How to Misread the Bible: Use English without Considering the Original Languages

This will be the first in a series of posts on common ways people misinterpret the Bible.  While most American evangelicals still hold to orthodox beliefs on the essential doctrines, our churches, and social media feeds, are full of really bad teaching that comes from misinterpreting and misapplying the texts.  Today and in the future, when I come across some of the common mistakes I will take the time to show why they are misinterpretations and how we can more accurately understand the sacred Scriptures.

Over the weekend an Arminian, who appears to be KJV-only, tweeted at Fred Butler and I ended up jumping into the conversation.  You can read it below.

What's the problem with Kenny Word's argument?  He's making a theological argument based on an English word without considering the meaning of the original author's language.

In the never ending debate between Calvinists and Arminians, John 3:16 is often held up by Arminians as the fatal blow to Calvinism.  Their argument is that the text says whosoever believes will not perish, whosoever means anyone who chooses to, and therefore there cannot be an elect group who were predestined for salvation before the foundation of the world. 

Why is this an invalid argument? The Apostle John didn't write whosoever. The full sentence He wrote is:

Οὕτως γὰρ ἠγάπησεν ὁ θεὸς τὸν κόσμον ὥστε τὸν υἱὸν τὸν μονογενῆ ἔδωκεν, ἵνα πᾶς ὁ πιστεύων εἰς αὐτὸν μὴ ἀπόληται ἀλλὰ ἔχῃ ζωὴν αἰώνιον. (emphasis mine)

The words that are famously translated "that whosoever believes" are the Greek words "ἵνα πᾶς ὁ πιστεύων." A literal translation would be "that all/every the one who believes/is believing." Or more readable in modern English, "that every one who believes [in him will not perish but have eternal life]."

Something Christians should be aware of is that modern Bible translators are very hesitant to change the old King James Version translations of well-known Bible verses even though the English language has changed dramatically over the last four hundred years.  John 3:16 is the most well-known verse in the Bible, so the translators are not quick to update the language that readers, and the translators themselves, are so familiar with.  So "whosoever" is left as whosoever or whoever even though the meaning is modern English is a little different than the meaning in 1600's English. 

John 3:16 does not disprove Calvinism or prove Arminianism.  It is not a statement that everyone can believe of their own free will.  It only affirms what the rest of the Bible affirms, that only those who have saving faith in Jesus will have eternal life, and that all those who do believe will be saved.  I don't hide the fact that I'm a Calvinist, but I don't mind Arminians arguing their position.  Actually, I encourage it so we can have helpful discussions and move to a closer understanding of the truth. I only want them to do so using an accurate translation of the original text. 

When you read a verse in the Bible and it excites you or you think there's an important truth contained in the verse, it's important to verify that the verse actually says what the English translation you're reading says.  One of the ways to do this is make sure the translation you're reading is an accurate translation in our modern language. When we interpret the Bible, and every time we read we are interpreting, we must diligently seek to understand the author's original meaning.  If we build theological beliefs on poor or old English translations we may end up with incorrect understandings of God's truth. 

Five Ways to Kill a Person's Soul: A Response to Tylor Standley

When the serpent tempted Eve in the Garden he asked the question, “Did God really say…?” The serpent hasn’t changed his tactics. In Eve’s case the question was whether or not God said not to eat the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. In our day it’s not the serpent asking the question, directly anyway, it’s people.  

“Did God really say that Jesus is the only way?”

“Did God really say that homosexuality is sin?” 

“Did God really say that pastors must be men?” 

Honestly, I expect these kinds of questions from the unbelieving world.  What I cannot for the life of me understand is people who claim to love Jesus yet repeatedly ask these kinds of questions as if God has not spoken.  I realize what’s happening on one level; Jesus and the Apostles warned about wolves masquerading as sheep or arising from within the church.  So it should be expected.  But I honestly cannot understand the person who claims to love Jesus, claims to be a Christian, and denies that there is any foundational Christian truth.  

Today’s exhibit: Tylor Standley.  Mr. Standley has written an article appearing on Relevant Magazine’s website arguing that there are five things that should never be said in spiritual conversations.  I’ll interact with each of his points below.

