Thank the Lord for Heretics!
By Steve Brandon, July 2006

Throughout the history of the church, there have always been those who have deviated from the faith, which was “once for all delivered to  the saints” (Jude 3).

The apostle Paul knew many who failed to keep the faith.  For instance, he told of Hymenaus and Philetus, who had “gone away from  the truth” (2 Tim. 2:17-18).  He also mentioned a man named  Alexander, who suffered shipwreck in regard to his faith (1 Tim. 1:19- 20). 

These men didn’t catch Paul by surprise.  He told the elders at Ephesus that after he left them, “savage wolves will come in among  you, not sparing the flock” (Acts 20:29).  He also told Timothy that in  the later days, evil men and impostors will proceed from bad to worse,  deceiving and being deceived (2 Tim. 3:13).

After the times of the apostles, there were many others to follow these men.  There were the Nazarenes, the Ebionites, the Gnostics, and  the Nicolaitans.  There were those who followed Cerinthus, Basilides,  and Valentinus.  Their errors ranged from the character of Christ to the  scope of the canon, from the role of the law to the nature of salvation.

But, just as there are often roses among the thorns, there are often blessings in disguise that have come to the church through these heretics. God causes all things to work together for the good to those who love God and who are called  according to His purpose (Romans 8:28), even bringing heretics to the  church.  We ought to give thanks for these heretics.  For, it is precisely  because of their false beliefs, that the church has been forced to  better define her own beliefs.

When running a race, your fellow runners will often force you to run faster.  When a coach urges you on, you often try harder.  When you are paying for your gym membership, you will be  encouraged to exercise more often.  When a test will determine whether you receive an “A” or a  “B” for the class, you will be pressed to study harder.  In the same way, the heretics of the  church have always caused the church to work harder to define its own beliefs.  For this,  we have reason to give thanks to God.

Colossians
It was precisely because of the errors being taught in Colossae that Paul wrote the marvelous epistle that we have been studying at Rock Valley Bible  Church these past few months.  There were those in Colossae who were  teaching that Jesus was less than fully God.  There were those who were seeking to  supplement the work of Jesus with other religious works.  As a result of these teachings,  we have received one of the clearest statements in all of the Bible of the Deity of Jesus  Christ, “In Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form” (Col. 2:9).  Also, because of these false teachers, we have been taught of the sufficiency of Jesus Christ for our salvation, “In Him you have been made complete” (Col. 2:10).  Such statements simply wouldn’t have been made apart from the false teachers peddling their teachings in Colossae.  Thank the Lord for heretics!

The Canon
In the middle of the second century, a wealthy shop-owner named Marcion held false views about many things.  Whenever his ideas contradicted what the Scripture said, he simply disregarded that portion of Scripture.  The result was that he accepted only the gospel of Luke, and most of Paul’s epistles as Scripture.  His blatant denial of the authenticity of other books of the Bible caused those in the church to take a stand.  One theologian put it this way, “Marcion forced more orthodox Christians to examine their own presuppositions and to state more clearly what they already believed” (R. M. Grant as quoted in “The Canon of the New Testament,” by Bruce Metzger, p.99). Thank the Lord for heretics!

The Character of Christ
Perhaps no theological issue has spilled more ink than the debate over the nature of the person of Christ.  A man named Arius denied the Deity of Jesus Christ.  He claimed that Jesus was the first being created and that Jesus created all other things.  As one who professed belief in the Scripture, he would willingly acknowledge the special character of Jesus, even being willing to call him “like God,” but denied that Jesus was fully God.  For more than fifty years, this became the central issue of debate in the church.  The orthodox position was finally confirmed at the Council of Constantinople, “We believe ... in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all worlds, Light of Light, very God of very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father; by whom all things were made. ...”  Such an accurate clarification of the nature of Christ would not have been possible without the church being forced to refute those who believed otherwise.  Thank the Lord for heretics!

The Credibility of the Scriptures
Down through the ages, there have been many who would seek to deny the authenticity of Scripture.  In recent months, we have seen this take place on the popular level, with the release of The DaVinci Code book and movie.  Centuries ago, a man named Celsus hated the Christian religion with a passion.  Curiously, we owe a great debt to this man for demonstrating the antiquity of Scripture.  In the second century, Celsus wrote an extensive work entitled, “A True Discourse,” in which he sought to refute the Christian faith.  The irony of this work is that Celsus actually quotes from the New Testament writers about eighty times, which demonstrate the existence of the apostolic writings at an early date, not as a later invention.  In other words, a hater of Christianity has actually become one of the best sources to prove the credibility of the Scriptures.    Though Celsus was not properly a heretic (i.e. one who professes a faith in a redefined Jesus), we can still express our gratitude to God for him.  Thank the Lord for heretics!  ?