GotQuestions.org: What is apostasy and how can I
recognize it?
Apostasy,
from the Greek word apostasia, means “a defiance of an established
system or authority; a rebellion; an abandonment or breach of faith.” In the
first-century world, apostasy was a technical term for political revolt or
defection. Just like in the first century, spiritual apostasy threatens the
Body of Christ today.
The Bible warns about people like Arius (c. AD 250—336),
a Christian priest from Alexandria, Egypt, who was trained at Antioch in the
early fourth century. About AD 318, Arius accused Bishop Alexander of
Alexandria of subscribing to Sabellianism, a false teaching that asserted
that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit were merely roles or modes assumed by God
at various times. Arius was determined to emphasize the oneness of God;
however, he went too far in his teaching of God’s nature. Arius denied the
Trinity and introduced what appeared on the surface to be an inconsequential
difference between the Father and Son.
Arius argued that Jesus was not homoousios (“of
the same essence”) as the Father, but was rather homoiousios (“of
similar essence”). Only one Greek letter—the iota (ι)—separated the two. Arius
described his position in this manner: “The Father existed before the Son.
There was a time when the Son did not exist. Therefore, the Son was created by
the Father. Therefore, although the Son was the highest of all creatures, he
was not of the essence of God.”
Arius was clever and did his best to
get the people on his side, even going so far as to compose little songs that
taught his theology, which he tried to teach to everyone who would listen. His
winsome nature, asceticism, and revered position as a preacher also contributed
to his cause.
With respect to apostasy, it is
critical that all Christians understand two important things: (1) how to
recognize apostasy and apostate teachers, and (2) why apostate teaching is so
deadly.
The Forms
of Apostasy
To fully identify and combat apostasy,
Christians should understand its various forms and the traits that characterize
its doctrines and teachers. As to the forms of apostasy, there are two main
types: (1) a falling away from key and true doctrines of the Bible into
heretical teachings that claim to be “the real” Christian doctrine, and (2) a
complete renunciation of the Christian faith, which results in a full
abandonment of Christ.
Arius represents the first form of
apostasy—a denial of key Christian truths (such as the divinity of Christ) that
begins a downhill slide into a full departure from the faith, which is the
second form of apostasy. The second form almost always begins with the first. A
heretical belief becomes a heretical teaching that splinters and grows until it
pollutes all aspects of a person’s faith, and then the end goal of Satan is
accomplished, which is a complete falling away from Christianity.
A 2010 study by Daniel Dennett and
Linda LaScola called “Preachers Who Are Not Believers.” Dennett and LaScola’s
work chronicles five different preachers who over time were presented with and
accepted heretical teachings about Christianity and now have completely fallen
away from the faith. These pastors are either pantheists or clandestine
atheists. One of the most disturbing truths highlighted in the study is that
these preachers maintain their position as pastors of Christian churches with
their congregations being unaware of their leader’s true spiritual state.
The
Characteristics of Apostasy and Apostates
Jude was the half brother of Jesus and
a leader in the early church. In his New Testament letter, he outlines how to
recognize apostasy and strongly urges those in the body of Christ to contend
earnestly for the faith (Jude 1:3).
The Greek word translated “contend earnestly” is a compound verb from which we
get the word agonize. It is in the present infinitive form, which
means that the struggle will be continuous. In other words, Jude says that
there will be a constant fight against false teaching and that Christians
should take it so seriously that we “agonize” over the fight in which we are
engaged. Moreover, Jude makes it clear that every Christian is called to this
fight, not just church leaders, so it is critical that all believers sharpen
their discernment skills so that they can recognize and prevent apostasy in
their midst.
After urging his readers to contend
earnestly for the faith, Jude highlights the reason: “For certain persons have
crept in unnoticed, those who were long beforehand marked out for this
condemnation, ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into licentiousness
and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ” (Jude 1:4). In this one
verse, Jude provides Christians with three traits of apostasy and apostate
teachers:
First, Jude says that apostasy can be
subtle. Apostates have “crept” into the church. In extra-biblical Greek, the
term Jude uses describes the cunning craftiness of a lawyer who, through clever
argumentation, infiltrates the minds of courtroom officials and corrupts their
thinking. The word literally means “slip in sideways; come in stealthily; sneak
in.” In other words, Jude says it is rare that apostasy begins in an overt and
easily detectable manner. Instead, it looks a lot like Arius’s doctrine—only a
single letter, the iota, differentiates the false teaching from the true.
Describing this aspect of apostasy and
its underlying danger, A. W. Tozer wrote, “So skilled is error
at imitating truth, that the two are constantly being mistaken for each
another. It takes a sharp eye these days to know which brother is Cain and
which is Abel.” The apostle Paul also speaks to the outwardly pleasing behavior
of apostates and their teaching: “For such men are false apostles, deceitful
workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. No wonder, for even Satan
disguises himself as an angel of light” (2 Corinthians 11:13–14).
