Public Correction of False Teaching

Recently, a very highly influential and respected preacher posted on Facebook about being called out as a false teacher. Someone had spent a lot of time documenting what they believed was false teaching regarding the gospel from what he preached in many places. While I have not read the document (I don’t have access to it) and I currently have no reason to believe that this preacher is in fact a false teacher (and I really wouldn’t want to believe that about him), what I want to address in this article are the attitudes toward the whole idea of calling an evangelist out as a false teacher that many displayed in the comments of that post.

Most of those commenting have no idea what is in the document either, yet their reaction demonstrates some thinking that I have found to be common among brethren. Some were probably new Christians and can be excused because they haven’t matured to the point of understanding yet, but there were many who should definitely know better by now in their long walk with Christ.

It is right to love a brother and encourage them. Many of the comments indicated that they were praying about the situation, which is always appropriate. However, many went beyond that in what they thought was being supportive of this brother. The way we encourage our brethren should be guided by the word of God rather than our personal feelings and attachments to them. God is their judge as well as ours, so we will do well if we always encourage those we love in the ways of God rather than through flattery or dismissiveness of any criticism towards them.

First let’s look at something to explain why these things are so serious. The particular kind of false teaching that someone has been accused of in this instance is teaching a false gospel. This is not the kind of thing to ignore. Paul wrote in Galatians 1:8-9,

 8 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! 9 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! (NASB)

That’s serious language. Some of the commenters on the post were pointing out that Paul was accused of teaching a false gospel by others, but let’s be clear that the entire book of Galatians is him pointing out others as teaching a false gospel. It is necessary to point such things out, if it is true. One passage that helps us understand how God views such teaching is found in the Old Testament. Deuteronomy 13:6-11 says:

6 “If your brother, your mother’s son, or your son or daughter, or the wife you cherish, or your friend who is as your own soul, entice you secretly, saying, ‘Let us go and serve other gods’ (whom neither you nor your fathers have known, 7 of the gods of the peoples who are around you, near you or far from you, from one end of the earth to the other end), 8 you shall not yield to him or listen to him; and your eye shall not pity him, nor shall you spare or conceal him. 9 But you shall surely kill him; your hand shall be first against him to put him to death, and afterwards the hand of all the people. 10 So you shall stone him to death because he has sought to seduce you from the Lord your God who brought you out from the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. 11 Then all Israel will hear and be afraid, and will never again do such a wicked thing among you. (NASB)

Do you see how serious teaching that takes you away from God is? That’s what Paul says a false gospel does. He told the Galatians that they had “deserted” from the “one who called” them (Galatians 1:6). A false gospel presents a false god. We cannot separate the gospel from the character of God. It is serious. In Deuteronomy, they were commanded to expose the false teacher, whether it was their brother or their best friend. This was true, even if they were not teaching it publicly, but only in private. While Deuteronomy is not our law today, it does give an idea of how God thinks about these things. The command to expose false teaching and false teachers is found in the New Testament, with the difference that instead of stoning them to death, we keep from having fellowship with them.

Romans 16:17

17 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. (NASB)

2 John 1:9-11

9 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. 10 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; 11 for the one who gives him a greeting participates in his evil deeds. (NASB)

Not every claim regarding false teaching will be true, which is why we need to carefully investigate. This leads us to the first of the attitudes displayed toward such things that I want to address.

Let’s assume the other person must be wrong in what he wrote, even though we didn’t read it

Proverbs 18:17 - The first to plead his case seems right, Until another comes and examines him. (NASB)

It seems like we often forget this wisdom (myself included). Without knowing what is documented in the writeup about the false teaching, how can we know who is right? I have listened to one lesson by this preacher on the subject in question and I thought he did a fine job of clarifying what he was saying and was not teaching a false gospel, but he has preached in many, many places and I don’t know what he has taught anywhere else. Why should I assume that the person who actually took a long time to be careful in their research is the one who is wrong instead of me, who only listened to one sermon? They may very well be wrong, but that is not an assumption I should make.

A point we should consider is that a false gospel is a horrible thing that will take people to hell. We should never be quick to dismiss the claim that someone is teaching a false gospel, but be ready to investigate thoroughly before we come to a conclusion.

