A Biblical Guide to (Not?) Calling Out False Teachers

“You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape being condemned to hell?” -Jesus Christ in Matthew 23:33

“Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge? God judges those on the outside. Remove the evil person from among you.” -The Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 5:11-13

"Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness." -James 3:1

Have you told someone: “judge not!” or “don’t touch God’s anointed!” when they criticized a particular Bible teacher, pastor, or authority figure? Do you think that Christians should accept everybody’s opinion as equally valid, as long as their “heart is in the right place?” Do you believe that when a person has a specific theological belief it’s a personal matter that should be kept “between themselves and God?” Do you think that a person automatically invalidates their ideas if they “don’t seem very loving?”

After all, nobody wants to be this person, right?…

Well, here are some verses from the Bible to give clarity to this issue:

Here’s how Jesus responded to the Teachers of the Law and the Pharisees (the hypocritical religious leaders of His day):

“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the door of the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to. 

Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when you have succeeded, you make them twice as much a child of hell as you are.

Woe to you, blind guides! You say, ‘If anyone swears by the temple, it means nothing; but anyone who swears by the gold of the temple is bound by that oath.’ You blind fools! Which is greater: the gold, or the temple that makes the gold sacred? You also say, ‘If anyone swears by the altar, it means nothing; but anyone who swears by the gift on the altar is bound by that oath.’ You blind men! Which is greater: the gift, or the altar that makes the gift sacred? Therefore, anyone who swears by the altar swears by it and by everything on it. And anyone who swears by the temple swears by it and by the one who dwells in it.  And anyone who swears by heaven swears by God’s throne and by the one who sits on it.

Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cumin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former. You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel.

Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean.

Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean.  In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.

Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You build tombs for the prophets and decorate the graves of the righteous. And you say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our ancestors, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’ So you testify against yourselves that you are the descendants of those who murdered the prophets. Go ahead, then, and complete what your ancestors started!

You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape being condemned to hell? Therefore I am sending you prophets and sages and teachers. Some of them you will kill and crucify; others you will flog in your synagogues and pursue from town to town. And so upon you will come all the righteous blood that has been shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Berekiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. Truly I tell you, all this will come on this generation.

Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing. Look, your house is left to you desolate. For I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’”

-Matthew 23:13-39

Lesson: Jesus was very angry with the religious leaders because they were adding to God’s Word a bunch of extra rules that made them the “special anointed ones” who alone had access to God. Jesus called them every nasty name in the book because they were hypocrites who had no need for God’s mercy; they believed they were living sinless lives and had earned the favor of God (and they demanded that the “regular people” treat them as religious celebrities). They didn’t care to serve the people-they wanted to show off to the people.

Jesus made this really clear in the beginning of His angry speech:

“Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples: ‘The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. So you must be careful to do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach. They tie up heavy, cumbersome loads and put them on other people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them.’” -Matthew 23:1-4

Here is another passage where we see Jesus acting in a way that might seem “unloving” and “too judgmental” by today’s standards:

“The Passover of the Jews was near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. And He found in the temple those who were selling oxen and sheep and doves, and the money-changers seated at their tables. And He made a scourge of cords, and drove all out of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen; and He poured out the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables; and to those who were selling the doves He said, “Take these things away; stop making My Father’s house a place of business.” His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for Your house will consume me.” The Jews then said to Him, “What sign do You show us as your authority for doing these things?” Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” The Jews then said, “It took forty-six years to build this temple, and will You raise it up in three days?” But He was speaking of the temple of His body. So when He was raised from the dead, His disciples remembered that He said this; and they believed the Scripture and the word which Jesus had spoken.