His first argument is that we should never use the word heresy in a spiritual discussion. He writes:

Technically, heresy is any belief contrary to the teaching of the Church. Here’s where things get sticky: which church? If by “church” we mean the largest and most historical group of Christians, that would be the Roman Catholic Church. So, every Protestant is a heretic. If we mean “Orthodox Protestantism,” then the term becomes even more confusing. Protestantism has no collective doctrinal agreement. Between creedal and non-creedal denominations, very few things can be described as “generally accepted doctrines.” Even the things on which everyone agrees have a wide variety of different interpretations, all of which are held by people committed to following Christ.

Heresy is not teaching that is contrary to the teaching of the church.  Heresy is teaching that is contradicts what the New Testament calls sound doctrine. It is a false belief that contradicts, ignores, or incorrectly puts together what is revealed in Scripture. 

Standley is either ignorant of church history or deliberately trying to create confusion with this paragraph.  Most of the doctrines that have historically been recognized as heresies were identified as such long before the Roman Catholic Church became the Roman Catholic Church.  And yes, Rome would call me a heretic, but since the official doctrine of Rome contradicts Jesus and the Apostles, I’m fine with that.  Those who take the time to study church history will see that there is an “orthodox stream” of Christianity that has survived from the Apostles until today. 

The fact that some people throw the word heresy around carelessly does not mean that we should not call genuine heresy, heresy.  Arius was a heretic.  All those today who deny that the Son has eternally coexisted with the Father and Spirit are heretics as well.  Pelagius was heretic.  Montanus was heretic.  Gnosticism was a heresy.  Those today who hold to the same teachings are heretics.  And it’s not because the church says so, it’s because God’s written word contains truth.  Telling someone that they are teaching or believing heresy isn't an attempt to discredit the person, it is a warning that their soul is in danger.  

I actually agree with much of his second point.  I’m not entirely opposed to the idea of categories, as we all fall into certain categories.  But, it can be very unhelpful to put someone into a category and then refuse to see them as anything else.  When confronting error we need to interact with the individual, not the category we put the person into.

Point three is that we shouldn’t insult in the name of love.  He writes:

True love leads us to see that our loved ones are usually not “rebelling,” but are doing the rarely performed task of asking tough questions and searching for truth. Even where our loved ones are wrong we should cheer them on in their quest, challenging and provoking them to dig deeper. Where correction is needed, true love leads us to do it with humility and grace. After all, we are all unknowingly wrong about something.

John the Baptist called the Scribes a Pharisees a brood of vipers.  Jesus called them blind guides and hypocrites.  Paul said he wished the circumcision party in Galatia would emasculate themselves.  Not once is wrong teaching or thinking “cheered on” anywhere in Scripture.  The Pharisees asked questions and Jesus refused to answer them.  A person who is genuinely seeking after truth should be dealt with gently.  A person who has already departed from the truth, whether they teach it outright or put on a veneer of humility by asking “Did God really say?” should be dealt with as a wolf trying to destroy the sheep. 

For all his talk of love and humility, Standley is incredibly hateful and arrogant.  He is the one standing apart from God’s word.  He is the one standing outside of 2000 years of orthodoxy.  He’s asking others to join.  That is neither humble or loving.

His fourth point is the most absurd.  He claims that we should never say, “The Bible clearly says…”  

The problem: every word of the Bible is clearly written.  For example, the Bible clearly says, “πᾶσα γραφὴ θεόπνευστος καὶ ὠφέλιμος πρὸς διδασκαλίαν, πρὸς ἐλεγμόν, πρὸς ἐπανόρθωσιν, πρὸς παιδείαν τὴν ἐν δικαιοσύνῃ.” In English, as translated in the ESV, “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness” (2 Timothy 3:16).  So the Bible clearly says that all Scripture comes directly from God and clearly says that the Bible is profitable for teaching, reproof, correction and training in righteous.  The Bible says to use the Bible to correct error.  Clearly.  It says it.  The Bible clearly says that God created the world in six days.  It clearly says that God created Adam and Eve, a real man and a real woman in a real garden.  It clearly says Jesus was born of a virgin.  It clearly says that Jesus lived without sin.  It clearly says that Jesus physically died on the cross.  It clearly says that he he was physically resurrected on the third day.  On and on and on I could go.  

