Destructive Heresies

Introduction

What are we to make of what Martyn Lloyd- Jones called one of the ‘most terrible’ chapters in the whole Bible that speaks of doom, destruction and disaster? 2 Peter 2 is far from easy to understand. It’s probably not one of your favourite chapters in the Bible, but is included for a reason and hopefully we will discover something about its meaning and application. It certainly includes some very important teaching about truth and error, freedom and bondage, judgment and mercy.


First, the reality of the false teachers - so watch out!

Peter gives a health warning, a spiritual health warning, to all Christians. Peter addressed his contemporaries and he speaks to us too. He says

‘in the last days scoffers will come’ (3:3).

Are you surprised and caught off guard when false teachers, and false teaching appears; when a new cult is born; when a false Messiah arises? I hope not! You certainly shouldn’t be. I am never surprised. I always point people to Mark 13 where Jesus warned us that

‘false Christ’s and false prophets will appear ... so be on your guard’ (Mk 13:22-23).

During these ‘last days’ - that is to say the interval between Christ’s first coming and Christ’s second coming - false teachers would appear. And the consequence of their activity? To lead people astray by deception and corruption; to encourage them to ignore the truth and follow error; to deny their knowledge and experience of God in Christ; to reject the faith they once professed. So Jesus warns us all. To ‘be on [our] guard. [To] watch and pray’ (Mk 13:33).

In 2 Peter 2:1 Peter refers to ‘false prophets’ and ‘false teachers’. Already in the OT the Jews knew all about false prophets, and there were recognised tests for identifying true and false prophets (Deut 13, Jer 23). The false prophets were those who twisted and corrupted the word of God. Not content to disclose the revelation of God, they offered their own insights and thoughts and words. And with the coming of Christ, and the rise of the Christian church, false teachers appeared who also twisted and corrupted the word of God. Remember that until the return of Christ, there have always been, and will always be false teachers within the church. So what are we to do? ‘Be on [our] guard. [To] watch and pray (Mk 13:33).

And notice the solemn words of warning - ‘there will be false teachers among you’ (2:1). Outside the church we face external pressures and challenges, experience persecution and opposition from non-Christians. But from inside the church there are internal pressures that seek to undermine the faith and the stability of Christian believers.

John Calvin makes the comment that ‘scarcely one in ten of those who enlist under Christ keep the purity of their faith to the very end.’ What a sad statistic! And what happens to them? They backslide; they forget their first love; they ignore their Bibles; they isolate themselves from other Christians; they are attracted towards the world; they follow false teaching. In the parable of the sower, Jesus paints a very realistic picture about our response or rejection of the gospel.

And Calvin goes onto give a very graphic picture of the craftiness of Satan, and of all wicked men who fight under his banner. They infiltrate the church ‘by flanking attacks and by underground tunnellings.’ What a perfect description of the methods used by Satan and the false teachers! To undermine the faith of Christians; to disturbing the faith of Christians; to destroy the faith of Christians!

But how are we to identify false teachers? Generally speaking they don’t stand up and say, ‘I’m a false teacher. I have a degree in destroying the faith of Christians’. They don’t have a church notice board which reads, ‘False teaching is preached here at 10.00am’ and, ‘Another gospel’ is preached here at 6.00pm’. They are much more subtle; their methods are far more devious; they are experts as underground tunnellers. By their teaching they gradually introduce ‘destructive heresies’ (2:1) and false doctrine, and lead people astray, and turn people away from Christ.

I recently came across the example of a Baptist minister here in Newcastle in the 1860s. At first he was orthodox, but he left his flock and became a Unitarian minister and took some of his followers with him. Less than twenty years ago the ‘Sea of Faith’ network began. Its leader was the Cambridge academic Don Cupitt. The Sea of Faith network has over 1,000 members including Anglican clergy, nonconformist ministers and laity. The aim of the network is ‘to explore and promote religious faith as a human creation’. It doesn’t use words like ‘Christ’ and ‘church’ so that it can include - humanists, agnostics and those from other faiths. At their services creeds are said and hymns are sung - but the words are not taken literally. ‘They reaffirm the tradition, [they] connect with the past, [they] glory in the poetry.’ One Sea of Faith member said - ‘I’d love traditional church music and enjoy singing - if it wasn’t for the words’. And for another, ‘What is real is the silence - and what individuals think is happening is of no consequence’.

