Heresy is a belief or idea that deviates from orthodoxy. The Merriam Webster defines it as “an adherence to a religious opinion contrary to church dogma.” While the oxford dictionary says it’s “a belief or opinion contrary to orthodox religious (especially Christian) doctrine.” In Christianity, heresy refers to teachings contrary to established biblical doctrines. It isn’t, however, the original definition.
Heresy comes from the Greek word hairesis, which means choice or opinion. The Bible often uses it to denote sects with firm beliefs or ideas. For instance, the Pharisees and Sadducees were sects within Judaism (Acts 5:15; 17), and the Jews called Christians heretics (Acts 24:14).
But as false teachers multiplied, the Early Church established official beliefs of the faiths such as the Apostle and Nicene Creeds, and they condemned any contrary teaching as heresy.
Unfortunately, the Church itself departed from biblical truths.
During the middle ages, the Roman Catholic Church declared many false teachings, such as the sale of indulgences as orthodoxy. And people like Martin Luther, who taught justification by faith alone, were the heretics. That’s why, the Bible, not the Church, has the final say on what is heretical. And Scriptures say heresy contradicts the teachings of Christ (2 Peter 2:1, 2 John 7-8), promotes another gospel (Galatians 1:8-9), divides the body of Christ into factions (Romans 16:17, 1 Corinthians 11:19), and makes people depart from the truth (1 John 2:18).
Theologian George Gillespie defined it well when he said, “Heresy is a gross and dangerous error, voluntarily held and factiously maintained by some person or persons within the visible church, in opposition to some chief or substantial truth or truths grounded upon and drawn from the holy Scripture by necessary consequence.”
Heresy vs. differences of opinion
Whereas the early Church declared heretics with much deliberation and care, Christians today use it casually. All it takes is for someone to hold a different view, to be labeled a heretic. Case in point, someone called me a heretic because of my eschatological views. This isn’t the right use of the word. Every theological disagreement is not heretical because all doctrines are not equally important (1 Corinthians 15:3-4).
Scriptures and the early Church reserved that word for teachings or beliefs that contradicted essential doctrines of the Christian faith.
As R. C. Sproul said, “in the currency of Christian thought, the term heresy has usually been reserved for gross and heinous distortions of biblical truth, for errors so grave that they threaten either the essence (esse) of the Christian faith or the well-being (bene esse) of the Christian church.”
And the puritan Thomas Adams gave further insights into this matter.
He said, “There is a difference between error, schism, and heresy. Error is when one holds a strong opinion alone; schism, when many consents in their opinion; heresy runs further and contends to root out the truth. Error offends, but separates not; schism offends and separates; heresy offends, separates, and rageth…Error is weak, schism is strong, heresy obstinate. Error goes out and comes in again; schism comes not in, but makes a new church; heresy makes not a new church, but no church. Error untiles the house, schism pulls down the wall, but heresy overturns the foundation…Error is reproved and pitied, schism is reproved and punished, heresy is reproved and excommunicated. Schism is in the same faith, heresy makes another faith. Though they be thus distinguished, yet without God’s preventing grace, one will run into another.”
The first heresy
The Bible is God’s final revelation, but it isn’t His first. Long before the canon of Scripture closed, God addressed men directly or through prophets (Hebrews 1:1-2). And for as long as His Word has been in the world, people have been twisting and contradicting it. The first “heresy” occurred as early as Eden by the father of lies and master deceiver, Lucifer.
God told Adam and Eve, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die,” (Genesis 2:16-17). The serpent who was the devil, twisted God’s Word and asked Eve, “You shall not eat of any tree in the garden?” Then he contradicted God and said, “You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil,” (Genesis 3:4-5). Eve swallowed his lies, and the rest is history.
The devil hasn’t changed tactics since then. He still masquerades as good and twists God’s Word. He knows how to mix lies with just enough truths to deceive us, and he taught his minions to do the same. 2 Corinthians 11:14-15 says, “And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. So it is no surprise if his servants, also, disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. Their end will correspond to their deeds.”
