Protecting the world from eternal misinformation

Scripture Read: 1 Timothy 1-3 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus according to the commandment of God our Savior, and of Christ Jesus, who is our hope, ² To Timothy, my true child in the faith: Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. ³ As I urged you upon my departure for Macedonia, remain on at Ephesus so that you may instruct certain men not to teach strange doctrines,  

Application: It has always amazed me that many leaders in the church seem to deliberately ignore the over whelming statements by all three major writers in the NT – Paul, John and Peter – concerning our duty to stand and protect the Truth of our faith. Again, let me be clear here, I am not talking about dividing the church over a man made “ism”. There is no place for that among believers. I am speaking directly about when the Word states something black and white, but we hear some famous church leader state something different and we do not call him on it because we claim that would not be “loving”. The NT does encourage all of us to love – in fact Jesus made that a signature of discipleship. In the Bible God does not separate the Truth from any aspect of life, whether that be worship, business or fellowship. The “community”, of believers is not held together, by holding hands and singing Kumbaya in a circle. It is “The Truth” that bonds our hearts to Him! The truth that we love God first in our lives binds us together. The truth that we claim we are saved by grace alone and no one’s works can save them, binds us together. These same truths produce a unified love for our God and each other. So why many in the church allow false teaching to go unchallenged is beyond me.

Paul was animate about leaders protecting “The Truth” – even with their lives. So many seem to be afraid of sacrificing popularity or even a friendship to stand for The Truth. We do not need to be vindictive – that would not be the Spirit of Christ, but we should speak firmly, with grace, and openly when we see error of any kind being taught in the Body of Christ. The word Paul employs here covers a wide range of abuse of The Truth:

 “Strange” - ἑτεροδιδασκαλέω heterodidaskaléō; from héteros (other but different) and didáskalos (teacher) To teach a doctrine different from one’s own (1 Tim. 1:3; 6:3) - to teach differently. ^[1]

The words, “teach no other doctrine,” are the translation of a negative and the verb heterodidaskaleō (ἑτεροδιδασκαλεω), the latter word being made up of the verb, “to teach,” and the word heteros (ἑτερος), which means, “another of a different kind.” The idea is not merely that those exhorted are not to teach any other doctrine, but they are not to teach a different doctrine, a doctrine which is contrary to the true doctrine. Our word, “heterodoxy,” namely, false doctrine, refers, not to doctrines of false religions, but to doctrine which poses as true Christian doctrine, but which is diametrically opposed to the true teachings of Christianity. This is what Paul is referring to.^[2]

The Word speaks for itself, and when we present it as it is, we are loving the world the way Christ did. Truth is not always easy to hear, but it is always freeing! Our job is never to make or manipulate a decision from anyone. Our responsibility given to us by the Lord is to lovingly share the Truth and leave it to those who listen to accept or reject it. If they see us change it to fit our desires they will think they can do that also and in the end there will be no standard of Truth. God made it clear – His truth is Truth! Don’t twist it, play with it or ignore others who teach it when they change it. I have no quarrel with the Buddhist, Hindu, Muslim or any other religion. I think they are wrong, they think I am wrong and God would desire us to tolerate each other. He has given them the right to teach whatever they want and in the end He will expose what the Truth is and all will be accountable for themselves. Our stand should be; they can preach what they want, they do not claim to represent the Lord Jesus Christ or His Word. However, when the teachers claim to represent Biblical Christianity it is a different matter. We must be committed to defending the Truth the Word brings and if that means calling false teachers out, even publically, the example and exhortations of Paul should be enough to motivate us. When it is a nobody like me teaching false doctrine, I have no problem leaving that to the one on one confrontations that local churches can do. But, if the teacher is world renown we must have leaders that God has raised to public view step up to their responsibility to the Lord, the Faith, the Body of Christ and to a lost world that depends on us to defend the Faith and keep it what God stated it to be. Father, help us defend the Faith, even when it means denouncing the “Strange” teachings coming from someone that claims to be a believer.

Meditation Questions: When you listen to a speaker do you allow “style” to determine if you think he is “great” or substance? What does that say? With “superstar” preachers in the world, what should be the standard the Body of Christ demands? When was the last time you really enjoyed a message and later decided to ask yourself – what did I like about it? Why did Jesus warn so much about how we listen? Consider Matthew 13:1-23

---

^[1] Zodhiates, S. (2000). The complete word study dictionary : New Testament (electronic ed.). Chattanooga, TN: AMG Publishers.

^[2] Wuest, K. S. (1997). Wuest's word studies from the Greek New Testament : For the English reader (1 Ti 1:3). Grand Rapids: Eerdmans.