Heresy and Error, Part 3

24^th January 2025

John 8v31-32
To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, "If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."

In the last few weeks I've written about the existence of objective truth and the value of holding to Christ's teaching. Every word of the Bible is true, and believing it sets us free. Last week, we looked briefly at some of the more prevalent and damaging heresies. This week, I consider three areas of error. As I've said, there are many errors into which we can fall which do not have the seriousness of heresy, but are damaging nonetheless. As I've also said, good Christians disagree about these and other errors.

Before we look at each of these areas, let's be clear: the truth is not a matter of opinion. Truth is objective. Therefore, if two people disagree, at least one of them is wrong.

Women in church leadership

The place of women in church leadership is by no means the most important doctrinal question facing the church but, especially since the rise of feminism, it can be a very emotional one. Disagreement about it has caused great anguish to people on both sides. Catholics, the FIEC, the Brethren and some others that consider themselves to be among the most evangelical and Bible-believing churches believe that women cannot be elders/pastors of a local church. Most other churches believe they can.

Whatever view a Christian takes, that view must be based on an honest reading of the Bible. Whichever view is right, those who take to opposite view are doing much harm, because they have misunderstood (or, sometimes, ignored) the Bible.

Either the Bible teaches than women can be pastors and church elders, or it teaches that they cannot, or it is silent on the issue. If the Bible teaches that women can be pastors and elders, or if it is silent on the issue, then those who claim otherwise are unjustly restricting the activity of women, they are reducing the effectiveness of the church, by denying to women who are called by God to church leadership the opportunity to respond to that call, and they are guilty of Pharisaism, laying on people burdens that God has not laid on them.

On the other hand, if the Bible teaches that women cannot be church leaders, then those women who lead churches, and those people who encourage them to do so, are imposing on churches leaders that God has not called, and they are imposing on those women a call they cannot fulfil, and those women in leadership will one day stand before the Lord Jesus Christ who will tell them that they spent their lives doing what He had forbidden them to do.

Perhaps the best things each of us can do about this issue (and others) are:

1. Pray humbly, admitting to God that our current thinking may be wrong.
2. Give due weight to the traditional teaching of the church over its 2,000-year history (avoiding arrogance).
3. Investigate the possibility that what had become the majority view of the church was non-Biblical (as Luther did in the 16th century regarding justification and other doctrines).
4. Check our hearts to see if we are falling into the mistake of syncretism, allowing our pre-conversion world-view to prevent us reading the Bible with an open mind.
5. Check that we are not rejecting a doctrine simply because we can't see how it could be true.

Election

An second example of error (but not heresy) is regarding the doctrine of election. This is not nearly so emotional a disagreement as women in leadership, but it does lead to significant differences in our understanding of God and His purposes.

Some Christians believe that God has a plan for all of history, and He is working out that plan in every detail. They believe that everything that happens is part of God's plan, and thus the salvation of those who are saved is part of that plan. This means that God has planned for some people to be saved but not others, and that His plan will come into effect. This requires them to believe that some people cannot be saved; they were destined for destruction before they were born. They must believe that there is no such thing as chance; we merely use that word to describe phenomena that we can't predict but God can.

Other Christians believe that anybody can be saved. I think they have two reasons for this set of beliefs. The first is that they cannot accept that the sovereignty of God and human free will can coexist. The second is that they want to believe that everybody has a chance of being saved. This requires them to believe that God's plan is not specific, that there are things He does not foreknow. Thus it requires them to believe that God is not truly omniscient.

To find the truth, I would again suggest that we first pray, admitting to God that our current thinking may be wrong. Then we should study the Bible. We cannot appeal to the traditional teaching of the church, as the church has been divided on this issue for a very long time. We can examine ourselves to ensure that we base our beliefs on the words of the Bible, and not on a desire either to believe in a God who controls all things, or to believe everybody can be saved.

That is, we must believe what the Bible says, not what we want it to say. We all find this more difficult than we like to admit.

Infant Baptism

A third issue is whether the christening of an infant constitutes Christian baptism. Catholics, Anglicans, Methodists and most Presbyterians believe it does. Baptists, Pentecostals, New Frontiers and other "new" church movements believe it doesn't. This difference of belief has important consequences.

If infant baptism is genuine Christian baptism, then anybody who is baptised as an infant and later joins a church that takes the opposite view may want to be be baptised a second time. But Christian baptism can only occur once. Thus the second baptism is a sham.

On the other hand, if infant baptism is not Christian baptism then many Christian people have never been baptised, but think they have. If one believes, as I do, that baptism is a sacrament, a means of grace, a ceremony instituted by Christ to do us good, then this is a serious matter. Believing you've been baptised when you haven't will do you not good at all, and will prevent you receiving the blessing from God that baptism in intended to bestow.

How do we know what is the truth?

All these examples – women leaders, election and infant baptism – represent very real dangers for the serious Christian. We want to believe all the Bible and live in accordance with it. We know good Christian people disagree. We naturally prefer to believe that which will make our lives easier, which is generally whatever is the prevailing view, both inside the church and outside. We must guard against allowing our fleshly desire for comfort, popularity or human rationality to decide doctrinal questions. We should also guard against choosing the less popular view because it feels "spiritual" to go against the worldly grain. The truth should be our goal and our guide.

I repeat, the question should be "What is the truth?". If we hold to Christ's teaching, we are really His disciples. Then we will know the truth, and the truth will set us free. So it must be worthwhile to examine ourselves and our beliefs afresh to ensure, so far as we can, that we believe what the Bible actually says.