Audio Transcript
How do we identify and respond to false teachers — specifically, pastors who persistently teach false doctrine? We hope we never face this dilemma. But if we do, the Bible tells us exactly what to do. It’s the application of tomorrow’s Bible reading in today’s question from Devon.
“Pastor John, hello and thank you for this podcast. I’m seeking clarity on how to apply 2 John 10–11 in identifying and rejecting false teachers, particularly when it comes to pastors within a local church. I’m not in this situation now, thankfully, but I want to be prepared. The passage warns against even greeting those who do not bring the apostolic teaching, which raises serious concerns about continued association with a pastor who distorts or denies biblical truth. If a pastor persistently teaches false doctrine and the elders fail to act, does this mean the congregation is obligated to leave the church altogether? How do we distinguish between a pastor who is simply mistaken on secondary issues and one who falls into the category of a false teacher described in this passage? Additionally, what does it look like in practice to avoid, rebuke, or call out such a leader while still upholding biblical love and humility? I’d appreciate your wisdom on how to faithfully apply this passage in today’s church context.”
There really are three questions in that question, so I’ll take them one at a time. I thought I would pick one, but I think I can do all three briefly.
Must We Leave?
First, are we obligated to leave a church where a pastor persistently teaches false doctrine? And that question arises, like all the others do, out of 2 John 10–11, which says, “If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching [that’s crucial; we’ll come back to that], do not receive him into your house or give him any greeting, for whoever greets him takes part in his wicked works.”
The answer is pretty clear, I think, whether you stay in a church with a pastor doing this teaching. What is this teaching? Second John 7 defines what this teaching is. “Many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not confess the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh. Such a one is the deceiver and the antichrist.”
This false teaching has sometimes been called Gnosticism, but what’s clear is that the false teaching denied that the Christ came in the flesh. It denied the incarnation: “Jesus was not the incarnation of the Christ, the Son of God.” And John says this is so serious that we should not do anything that participates in this evil teaching.
So, I think it is right to say that worshiping week after week under such a ministry would be wrong. If proper steps to change the leadership fail, then yes, it is right to leave a church where that kind of teaching, that level of seriousness, is prominent or is present.
Is the Gospel Safe?
That leads now to the second question: How do we distinguish between a pastor who is simply mistaken on secondary issues and one who falls into the category of a false teacher described in 2 John?
Let me suggest one basic criterion for serious false teaching, with four applications — four places where you can see it manifesting itself. The basic criterion would go like this: To the degree that a doctrine or a practice tends to undermine the gospel of salvation, to that degree should you treat it as very serious false teaching.
“Hindering people from being saved is an attack on the glory of God.”
And I use the term “gospel of salvation” consciously because that’s what the gospel is for. The gospel is “the power of God for salvation” (Romans 1:16). So, to undermine the gospel of salvation is to hinder people from being saved. That’s serious. And since God saves people for the glory of his grace, hindering people from being saved is an attack on the glory of God — and that’s serious.
Now, there are four applications of this basic criterion for how to discern very serious false teaching, and I would name them Christ, cross, faith, and Christian life.
Christ
Here’s what I mean. Any view of Christ that undermines his capacity to save sinners is a serious false teaching. In 2 John, the false teachers were denying that the Christ came in the flesh. That undermined the reality of his bodily suffering and death, and that undermined salvation. So, any view of Christ that hinders our understanding of his death, resurrection, and capacity to save sinners as the incarnate, divine Son of God is going to be a very serious false teaching.
Cross
Second, the cross. Any view of the cross that undermines Christ’s finished achievement there — in being the wrath-bearing, substitute punishment for sinners — would undermine salvation. Christ died to save sinners. That’s at the heart of the gospel. To distort or deny what Christ did, or what happened on the cross, is serious.
Faith
Third, faith. We are justified by grace alone through faith alone, apart from works of the law (Ephesians 2:8–9; Romans 3:28; Galatians 2:16). If salvation is turned into something that comes to us by works or by sacraments, that is a very serious mistake. Salvation is at stake not only in how Christ provided it but also in how we receive it: by grace through faith.
Christian Life
Fourth, the Christian life. Paul said, “Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God” (1 Corinthians 6:9–10). In other words, they will not be saved.
Therefore, if a teacher says that these behaviors don’t matter or are good, such as greed or drunkenness or practicing homosexuality, that teaching is a very serious error — because it’s hindering people from being saved by encouraging them to do what keeps them out of the kingdom of God. So, the Christian life matters.
In summary, then, that’s one basic criterion for determining how false teaching can be very serious — namely, to the degree that a doctrine or a practice tends to undermine the gospel of salvation, it is a very serious error. And that error can show itself in wrong views of Christ, wrong views of the cross, wrong views of faith, or wrong views of the Christian life.
How Should We Respond?
The third question that Devon asks is this: What does it look like to deal with such a leader, a false-teaching leader, while upholding biblical love and humility?
Interestingly, 2 John 6 points to a striking connection between love and false teaching: “This is love, that we walk according to his commandments.” Then 2 John 7 begins with the word for or because, and says, “[Because] many deceivers have gone out into the world.”
“Loving one another in the church is a strong antidote to false teaching.”
When it says to love one another according to the commandments because a lot of deceivers have gone out into the world, it means that the danger of false teaching is a motivation for the church to guard its love for one another. Or to say it another way, loving one another in the church is a strong antidote to false teaching. Love one another because many false teachers, many deceivers, have gone out into the world.
Now, I know that’s not exactly the question that Devon asked — but it is right there in the text, and it’s worth noting. Biblical love among Christians protects us from unbiblical teaching.
More to Devon’s point, that same love will guide them in how they deal with the false teachers.
- Love is patient, so they will not have short fuses but seek to correct with patience.
- Love rejoices in the truth, so they will not rejoice in theological combat but in the greatness and beauty of the truth that they contend for.
- Love is not arrogant, but humble, so they will defend the truth for Christ’s sake and not to prop up their ego.
- Love does no wrong to a neighbor (even a false-teaching neighbor), and therefore, love desires no harm for the false teacher, but reconciliation in the truth.
But love does know that not only is the false teacher to be loved — so are the sheep in the flock to be loved, and so is the Savior to be loved. Therefore, for the sake of the glory of Christ and for the good of the flock, love will know how to take a firm stand.