Matthew 18 demands going to the brother first

Another common idea that came up was that Jesus’ teaching in Matthew 18 requires someone to go privately to a false teacher to correct them before exposing them publicly. This would mean that Paul violated this teaching in Galatians 2:11-14, which says:

11 But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. 12 For prior to the coming of certain men from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles; but when they came, he began to withdraw and hold himself aloof, fearing the party of the circumcision. 13 The rest of the Jews joined him in hypocrisy, with the result that even Barnabas was carried away by their hypocrisy. 14 But when I saw that they were not straightforward about the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas in the presence of all, “If you, being a Jew, live like the Gentiles and not like the Jews, how is it that you compel the Gentiles to live like Jews? (NASB)

By the way, even though we can be confident that Cephas (Peter) repented of his false teaching that he taught through his actions, Paul still mentions him by name. If we have been a false teacher in the past, we should not be upset when someone mentions it. If we have repented, we will be quite happy to agree with all that is said about that situation.

But Paul didn’t violate Matthew 18, even though he rebuked Peter in front of everyone. Matthew 18 deals with sin that is not publicly known. The context makes it clear. If you are sinning in front of everyone, you can be rebuked in front of everyone. And false teaching (especially if it is a false gospel or teaching someone to sin), is sin and it is done publicly in front of everyone. So it should be corrected in front of everyone so all can see the problem with it.

What good is it to correct a preacher privately but leave everyone they taught believing the false teaching? If I preach something that would lead anyone to be lost, correct me right there and then in front of everyone, please! A desire for anything less, would demonstrate pride rather than a desire for all to be saved.

Any preacher who would spend so much time to point out another preacher as a false teacher must not be a good preacher and has too much time on his hands

I think I already mentioned that the entire book of Galatians was written to point out false teaching. While Paul was inspired by God and therefore could make things clear without directly quoting anyone, if we are to warn people of an influential brother who is teaching damaging things, we need to be careful to present it in such a way that we cannot be said to take things out of context (and we must make sure that we are not taking them out of context).

Unfortunately, this is a major responsibility of an evangelist, not a distraction from his work. While we often think that an evangelist’s main work is teaching the lost (that’s kind of what the name implies, right?), if you read through 1 & 2 Timothy and Titus, you will find almost nothing said about that. The main responsibility for an evangelist is to build up the church in the knowledge of Christ (Ephesians 4:11-16) and to stop the mouths of false teachers. 1 Timothy 1:3-7 says:

3 As I urged you upon my departure for Macedonia, remain on at Ephesus so that you may instruct certain men not to teach strange doctrines, 4 nor to pay attention to myths and endless genealogies, which give rise to mere speculation rather than furthering the administration of God which is by faith. 5 But the goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. 6 For some men, straying from these things, have turned aside to fruitless discussion, 7 wanting to be teachers of the Law, even though they do not understand either what they are saying or the matters about which they make confident assertions. (NASB)

Titus 1:9-14 says:

9 holding fast the faithful word which is in accordance with the teaching, so that he will be able both to exhort in sound doctrine and to refute those who contradict. (NASB)

10 For there are many rebellious men, empty talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision, 11 who must be silenced because they are upsetting whole families, teaching things they should not teach for the sake of sordid gain. 12 One of themselves, a prophet of their own, said, “Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons.” 13 This testimony is true. For this reason reprove them severely so that they may be sound in the faith, 14 not paying attention to Jewish myths and commandments of men who turn away from the truth. (NASB)

Doing what the Spirit commands evangelists to do does not make them poor evangelists. Perhaps some evangelists need to look at themselves and ask why they are not doing this part of their responsibility. I would hope that no evangelist enjoys this work. But it is absolutely necessary and commanded by God. Elders are also given this responsibility and you can see that the passage in Titus is actually first talking about elders as the ones who must refute those who contradict.

By the way, the fact that elders’ work is to watch out for the souls of those in their own congregation does not mean that they cannot talk to those souls about preachers in other congregations who have influence among them. Nor does it mean that they cannot send letters to other Christians to warn them. Think of the letter from the apostles and elders in Jerusalem that was sent out to deal with false teachers who came from Jerusalem (Acts 15:23). This in no way violates church autonomy.

Only prideful people will think they are supposed to point out error in others. Who made them the “watchman” or “guardian of truth”?

God did. See the previous point. Evangelists and elders are specifically given this work, but honestly, all Christians are responsible to watch out for themselves and others. This attitude is essentially the attitude of Cain when he asked God the rhetorical questions, “Am I my brother’s keeper?”

Philippians 2:4 says:

3 Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; 4 do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. (NASB)

Looking out for your interests and the interests of others must include the interest to be righteous before God, which false teaching cheats us out of (Colossians 2:18). If we think we should just allow false teachers to lead our brethren to hell and say nothing, how are we looking out for anyone’s interests or demonstrating love in any way?

