meanings unless there is a good reason to. There is an old saying, “When the plain sense makes good sense seek no other sense lest it result in nonsense.”
3. Unity Must Be Based On Truth
The popular idea is that we must not emphasize doctrinal purity if it disrupts Christian unity. However, Paul does not agree. Notice that he tells the Christians in Rome they must divide from the false teachers for the sake of the truth. Paul calls for truth-based disunity for the sake of truth-based unity. In other words, the only unity that really counts is unity based on truth. If you get a hundred people in the room who believe a hundred different things, you don’t have unity, no matter how much they may feel they love one another. The only unity that mattered to Paul was unity based on apostolic doctrine that had been handed down. If someone came into the church and taught something different from that, the church was to divide from him.
Many today are willing to abandon truth for the sake of unity. For example, many evangelicals have been willing to unite with Catholics, even though the Catholic understanding of justification is completely different from ours. Some truths are too important, too foundational to compromise on for the sake of unity. It is not wise to ignore crucial biblical truths in order to maintain some sense of unity with others.
Now, we can take this too far, and say that every Christian must agree with your fine interpretation of every verse for there to be unity. No, again, we are talking here about the essentials of the faith. When someone departs from the essentials of the faith, the rest of the church is commanded to turn away from them, because if the church seeks to unite with false doctrine, it will corrupt the entire church. There is much wisdom in the slogan, “In essentials unity, in non-essentials liberty, in all things charity.”
Brothers and sisters here at The Bridge, let us grow in our ability to discern between truth and error. Let’s develop our ability to rightly divide the word of truth. Let’s not be taken in by hucksters and false teachers and cult leaders who are slaves of their own appetites. Rather, let’s seek purity of doctrine and preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
______________________________
© The Bridge
Permissions: You are permitted and encouraged to reproduce and distribute this material in any format provided that you do not alter the wording in any way and do not charge a fee beyond the cost of reproduction. For web posting, a link to this document on our website is preferred. Any exceptions to the above must be approved by The Bridge.
Follow Us!