Now when He was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed in His name, observing His signs which He was doing. But Jesus, on His part, was not entrusting Himself to them, for He knew all men, and because He did not need anyone to testify concerning man, for He Himself knew what was in man.” -John 2:13-25

Here’s another occasion where Jesus (violently) clears out the temple:

“Then they came to Jerusalem. And He entered the temple and began to drive out those who were buying and selling in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who were selling doves; and He would not permit anyone to carry merchandise through the temple. And He began to teach and say to them, “Is it not written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations’? But you have made it a robbers’ den.” The chief priests and the scribes heard this, and began seeking how to destroy Him; for they were afraid of Him, for the whole crowd was astonished at His teaching.” -Mark 11:15-18

Notice that the chief priests and the scribes “were afraid of Him, for the whole crowd was astonished at His teaching?” This is not the meek and harmless Jesus that is depicted so often today. The category of people that get into trouble with Jesus are those who believe they’ve earned favor with God, and who want to profit from their position as religious leaders. Jesus called out the false teachers who believed themselves to be righteous leaders when they were nothing of the sort. He couldn’t let their false teaching prevent people from receiving the gracious gift of salvation that comes from simple faith as a pure gift from God. To be “nice” to these religious leaders would mean that their false teaching would keep people in bondage.

Here’s another Bible passage where Jesus sounded, well, kind of judgmental, narrow-minded and mean…

“Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes nor figs from thistles, are they? So every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a bad tree produce good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. So then, you will know them by their fruits.

Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. Many will say to Me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?' And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from me, you who practice lawlessness.'” -Matthew 7:15-23

In that passage we hear Jesus clearly telling us to “beware of false prophets, who come to us in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves.” Shouldn’t we take Jesus at His word? To assume that everyone who claims to be a true prophet actually is a true prophet would be disobeying the Lord Himself.

“Hey! I don’t like where this article is going!”

Notice that this applies to people who perform all sorts of miraculous deeds in the name of Jesus?

Jesus did not like it when people demanded to “see a sign” from Him because He knew that they were filled with unbelief. No matter what He would have said (or done) they refused to believe in Him. A lack of belief was the problem, not a lack of miracles!

"Then some of the Pharisees and teachers of the law said to him, ‘Teacher, we want to see a sign from you.’ He answered, ‘A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a sign! But none will be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. The men of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and now something greater than Jonah is here.’ -Matthew 12:38-41

But some will say that, yes, Jesus could speak with such certainty because He was God, but since no one else is God, no one else should ever speak that way. They would say now that we’re all part of the Christian church we should just agree to get along in spite of any differences we might have.

The Bible does not speak this way. Specifically, the Apostles (who wrote the New Testament) did not speak this way at all. And we’re not even going to get into the way the Old Testament describes false prophets, for the time being.

A great deal of what is written in the Bible exposes and corrects false teaching!

“That’s some good stuff right there!” -The Apostle Paul

The Apostle Paul wrote (“judgmental,” “mean-spirited,” and “narrow-minded”) stuff like this:

“Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood. I know that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves men will arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them. Therefore be on the alert, remembering that night and day for a period of three years I did not cease to admonish each one with tears.” -Acts 20:28-31

“For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. No wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. Therefore it is not surprising if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness, whose end will be according to their deeds.” -2 Corinthians 11:13-15

“I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel; which is really not another; only there are some who are disturbing you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed! As we have said before, so I say again now, if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, he is to be accursed! Am I now trying to win the approval of human beings, or of God? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ.” -Galatians 1:6-10

“This was an issue because of the false brothers, who slipped in under false pretenses to spy on the freedom we have in Christ. Their goal was to make us slaves. We refused to give in to them even for a moment, so that the truth of the Gospel would continue with you.” -Galatians 2:4-5

“Now I urge you, brethren, keep your eye on those who cause dissensions and hindrances contrary to the teaching which you learned, and turn away from them (mark and avoid them). For such men are slaves, not of our Lord Christ but of their own appetites; and by their smooth and flattering speech they deceive the hearts of the unsuspecting. For the report of your obedience has reached to all; therefore I am rejoicing over you, but I want you to be wise in what is good and innocent in what is evil.” -Romans 16:17-19

“Unlike so many, we do not peddle the word of God for profit. On the contrary, in Christ we speak before God with sincerity, as those sent from God.” -2 Corinthians 2:17

“Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. Therefore do not be partakers with them; for you were formerly darkness, but now you are Light in the Lord; walk as children of Light (for the fruit of the Light consists in all goodness and righteousness and truth), trying to learn what is pleasing to the Lord. Do not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but instead even expose them; for it is disgraceful even to speak of the things which are done by them in secret. But all things become visible when they are exposed by the light, for everything that becomes visible is light.” -Ephesians 5:6-13

