“Let Him Be Anathema!”

St. Paul meant it. Jesus did, too. So what about our response to false teachers?

The Gospel Lesson for the 8th Sunday after Trinity is red meat to those of us done with false teachers, although it may trigger those of a more winsome disposition. It is Matthew 7:15-21:

Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them. Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.

The timing of it coming on this past Sunday was also a demonstration of God’s providence to me. For I was preparing to teach on orthodoxy and orthopraxy to an afternoon prayer and study group I lead. Then I decided to read what the Gospel Lesson in the morning would happen to be — yes, I probably should have done that first. And, lo!, there is Jesus pretty much teaching on orthodoxy and orthopraxy.

He taught that when teachers in the church seem to be orthodox, a good way to be sure is to check their fruit, their orthopraxy, i. e. do they demonstrate right practice or not?

This was how I first discovered that my church of younger years, the mainline Presbyterian Church, was off. I noticed the political stands of the national church, including being for abortion and for whatever the Soviet Union happened to want at the time. (This was back during the Cold War. Yes. I’m old.) Having quite opposite views, I was offended and started paying more attention to what the denomination was up to. Sure enough, I soon noticed its heterodoxy in even the basics of the Faith. When you have bad fruit, you likely have a bad tree.

A prevalent example today is if a church or teacher becomes “affirming” in sexuality issues, more overt apostasy is not far behind. See Jen Hatmaker, who became affirming ten years ago and has been going downhill ever since, and many others. Such who refuse to repent will be “cast into the fire” whether Hatmaker believes in “a literal hell” or not.

False teachers can seem orthodox for a long time. Hatmaker herself was once quite an item in Big Evangelicalism. The fruit of failed orthopraxy often proceeds obvious apostasy from orthodoxy.

Continuing, Jesus taught that orthodoxy bare of accompanying orthopraxy is not enough. Of course, he put it better than I just did: “Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord…” — that is orthodoxy. And we should call Jesus “Lord,” for that is what He is and more. But merely acknowledging Jesus as Lord is not enough. “Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.” Doing God’s will, on a good day at least, is orthopraxy, right practice, and is a necessary fruit of orthodoxy.

(No, Jesus was not preaching perfectionism. I will not get bogged down in that here, but it should be said for the sake of sensitive consciences. You won’t be perfect and the church won’t be perfect until Christ makes us perfect in his good timing.)

James put it in a less tactful way: “You believe that God is one. You do well; the demons also believe, and shudder.” (James 2:19 NASB 1995) Demons know Jesus is Lord. We even see them submit to his Lordship in the Gospels. But that does not do them much good. So it will not do to have belief in Jesus bare of good fruit that comes from a sincere faith that is more than mere intellectual assent.

Speaking of less tactful, let’s look at St. Paul in his letter to the Galatians. He was barely finished saying hello when he wrote this:

I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel; which is really not another; only there are some who are disturbing you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed! As we have said before, so I say again now, if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, he is to be accursed! (1:6-9 NASB 95)

“Let him be anathema!” might be a more familiar way to put it. Gosh, I wonder what Paul meant. I will say that this does not necessarily mean we should go around and proclaim “anathema!” to every errant teacher, as tempting as that might be. Paul was an apostle with more authority than any of us.

But I think it safe to say that we should not give false teachers the same respect we give faithful teachers. St. John said as much in 2nd John when he commanded that if some supposed Christian preacher “does not abide in the teaching of Christ” he is not to be received or even given a greeting. “For the one who gives him a greeting participates in his evil deeds.” That is only logical — to treat a false teacher as if he were true enables him by granting respect and credibility to his lies.

And note that Paul was not addressing those who completely deny the Gospel but those who “distort” (NASB) or “pervert” (KJV) the Gospel of Christ. (Gal. 1:7) At the time, the presenting issue was those who said it was necessary even for Gentiles to be circumcised and follow the Mosaic Law to be a good Christian. Today it might be those who teach Jesus came to liberate us not so much from sin and death as from capitalist/colonialist oppression and that Marxist revolution is how Jesus liberates today. That is Liberation Theology, more or less. Or one who distorts the Gospel today might conflate it with so-called “social justice” advocated by Marxists and various forms of Critical Theory aka “wokeness”. We are not to treat such as faithful teachers and brethren.

And that no matter how high their position might be. Paul said that even if “we” — apostles — or “an angel from heaven” were to preach a false or perverted gospel, they are anathema! Many bishops, archbishops, and cardinals would certainly fall under that.

Later Paul spells out that that the authority of false teachers should be disregarded and cast aside. He tells of coming across “false brethren secretly brought in, who had sneaked in to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, in order to bring us into bondage.” (2:4 NASB 95) How did he respond?

But we did not yield in subjection to them for even an hour, so that the truth of the gospel would remain with you. (2:5)

We do not subject ourselves to the authority of false teachers, not because we are all hard-headed and contrary like me, but to preserve the preaching of “the truth of the Gospel.” Look at the mainline Protestant denominations to see what happens when the people in the pews put up with false teachers. And it appears the Roman Catholic Church is now not far behind them. Apostasy, in either orthodoxy or orthopraxy, must be cut out and cast off quickly lest it spread like gangrene through an entire church and kill its proclamation of the truth and replace it with deadly lies.

(I will say that apostate laity may be dealt with pastorally, but they must not be allowed to teach or influence in the church. Apostate clergy at every level must be immediately suspended then defrocked if there is no repentance.)

More could be said about orthodoxy and orthopraxy, much more. But one way I do not want to follow the example of St. Paul is to go on too long. (Acts 20:7-12)

But we should indeed insist on orthodoxy and orthopraxy from church leaders, even if that means rejecting the authority of many. The proclamation of the Gospel of Christ is at stake.

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Lead-in image: Govans Presbyterian Church