"Do not be carried away by all kinds of strange teachings.
It is good for our hearts to be strengthened by grace,
not by ceremonial foods, which are of no value to those
who eat them" (Hebrews 13:9)
The text which heads this paper is an apostolic caution against false
doctrine. It forms part of a warning which Paul addressed to Hebrew
Christians. It is a caution just as much needed now as it was eighteen
hundred years ago. Never, I think, was it so important for Christian
ministers to cry aloud continually, "Do not be carried away."
That old enemy of mankind, the devil, has no more subtle instrument for
ruining souls than that of spreading false doctrine. "A murderer and a
liar from the beginning. . . .your enemy the devil prowls around like a
roaring lion looking for someone to devour." Outside the Church he is
ever persuading men to maintain outrageous customs and destructive
superstitions. Human sacrifice to idols, gross revolting, cruel,
disgusting worship of abominable false deities, persecution, slavery,
cannibalism, child murder, devastating religious wars--all these are a
part of Satan's handiwork, and the fruit of his suggestions. Like a
pirate, his object is to "sink, burn, and destroy." Inside the Church he
is ever laboring to sow heresies, to propagate errors, to foster
departures from the faith. If he cannot prevent the waters flowing from
the Fountain of Life, he tries hard to poison them. If he cannot destroy
the remedy of the Gospel, he strives to adulterate and corrupt it. No
wonder that he is called "Apollyon, the destroyer."
The Divine Comforter of the Church, the Holy Spirit, has always employed
one great agent to oppose Satan's plans. That agent is the Word of God.
The Word expounded and unfolded, the Word explained and opened up, the
Word made clear to the head and applied to the heart. The Word is the
chosen weapon by which the devil must be confronted and confounded. The
Word was the sword which the Lord Jesus wielded in the temptation. To
every assault of the Tempter, He replied, "It is written." The Word is
the sword which His ministers must use in the present day, if they would
successfully resist the devil. The Bible, faithfully and freely
expounded, is the safeguard of Christ's Church.
I desire to remember this lesson, and to invite attention to the text
which stands at the head of this paper. We live in an age when men
profess to dislike dogmas and creeds, and are filled with a morbid
dislike to controversial theology. He who dares to say of one doctrine
that "it is true," and of another that "it is false," must expect to be
called narrow-minded and uncharitable, and to lose the praise of men.
Nevertheless, the Scripture was not written in vain. Let us examine the
mighty lessons contained in Paul's words to the Hebrews. They are
lessons for us as well as for them.
I. First, we have here a broad warning: "Do not be carried away by all
kinds of strange teachings."
II. Secondly, we have here a valuable prescription: "It is good for our
hearts to be strengthened by grace, not by ceremonial foods."
III. Lastly, we have here an instructive fact: "Ceremonial foods are of
no value to those who eat them."
On each of these points I have something to say. If we patiently plow up
this field of truth, we shall find that there is precious treasure hidden
in it.
1. First comes the broad warning. "Do not be not carried away by all
kinds of strange teachings."
The meaning of these words is not a hard thing to understand. "Be not
tossed back and forth," the Apostle seems to say, "by every blast of
false teaching, like ships without compass or rudder. False doctrines
will arise as long as the world lasts, in many numbers, with varying
minor details, in one point alone always the same--strange, new, foreign,
and departing from the Gospel of Christ. They do exist now. They will
always be found within the visible Church. Remember this, and do not be
carried away." Such is Paul's warning.
The Apostle's warning does not stand alone. Even in the midst of the
Sermon on the Mount there fell from the loving lips of our Savior a
solemn caution: "Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in
sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves" (Matthew 7:15).
Even in Paul's last address to the Ephesian elders, he finds time to warn
his friends against false doctrine: "Even from your own number men will
arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them"
(Acts 20:30).
