Tag: false teachers
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Truth with Backbone – Revelation 2:2-3
Revelation 2:2-3 I know thy works, and thy labour, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liarsAnd hast borne, and hast patience, and for my name’s sake hast laboured, and hast not…
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Big Words, Small Souls – Jude 14-16
Jude 14-16 And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints, to execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly…
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Motion Without Life – Jude 13
Jude 13 Raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever. Jude keeps piling image upon image, and each one cuts a little deeper. Now he says these false teachers are like raging waves of the sea. They have motion, noise, and…
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Hidden Rocks and Empty Clouds – Jude 12
Jude 12 These are spots in your feasts of charity, when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear: clouds they are without water, carried about of winds, trees whose fruit withereth, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots; Jude keeps turning the light brighter. He is still talking about those men who…
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Grace Is Not Permission – Jude 4
Jude 4 For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ. Jude wastes no time telling us what the danger was. Certain men had slipped in…
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Background to Jude
There are some letters you read slowly because they are hard to understand. Then there are other letters you read slowly because every line lands with unusual force. Jude is that kind of letter. It is brief, direct, and packed tight with meaning. He writes only a few verses, yet nearly every one of them…
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Love Must Draw a Line – 2 John 9-11
2 John 9-11 Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son.If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed:For he that…
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The Danger of Seduction – 1 John 2:26
1 John 2:26 These things have I written unto you concerning them that seduce you. John is not warning about people who are merely confused. He is talking about those who actively seduce, those who pull, charm, flatter, and persuade in order to cloud the truth about Jesus. That is what makes false teaching so…
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The Darkness That Tries to Replace Him – 1 John 2:18
1 John 2:18 Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time. John begins this section like a tender pastor talking to people he loves. “Little children.” There is affection in that. But…
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Beautiful Poison – 2 Peter 2:17-19
2 Peter 2:17-19 These are wells without water, clouds that are carried with a tempest; to whom the mist of darkness is reserved for ever. For when they speak great swelling words of vanity, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through much wantonness, those that were clean escaped from them who live in…
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Madness for Money – 2 Peter 2:12-16
2 Peter 2:12-16 But these, as natural brute beasts, made to be taken and destroyed, speak evil of the things that they understand not; and shall utterly perish in their own corruption; and shall receive the reward of unrighteousness, as they that count it pleasure to riot in the day time.Spots they are and blemishes,…
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Reckless in the Unseen – 2 Peter 2:10
2 Peter 2:10 But chiefly them that walk after the flesh in the lust of uncleanness, and despise government.Presumptuous are they, self willed, they are not afraid to speak evil of dignities. Peter is still describing the character of false teachers, and now he shows how deep their corruption goes. They do not simply drift…
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No Angel Gets a Pass – 2 Peter 2:4
2 Peter 2:4 For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment. Peter now raises the stakes. He has been warning about false teachers, greed, looseness, and corruption. And now he says, in essence, “Do not imagine…
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Not for Sale – 2 Peter 2:3
2 Peter 2:3 And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you……whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not. Peter now tells us what is driving these false teachers. It is not love for people. It is not a burden for souls. It is covetousness. Greed.…
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When Compromise Mocks the Truth – 2 Peter 2:2
2 Peter 2:2 And many shall follow their pernicious ways…by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of. Peter says one of the saddest parts of false teaching is that it rarely stays small. “Many shall follow.” That is sobering. Error has a strange magnetism to it, especially when it promises…
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Feed and Warn – 2 Peter 2:1
2 Peter 2:1 But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction. Peter had been a fisherman by trade, but Jesus gave him another calling entirely.…
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When Error Must Be Silenced — Titus 1:11
Titus 1:11 Whose mouths must be stopped, who subvert whole houses, teaching things which they ought not, for filthy lucre’s sake. Paul does not soften his words here. Speaking about the false teachers who were troubling the churches, he says their mouths “must be stopped.” The idea is not simply disagreeing with them politely. It…
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Guarding the Truth — Titus 1:10
Titus 1:10 For there are many unruly and vain talkers and deceivers, specially they of the circumcision. Paul now shifts from describing the character of elders to warning Titus about the kind of opposition he would face. “There are many,” Paul says. Not a few voices. Not an occasional troublemaker. Many. They were “unruly,” meaning…
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The Trap of Endless Learning — 2 Timothy 3:6–7
2 Timothy 3:6, 7 For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts, ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. Paul now describes how false spirituality spreads. It does not usually arrive loudly. It rarely…