HOW CAN YOU SPOT A HERETIC? (PART 1 OF 2)

Northeast Church of Christ, Cookeville, TN

 Both Testaments warn against false prophets and false teachers. But is it as easy to beware them as it looks? 

Let me divide two different groups of false teachers to start with. One is an apostate, which means one who has fallen away. This refers to one who has departed the faith. The Bible warns of those who will fall away (e.g. 2 Thessalonians 2:3).

The second is a word I hear more often: heresy (referring to the teaching) or heretic (referring to the teacher). The dictionary describes heresy as an unorthodox opinion or doctrine. The word "heresy" appears four times in the New Testament, and "heretic" once. The Greek words are respectively hairesis and hairetikos; the former word is also translated as "sect" in several places in Acts. 

In The Complete Word Study Dictionary, Dr. Spiros Zodhiates points out that the Greek word is relating to choosing and taking for yourself. He distinguishes heresy from schism, which involves a tearing away. A heretic can be part of the church, even though he has divergent beliefs.

In typical usage, there is a negative connotation to heresies and heretics. There are many heretics who take a view contrary to the Bible, such as Marcion who tries to take away the Jewishness and humanity of Christ or Arius who took the opposite error of denying Jesus' Deity. Many would put the prosperity gospel in that category.

However, a minority are branded heretics by the majority when in truth the majority are the ones who have drifted from the truth and the "heretics" are the ones who search the Scripture daily as the Bereans were applauded for doing (Acts 17:11). In Acts 24, when Paul is accused by the Jews before Felix, the Jews call Paul the ringleader of the Nazarene sect, and Paul responds that his belief, called a heresy by the Jews, is the truth. (I italicized "sect" and "heresy" to point out that in the Greek text, it's the same word.) I had a Bible College teacher say he's proud to be called a heretic by the real heretics.

This leads me to another point. Heretical views have a lot of overlap with Biblical ones. In fact, often a heresy is formed by focusing on one Biblical concept and giving it undue importance while minimizing the due importance of the other side of the coin. One example is in the Calvinist/Arminian debate. Some on both sides correctly realize they're both part the body of Christ, but others on both sides brand their opposition as heretics teaching a false Gospel. Could it be that it's not the accused but the accusers that are the heretics? 

One other thing about heretics is that they commit the abomination of sowing discord among the brethren (Prov. 6:16-19). First off, heretics don't hold their views quietly; rather, they are quick to promote it. They will go to certain passages trying to get you in a corner, and of course those Scriptures are taken out of context. Should you challenge them and point out they're in error, will they ever show godly humility by admitting their wrong? No, they won't concede any error on their part; they'll find another route to attack. And they will keep attacking until either they convince you their error is truth or until you become weary and let them have the last deceptive word.

Allow me to close this point - if you see someone standing up for Biblcal truth, please encourage him! Often in these discussions, I feel alone. Those standing for Biblical truth deserve to have their brothers and sisters to hold their hands up and if not go on the offensive to join in refuting the erroneous troublemaker, then thanking and complimenting the warrior for orthodoxy. 

By the way, I'll be dealing more with this topic in a couple of days.