For as long as the church has existed, false teachers have been one of its greatest threats. Just as it’s easier for a business to protect itself against robbery than embezzlement, so it is easier for the church to identify external, worldly threats than heresies that sprout within. The pernicious nature of the threat is described in Matthew 7:15. “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves.” Also, 2 Peter 2:1, “But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction.”
The surreptitious nature of this ploy gives rise to the need for the church to be vigilant. To that end, 1 John 4:1-3 instructs Christians to “test the spirits” to see if they are from God and to determine if they confess Jesus as the Son of God. In 2 John the reader is warned that deceivers have gone out into the world that do not abide in the teaching of Christ and they should be regarded as an antichrist. Wow! Yes, doctrine matters, both in the commitment to learn it and to guard it. It’s true that “doctrine divides,” but if understood appropriately it does so for all the right reasons.
At the close of World War II Winston Churchill famously said, “Never let a good crisis go to waste.” To an exponentially greater degree God does not waste the opportunities that the Adversary presents Him. While false teachers are an archrival against whom we should be prepared to do battle, they have unwittingly been of great service to God’s church. Two examples include Marcionism and Montanism.
The creator of the former, Marcion, lived during the middle of the second century. He was an evangelistic, early church theologian. However, he was staunchly against any “mean” descriptors of God and any historical accounts that, in his estimation, documented “spiteful” actions by Him. The result is that Marcion rejected many of the apostolic writings and the entire Old Testament. He also believed Paul was the only true apostle. Marcion went on to produce his own canon that contained an abbreviated version of the book of Luke and ten of Paul’s letters—nothing more.
A short time later, toward the end of the second century, Montanus became prominent in the church. Unlike Marcion, Montanus held to orthodox Christian views and maintained the legitimacy of the Old Testament. However, Montanus claimed that he had spontaneous, personal experiences directly from God. He would publicly go into fits, claiming his body was a passive tool of the Holy Spirit. Instead of repeating the commandments of God like biblical prophets with the words, “Thus says Lord,” Montanus acted as though he was actively speaking for God. What’s more, he claimed that his prophetic utterances trumped Scripture where there were any contradictions.
During the time that Marcion and Montanus lived the 27-book New Testament canon did not exist. While it seems strange to us today, the early church did not originally sense the urgency for formalizing the canon. Apostolic writings were being circulated and the Apostolic Fathers (those taught directly by the apostles) were faithfully teaching and defending the faith. However, as those men passed away and as false teachers began to spread, it became increasingly clear that a canon needed to be formed.
Marcion and Montanus had a great deal to do with stoking the coals of that urgency. The church saw that Marcion was arbitrarily voiding portions of God’s Word and Montanus was arbitrarily adding to it. This motivated men in the church to commit themselves to the task of assembling the New Testament canon. These men did not vet or “authorize” the books of the New Testament. They merely recognized what was apparent to faithful believers. There are particular books authored by the will of God through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit that are wholly unlike any other writing. Those writings needed to be aggregated and there needed to be a formal declaration regarding its contents and the closing of it. In other words, the church needed to collect them and attest to a once-for-all-time “no fewer and no more” canon. You could say they needed to put a cover on what was clearly God’s “New Testament.”
Today’s church benefits from God’s skillful use of false teachers. None of that sin is going to waste. This is true not only in history, but in your life as well. Your conflicts are not without purpose. Thank God for the spiritual growth you have experienced due to life’s hardships. Ask Him to help you to identify and defend against unbiblical threats, while viewing them through a biblical lens. Regardless of the outcome it’s a God wins-God wins. “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice” (Phil. 4:4).