Finally, Standley warns against fear-mongering by using slippery-slope arguments, writing:

It goes something like this: If evolution is true, God is a liar. If God is a liar, we can’t trust the Bible. If we can’t trust the Bible, we can’t believe in the resurrection. If Jesus wasn’t resurrected, we are all wasting our time and might as well be atheists! Some Christian schools even teach that belief in evolution leads to school shootings, AIDS, and the holocaust!
Of course, this is an extreme example….

It’s interesting that he tacks on that list sentence about school shootings, AIDS, and the holocaust then calls it an extreme example.  He calls evolution a non-essential issue, yet Jesus roots his teaching about marriage in the creation narrative.  Paul roots the gospel in the sin of Adam.  Seriously, read the book of Romans.  If there was no Adam, there is no gospel.  This is not a slippery slope argument.  Read 1 Corinthians 15.  If there was no resurrection we are to be pitied above all men and we have wasted our lives.  So he makes arguments that Scripture itself makes, then throws on a ridiculous final sentence to make the whole thing seem absurd.  Standley is engaging is some high level deception here.  

He closes by saying if you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all.  This won’t be very nice, but Standley is a wolf.  He repeatedly gives the impression that conversation about spiritual things without any care for what is right and wrong is the height of the Christian experience.  He makes himself out to be a humble, loving man, all the while he is doing everything he can to undermine the truth of God's word. He seems to be to one of the men Paul warned Timothy about just a few verses after telling Timothy how to use the Bible. “For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths” (2 Timothy 4:3-4).   

The Apostle Paul devoted his life to both the proclamation and defense of the gospel.  He wrote to the Galatians concerning the circumcision party, "To them we did not yield in submission even for a moment, that the truth of the gospel might be preserved for you" (Galatians 2:5).  We must not yield to men like Tylor Standley who want to silence the truth in favor of gentle conversation with no right and wrong.  We must fight for the faith once for all delivered to the saints.

Three Things the Top 25 Christian Books Sold in 2014 Reveal About American Christianity

Earlier this week the list of the top 25 books sold in Christian bookstores in 2014 was released.  Among the 25 books on the list there is exactly one that I would remotely consider Christian.  Ironically enough, that one is authored by a man, Thom Rainer, who makes his living selling the other 24.  Some of the books are harmless enough, perhaps even helpful, but not really Christian.  I would put books like The Five Love Languages and Boundaries into this category.  While written by Christians and supposedly based on Biblical principles, they’re not really Christian books in the sense that they don’t have any real connection to the faith once for all delivered to the saints.

Unfortunately, and unfortunately not surprising, many of the books are beyond problematic.  Five of the books are some form of Jesus Calling by Sarah Young, a woman who claims she’s writing the very words of Jesus.  Only, it turns out there are factual errors, and her Jesus doesn’t really sound anything at all like the Jesus of Scripture.  Sarah Young is a false prophet.  Joel Osteen and T.D. Jakes teach Word-of-Faith theology, a theological system that diverges from orthodox Christianity on virtually every point.  Heaven is for Real is not true.  Heaven is for real, but the Bible tells us so, and tells us that no one can go and come back.  Paul saw Heaven and he wasn’t permitted to tell about it.  He certainly didn’t write a book to profit off of the experience.  

I could go on, but frankly looking at the list just hurts my heart.  I get accused of being arrogant, divisive, unloving, judgmental, and Pharisaical quite frequently online.  I do listen when the accusations are made, but I don’t think the accusations are correct.  I grieve for the church in America.  I really do.  The things I say, the articles I share, and now write, are all from a place of genuine grief over the state of the church in my home country.  

What does the list of 2014 Christian bestsellers reveal about American Christianity?  Here are three things I see.

1.) Most professing Christians in America have no discernment at all.  American Christians, generally speaking, cannot distinguish truth from error.  The top 25 list is full of verifiable false prophets and false teachers.  No one seems to recognize this or even care.  The sad reality is that many professing Christians are actually taught not to care.  Their pastors not only fail to teach and rebuke sound doctrine, although that is a Biblical requirement for a man to hold the office of pastor (Titus 1:9), they actually tell people not to engage in theological study and questioning whether or not what is being taught is true.  Jesus had a word for men like this though: hirelings (John 10:7-18).  

Question to ask yourself: Does my pastor teach sound doctrine?  Or, does my pastor tell me doctrine and theology don’t matter?  If it’s the latter, run for your life!  Seriously.  Nothing less than your soul is at stake.

