Combatting False Teachers

Identifying false teachers is important, but we must also know how to guard against their influence. We need to know what to do once we have identified them. How can we avoid being deceived by them? What can we do to combat them and their false teaching?

1. Watch Out/Be Ready  

Every book of the New Testament, except Philemon, has a reference to false teachers. If we are not keeping an eye out for them or think in some way we will never be affected by them, we are being foolish. Paul instructs the elders in Ephesus directly to be on guard (Acts 20:29-30). Then as Titus installs elders in Crete, Paul tells him this is one of their purposes (Titus 1:9).  

So rather than assume you might face off against false teachers occasionally, be on guard for them. In the same way that shepherds guard the flock against wolves, Elders must watch out for them in order to keep watch over the flock. Church leaders must be ready for them because they will come in from outside and rise up from within the church.
 

2. Teach/Learn Sound Doctrine

Along with Paul’s instruction to Titus that Elders must be ready to rebuke those who contradict sound doctrine, he says they must be able to teach sound doctrine. The greatest defense against a lie is the truth. We don’t have to know every lie that could be told; we need to know the one truth well, and church leaders must be able to teach it. 
So, we need leaders, local church elders specifically, who know the truth and teach it. We need to commit to and follow our local elders more than we commit and follow the many teachers/leaders the blogosphere provides (Heb 13:17).  

We can know and be known by local Elders. We can better discern what they teach and the fruit their teaching produces. We can see the character of local leaders in daily life, not just what social media would have us believe. We can confront and correct local leaders. But, we can also more faithfully affirm the truthfulness of local elders.

We need elders/teachers who teach the truth so we can learn the truth and thereby be protected from the influence of false teachers. Then, if we want to understand better how to reach those who believe the lies, we can study those lies to discern better how to communicate the truth to them.  

3. Confront/Correct  

In the world we live with the worldwide influence of so many teachers, this step may not be available in every instance to everyone of us. However, it is still a proper part of the process to confront and correct false teachers. 

• Apollos was confronted by Priscilla and Aquilla and repented (Acts 18:24-26). Later, Paul would commend Apollos as a co-laborer in the Gospel (1 Cor 3:5-9).  
• Though not a teacher of a false gospel, Peter’s actions “were out of step with the Gospel” and led people to live by the law, so Paul confronted and corrected him (Gal 2:11-14). Peter had already affirmed the Gospel Paul preached, so even though Peter was a leader before Paul, Paul was right to call him to repentance. 
• Elymas, the magician (Bar-Jesus), didn’t repent. He continued to lead the proconsul, Sergius Paulus, away from the faith. His unrepentance proved he was a false teacher whom Paul rightly cursed (Acts 13:4-12). 

Confronting with truth and calling to repentance reveals what is true about the teacher. If they love the Lord, they will repent. If they are sons of Satan, they will continue in their lies. At that point, it is right to expose them for what they are (more on this in the next section).
 

4. Pray For and Against

Jesus called us to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us (Matt 5:44). For all we can do to combat false teachers, there is one critical component we can’t do. We can’t regenerate their hearts. That means we can’t save them. Saving people is God’s work. But we can pray for their salvation. We can pray that the Holy Spirit would do what He was sent to do, namely convict them of their sin and point them to Jesus (John 15:26; 16:8). But for all the false teachers who continue in their sin, we can pray for God to bring justice upon them. It may not be as immediate as Paul’s judgment on Elymas (Acts 13:11-12). But we can trust that they will get what they deserve at the right time and exactly the right way.