In other words, do not look for apostates to appear bad on the outside or speak
dramatic words of heresy at the outset of their teaching. Rather than denying
truth outright, apostates will twist it to fit their own agenda, but, as pastor
R. C. Lensky has noted, “The worst forms of wickedness consist in perversions
of the truth.”
Second, Jude describes apostates as
“ungodly” and as those who use God’s grace as a license to commit unrighteous
acts. Beginning with “ungodly,” Jude describes eighteen unflattering traits of
apostates: they are ungodly (Jude 1:4),
morally perverted (verse 4), denying Christ (verse 4), ones who defile the
flesh (verse 8), rebellious (verse 8), people who revile angels (verse 8), who
are ignorant about God (verse 8), those who proclaim false visions (verse 10),
self-destructive (verse 10), grumblers (verse 16), faultfinders (verse 16),
self-satisfying (verse 16), people who use arrogant words and false flattery
(verse 16), mockers of God (verse 18), those who cause divisions (verse 19),
worldly minded (verse 19), and finally (and not surprisingly), devoid of the
Spirit/unsaved (verse 19).
Third, Jude says apostates “deny our
only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.” How do apostates do this? Paul tells us in
his letter to Titus, “To the pure, all things are pure; but to those who are
defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure, but both their mind and their
conscience are defiled. They profess to know God, but by their deeds they deny
Him, being detestable and disobedient and worthless for any good deed” (Titus 1:15–16). Through
their unrighteous behavior, the apostates show their true selves. Unlike an
apostate, a true believer is someone who has been delivered from sin to
righteousness in Christ and who refuses to continue in sin (Romans 6:1–2).
Ultimately, the sign of an apostate is
that he eventually falls away and departs from the truth of God’s Word and His
righteousness. The apostle John signifies this is a mark of a false believer:
“They went out from us, but they were not really of us; for if they had been of
us, they would have remained with us; but they went out, so that it would be
shown that they all are not of us” (1 John 2:19).
Ideas
Have Consequences
Every New Testament book except
Philemon contains warnings about false teaching. Why is this? Simply because
ideas have consequences. Right thinking and its fruit produce goodness, whereas
wrong thinking and its accompanying action result in undesired penalties. As an
example, the Cambodian killing fields in the 1970s were the product of the
nihilistic worldview of Jean Paul Sartre and his teaching. The Khmer Rouge’s
leader, Pol Pot, lived out Sartre’s philosophy toward the people in a clear and
frightening way, which was articulated in this manner: “To keep you is no
benefit. To destroy you is no loss.”
Satan did not come to the first couple
in the Garden with an external armament or visible weapon; instead, he came to
them with an idea. And it was that idea, embraced by Adam and Eve, that
condemned them and the rest of humankind, with the only remedy being the
sacrificial death of God’s Son.
The great tragedy is that, knowingly or
unknowingly, the apostate teacher dooms his unsuspecting followers. Speaking to
His disciples about the religious leaders of His day, Jesus said, “Let them
alone; they are blind guides of the blind. And if a blind man guides a blind
man, both
will fall into a pit” (Matthew 15:14, emphasis
added). Alarmingly, it is not only false teachers who go to destruction, but
their disciples follow them there. Christian philosopher Søren Kierkegaard put
it this way: “For it has never yet been known to fail that one fool, when he
goes astray, takes several others with him.”
Conclusion
In AD 325, the Council of Nicea convened
primarily to take up the issue of Arius and his teaching. Much to Arius’s
dismay, the end result was his excommunication and a statement in the Nicene
Creed that affirms Christ’s divinity: “We believe in one God, the Father
Almighty, maker of all things visible and invisible; and in one Lord Jesus
Christ, the Son of God, the only-begotten of his Father, of the substance of
the Father, God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God, begotten not
made, being of one substance with the Father.”
Arius may have died centuries ago, but
his spiritual children are still with us to this day in the form of cults like
the Jehovah’s Witnesses and
others who deny Christ’s true essence and person. Sadly, until Christ returns
and every last spiritual enemy has been removed, tares such as these will be
present among the wheat (Matthew 13:24–30). In
fact, Scripture says apostasy will only get worse as Christ’s return
approaches. “At that time [the latter days] many will fall away and will betray
one another and hate one another” (Matthew 24:10). Paul told
the Thessalonians that a great falling away would precede Christ’s second
coming (2 Thessalonians 2:3) and
that the end times would be characterized by tribulation and hollow religious
charlatans: “But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come.
For men will be . . . holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied
its power; avoid such men as these” (2 Timothy 3:1–2, 5).
It is critical, now more than ever,
that every believer pray for discernment, combat
apostasy, and contend earnestly for the faith that was once and for all
delivered to the saints.
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