Note what the Second Epistle to the Corinthians says: "I am afraid that
just as Eve was deceived by the serpent's cunning, your minds may somehow
be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ"
(2 Corinthians 11:3). Note what the Epistle to the Galatians says: "I am
astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by
the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel." "Who has
bewitched you?" "After beginning with the Spirit, are you now trying to
attain your goal by human effort?" "How is it that you are turning back
to those weak and miserable principles?" "You are observing special days
and months and seasons and years!" "I fear for you." "Stand firm, then,
and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery."
(Galatians 1:6; 3.1" class="scriptRef">3:1, 3; 4:9, 10, 11; 5:1).
Note what the Epistle to the Ephesians says: "No longer be infants,
tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every
wind of teaching" (Ephesians 4:14). Note what the Epistle to the
Colossians says: "See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow
and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic
principles of this world rather than on Christ" (Colossians 2:8). Note
what the First Epistle to Timothy says: "The Spirit clearly says that in
later times some will abandon the faith" (1 Timothy 4:1). Note what the
Second Epistle of Peter says: "There will be false teachers among you.
They will secretly introduce destructive heresies" (2 Peter 2:1). Note
what the First Epistle of John says: "Do not believe every spirit. Many
false prophets have gone out into the world" (1 John 4:1). Note what the
Epistle of Jude says: "Contend for the faith that was once for all
entrusted to the saints. For certain men have secretly slipped in among
you" (Jude 1:3, 4). These things were written for our learning.
What shall we say about these texts? How they may strike others I cannot
say. I only know how they strike me. To tell us, as some do, in the
face of these texts, that the early Churches were a model of perfection
and purity, is absurd even in Apostolic days, its appears, there were
abundant errors both in doctrine and practice. To tell us, as others do,
that pastors ought never to handle controversial subjects, and never to
warn their people against erroneous views, is senseless and unreasonable.
If we did this then we would have to ignore most of the New Testament.
Surely the dumb dog and the sleeping shepherd are the best allies of the
wolf, the thief, and the robber. It is not for nothing that Paul says,
"If you point these things out to the brothers, you will be a good
minister of Christ Jesus" (1 Timothy 4:6).
A plain warning against false doctrine is especially needed in the
present day. The school of the Pharisees, and the school of the
Sadducees, those ancient mothers of all mischief, were never more active
than they are now.
--Between men adding to the truth on one side, and men taking away from
it on the other.
--Between those who bury truth under additions, and those who mutilate it
by subtractions.
--Between superstition and infidelity.
--Between Roman Catholicism and neology [New Theology].
--Between Ritualism and Rationalism.
Between these upper and lower millstones the Gospel is near being crushed
to death! Strange views are continually propounded by pastors about
subjects of the deepest importance. About the atonement, the divinity of
Christ, the inspiration of the Bible, the reality of miracles, the
eternity of future punishment, about the Church, the ministerial office,
the Lord's Supper, Baptism, the confessional, the honor due to the
Virgin, prayers for the dead. About all these things there is nothing
too outrageous to be taught by some ministers in these latter days. By
the pen and by the tongue, by the press and by the pulpit, the country is
incessantly deluged with a flood of erroneous opinions. To ignore the
fact is mere blindness. Others see it, even if we pretend to be ignorant
of it. The danger is real, great, and unmistakable. Never was it so
needful to say, "Do not be carried away."
Many things combine to make the present inroad of false doctrine
peculiarly dangerous. There is an undeniable zeal in some of the
teachers of error: their "earnestness" makes many think they must be
right. There is a great appearance of learning and theological
knowledge: many fancy that such clever and intellectual men must surely
be safe guides. There is a general tendency to free thought and free
inquiry in these latter days: many like to prove their independence of
judgment, by believing novelties. There is a wide-spread desire to
appear charitable and liberal-minded: many seem half ashamed of saying
that anybody can be in the wrong. There is a quantity of half-truth
taught by the modern false teachers: they are incessantly using
Scriptural terms and phrases in an unscriptural sense. There is a morbid
craving in the public mind for a more sensuous, ceremonial, sensational,
showy worship: men are impatient of inward, invisible heart-work. There
is a silly readiness in every direction to believe everybody who talks
cleverly, lovingly, and earnestly, and a determination to forget that
Satan often masquerades himself "as an angel of light" (2 Corinthians
11:14). There is a wide-spread "gullibility" among professing
Christians: every heretic who tells his story plausibly is sure to be
believed, and everybody who doubts him is called a persecutor and a
narrow-minded man. All these things are peculiar symptoms of our times.
