The Credential

I recently wrote about false teachers, their certain presence among us, and some of the signs to look for. Turns out I wasn't emphatic enough on a very clear one, and it comes right out of Scripture. The problem is, it is easy to miss because of our chapter breaks ... which are not biblical.

If you look at 2 Peter 1, Peter is writing about how we can know the truth about Christ (2 Peter 1:16-21). He insists it's not some "cleverly devised tales," but he's giving actual eyewitness testimony. He goes on to say that the Word is now more sure (2 Peter 1:19) because of his eyewitness account. "The Word" he's talking about there is our Old Testament -- especially the prophetic parts. He says,

But know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one's own interpretation, for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God. (2 Peter 1:20-21)

Peter here confirms what Paul claimed -- that God (the Spirit) breathed (2 Tim 3:16) or moved men to speak for God. It's not man-made. Now, here we encounter a problem. The chapter ends. Without the chapter break, the next sentence would be, "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" (2 Peter 2:1). That "but" is a contrast term and "also" indicates "along with the prophetic Word." We have a contrast. We have the Word -- sure, God-made, reliable -- and we have false prophets and false teachers. In contrast to the sure Word, they introduce destructive heresies. Heresies are those things in opposition to the Word. They are destructive. And they are rampant.

It is this "but" and "also" that give us this additional characteristic of the false teacher that we need to watch for. We have the Word -- God-made -- and we have those who deviate from the Word. "Because of them," Peter writes, "the way of the truth will be maligned" (2 Peter 2:2). Which, as it happens, is precisely what we see today. The culture maligns biblical Christianity because of the lies. Now, notice one other thing that might help. It says false teachers "introduce destructive heresies." You see, we started with the truth. We have a "faith which was once for all handed down to the saints" (Jude 1:3). So you will find these heresies in the deviations from the original rather than in the "corrections" to the original. They're not offering you a better way; they're offering destruction. So if you know the original -- if youre intimate with Scripture -- you're going to be better off in sighting the new.