What a sad, negative, lifeless association! Where is their joy? Where is their hope? How can they know forgiveness and enjoy peace with God? How will they stand at the Day of Judgment? But what a perfect illustration of the underground tunnellings, of the destructive heresies, of the false teaching and false doctrine. Beware of the ‘destructive heresies’ of the Sea of Faith network!

As Christians we need to emphasise the truth of the revelation of God in Christ. And at the same time to be informed about false teaching. Why is this? So that we can distinguish between half-truth and major-error, deception and complete heresy! What must we do? ‘Be on [our] guard. Watch and pray’ (Mk 13:33).


Secondly, the teaching of the false teachers - so beware!

Having recognised their existence and their methods, having been warned about them. How can we identify false teaching? How can we challenge it and stand firm on solid ground? Certainly we need to read and re-read, and meditate on the scriptures. We must trust Christ and remain in fellowship with other orthodox Christian believers. We need to keep in step with the Spirit. From 2 Peter it would seem that there were at least five ways in which heresy was expressed. It was true of the church in the first century and it remains true for the church today.

Firstly, the false teachers twisted the scriptures. They deliberately distorted its message in order to justify their teaching (3:16). Ultimately the supreme authority of scripture is denied and it becomes simply a source of information. This meant that it has lost its power to save and to change lives. It drew a wedge between head and heart.

Secondly, the false teachers made up their message. They made up fables (1:16). Like some politicians today they were more concerned with spin than with truth. They used ‘phoney arguments’ (Green, 2 Peter, p96), and became rich from the gifts of their supporters (2:3).

Emanuel Swedenborg (1688-1772) was a mystic and dreamer, who believed that God had revealed to him the true meaning of Christianity. How many more such people will there be who make that same claim! John Wesley said of Swedenborg: ‘He is one of the most ingenious, lively, entertaining madmen that ever set pen to paper. But his waking dreams are so wild, so far removed both from scripture and common sense, that one might as easily swallow the stories of Tom Thumb or Jack the giant-killer’ (Journal, 28 Feb 1770). Since the 18th century there have been many other madmen! And there will be many more madmen until Christ returns!

Thirdly, the false teachers denied the finished work of Christ (2:1). Though they had been bought with the precious blood of Christ, they denied that the Lord had died for them and saved them. Why need the grace of God when human effort can save? Why speak of sin when humanity is so good?

Fourthly, the false teachers taught liberty without restraint. They encouraged a permissive lifestyle inconsistent with that of being a Christian believer. They turned ‘liberty into licence’ (Green, p117). And the result? They created a new bondage and not freedom. (2:19). Instead of being free they became ‘the slaves of their sinful selves’ (Green, 2 Peter, p118).

Fifthly, the false teachers denied that Christ would return (3:3). The scoffers not only delighted in the delay of Christ’s return. But they laughed at the very idea that one day he would return! With so much teaching in the NT about the second coming, we ignore its truth at our peril.

And what was the result of all of this falsehood? The false teachers brought into disrepute the word of God, and turned ‘the way of truth’ (2:3) into a lie. And for us as we read and apply God’s word today, the warning is clear and simple! BEWARE!

Firstly, beware of the false teaching of the false teachers. Always test what you hear, and test what you read. Don’t just follow the crowd, or accept the latest theory. Always apply the scripture test - to any teaching you hear, to any book you read. Follow the example of the Berean Christians who ‘received the message with great eagerness and examined the scriptures each day’ (Acts 17:11). We need to be men and women of the Word.

Secondly, beware of those who treat the scriptures with contempt. Those who claim to know the mind of God but yet who add to, or take away from, the Word of God. Peter reminds us that true prophecy comes from God alone, and that the prophets were carried along by the wind of the Holy Spirit (1:21). It was as though the prophets had raised their sails and were carried along by the breadth of the Spirit of God himself. We need to be men and women of the Spirit.

