By Pastor Chinedu Emmanuel

2 John 1:9 “Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son.10 If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed:11 For he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds.”

In the prior post, doctrine was defined as a belief or set of beliefs held and taught by a church, political party, or any other group. Every church has its own tenets of faith, consisting of its articles of faith. We call it “This We Believe”  Also, we established that the main teaching in the scriptures is the Doctrine of Christ, the Gospel of grace, and the teaching of the salvation of mankind through the grace of our Lord Jesus. This doctrine teaches that we are saved by grace and not by works. Jesus paid for us all. Now that we know what the real and true doctrine is, let us explore what false doctrine is according to the scriptures. 

 FALSE DOCTRINE

• • False doctrine is rooted in works that give glory to the works of men, while the true doctrine is rooted in grace and mercy that reveals the love of God. In fact, false doctrine denies the teachings of grace and mercy. 

Jude 1:3-4 Dear friends, I had been eagerly planning to write to you about the salvation we all share. But now I find that I must write about something else, urging you to defend the faith that God has entrusted once for all time to his holy people. 4 I say this because some ungodly people have wormed their way into your churches, saying that God’s marvelous grace allows us to live immoral lives. The condemnation of such people was recorded long ago, for they have denied our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.”

We must remember that contrary to what the wrong doctrine teaches,  sin can no longer reign over believers that are under grace. 

Romans 6:14 “Sin is no longer your master, for you no longer live under the requirements of the law. Instead, you live under the freedom of God’s grace

The false gospel will give you a false image of God. It doesn’t promote the love of God because it is of man and not the arm of the Lord. False doctrine judges, condemns and finds fault in others. It lays great burden on man to save himself by his works while dressing it up as grace. It still insists that many other conditions need to be fulfilled to receive salvation. We shouldn’t be carried away by people who say they see visions or angels, these things don’t authenticate doctrine, only the scripture does.

Gal 1:6-8 “I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel:7 Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ.8 But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.”

GODLY RESPONSE TO THE WRONG DOCTRINE

The Apostles responded to the preachers of the wrong doctrine by standing up against their teachings, making it known that they don’t endorse them, and re-affirming the gospel of grace. The following verses detail the Apostle’s response.

• • Acts 15:5 “But then some of the believers who belonged to the sect of the Pharisees stood up and insisted, “The Gentile converts must be circumcised and required to follow the law of Moses.”
  • Acts 15:23-24 “This is the letter they took with them:”This letter is from the apostles and elders, your brothers in Jerusalem. It is written to the Gentile believers in Antioch, Syria, and Cilicia. Greetings!24 “We understand that some men from here have troubled you and upset you with their teaching, but we did not send them!”

• • Acts 15:6-11 “So the apostles and elders met together to resolve this issue. 7 At the meeting, after a long discussion, Peter stood and addressed them as follows: “Brothers, you all know that God chose me from among you some time ago to preach to the Gentiles so that they could hear the Good News and believe. 8 God knows people’s hearts, and he confirmed that he accepts Gentiles by giving them the Holy Spirit, just as he did to us. 9 He made no distinction between us and them, for he cleansed their hearts through faith. 10 So why are you now challenging God by burdening the Gentile believers with a yoke that neither we nor our ancestors were able to bear? 11 We believe that we are all saved the same way, by the undeserved grace of the Lord Jesus.”

As believers, we are responsible for what we believe. The early church (The Bereans) made sure that what they believed was underwritten by the Scripture. 

Acts of the Apostles 17:11-12“And the people of Berea were more open-minded than those in Thessalonica, and they listened eagerly to Paul’s message. They searched the Scriptures day after day to see if Paul and Silas were teaching the truth. As a result, many Jews believed, as did many of the prominent Greek women and men.”

• • The Holy Spirit warns the church about the perversion the devil is motivating in 1 Timothy 4:1, “Now the Holy Spirit tells us clearly that in the last times some will turn away from the true faith; they will follow deceptive spirits and teachings that come from demons.” This is happening in our world today. The Bible tells us that these people are hypocrites, liars, and their consciences are dead. In today’s, world people are turning away from the truth and following teachings from demons. We shouldn’t waste time arguing over godless ideas. We should instead train ourselves to be godly by putting our faith in the power of Christ who alone gives life to all who trust in Him. The branch can never bear fruit by its effort. Without this faith, we cannot please God. The life of faith promises benefits in this life and in the life to come. We need to depart from the iniquity of the wrong doctrine and be nourished by the sincere milk of the word of His grace.

Acts 20:32 “And so now, I entrust you into God’s hands and the message of his grace, which is all that you need to become strong. All of God’s blessings are imparted through the message of his grace, which he provides as the spiritual inheritance given to all of his holy ones.”TPT

2 Timothy 2:19 says, “But the firm foundation of God has written upon it these two inscriptions ‘The Lord God recognizes those who are truly his!’ and, ‘Everyone who worships the name of the Lord Jesus must forsake wickedness!”.

• • A lot of things we hear have no basis in scripture, yet people chose to believe them. We must cling to our faith in Christ. The devil is a vicious spirit and is always trying to make us listen to him. He implants messages into people’s hearts to make them believe him. We have to be firm in the doctrine of the Bible which is true, and holy and keeps our focus on Christ Jesus, our sure foundation, the author and finisher of our faith. The verse below gives us clear instructions on how to respond to wrong cancerous doctrines that deny God’s grace and all that Christ did on the cross.

2 John 1:9 “Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son.10 If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed:11 For he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds.”

Pastor Chinedu Emmanuel is the Senior Pastor at Fountain of  The Living Word Church, New Jersey.