2.) Most professing Christians in America practice a faith that is completely divorced from historic Christianity.  A few years ago some researches coined the phrase Moralistic Therapeutic Deism to describe the religion that is practiced in America under the name of Christianity.  The basic premise is that professing Christians in America believe that there is a God, that he wants them to do good things, and he exists to make their lives better.  The list of 25 best sellers is full of books that fall into this category.  You probably won’t find much, if any, talk about Jesus Christ crucified and resurrected for the forgiveness of sins, the reality of Hell, or God’s judgment on unrepentant sinners in any of the 25 books.  Mostly you’ll find how to live a more enjoyable life right now.  

Question to ask yourself: Does my pastor preach Christ crucified and resurrected for the forgiveness of sins, or does he preach my best life now?  If it’s the latter, run for your life!  Seriously.  Nothing less than your soul is at stake.

3.) Most professing Christians in America are not Christians.  I know this is awfully judgmental of me, but I am convinced it is true.  Research has shown that professing Christians can’t articulate the basics of the Christian faith and usually believe things to be true that are outright contradictions of Scripture.  This is why my heart breaks.  This is why I’m constantly trying to point out the problems in American Christianity.  I am convinced that the vast majority of professing Christians in America are going to stand before Jesus on the Day of Judgment and hear, “I never knew you; depart from me.”  

Questions to ask yourself:

If someone asked me what it means to be a Christian, could I tell them with confidence that I am delivering the same message delivered by Jesus and the Apostles?  If the answer is no, how can I claim to believe what I cannot explain?

Do I believe that people are basically good, or that they are born under the curse of sin with no good in them unless they are given new life by Christ?  If you believe the former you don’t believe what the Bible teaches.

Do I believe that it is possible to get to Heaven by being a good person?  If you believe this you don’t believe what the Bible teaches.

Do I believe that saying a sinner’s prayer and being baptized means I go to Heaven no matter what? If you believe this you don’t believe what the Bible teaches.

Do I believe that the outcome of a Christian life is a life relatively free of problems and full of personal fulfillment?  If you believe this you don’t believe what the Bible teaches.      

Do I believe in the God of the Bible or the false god of Moralistic Therapeutic Deism? Do I know the difference?

Friends, I’ve mentioned several times in this article that nothing less than your soul is at stake.  That is the truth.  Religion is not a game; we are talking today about the difference between eternal life in glory with God or eternal death in Hell separated from God.  Do you know where you stand with God right now?

The message of the Bible is actually quite simple.  All people born from Adam and Eve onward are born under the curse of sin.  We are born physically alive but spiritually dead.  Because of the curse of sin we rebel against the good, loving, and holy God who made us in his image every chance we get.  The Bible repeatedly says there is none who does good, that all have gone astray.  God is loving and merciful, but he is also just and holy.  His holy righteousness demands a penalty for sin.  That penalty is death, physically in this life and eternally in Hell.

Because God is loving and merciful He sent His eternally existent Son, Jesus, to live on the earth as a man and die a sacrificial death in order to redeem a people from the curse for Himself.  Jesus lived without sin all the days of His life.  God poured out His wrath on His own Son, allowing His creation to put His Son to death on a Roman cross.  Three days later, to prove that Jesus didn’t deserve to die and that His sacrifice had been accepted, God raised Jesus from the dead.  He lives to this day at the right hand of God the Father and will live forevermore.  

Jesus’ message was simple.  Repent and believe the gospel.  Repentance and belief means believing Jesus’ message and forsaking your sin and all else to worship Jesus as Lord.  There is no amount of good that you can do to erase your debt of sin.  The forgiveness of your sins comes by grace through faith in Jesus Christ.  When you come to true faith in Jesus, all of your sins are washed away and Jesus' righteousness is credited to you so that you can stand before God holy and blameless.  While your good works can’t save you, the evidence of genuine faith is the doing of the good works commanded in Scripture.

Do you have genuine faith in the Lord Jesus Christ? Have you ever repented of your sin and trusted in Christ alone for the forgiveness of your sins?  Does your life look like the life of a believer in Jesus as described by Jesus and the Apostles in the New Testament?  If not, please don’t delay.  Believe, and have eternal life today.