Thirdly, beware of those who play down the finished work of Christ. Those who deny divine sovereignty and who over-emphasise human activity. Faith is more than a making a decision. Faith is expressed in belief and in lifestyle. Faith takes up the cross daily and shows itself in discipleship and humble service and witness. We need to be men and women who acknowledge Jesus as ‘My Lord and my Saviour’.

Fourthly, beware of those who imply that they have the key, that they alone know the secret. They alone know the way to God, and that sadly all others have misunderstood or misinterpreted the scriptures. This is of course the claim of the cults like the Mormons and the Jehovah’s Witnesses, but it is also true of wacky teachers within the Christian church.

In 2 Peter and in Jude there are the early rumblings of what became Gnosticism - a secret heretical belief, whose message was only known and understood by those who had been initiated, by ceremony or association. A sort of Freemasonry without aprons, gloves, lodges and funny handshakes.
Our response to the teaching of false teachers is clear - BEWARE of them!


Thirdly, divine judgment and divine mercy - so trust God!

In the original 2 Peter 2:4-10a is one very long sentence - and long sentences don’t encourage either clarity or understanding! Here Peter speaks about divine judgment and about divine mercy. Those who were in error were denounced. Those who remain faithful are reassured.

a) Divine judgment (2:4-6)

Peter gives two examples of divine judgment from the OT. One concerns angels and the other concerns two men.

Firstly, Peter refers to angels, fallen angels (Gen 6:1-5; Jude 6) who by their actions grieved God and provoked his wrath. They had fallen. They had sinned. They were imprisoned. Now they were in torment - waiting to be judged. Peter points here to the reality of hell and to the certainty of divine judgment.

Secondly, Peter refers to Noah and the flood, and to Lot and Sodom and Gomorrah. The terrible judgment of God in the flood and in the destruction of the sin-cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. Here is divine judgment on a large scale, ‘of judgment on a rebellious and wicked world’ (Green, 2 Peter, p99).

Throughout history there have been periods of divine mercy and divine judgment. Think of the great blessings brought about by the 16th century Reformation, or of the revivals in the 18th and 19th centuries. But at other times - and perhaps today too - there are periods of divine judgment upon the nation and upon the professing church. Those who undermine the authority of the word of God and the truth of the gospel have surely brought the wrath of God on the professing church of our day. In the Litany there is a petition which says: ‘Spare us, good Lord, spare thy people, whom thou hast redeemed with thy most precious blood, and be not angry with us for ever.’

b) Divine mercy (2:7-10a)

Peter refers to the deliverance of Noah (from the flood) and of Lot (from the sin-cities). And did you notice how Noah and Lot are described? Not perhaps in a way that immediately comes to mind. In vv5 and 7 they are both referred to as being ‘righteous’. We think of Noah as a boat-builder in the desert but here he is described as a ‘preacher [or herald] of righteousness’ (2:5). And he preached not from a soap-box, or from a pulpit, but by his example. In his way of life; in his trust in God. Noah preached a daily sermon to those who were perishing around him. I’m not much into icons - but there is much truth that we are the icons of Christ to those around us. In our homes, to our neighbours; in our place of work, to our colleagues.

Three times Lot is called ‘righteous’ (2:7). Lot - righteous? He was a man of the world, a man of property, and a weak, depraved drunkard. Yet this deceitful, foolish, sinful man was counted as being righteous. He was distressed and disturbed by the lifestyle of those around him. So he was prompted to examine himself - with the result that God rescued him and redeemed him. Grace and mercy triumphed over judgment.

Noah and Lot were both tested and came through victorious. Clearly they were the recipients of God’s grace and mercy, and so are we too. And as Noah was saved; and as Lot was saved; so that experience of being saved, of being delivered, can be ours as well. Remember that if God could be merciful to a person like Lot, then he can be merciful to you and to me! And what are we to do? We need to trust him, to believe in him, to obey him. Have you done that - have you said ‘yes’ to Jesus?

2 Peter 2 - is not an easy chapter - but sufficient to warn us against error and falsehood, and to remind us of the reality of God’s judgment and God’s love and grace and mercy.