WERE THERE FALSE TEACHINGS AT THE TIME OF JESUS?
WERE THERE FALSE TEACHINGS AT THE TIME OF JESUS?
The answer is an absolute YES! When assessing false teachings or teachers, we always want to approach them carefully and slowly. Jesus told a parable of weeds and wheat growing together in Matthew 13. He said the wheat represented Himself sowing good seed (the word of God) and the weeds represented what the devil sows. In the world Jesus lived in and the world we live in today, both wheat and weeds are growing together. In his parable, the question was asked whether the weeds should be pulled out? His answer was shocking and went against what would be our natural instinct. He said, “No, let both grow together until the harvest.” The danger is, if you pull the weeds, you may also pull the wheat out. And He indicated that it is a slow process to determine what are the weeds and what are the wheat when He said to wait until the harvest – this indicated a long time.
And this is true for us today. We should be slow to judge what is false teaching and who are false teachers. We need to listen, observe, pray, think and then discern. While Jesus says “judge not”, God’s Word also says we are to think and discern good from evil, darkness from light, and truth from error. In 1 John 4:1-6, the writer reminds all followers of Christ to “not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world…” If we are going to walk in obedience and in relationship to the true Christ, then we need to know Him and to study the scriptures that His Church have authenticated. Paul makes this clear when he reminds the Ephesians to be built up so they can walk in unity, maturity and attain to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. He said this so they would grow up and not be tossed back and forth by the waves and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming (Ephesians 4:11-16). Jesus said many times to be aware of false teachers who were wolves appearing to be like sheep. The point here is there are many warnings in the New Testament about false teaching and false teachers. They were prevalent when Jesus was on earth, and increased and infiltrated the early church. There are many false teachings and versions of the gospel around today, but let’s look at some of the more prevalent false teachings around during the early church.
GNOSTICISM
This word comes from the Greek word “gnosis” meaning “knowledge.” There were many different versions of Gnosticism, but the primary meaning has to do with having a secret knowledge that other followers didn’t have. It was a special knowledge and enlightenment that they felt they had that made them superior. No doubt Paul dealt with this in some of the churches he was involved with. The Corinthian church seemed to be heavy in Gnosticism. They were much about secret and special knowledge and revelations. This is probably why he wrote in 1 Corinthians 13 about even if you have all types of knowledge…but do not have love, you have nothing. One of the problems with Gnosticism is that it creates an elite or prideful state among those who think they have special knowledge. The opposite of this is humility and love – which are the greatest gifts. They sound so basic compared to special knowledge, yet these are what characterized Jesus’ life and characterize the life of those who truly follow Him. Though we may not call it by this name (Gnosticism) today, people thinking they have special knowledge or an “in” with God that others don’t have, creates pride, division and egotism in people and in the body of Christ.
ANTINOMIANISM
This teaches a separation of the body and soul so to allow the body to do whatever it desires to satisfy the flesh while at the same time, supposedly maintaining a purity of the soul or spiritual life. In other words, this false teaching or perversion of the gospel purports that what you do with your body has no impact or bearing on your spiritual life or relationship with God. Paul talks about this division in his letter to Timothy (2 Timothy 3). Peter addresses it in his letter, 2 Peter 2. Certainly Jesus talked about it in His Sermon on the Mount. And perhaps most pointedly, Paul clearly spells out in Galatians 5 the difference between sowing to the flesh and sowing to the Spirit when he talks about the sinful nature is contrary to life in the Spirit (Galatians 5:16-25).
This false teaching teaches you can have it both ways – live like hell and enjoy the fruits of heaven. The danger of this teaching is that people could spend a life time living a lie, and find themselves in hell. Other dangers include while living a divided life, you live in the misery of blame, guilt, shame, depression, self-loathing and possible suicide. It can also lead to a life where you lose any sense of conviction and look to predator others to fulfill your own lusts and desires. You can lose any sense of holy boundaries in your life which could destroy your own life and others as well.
DOCETISM
This false teaching in the early church was derived from Gnosticism. It is based on the thought that God could have nothing to do with matter (defined as anything that has mass and takes up space). Matter has volume. Think of it as the physical world we see and touch every day. They concluded from this theory that Christ, as a truly divine being, could not have come in the flesh. Docetism denies the biblical doctrine affirmed by the early church and scriptures that Christ was fully God and fully man. This false teaching goes against what the New Testament teaches over and again that Jesus was human and God. The Gospel of John makes it clear, especially in chapter 1 that Jesus, the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. Paul argues that Jesus was the second Adam. In order for this to be case, He had to be human as well as divine. And it is very clear according to 1 John 4:2-3 that every spirit that acknowledges Jesus came in the flesh is of God and those who deny this are not of God.
Why does it matter that we identify this false teaching and affirm that Jesus came in the flesh? Because only Jesus who came in the flesh and was also God, could be the supreme and final sacrifice for our sins. Without this, we would still be in our sins with no hope of forgiveness and eternal life.
LEGALISM
While legalism takes many forms, the form that wormed its way into the early church was from Judaism. Paul most famously fights against it in his letter to the Galatians. Most of the letter is about the true gospel being based on faith in the finished work of Christ rather than relying on human works. In this case, following the Jewish law not as a good practice, but as a way to be saved. Paul argues here and in Romans particularly that salvation comes to us when we trust in Christ and then God credits us as righteous (Romans 4:3). In other words, the NT teaches that God gives to us His righteousness as a gift (Romans 1:17, 2 Corinthians 5:21). In Galatians 2:21 Paul says, “I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing.” Good works are a result of salvation; salvation is not based on doing good works. Ephesians 2:8-10 also make this point.
Though this issue was clearly dealt with in Acts 15 at the first church Council in Jerusalem where it was decided upon by the original apostles and others that Gentiles did not have to follow Jewish laws to be saved – only trust in and follow Jesus Christ. This was established in the early church, but this didn’t keep false teachers and those distorting the true gospel from trying to infiltrate the early church with legalism or a form of “works righteousness.” And sadly, this false teaching continues to rear its ugly head in the church today and causes much confusion to many people. The great danger in this false teaching is that it gets people to take their eyes off of Christ and put it on themselves. Sometimes this turns to pride when people get puffed up and think they are more holy than others. It can also cause people to be filled with “self-righteousness” which often keeps them from examining their own lives and repenting from sin (because they think they have none). And further, it leaves others totally deflated feeling like a failure because they never measure up either to others or the standard that legalists hold up before them. This is why Paul writes “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery” (Galatians 5:1).
As you can see, false teachings ran rampant in the early church (and I have only highlighted some of the major ones here) and sadly they or a form of them continue to infect the Church today. The danger in all of these is that they distort what God has revealed in scripture to us and lead us into a false relationship with a version of Jesus that is not true. Be sure to study the scriptures carefully for yourself and read them in their historical context. This is the best safeguard against falling into the traps of false teaching.
