What is Heresy?

[Mark H. Stevens, Th.D]

Heresy can be defined as any departure from Christian orthodoxy which is a teaching, doctrine or practice that goes beyond the apostles teachings -- the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints (Jude 1:3).Biblical heresy is often a denial of the core beliefs held in the Church that are founded on the Bible. In this sense it applies to groups which reject basic Christian doctrines and separate themselves from the historic church.

It can be defined as the over-emphasis of a neglected truth or a truth elevated to an extreme were it can no longer be recognized as biblical. Heresy can also originate from a new revelation or prophesy, which is often the most dangerous source of all. A divisive teaching or practice from inside the Church can be more destructive to genuine faith than one from the outside. The epistle of Jude warns of this.

Its been said the Truth can defend itself. This statement is not only non-biblical, it is disastrous. Look at the cults that have grown right here in front of us. Imagine if nothing was said about many of them. Most of these teachers came out from the Christian church (1 Jn.2:19). We are not on a trivial pursuit. This has become a war inside the walls of the Church which should be protecting us. But instead, exposing error and searching the Scripture is being widely denounced today and those brave enough to do so are accused of being unloving and unkind and labeled "heresy hunters."

Unfortunately, heresy is found these days more often than not. You don’t need to look far, it’s usually staring you right in the face. One does not have to nit-pic since there are enormous portions of it pouring in from TV, books and pulpits. Identifying misleading teaching is what a shepherd is called to do. We have need of discernment which operates on the basis of truth and facts. We are not to pass judgment on the unknown (such as one’s motivation) unless they have clearly shown by their words and actions that that too is twisted. When we discover rotten fruit it is to be removed from among the people for their safety.

There are some things being practiced that we would not, nor should not call heresy. They can still be false and, in my personal opinion, detrimental to one’s spiritual health, but they are not going to affect the outcome of ones spiritual life. In saying that certain people are heretics, or that they are expounding heresy, we are not pronouncing a judgment on their souls. All heresies are deceptive and destructive in various degrees. However, there are some teachings that certainly do damn a soul. If not checked, these falsehoods will begin leading people to travel down the road to even greater falsehood which eventually does lead to heresy and damnation.

It has been shown that most who teach falsely or who are leaders in cults did not start off this way, but began with a step in the wrong direction (usually from questioning the Bible’s authority), or were lead into a whole new interpretation of key Scriptures. One thing is certain: one’s attitude in being corrected shows whether they will receive instruction or continue to travel down this road of pride.

Most people think that if we just teach the truth then we don’t have to address error. However, error dies a slow death and must be exposed by the truth. Infections don’t often leave the body by themselves or by our eating right. They need to be combated by antibiotics. The writers of the Scripture did not believe in the concept of "just teaching the truth." Numerous letters have addressing the false views and practices that arose in the early Church that challenged the truth as their major themes. (1Cor., Galatians, Colossians, 2 Thess. 2nd John, Jude, etc.). They were both taught what is right (the truth) and warned about what is wrong.

How Are We To Practice Biblical Judgment?

The Bible teaches and encourages us to judge, not to ignore. There are two prominent Greek words translated as "discernment." One is anakrino, which means to "examine" or "judge closely." The other is diakrino, which means "to separate out," "to investigate," or "to examine."

The judgement Jesus condemned in Mt.7:1 is the kind of judgement meant to condemn or to pass judgment upon someone maliciously and not to judge a matter before it was heard out. We are not to be quick to judge (wrongly), to give the benefit of the doubt. But if an action or statement is found to be false we should not hide our head under the sand and hope it all goes away.

The most quoted and abused verse in the Bible by the ecumenicists and the new "prophets" and "apostles" is Matthew 7:1 -- "Judge be not judged." It is used as protection for those who know they can be challenged. It is the rope-a-dope of false teachers who resist any inspection or accountability. But Christ says "Judge not according to the appearance, but judge with righteous judgment." Scripture needs to be read in its context. In the following verses 2-5 we find v.1 is referring to hypocritical judgment, not to those who sincerely want to discern whether a teacher or teaching is true or false. Someone with a beam found in their own eye should not be judging someone with a mote in their eye. In other words, we cannot judge another for his sin if we are currently practicing the same sin. When you see clearly then you can remove the speck out of your brother's eye.

Jesus says in John 7:24: "Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment." Jesus is saying judge without maliciousness and by all means have the facts. So we need to first examine ourselves and check our motives. When we discern a teaching, it is not a hypocritical judgement. We are standing on God's word. The Bible calls it "contending for the faith." This is not our personal judgment, but God’s since He has already spoken on the matter. For example, when we call someone a sinner we are not making that statement, God is. There is a balance between legalism, fault finding and necessary protection.

If something is harmful to others and destroys the truth we are encouraged to say something, not ignore it. If we know it is wrong it becomes sin not to speak. But we are to have a right attitude in this as well. Because people do not often listen to the content as much as the attitude in it, they often will not hear what one is saying. They look for an excuse to blame the challenger instead of addressing the issue.

Jesus called false teaching the leaven of the Pharisees. We are to be careful what we eat. Jesus further states, "Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing." (Mt.7: 15). How can we know false prophets unless we make a judgement call based on the Word of God? If we know that there are false prophets, wouldn’t neglecting the examination of all teaching be opening up the sheep to the attacks of these "ravening wolves?" Only a wolf would want to protect others of his kind and not protect the sheep. Mature Christians live in the attitude of discernment because they love God’s word of truth above all else. And are willing to judge everything that comes along by what Jesus said (Heb.5:13-14). They do everything they can to avoid deception instead of thinking that it is an impossibility.