LifeWay and Tyndale House Have Brought Reproach Upon the Bride of Christ

When #the15 was first becoming whatever it is, there were several groups that showed up on Twitter to tell us to shut up. First were the racists complaining about the fact that #the15 seemed to be comprised mostly of white men, even though we weren't talking about race. Then a group of gay post-graduate students from liberal seminaries came by and mocked us even though we weren't talking about homosexuality.  Then the rabid SBC anti-Calvinists, whose understanding of grace and forgiveness is as tortured as their understanding of  ὁ πιστεύων in John 3:16, showed up with their usual vitriol.  Finally, the tone police stepped in shaking their e-heads and wagging their e-fingers with the standard refrain, "the world is watching."

When I hear people complain about the tone of those few Christians in North America who think that truth matters I can only assume they've never actually read the Bible. The Old Testament Prophets, John the Baptist, Paul, Peter, John, and Jesus himself all used much stronger language than I or anyone I follow has ever used when calling out false teachers for what they are.

The truth is the world generally doesn't pay attention to Christians debating right theology and practices, and even if the world was paying to attention to #the15 they would have seen a few hundred people calling on LifeWay to stop profiting off of the sale of false teaching and the various groups above telling us to stop talking and crawl back into the holes we came from.  I'm not exactly sure how #the15 would reflect poorly upon Christ.

So the unbelieving world wasn't paying attention.  Then the Pulpit and Pen ran an open letter from Alex Malarkey, "The Boy Who Came Back from Heaven". He publicly stated what he and his mom had both been trying to communicate for years, that the book was fiction.  He was a six year old boy who wanted attention and told lies.  A sin, yes, but his public repentance evidences that his faith in Christ is now genuine and his sins are washed clean by the blood of Christ.  

The world still didn't know who #the15 were, but the story made international news and more than a week later continues to do so. The initial story was only that the boy recanted his story. Those of us who have been paying attention, those who have for years been begging and pleading with LifeWay to stop selling these heavenly tourism books that contradict Scripture and each other, knew that there was much more to the story. Now the story behind the story is in the international news.

Beth Malarkey, Justin Peters, and Phil Johnson had all been doing everything they could to inform Tyndale House, the publisher of The Boy Who Came Back from Heaven, and LifeWay, the world's largest Christian retailer and a Southern Baptist entity, that Alex did not stand by his original story.  Ed Stetzer and Thom Rainer of LifeWay knew this, and they continued to sell the book.  The executives of Tyndale House knew this, and they continued to produce and market the book.

To make the whole mess worse, although Alex Malarkey, who is a quadriplegic with many medical expenses, is listed as a co-author of the book, he and his mother haven't received a dime in royalties.  Tyndale House knew this also. 

When Alex first wrote his open letter last week, both Tyndale House and LifeWay released statements stating that they had just learned of his recantation.  Both Tyndale House and LifeWay lied.

For years LifeWay and Tyndale House have both knowingly and intentionally participated in the exploitation of a quadriplegic boy for their own profit.

For years both LifeWay and Tyndale House have knowingly and intentionally sold lies for profit.

For years both LifeWay and Tyndale House knowingly and intentionally defrauded customers, selling them a book they knew was not true.

Now, with the world paying attention not to the supposed petty bickering of #the15 but one of the scandals we were upset about to begin with, both LifeWay and Tyndale House are bringing reproach upon the name of our Savior in the eyes of the unbelieving world.  

Thom Rainer and Ed Stetzer need to be relieved of their duties at LifeWay.  They have betrayed the trust of the Southern Baptists who gave them those positions.  More importantly, they have grievously sinned, and until they repent the church should treat them as Scripture instructs us to treat unrepentant sinners.   

Before anyone accuses of me of being a cold-hearted legalist, let me say that the good news for Thom Rainer, Ed Stetzer, and everyone at Tyndale House, the good news for all of us, is that Jesus has an unending supply of grace for sinners who come to Him in humble repentance.  Jesus also said that we will know true believers by their fruit, and right now the fruit of Ed Stetzer and Thom Rainer appears to be rotten to the very core.  

I remain hopeful that Stetzer, Rainer, and the executives of Tyndale House will soon do the right thing and confess their sins and repent. I pray it happens.  But at the time of this writing, neither LifeWay nor Tyndale House has even acknowledged that a scandal exists.  

