If you read a lot of articles on theology or if you belong to online theology groups, you’ve surely seen the words “heresy” and “heretics” tossed around, and aimed at fellow believers in Christ. Use of those terms creates a desired effect. It creates the idea that the accuser knows what they’re talking about, and that what they teach must be the truth. In other words, it’s used as a means to bolster one’s viewpoint over another. It’s a method used to create doubt about what’s being taught by someone else in order to create confidence by what the accuser believes or teaches. Don’t fall for it.
Within Christianity, differing doctrinal positions don’t normally mean that someone is teaching heresy. It’s simply a matter of interpretation. True heresy only relates to teaching that is contrary to the foundational teachings of the Christian faith, and taught by those who deny those teachings. In other words, these people are false teachers who are not part of the community of true followers of Christ—although many may claim to be Christians. However, that does not mean that there aren’t true Christians who teach heresy. But that’s only because they have a very basic understanding of the Scriptures, perhaps young in the faith. But generally speaking, heresy is normally applied to those who are not true believers.
There’s a big difference between actual heresy and misinterpretation by sincere Christians who are sincerely trying to understand the Bible—who are still growing in their understanding. It’s not easy. It takes a long time to learn God’s Word. It’s a growing and life-long process. Therefore, we should avoid calling someone a heretic within the Christian community. We must limit that title to unbelievers who teach non-Christian doctrines, such as what the cults are guilty of. While growing Christians and young Bible teachers may teach something that is incorrect, they should not be accused of being heretics. Heretics have a pattern of false teaching, and deny the fundamentals of the Christian faith. Thus, we must be careful not to accuse faithful followers of Christ of heresy whenever we read about a doctrinal position we don’t agree with.
Examples of heretical teaching:
Denial of the Trinity (that God exists in three Persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Not three Gods, but one God).
That God is a created being. That Jesus is a created being. That he Holy Spirit is a created being.
That there is more than one true God.
That salvation in Christ includes becoming a god, just like the true God we worship now (YHWH – YAHWEH). That we will be worshiped in the next life by a new class of created beings.
That Jesus was no more than a good and moral man, who taught some good things.
That the Holy Spirit is not a person, but merely an influence or force.
That Jesus was not born of a virgin.
That the shedding of Christ’s blood was not necessary to provide for our salvation.
That Jesus did not rise from the dead, or did not rise bodily.
That Jesus is only one way to God. That there are many saviors. That all religions lead to God if you’re sincere in your beliefs.
That everyone gets saved (universal salvation), including Satan and his demons. That one can believe in Jesus after death while in hell.
That we can get to Heaven on our own merits.
That the Bible only contains truth, but is not the written word of God.
That truth is fluid, that it’s ever changing and evolving and as God reveals it.
That the Bible was not written by God (except in the sense that God is Sovereign over all things), but merely by people who were struggling to understand the truth, and did the best they could to write what they understood at the time with the information they had.
All of those teachings are examples of true heresy and taught by true heretics. True heretics are enemies of the Christian faith. They reject the true Christ and historical Christianity. They may profess to be Christian and use Christian terminology, but terms must be defined by them. What they mean by them are not the same as what we mean by them. In regard to cults, they use Christian terminology in order to deceive, in order to lure you in. Examples of this would be Mormonism and Jehovah’s Witnesses. Also beware of Progressive Christianity, which is more subtle. All of these – and the like – are examples of false Christianity, and thus, true heresy.
With all of that in mind, we need to resist the temptation to accuse fellow believers in Christ of heresy. We need to keep in mind that Christians are at different levels of maturity and understanding of the Scriptures. We must be charitable toward one another, and present what we believe about the Bible in a loving and gracious manner, realizing that we’re all just trying to learn the Bible the best we can. We need to forsake pride and arrogance and mean-spirited language, while being patient toward one another.
Doctrinal discussion is not about winning debates. It’s about teaching and learning from one another out of genuine love for the truth and out of love for fellow Christians who are trying their best to learn the truth just as we are.