It is cowardice to send out a document pointing out false teaching instead of dealing directly with the false teacher

Maybe. However, as we do not know the full story, we cannot make any such judgment. There are times when it is appropriate to simply call someone out in front of everyone, as Paul did Peter. In some cases, you may know that others have already studied with them and got nowhere in trying to help them change. Again, this may or may not apply the specific situation that inspired this article.

When you send out something like this, you can be certain you will receive backlash. It actually takes some backbone to publicly state that someone loved by thousands is a false teacher. Even if the person you are calling out responds with love and kindness, you can be sure than many others will not.

It is unloving to send out a document….

Maybe. Anything can be unloving if it is done without love. But the action itself does not tell us the motive behind it, and there is nothing unloving in the action of warning people of a false gospel that you believe is being publicly proclaimed among those you love. We must love the one we want to correct, but we must also love the many that he influences. Their souls matter too!

Someone who publicly calls someone a false teacher may be driven by jealousy

Maybe. But even if they are, that doesn’t invalidate any factual information they point out. We do not need to evaluate someone’s motives to evaluate their arguments. Paul spoke of those who had bad motives in their preaching. What he says in Philippians 1:15-18 is this:

15 Some, to be sure, are preaching Christ even from envy and strife, but some also from good will; 16 the latter do it out of love, knowing that I am appointed for the defense of the gospel; 17 the former proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition rather than from pure motives, thinking to cause me distress in my imprisonment. 18 What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed; and in this I rejoice. Yes, and I will rejoice, (NASB)

Paul’s attitude was the preaching the truth is a good thing, no matter the motives of the person who is doing it. Obviously, it is much better for someone to have good motives. It is better for them and for all that are influenced by them. But we cannot simply dismiss something as false because of the motives of the one presenting it. In fact, we often cannot know the motives and we should be very careful about jumping to conclusions that someone has evil motives, especially of those who are our brethren.

We’ve all made mistakes and been forgiven, why should a preacher’s mistakes be broadcast everywhere?

If your sins that affect other people are widely known, then repentance should also be widely known. A preacher’s “mistakes” when it comes to the truth of the gospel is public sin and must known publicly and repented of publicly. A preacher’s “mistakes” have been broadcast everywhere already. The correction should be broadcast as widely as the sin is known.

It’s one thing for a preacher to say that they have corrected things, but did they correct things with the ones they taught the false gospel to before? Denominational preachers who come to understand and obey the gospel of Christ typically go back to the people they were teaching before and try to correct what they were teaching previously. They recognize the damage that they have done by teaching a false gospel and want to help those they have hurt come to Christ in truth. If someone doesn’t want to go to the ones they taught before and tell them that they taught them something harmful, that means they either don’t love those people or their repentance is not honest and they don’t actually believe that what they were teaching is false.

One of the responsibilities of an evangelist is to be an example. Paul tell Timothy in 1 Timothy 4:12,

Let no one look down on your youthfulness, but rather in speech, conduct, love, faith and purity, show yourself an example of those who believe. (NASB)

In Titus 2:6-8, Paul tells Titus:

6 Likewise urge the young men to be sensible; 7 in all things show yourself to be an example of good deeds, with purity in doctrine, dignified, 8 sound in speech which is beyond reproach, so that the opponent will be put to shame, having nothing bad to say about us. (NASB)

I have heard preachers complain about being held to a “higher standard” than other Christians. If you don’t want to be held to a higher standard, you aren’t fit to be an evangelist. That’s the job. Can an elder complain about that, when such a huge part of his role is to be watched as an example? The preacher has this same responsibility. James warns us about it in James 3:1-2 that God holds teachers to a higher standard:

1 Let not many of you become teachers, my brethren, knowing that as such we will incur a stricter judgment. 2 For we all stumble in many ways. If anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to bridle the whole body as well.

We cannot hide behind the truth that “everyone makes mistakes.” We must take responsibility for our mistakes and do our utmost to teach the scriptures accurately. Evangelists are public figures within the church. There are those who decide they don’t want that or that they are not qualified for it and decide to serve the Lord in other ways. I cannot criticize that decision. At the same time, we need more evangelists, not fewer. But we need qualified men who take the instructions in 1 & 2 Timothy and Titus seriously.

As an evangelist, if I teach something that can lead anyone away from Christ or into sin, please correct me as publicly as necessary. I will do my best to do the same for you in love for both you and those who hear you.

My appeal to brethren in this articles is this: recognize that some teachings are truly dangerous and that God has placed a responsibility on all Christians, but evangelists and elders in particular to deal not only with those dangerous teachings, but also those who teach them. Please do not ascribe evil motives, cowardice, or lack of love to those who fulfill the commands of our Lord.