I also pray that what's been dubbed the Evangelical Industrial Complex, the Christian publishers, TV/radio stations, music producers, and conference circuit, will take notice and clean up their acts.  For too long they have blasphemed our Lord by peddling false doctrine for profit.  #the15 aren't going away.  When we see corruption we're going to do whatever we can to bring it into the light. We do this not from a twisted desire to see lives and careers destroyed, but out of love for our neighbor and the glory of the name of our Lord. 

(If you think I've been too harsh today, I would encourage to listen to the Justin Peters Program episode dated January 19, 2015.)

What Jesus Said to a 1st Century Group of Heresy Hunters

A couple of weeks ago two of the Southern Baptist Convention’s biggest celebrities, Beth Moore and Perry Noble, both wrote blog articles aimed at silencing their critics. In Noble's case the criticisms were in response to his changing of the Ten Commandments to the Ten Promises, along with some outright false information that God supposedly told him to say in the NewSpring Church Christmas Eve service. Moore was responding to a tweet a young woman had sent out labeling her as a false teacher.

Moore used the term "heresy hunters" in her article, a standard tactic of those in the seeker-sensitive and charismatic movements to turn the "critics" calling them to abandon aberrant teaching into the bad guys. Both Moore and Noble did an excellent job of drumming up sympathy for themselves, playing the victim, and setting themselves up as the bold heroes who won't back down in the face of relentless persecution. 

Moore even accused the woman who called her a false teacher, and heresy hunters in general, of being unChristlike. One of the many oddities of the modern American church is that super-celebrities like Moore and Noble won't say a negative word about anything or anyone, no matter how blatant the false teaching, but will question the salvation of those who dare call false teaching false. Many before me have noted the hypocrisy of mean-spirited accusations made against the supposedly mean-spirited critics, but that's a topic for another day. 

The question I want to examine today is this: what would Jesus say to the so-called heresy hunters? I think Revelation 2:1-7 gives us a pretty good idea.

In Revelation 2-3 Jesus spoke to seven churches. These were real churches in real history, and the words of Revelation are directly from the mouth of our Lord. Generally speaking, the seven messages follow a pattern of Jesus introducing himself, commending the church for what they were doing well, criticizing the church for an area where they were failing, commanding the church to do something, and closing with a promise. The church in Laodicea received no commendation, as a careful reading of the text reveals that there were no genuine believers in that church. The churches in Smyrna and Philadelphia received no criticism as they were suffering well in the face of intense persecution.  

The first of the seven messages was delivered to the church in Ephesus. It reads:

To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: ‘The words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand, who walks among the seven golden lampstands. I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance, and how you cannot bear with those who are evil, but have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not, and found them to be false. I know you are enduring patiently and bearing up for my name’s sake, and you have not grown weary. But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent. Yet this you have: you hate the works of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God. - Revelation 2:1-7 (ESV)

There's a lot here, but I want to focus today on Jesus' commendations and criticism.

Commendations

• their works
• their toil
• their patient endurance
• that they could not bear with those who were evil
• that they tested those who claimed to be apostles and were not
• that they were enduring patiently and bearing up for Christ's sake, and had not grown weary
• that they hated the works of the Nicolaitans, which Jesus also hated

Criticism

• they had abandoned the love they had at first

Jesus seemed quite pleased that in addition their faithful work for the Kingdom the Ephesians were testing those who wanted to teach them, and that they hated the works of the Nicolaitans. Can anyone in modern American evangelicalism conceive of Jesus hating something? Approving of those who hate something? Not much is known about the Nicolaitans, but it is believed that they were antinomians in the truest sense of the word, engaging in unrestrained pursuit of pleasure, including sexual immorality, while claiming to follow Christ. Jesus hated that, and he praised the Ephesians for hating that. He also praised them for testing those who claimed to have his authority and removing from fellowship those who were found to be false.  

So Jesus didn't condemn or criticize the Ephesians for heresy hunting, he praised them for testing the words of men against his unchanging word.  He didn't condemn or criticize the Ephesians for removing the false apostles and evil men from the fellowship.  He didn't call them arrogant, judgmental, unloving, and divisive for doing so.  He praised them for it.  He said keep doing it.  