I defy any observing person to deny them. They tend to make the assaults
of false doctrine in our day peculiarly dangerous. They make it more
than ever needful to cry aloud, "Do not be carried away!"
If any one should ask me, What is the best safeguard against false
doctrine?--I answer in one word, "The Bible: the Bible regularly read,
regularly prayed over, regularly studied." We must go back to the old
prescription of our Master: "Diligently study the Scriptures" (John
5:39). If we want a weapon to wield against the plans of Satan, there is
nothing like "the sword of the Spirit, the Word of God." But to wield it
successfully, we must read it habitually, diligently, intelligently, and
prayerfully. This is a point on which, I fear, many fail. In an age of
hurry and activity, few read their Bibles as much as they should. More
books perhaps are read than ever, but less of the one Book which makes
man wise to salvation. The Roman Catholic Church and new theology could
never have made such havoc in the Church in the last fifty years, if
there had not been a most superficial knowledge of the Scriptures
throughout the land. A Bible-reading congregation is the strength of a
Church.
"Diligently study the Scriptures." Mark how the Lord Jesus Christ and
His Apostles continually refer to the Old Testament, as a document just
as authoritative as the New. Mark how they quote texts from the Old
Testament, as the voice of God, as if every word was given by
inspiration. Mark how the greatest miracles in the Old Testament are all
referred to in the New, as unquestioned and unquestionable facts. Mark
how all the leading events in the Pentateuch are incessantly named as
historical events, whose reality admits of no dispute. Mark how the
atonement, and substitution, and sacrifice, run through the whole Bible
from first to last, as essential doctrines of revelation. Mark how the
resurrection of Christ, the greatest of all miracles, is proved by such
an overwhelming mass of evidence, that he who disbelieves it may as well
say he will believe no evidence at all. Mark all these things, and you
will find it very hard to be a Rationalist! Great are the difficulties
of unbelief: it requires more faith to be an unbeliever than a Christian.
But greater still are the difficulties of Rationalism. Free handling of
Scripture--results of modern criticism--broad and liberal theology--all
these are fine, swelling, high-sounding phrases, which please some minds,
and look very grand at a distance. But the man who looks below the
surface of things will soon find that there is no sure standing-ground
between ultra-Rationalism and Atheism.
"Diligently study the Scriptures." Mark what a conspicuous absence there
is in the New Testament of what may be called the Sacramental system, and
the whole circle of Ritualistic theology. Mark how extremely little
there is said about the effects of Baptism. Mark how very seldom the
Lord's Supper is mentioned in the Epistles. Find, if you can, a single
text in which New Testament ministers are called sacrificing priests, or
the Lord's Supper is called a sacrifice, or private confession to
ministers is recommended and practiced. Turn, if you can, to one single
verse in which sacrificial vestments are named as desirable, or in which
lighted candles, and pots of flowers on the Lord's Table, or processions,
and incense, and flags, and banners, and turning to the east, and bowing
down to the bread and wine, or prayer to the Virgin Mary and the angels,
are sanctioned. Mark these things well, and you will find it very hard
to be a Ritualist! You may find your authority for Ritualism in garbled
quotations from the Fathers, in long extracts from monkish, mystical, or
from Popes; but you certainly will not find it in the Bible. Between the
plain Bible, honestly and fairly interpreted, and extreme Ritualism there
is gulf which cannot be passed.
"If we would not be carried away by all kinds of strange teachings," we
must remember the words of our Lord Jesus Christ: "Diligently study the
Scriptures." Ignorance of the Bible is the root of all error. Knowledge
of the Bible is the best antidote against modern heresies.
II. I now proceed to examine Paul's valuable prescription: "It is good
for our hearts to be strengthened by grace, not by ceremonial foods."