THE RIGHT WAY TO HANDLE FALSE TEACHING
 
There is an important difference between flakey teaching and false teaching. Knowing this may prevent us from falling out of fellowship with those we disagree with, when we find they hold doctrinal or political differences that don’t really matter. It may also help us understand why we cannot remain in fellowship with those who espouse false teaching.
 
Whenever I talk to you disciples today about false teaching, I usually begin by helping them make a distinction between flakey teaching and false teaching.
 
Flakey teachers are those who espouse imperfect doctrine or whose theology is not fully developed. This would include most of us, at one time or another. Our doctrine goes through changes at different phases of our lives, maturing and becoming purer, more practical, and more balanced. There is a big difference between those whose doctrine is imperfect yet remain teachable and those false teachers whose doctrine is dangerous or deviant and who refuse to be taught or corrected.
 
Then there are teachers like the ones Paul wrote about to the Philippians, who had the right teaching but who had wrong motives. About these Paul simply said he rejoiced that at lease the gospel was being preached. There are lots of people out there preaching basically good stuff, but who have less than sterling motives. As disconcerting as this is, they are not false teachers. We will come across many more teachers and preachers who are in this category than we will false teachers.
 
When I began studying this subject, I was surprised to learn how many times false teaching or teachers were mentioned in the New Testament. There was a lot more information about this than I expected. The subject is addressed in almost every epistle several times. It is surprising to see this happening so early in the history of the Church. The apostles John, Peter, and Jude all worked tirelessly against false teaching which in their minds confirmed that they were living in the end times. They believed this would only increase as the end grew nearer.
 
We need to know how to handle everything from the flakey to false teaching. This study booklet will help you do just that.