And it's important to note that Jesus praises them for these things while criticizing their loss of love.  Their testing of the false apostles and hatred of the works of the Nicolaitans are not equated with being unloving.  The problem was internal.  They were doing everything Jesus wanted them to do, but internally a problem had developed.  They had lost their love and were now doing the right things while lacking the right motivation.  They were just going through the motions.

What, then, is the application for the "heresy hunters" in the church today? Here's what I would say:

Deeds and creeds matter. It's common today to hear things like "deeds not creeds" or "doctrine divides; love unites" as if the two are mutually exclusive.  It's actually a false dichotomy. We don't have to choose one or the other; we're commanded to do both. Those who have gifts and a passion for discernment and sound doctrine must serve The Lord wholeheartedly while exercising discernment. We must not become the caricature that people like Beth Moore and Perry Noble make us out to be, sitting on the sidelines pointing out problems while not doing anything ourselves.  

Keep testing the words of those who want to teach the church against the authoritative, sufficient, inerrant word of God. This honors Jesus. This is what we're commanded to do.

Keep identifying those who teach falsely as those who teach falsely. We live in a different age than the early church did. The shepherds of a local flock, usually, only needed to be concerned with the local flock. Today, anyone anywhere in the world can say anything they want and have it reach worldwide audiences in seconds. Our local churches and the church universal need men and women who will not sit idly by while false teachers and Scripture twisters appear on Christian TV/radio, sell their products in Christian bookstores, and fill up our social media feeds and those of our neighbors. Keep testing what people say, and when it doesn’t line up with Scripture, call it out as false teaching.

Don’t abandon the love you had at first. I imagine many people with gifts and passion for discernment, like myself, came from backgrounds of weak or false teaching. Then one day, through the reading of the Word or the preaching of a faithful man, we were exposed to the truth. Our hearts were filled with joy as we discovered the holy, sovereign, merciful God. We finally saw how bad we truly are and how good God is. Over time, the joy faded as we became increasingly dissatisfied with mainstream evangelicalism, as no one else seemed to care about these wonderful discoveries we’d made, and as we begin to see false teaching every where we turned. For some, and I was once here, joy turned to bitterness and anger. Here are some suggestions I think will help us maintain the love we had at first as we continue to contend for the faith once for all delivered to the saints.

• Maintain an active devotional life. Every Christian needs to be reading the Word and spending time in prayer and praise every day, but I think this is especially true for those who are listening to podcasts and reading blogs that highlight false teaching.  If we try to do these things apart from an ongoing devotional life with the Lord, disaster waits.  
• Pray for the false teachers. They may be enemies of the gospel, but so were we at one time.  We should fervently pray that God would open their hearts and minds to the truth of the gospel and that they would repent and believe.
• Don’t confuse weak or lost sheep with wolves. Not everyone who shares a Joel Osteen or Joyce Meyer quote, listens to the preaching of Steven Furtick, or attends Bethel in Redding is a wolf.  Some are deceived, some are genuine believers who haven’t been discipled correctly.  They are not our enemies.  They need the gospel and the truth of God’s Word.  Jesus confronted the false teachers; he had compassion on the harassed and helpless people who were like sheep without a shepherd.  The unfortunate reality of our day is that many professing Christians are without a human shepherd pointing them to the Great Shepherd.  We can help, but not if we look at the shepherdless sheep and see wolves.
• Listen to your critics. It’s not very consistent to criticize others for not listening to us and then not listen when they call us arrogant, judgmental, divisive, unloving, etc.  Just because someone makes the accusation doesn’t mean it’s true, but if someone does make the accusation, we must examine our own actions and heart motivations.  
• Criticize a person’s words, not the person. I cringed a little when I saw a high-profile teacher and writer, for whom I have great respect, make a comment about Beth Moore’s outfit recently.  The same goes for graphics comparing someone to a comic book villain or comments about a person’s voice.  It’s cheap, and it’s not Christ-honoring.  We live an age where to criticize a person’s words is considered a personal attack, so we will always sound unloving to some people, but we don’t want to give any unnecessary reasons for them to think that we are.
• Don’t make accusations you’re not prepared to back up. Don’t call someone a false teacher or heretic unless you can show why. In general, I think we should be very slow to label someone a false teacher or heretic unless it is obvious.  When Bill Johnson of Bethel says Christ did his miracles as a man and not as God, yes, call him a Christological heretic.  In many cases though, we’ll have to do a little more work to show how someone’s teaching is inconsistent with the message of Jesus and the Apostles.  It’s a very serious charge to accuse someone of preaching a different gospel or teaching falsely, and unless you yourself can clearly articulate why you think this is case, don’t make the charge.

