"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)

As one who is not afraid to challenge tradition, ask questions, and seek answers which satisfy my conscientious study of God’s word, I have occasionally been charged with teaching heresy. That may shock you - it is certainly unsettling to me. Nevertheless, it has caused me to start a one man crusade to teach believers just what biblical heresy is. By the time you finish reading this, I trust you will agree that I am not a heretic.

The Greek word from which we transliterate heresy is hairesis which means a party spirit or sectarian manner. It has the idea of disunion or being factious. In spite of that very clear meaning, the word became polluted over time. I won’t take the space here to give you the historical account, but it will be clear to most readers that we now take heresy to be adhering to and/or teaching that which is contrary to the teaching of "the church".

The word appears nine times in the New Testament. Depending on your translation, you will usually find it rendered sect or faction except in the Peter passage above. If you read the history of "heresy" you may agree with me that the word has been transliterated here to support the tradition of the church rather than to accurately communicate. When translators want to hedge, it is always a safe choice to transliterate a word and let the powers that be dictate what it means, but that’s another story.

Our problem is that believers can’t even agree on who or what the church is so arriving at truth on even the most basic matters can be problematic. The true heresy that exists is the sectarian spirit of modern denominationalism. I know there are those who believe they are not a denomination, but it is time to quit playing games, and realize that when a group sets itself apart from other believers on the basis of its interpretation of scripture, it is a denomination. It is sectarian. It is biblically, heretical.

That is not to say that we cannot or should not assemble regularly with people who share our understanding. However, we must not have an attitude of being the only people of God and our lives should demonstrate a willingness to engage believers who disagree with us. We are all in error, and unless we study with those who disagree with our present understanding we will never recognize our error. Division hampers the growth process.

I’ve stated before that the Bible wasn’t written to us and that is true. However, it should be obvious that there are many things which do apply to us and we should be careful to heed them.

A most important matter is our being the answer to Christ’s prayer in John 17, especially verses 20-21 "I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word; that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me."

Brothers and sisters, we believe in Christ because of the word of those who first proclaimed the gospel message. This prayer is for us. We have a unity in Christ by virtue of our faith, and we should not allow our traditions to divide us. We must be faithful to our conscience, but we must not transgress God’s word in the process. If we think we see a conflict between the two, we've messed up somewhere.

When we stand as one, Christ is believed by the world and the kingdom of God flourishes. Unfortunately, believers rarely stand as one until times of hardship and persecution force them to see each other as allies instead of enemies.

Dividing ourselves and refusing to fellowship those of other traditions is sinful. The only test of fellowship is our faith in Christ and our commitment to understand His truth and obey it. People in every denomination (as well as those who have abandoned the institutional church) can meet this test and we should not be afraid to embrace them in fellowship.

I’m not suggesting an anything goes free-for-all here, but I pray that the walls which so divide us will come down and allow us to learn from one another and grow in grace. Those who continue to erect walls of separation among believers are guilty of heresy. God’s word teaches no such division.

It is ironic, that the very people who carelessly use the word "heresy" are frequently the ones who are guilty of it! They denounce the understanding of others who disagree with them and urge others not to fellowship them. The disagreement isn’t heresy, but division over it is.

I don’t seek to divide believers, but to unite them in practice as they are in faith. We should not fellowship those who are living in rebellion against the royal law, but denying fellowship because of honest differences of interpretation is unloving and harmful to us all.

By now, I hope it is clear that I am not a heretic! I am certainly wrong on some issues - we all are. When I come to believe I am wrong on an issue, I change. Conscience demands that I embrace and act upon that by which I am convicted. Duty allows me no other course.

There are those who insist that a fulfilled view of biblical eschatology is heresy, indeed "a damnable heresy".* What they mean is that it doesn't agree with their interpretation of scripture and they won't countenance those who adhere to that view.

It is incredible that we who maintain God was faithful to His word are classified as heretics while they, professing that God failed to do what He intended, consider themselves orthodox! Like the Pharisees of old, they love their tradition and they will castigate any who question their authority. In days past, they would have burned us at the stake. Sadly, some still would.

* R. C. Sproul, Jr. commenting on the preterist position. To the contrary, his father says studying this view has so impacted his view of scripture that he can never read it the same way again. Maybe one of these days Junior will gain the wisdom of his father.

© Copyright 2003 ~ Jim Wade