Several years ago, a few months after my first book, Pentecostal Sacraments, was published, I received feedback from some of my Pentecostal colleagues who thought that I had written heresy. They thought so because I challenged views that were popular within the Pentecostal tribe. In fact, the book received good peer reviews. I shared some of the feedback with my mentor and friend, French Arrington. When I told him that some critics had suggested that it was heretical, he chuckled and said, “Dan, there’s a little heresy in all of us.”
Heresy is deviation from orthodoxy. Peter warned of “false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master…” (2 Peter 2:1 ESV). John warned that anyone who denies that Jesus is the Christ, or denies the Father and the Son is antichrist (1 John 2:22). Paul warned that slavery, sexual immorality and homosexuality, lying, and murder are contrary to sound doctrine (1 Timothy 1:9-10) and declared that those who distort the gospel, or proclaim another gospel, are to be accursed (Galatians 1:9). Heresy is no small matter.
Many heresies have their beginnings in misunderstanding the biblical text. The Judaizers in the apostolic church appealed to the authority of the Mosaic law in the Old Testament to insist that Gentiles who confessed faith in Christ, must also be circumcised and submit to the Law to be saved. Most of the ancient heretics believed in the authority of Holy Scripture. Arius, the heretical deacon who taught that God the Son was subordinate to the Father, appealed to the teaching of scripture to support his doctrine. Likewise, for hundreds of years Christians defended human slavery by appealing to the Bible.
Paul insists that preachers and teachers must prove themselves to be good students of Holy Scripture by “accurately handling the word of truth.” Otherwise, they will bring shame upon themselves, and their false teaching will lead to ungodliness and spread like gangrene in the church (2 Timothy 2:15-17). It’s not enough to believe in the Bible. We must practice a right reading of the Bible.
Arrington‘s statement was not meant to diminish the danger of heresy. Rather, that we should approach the study and interpretation of Holy Scripture with great humility. None of us are omniscient. Peter reminds us that the message of Scripture is not subject to individual interpretation (2 Peter 1:20). The only way to recognize heresy is to understand orthodoxy. Some well intentioned preachers and teachers have inadvertently proclaimed heresy, not because they were evil, but because they were uninformed. The ancient theologians were committed to maintaining the holy faith as received from the apostles. The ancient ecumenical creeds were not innovative, they reflected the historic tradition. In other words, the doctrines of Holy Trinity, and the divine-human nature of Jesus Christ, were not conceived in the fourth century; rather, they were inspired by the Holy Spirit in the minds of the apostles of the first century.
The foundation of orthodox doctrine is Holy Scripture properly interpreted. A sure path to heresy is to diminish the authority of Holy Scripture. The authority of Holy Scripture is diminished when hidden beneath multiple layers of interpretive traditions that distort the gospel. There are times when the church has lost its way, often because she deviated from the received faith. This requires a major theological course correction – the Reformation movements of the sixteenth century and the Pentecostal movements of the twentieth century are examples of such corrections. However, renewal movements must be carefully discerned, because they have sometimes offered the opportunity for revivals of ancient heresies, or the development of new heresies. Too often, good theology suffers from the inflated egos of bad theologians. Another path towards heresy is to place cultural or political contexts over the priority of Scripture and the universal truths of orthodox Faith. This is a favorite methodology of post modern theologians on the left and right who seek to deconstruct ancient truth in favor of innovative concepts that support their sociopolitical ideologies.
Also, we should be careful to discern that which is essential to the orthodox faith and the diverse opinions within orthodoxy. There are many theological traditions that hold to the ancient ecumenical creeds, and many Christian denominations who proclaim the common confession that Jesus Christ is Lord. Within orthodoxy there are wide divergences of opinions. For example, the ancient creeds declare that Jesus Christ will “come again in glory to judge the living and the dead.” Even so, there are wide divergences of opinion as to how that will happen. Christians should practice ecumenical grace, that is, we should seek to acknowledge our common faith and give room for vigorous but hospitable dialogue. The people of God consist of diverse tribes and tongues, various sociopolitical and historical contexts. We need to be diligent in making room at the table for all brothers and sisters in Christ.