It’s been so encouraging to see #the15 come together over the last few weeks, to see that there are many people out there across a broad spectrum of backgrounds and theological systems who care about sound doctrine and the rampant error in the church today.  It’s more encouraging to see that some changes are already taking place as a result of #the15 and others not staying silent.  Let us continue to exercise discernment, let us continue to tell the establishment that we won’t sit quietly while they dishonor our Lord, but let us not abandon the love we had at first in the process.  Keep fighting the good fight in the love of our Lord.

Reading the Church Fathers: Clement of Rome's Epistle to the Corinthians

Over the last two Fridays I've read Clement's epistle to the Corinthians as part of my 2015 reading plan.  Clement's letter is one of the earliest non-Scriptural church documents that we have today.  While it obviously doesn't carry the same weight and the authority as the God-breathed sacred writings, it does give us a window into the early church to see the beliefs and practices of the first generation of non-Apostolic Christians. 

Here are four brief observations I made while reading Clement.

Clement was a man saturated in Scripture. Throughout his lengthy letter, Clement repeatedly directly quotes and alludes to Scripture, both Old Testament and New.  He knew the Scriptures and his thinking was controlled by the Scriptures.  He praised the Corinthians using Scripture. He chastised the Corinthians using Scripture.  He exhorted the Corinthians using Scripture.  He encouraged the Corinthians using Scripture.  The words of Clement were his own, but the message was not his own.  He spoke as an ambassador of the King, not the originator of a new message.

There is a noticeable difference between Clement's writing and the God-breathed Scriptures.  One of the most notable elements of Clement's letter in my mind was his reference to the fable of the phoenix as a naturally occurring event that points to the resurrection of Jesus.  I don't hold Clement in low esteem for this. There was no Snopes in the first and second centuries to determine the truth of a legend.  The Scriptures are free from such errors though.  In all the Scriptural writings concerning nature, there is no reference to anything like the phoenix that we now know is not truth.   

Furthermore, reading passages like Ephesians 1:3-14 and 1 Peter 1:3-9 moves me beyond words. Even when reading the practical instructions of James there's a knowledge that I am reading the very words of God. Not so with Clement.  Feelings are very subjective, I know, but reading Clement and other non-Biblical authors is just not the same as reading God's word.

Clement labels those who are full of zeal for anything other than salvation as contentious and causing division.  It was Paul who delivered to the Corinthians as of first importance that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, was buried, and was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures. And even in Paul's letters we see that the Corinthians were distracted by debates over other matters, a problem that obviously continued long beyond the life of Paul.  In chapter 45 Clement reminds them to stop being zealous for anything but salvation and, what else, look to the Scriptures, which are the true utterances of the Holy Spirit. Jesus came to seek and to save the lost, and he told the first disciples he would make them fishers of men.  Christians who are not focused on the proclamation and defense of the gospel, no matter how good their other works may be, such as racial reconciliation and ending human trafficking, are off mission and need to become gospel people first and foremost.

Clement held the office of pastor in very high regard.  There is an idea today, that as best I can tell has been heavily influenced by Frank Viola's book Pagan Christianity, that the early church had no authority structure.  This is simply not true.  Clement is clear that those who serve as pastors must prove themselves qualified.  He accuses the Corinthians of great sin for removing faithful pastors from their office.  He tells those guilty of sedition to submit to and be subject to the presbyters.  The inherent distrust of authority and rebelliousness of Americans has led to a tragically low view of the office of pastor in the American church.  It is that low view that has in turn produced many unqualified pastors who have further damaged the reputation of the office.  The American church very much needs a Biblical understanding of the office of pastor and the expectations Scripture places on church members under the authority of qualified elders/pastors. 

So, my first reading of one the church fathers this year has been very thought-provoking and fruitful in my efforts to understand more of the church's long, rich history.  I thank God for faithful men like Clement of Rome who preached Christ crucified and demanded obedience to all of Scripture's teaching.