What's the difference between a heretic and false teacher?
Feb 2, 2022 9:59:55 GMT -5
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Post by Cindy on Feb 2, 2022 9:59:55 GMT -5
People tend to throw out the label of "false teacher" these days quite freely, as well as the label of heretic, so I thought it would be a good idea for us to understand when it would be right to use those labels and when it wouldn't. Here's what some respected Pastors say about this.
by David A. Huston
To teach something that does not square 100% with the Scriptures does not necessarily make a person a false teacher or a heretic. Anyone can be mistaken. We are all learning and growing, or so we hope. I know that I believe things today that I was unaware of or mistaken about just a few years back. But I am not trying to take advantage of other people’s weaknesses or enrich myself at their expense. This is not to say that the dissemination of error is a minor matter. Every believer ought to have a Berean spirit, searching the Scriptures daily to see whether the things he is being taught are true. Teachings which are false must be corrected for the sake of maintaining the apostles’ doctrine.
A teacher who is sincerely mistaken can be distinguished from one who is a genuine false teacher by whether or not he has an Apollos spirit. Even though this teacher was “an eloquent man and mighty in the Scriptures...being fervent in spirit,” his doctrine was incomplete. But when Aquila and Priscilla “took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately,” he immediately corrected his message (Acts 18:24-26). This demonstrated the sincerity and humility of his heart.
www.gloriouschurch.com/html/Heresy-vs-False-Doctrine.asp
SPROUL: When is a false teacher a false teacher? It’s when he teaches falsehood.
MOHLER: Amen. I would just add that I think there is in the New Testament a clear reservation of that title not just for one who teaches falsely but for one who is uncorrectable and who resists correction.
Apollos was a false teacher. But when he was taught how to preach a better way, how to be more faithful to Scripture, he was corrected (Acts 18:24-28).
So there’s a difference between a false teaching and a false teacher. Because just about any preacher, especially one who is just starting out, is going to teach something that’s false. That’s quite different than being a false teacher: uncorrected and uncorrectable.
SPROUL: We all err. Calvin said no theologian is ever more than eighty percent right. The problem is we don’t know which that twenty percent is. And then for some of us it’s fifty or sixty percent.
MACARTHUR: I think we need to say that there are some absolutely non-negotiable truths that you are false to teach: if you deny the Trinity, if you deny the deity of Christ, if you deny His sinless life and substitutionary death, salvation by grace through faith, the gospel. That’s the drivetrain of truth, saving truth. Those are not negotiable. You can misunderstand baptism or something like that.
SPROUL: Those we call errors, not heresies. There’s a difference between error and heresy. Heresy is something that strikes at the very heart of the gospel and of the truth.
www.ligonier.org/learn/qas/how-to-define-a-false-teacher
This is from one of my commentaries:
A heretic is someone who opposes the cause of Christ, and thereby becomes a stumbling block to the salvation of souls. Any theory or theological view which does not interfere with the basic doctrine of salvation by grace through faith is not heresy, though it may be doctrinal error.
The bottom line is that every teacher and pastor makes mistakes at times and that does not make them a false teacher. A false teacher is someone who consistently teaches error about something that is not a core doctrine; has been (privately) told it's wrong and had the truth explained, but refuses to repent and continues to teach it. A heretic is someone who consistently teaches error about a core doctrine; has been (privately) told it's wrong and had the truth explained, but refuses to repent and continues to teach it erroneously.
by David A. Huston
To teach something that does not square 100% with the Scriptures does not necessarily make a person a false teacher or a heretic. Anyone can be mistaken. We are all learning and growing, or so we hope. I know that I believe things today that I was unaware of or mistaken about just a few years back. But I am not trying to take advantage of other people’s weaknesses or enrich myself at their expense. This is not to say that the dissemination of error is a minor matter. Every believer ought to have a Berean spirit, searching the Scriptures daily to see whether the things he is being taught are true. Teachings which are false must be corrected for the sake of maintaining the apostles’ doctrine.
A teacher who is sincerely mistaken can be distinguished from one who is a genuine false teacher by whether or not he has an Apollos spirit. Even though this teacher was “an eloquent man and mighty in the Scriptures...being fervent in spirit,” his doctrine was incomplete. But when Aquila and Priscilla “took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately,” he immediately corrected his message (Acts 18:24-26). This demonstrated the sincerity and humility of his heart.
www.gloriouschurch.com/html/Heresy-vs-False-Doctrine.asp
SPROUL: When is a false teacher a false teacher? It’s when he teaches falsehood.
MOHLER: Amen. I would just add that I think there is in the New Testament a clear reservation of that title not just for one who teaches falsely but for one who is uncorrectable and who resists correction.
Apollos was a false teacher. But when he was taught how to preach a better way, how to be more faithful to Scripture, he was corrected (Acts 18:24-28).
So there’s a difference between a false teaching and a false teacher. Because just about any preacher, especially one who is just starting out, is going to teach something that’s false. That’s quite different than being a false teacher: uncorrected and uncorrectable.
SPROUL: We all err. Calvin said no theologian is ever more than eighty percent right. The problem is we don’t know which that twenty percent is. And then for some of us it’s fifty or sixty percent.
MACARTHUR: I think we need to say that there are some absolutely non-negotiable truths that you are false to teach: if you deny the Trinity, if you deny the deity of Christ, if you deny His sinless life and substitutionary death, salvation by grace through faith, the gospel. That’s the drivetrain of truth, saving truth. Those are not negotiable. You can misunderstand baptism or something like that.
SPROUL: Those we call errors, not heresies. There’s a difference between error and heresy. Heresy is something that strikes at the very heart of the gospel and of the truth.
www.ligonier.org/learn/qas/how-to-define-a-false-teacher
This is from one of my commentaries:
A heretic is someone who opposes the cause of Christ, and thereby becomes a stumbling block to the salvation of souls. Any theory or theological view which does not interfere with the basic doctrine of salvation by grace through faith is not heresy, though it may be doctrinal error.
The bottom line is that every teacher and pastor makes mistakes at times and that does not make them a false teacher. A false teacher is someone who consistently teaches error about something that is not a core doctrine; has been (privately) told it's wrong and had the truth explained, but refuses to repent and continues to teach it. A heretic is someone who consistently teaches error about a core doctrine; has been (privately) told it's wrong and had the truth explained, but refuses to repent and continues to teach it erroneously.
!!