“But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of a brother if he is guilty of sexual immorality or greed, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or swindler-not even to eat with such a one. For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge? God judges those on the outside. Remove the evil person from among you." -1 Corinthians 5:11-13

“For there are many rebellious men, empty talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision, who must be silenced because they are upsetting whole families, teaching things they should not teach, for the sake of sordid gain.” -Titus 1:10-11

“Do not let anyone who delights in false humility and the worship of angels disqualify you. Such a person also goes into great detail about what they have seen; they are puffed up with idle notions by their unspiritual mind.” -Colossians 2:18

Now here are some things that the Apostle Peter wrote:

“For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God; and if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God?” -1 Peter 4:17

“But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will also be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves. Many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of the truth will be maligned; and in their greed they will exploit you with false words; their judgment from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.” 2 Peter 2:1-3

“Regard the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as also our dear leader Paul wrote to you, according to the wisdom that was given to him. He spoke about these things the same way in all of his letters. There are some matters that are hard to understand in his letters, which the ignorant and unstable distort, as they also do with the other Scriptures, to their own destruction.” -2 Peter 3:15-16

Now here are some things that James wrote:

"Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness." -James 3:1

“My brothers, if anyone among you wanders away from the truth and someone turns him back, let it be known that the one who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.” -James 5:19-20

Now here are some things that the Apostle John wrote:

“Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.” -1 John 4:1

“For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh. This is the deceiver and the antichrist. Watch yourselves, that you do not lose what we have accomplished, but that you may receive a full reward. Anyone who goes too far and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God; the one who abides in the teaching, he has both the Father and the Son. If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house, and do not give him a greeting; for the one who gives him a greeting participates in his evil deeds.” -2 John 1:7-11

Just about the entire book of Jude is written to correct false teachers! Here are just a few verses (and here’s a link to the whole tiny book):

“Beloved, while I was making every effort to write you about our common salvation, I felt the necessity to write to you appealing that you contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all handed down to the saints. For certain persons have crept in unnoticed, those who were long beforehand marked out for this condemnation, ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.” -Jude 3,4

In conclusion:

The Bible is God’s Word. The Bible is loaded full of warnings against false teachers and false teachings. The Bible even encourages us to name false teachers in order to warn others. Paul publicly rebuked Peter because Peter was denying the Gospel by going back to keeping the Jewish law!

• “But when Peter came to Antioch, I opposed him in public, because he was clearly wrong. Before some men who had been sent by James arrived there, Peter had been eating with the Gentile believers. But after these men arrived, he drew back and would not eat with the Gentiles, because he was afraid of those who were in favor of circumcising them. The other Jewish believers also started acting like cowards along with Peter; and even Barnabas was swept along by their cowardly action. When I saw that they were not walking a straight path in line with the truth of the gospel, I said to Peter in front of them all, ‘You are a Jew, yet you have been living like a Gentile, not like a Jew. How, then, can you try to force Gentiles to live like Jews?’” -Galatians 2:11-14

• “For Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world.” -2 Timothy 4:10

• “…which some have put away concerning faith have made shipwreck: Of whom is Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have delivered unto Satan, that they may learn not to blaspheme.” -1 Timothy 1:19-20

• “But avoid worldly and empty chatter, for it will lead to further ungodliness, and their talk will spread like gangrene. Among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus, men who have gone astray from the truth saying that the resurrection has already taken place, and they upset the faith of some.” -2 Timothy 2:16-18

Here’s the rest of that passage to wrap up this article:

“Nevertheless, the firm foundation of God stands, having this seal, ‘The Lord knows those who are His,’ and, ‘Everyone who names the name of the Lord is to abstain from wickedness.’

Now in a large house there are not only gold and silver vessels, but also vessels of wood and of earthenware, and some to honor and some to dishonor. Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from these things, he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified, useful to the Master, prepared for every good work. Now flee from youthful lusts and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart. But refuse foolish and ignorant speculations, knowing that they produce quarrels. 

The Lord’s bond-servant must not be quarrelsome, but be kind to all, able to teach, patient when wronged, with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition, if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, having been held captive by him to do his will.” -2 Timothy 2:19-26

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Here’s a really helpful video on this topic:

Mike Winger; Identifying False Teachers: Romans 16:17-19; May 7, 2018