Since the devil recruits soldiers from within our ranks to promulgate heresies, the most dangerous attack on God’s people through the ages came from within, not without.
Heresy in the Old Testament
The Israelites were the first believers in Yahweh, and they too experienced destructive heresies introduced by false prophets.
In those days, prophets were God’s mouthpiece. God chose them to declare His Word to the people and placed His Spirit upon them. But some men appointed themselves prophets of the Lord who lied about speaking for God. Whereas God’s prophets called Israel to repentance and pronounced judgment for their sins, the false prophets gave Israel false hope and promised peace (Jeremiah 6:14, 8:11). God warned the people not to listen to them. He said, “Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you, filling you with vain hopes. They speak visions of their own minds, not from the mouth of the Lord.” (Jeremiah 23:16)
Alas, the lies of the false prophets tickled the people’s ears, so they believed them (Isaiah 30:10, 1 Kings 22:8). Consequently, God punished both the prophets and the people who listened to it.
Jeremiah 14:14-16 says, “The prophets are prophesying lies in my name. I did not send them, nor did I command them or speak to them. They are prophesying to you a lying vision, worthless divination, and the deceit of their own minds. Therefore thus says the Lord concerning the prophets who prophesy in my name although I did not send them, and who say, ‘Sword and famine shall not come upon this land’: By sword and famine those prophets shall be consumed. And the people to whom they prophesy shall be cast out in the streets of Jerusalem, victims of famine and sword, with none to bury them—them, their wives, their sons, and their daughters. For I will pour out their evil upon them.”
False prophets led God’s people astray with their lies, and their punishment was death (Deuteronomy 18:20).
Heresy in the New Testament
With the coming of Jesus Christ and completion of Scripture, the office of prophets ended (Hebrews 1:1-2). Heresy, however, continued, and false teachers soon replaced false prophets.
1 Peter 2:1 says, “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.” Jesus spoke about false teachers (Matthew 7:15-18), and almost every book in the New Testament abounds with warnings about them (Matthew 24:24, Romans 16:17-18, 2 Corinthians 6:14-16a; 11:13-15, Galatians 1:6-9, 1 Timothy 1:3; 4:1-3; 6:3-5, 2 Timothy 3:1-9; 3:16; Titus 1:9-11, 1 John 4:1, 2 John 1:10-11, Jude 3; 17-19).
The primary false teaching in New Testament times was legalism. John Piper defines legalism as “the conviction that law-keeping is the ground of our acceptance with God.” The Pharisees were the first legalists. They required strict adherence to the law, added to God’s Word, and treated their rules and traditions as divine. Jesus rebuked them for it because they burdened the people and prevented them from following God (Matthew 23).
Nevertheless, the spirit of legalism persisted and gave rise to the Judaizers, the Church’s first heretics. Judaizers believed Gentile Christians must perform works of the Mosaic law, such as circumcision, to be genuinely saved (Acts 15:1). The word Judaizer comes from a Greek word which means, “to live according to the Jews” (Galatians 2:14).
The Jerusalem Council in Acts 15 considered this matter and condemned it. Peter said, “God, who knows the heart, bore witness to them, by giving them the Holy Spirit just as he did to us, and he made no distinction between us and them, having cleansed their hearts by faith. Now, therefore, why are you putting God to the test by placing a yoke on the neck of the disciples that neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear?” (Acts 15:8-9).
And Paul wrote the epistle of Galatians to refute the teachings of the Judaizers. He said, “yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law, but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified,” (Galatians 2:16).
Unfortunately, the Judaizers were the first in a long line of heretics. As Paul predicted, savage wolves rose from within the Church and didn’t spare the flock (Acts 20:29-30). These more dangerous wolves came during the last days of John, the apostle. And in part two of Heresies Through the Ages, we will examine the greatest heresies in Church history.