If we speak up about the heresies outside the Church it would be hypocritical not to speak of the same or similar teachings that occur inside. Which is more hazardous to your lawn: seeing weeds growing in your neighbors yard or your own? Yet we are to be more careful toward how we handle those in the body than those outside. It is to be done for the purpose of restoration, not condemnation. Yet, as many well know, having a meeting to address the people who speak these distortions is next to impossible. This is nothing new. The Apostle John neither ignored, nor loved those who taught falsely. "I wrote unto the church; but Diotrephes, who loveth to have the preeminence among them, receiveth us not." (3 Jn. 9). He related how this man had spoken against him "with malicious words." He persisted in false doctrine and wanted to be first among them exhibiting pride and self aggrandizement. (v. 10). John further admonished, "Beloved, do not imitate what is evil, but that which is good. He that doeth good is of God, but he that doeth evil hath not seen God " (v. 11). What was Diotrephes doing wrong? He would not let the apostle come to the Church and have a meeting with him. He became the first cult leader in the NT in the Church. John recommended Demitrius as a replacement for this controller of the Church. (v.12).

When the word "orthodox" was used in the past, it was in relation to the Apostles’ Creed. This was understood by everybody who called themselves a Christian. Most of the early church’s heresies were about the person of Christ and his coming in the flesh. One of these was gnosticism which was gaining spiritual knowledge through subjective experience. It was mystical, it was subjective and it was considered superior to the writings.

Montanism

The early Church knew what heresy was and certainly did not play "footsie" with it. They called such people as Marcion heretics. While I feel it is better to refrain from calling the individual this label (although it rightly is deserved at times), we should not refrain from calling a teaching heretical, if in fact it is.

From the early Church to today heresy has been expanded into many areas, not just regarding the person of Christ. Heresy disguises itself as God’s truth and oftentimes counterfeits are dressed up very well, sometimes seemingly more so than the truth. By this disguise they can walk into a Church and woo the people whose attention is on its appearance and not the content. We need to remember Satan tried to trick Jesus not by destroying truth, but by distorting it. He used the word of God but it was out of context and it was made to produce a wrong motive.

Should we now denounce Luther as "heresy hunter"? He had to oppose the doctrinal teaching of his day. He had integrity before God to stand firm, no wavering for "the truth of the gospel" (Col. 1:5). More than 1 million martyrs died to give us the religious freedoms we have today. They had to oppose wrong teaching and those who would want them to buckle under their leadership and control. Did they die in vain?

Today's Top Heretical Lineup in the Church has These Themes

Heresies about Revelation — Teachings that distort, deny, or add to Scripture by false claims to an apostolic or prophetic authority.

Heresies about God — Teachings that promote false gods or distort the true nature of God.

Heresies about Man— Teaching that we are everything that Jesus is and we have power and authority equal to or greater than His.

Heresies about Christ — Denials of His unique Lordship; His genuine humanity, and deity which is his true eternal identity, and his physical resurrection.

Heresies about Salvation —Denying the gospel which is centered on the atonement from Christ's death on the cross and his work for our salvation. Instead it is found in hell where he furthered suffered.

Heresies of Practice —Teaching legalism, putting people under the OT law or man made ones as if they are biblical and mandatory in practice.

The word heresy (Greek hairesis) is used several different ways in the NT. It is used to describe the Sadducees and Pharisees in their false teaching, and some professing Christ (Acts 5:17, 15:5, 24:14, 28:22). The word heresy is used to describe a division or schism within the body of Christ that harms it and that departs from sound doctrine (1Cor. 11:19; Gal. 5:20). It is used of doctrinal errors brought into the Christian Church by false teachers and false prophets among it (2 Pet. 2:1-3).

HERESY is

Divisive

Denying

Self Defining

Distorting

Departing

Deleting

Diabolical

Devilish-

Heresy begets heresy. It will birth more false teaching and teachers as children from a parent. It may not be noticeably harmful at first until it matures. Given enough time it can be just as damaging as cancer which begins with a single cell then eventually affects the whole body. Speaking of false teaching, Paul says, "a little leaven leavens the whole lump." Error dies a slow death. It must be dealt with swiftly as well as correctly or its cancer will spread like gangrene. As Jesus said to the Pharisees: they find a convert and make them twice the son of hell as they are.

It can be traced to the Father of Lies who is either personally involved or the person promoting it is operating from pride under the control of Satan's kingdom. The person can consciously know when they are teaching it or not know he is being used to promote it. - It is diabolical in its intent to deceive an individual, a group of people, or a local church by promising things God did not. (Eph.4:14-16). - It take away from the authority of Scripture and will often exalt a proponent's fresh word or revelation above it. - It departs from the context of the passage and is no longer a promotion of the truth as it was written.- It distorts the actual meaning in Scripture but will use the Scripture as proof for its interpretation.- It Avoids explaining itself and will define itself by its own standards, not God's.- It denies some essential truth that is important for a complete balanced view.- It has people separate from the apostles' teachings to practice to another's. was started by Montanus, a former pagan priest who believed that the Paraclete was still giving fresh revelation. Montanists were prophets with failed predictions. We can see this in operation in many of today's Charismatic, Pentecostal Churches. It is dubbed today as the "Rhema word" which overrides the written word. The Scripture puts emphasis on the logos not the rhema.