“A Different Kind of Heresy”
“But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction. And many will follow their destructive ways, because of whom the way of truth will be blasphemed.” 2 Pet. 2:1-2(NKJV)
One of the things the early church was forced to deal with was the rise of heretical doctrine coming from self taught or poorly trained individuals. There was no record to follow except the Old Testament. Even that was only relevant to Jewish believers since Gentiles were not subject to the Law. The general practice of heresy is to take a truth and add to it or misinterpret the meaning of a truth and make that your theology.
One man’s theology is another man’s heresy. In a narrow sense, heresy is the belief of another that differs from the way I believe. But, in reality, heresy is anything that contradicts what the Bible teaches. As an example, let me use speaking in tongues. There are those who believe the modern teachings on the subject are heresy. They also will say, “Speaking in tongues is of the devil.” These are opinions until we call on Scriptures for clarification of the facts. What do the Scriptures say? Do they say, “I would that you all speak in tongues?” Yes. Is there any mention of tongues being from the devil? No! Lay aside opinion and doctrines of man and come to a conclusion. Which is more likely to be right based on Bible content? It is dangerous to build a doctrine on what the Bible does not say rather than what it does say.
Heresy is a deliberate choice to believe error instead of truth. Ignorant and unlearned is believe because you haven’t been taught the truth. Does God still heal today or has healing passed away? One or the other is heresy. What do the Scriptures say? In all your theology, what do the Scriptures say? Don’t give an opinion. Give the truth.