Be On Your Guard

“Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves” (Matt 7:15).

The enemy is among us. The Bible has a lot to say about false teachers. It’s a major topic in 2 Peter, Jude, Galatians, and the Pastorals, but it comes up in almost every New Testament book. Jesus called them “wolves in sheep’s clothing;” Paul called them “savage wolves” who would try to draw away disciples (Acts 20:29-30). Jude called them “shepherds who feed only themselves” (v12).

This isn’t just advice or a warning, it’s a command. Jesus tells us to be vigilant because these people are destructive. They tell people what they want to hear (2Tim 4:3-4). They may create legalistic rules (1Tim 4:1-5) leading to self-righteousness, or they may tell people there are no rules, that they can live however they want (Jude 1:4). Perhaps they’ll get us distracted by godless myths or foolish arguments (2Tim 2:23). Whatever they’re doing, they’re not building up the church. They’re misleading believers for their own profit (2Pet 2:3).

How do we detect these people? Jesus said to look at their lives (Matt 7:16). Yes, “don’t judge self-righteously”, but look at their lives. Pastors are supposed to be examples of living the Christian life well: “above reproach, faithful to his wife, temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not given to drunkenness, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money” (1Tim 3:2-3). A pastor who’s got a wife and a girlfriend, a hot temper, or seems intent on getting rich should be immediately suspect.

That doesn’t mean everyone who sins is a false teacher. Because we all sin, there is no pastor who doesn’t sin, but there is a difference between saints struggling against the flesh and sinners wallowing in it.

Another thing to look for is the gospel they preach. Paul said, “even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let them be under God’s curse!” (Gal 1:8). There is one gospel. Anyone trying to “improve” on that gospel is a false teacher.

That doesn’t mean people who attempt to contextualize the gospel. It is necessary to explain the gospel in ways that make sense to different cultures. We’re talking about people who add or subtract from the gospel of Jesus. In the NT era, some were teaching you couldn’t be saved without being circumcised; others said you could be saved without turning away from your old sins. Both were false gospels.

And that reveals the problem with false teachers: The concern isn’t doctrinal purity for purity’s sake; false teachers lead people into sin and away from Christ. They preach a false gospel and a false Christ. They lead people into hell.

That’s the distinction between a “false teacher” and a teacher you think makes doctrinal errors. It’s easy to exaggerate the difference between the various Christian denominations. We really do all agree about the fundamentals. But the differences are real: Baptists think Lutherans are wrong about several things, and Lutherans think Baptists are wrong about those things. However, they are not disagreeing about the gospel.

Paul said, “The time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear” (2Tim 4:3). We are in such a time. Be on your guard. Don’t be deceived. Protect the lost from those who would preach a false gospel.


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