So far my book Close Your Church for Good has just over 80,000 words. Of those, 20,000 come from this chapter on Doctrinal Statements

Yikes! That’s 25% of the book! Not good.

And worse yet, according to the outline I have for the chapter, I am only about half-way through what I had planned for the chapter. At this rate, by the time I get done with it, it will be a book all by itself.

I am trying to keep each chapter under 5,000 words, and so since I already have to cut out 75% of what I have written, there is not much sense in continuing with my chapter outline even though I know many of you still have questions about the role of doctrinal statements in church.

So here is what I am going to do. First, I am going to post a brief conclusion to this chapter here, and then, starting tomorrow, move on to the next chapter, which is titled “Let Prayer Meetings Cease.” Eventually (who knows when), I will try to get back to this topic of doctrinal statements and finish it up, maybe turning it into a book of its own.

Good?

So here is the conclusion to the chapter on Doctrinal Statements:

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Second Peter 2:1 talks about false teachers denying the Lord who bought them. What does this mean?

First, note that Peter says these false teachers bring heresies,which, as we have seen previously, refers to divisions within the Body of Christ.

And what is it they teach which brings these divisions? According to Peter, their primary error is that they “deny the Lord who bought them.” Most translations render it in such a fashion, but I must say that such a translation is hopelessly weak.

Denying the Master who Redeemed Them

A better translation might be, “denying the Master who redeemed them.”

The word Peter uses for “Lord” or “Master” is not the typical kurios, but is rather despotēs. It is where we get our word “despot,” which has more negative connotations today than it did in Peter’s day. Back then, it referred to a Master who owned slaves.

The word “bought” is the Greek word agarazō, which in a Master-slave relationship refers to being redeemed (cf. Rev 5:9, 14:3-4). So what is Peter saying? He writes that these false prophets, these false teachers, these bringers of divisions, have been redeemed by Jesus their Master, and yet, as shocking as it sounds, they have the gall to deny Him!

Denying Christ

And what is the significance of their denial? Here is where the text gets even more interesting. The word that Peter uses for “deny” is arneomai, which is exactly the word used in the gospels when Peter denied Jesus (cf. John 13:38; 18:25, 27). Certainly when Peter wrote this sentence, he was thinking of his own earlier actions and behavior in denying his Master who redeemed him.

And if the words of Jesus in John 13:10-11 where He says that Peter is already “clean” means that Peter was justified and had eternal life, then what all of this means is that Peter recognizes that it is very possible for a redeemed and justified follower of Jesus Christ to be a false teacher and deny their Master, just as Peter himself had done.
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Yesterday we looked at several passages in Scripture that talk about “heresy” and we saw that heresy does not exist–at least, not the way we think of it today. I argued that according to Scripture, there is no such a thing as “heretical teaching” in the way the idea is used in churches today. Calling something “heresy” is a bogeyman tactic used to scare and control others.

We looked at a few passages that mention “heresy” in which we saw that biblical heresy is actually the division and separation that sometimes occurs within the Body of Christ. Heresy is not false teaching, but the destruction of unity within the Church.

The primary passage in Scripture which seems to challenge this view is 2 Peter 2:1.

Heresy in 2 Peter 2:1

Second Peter 2:1 is the closest we come to a designation of “heresy” as a doctrine or teaching condemned by God with the consequence that those who believe it are condemned to eternal damnation. In this text, Peter equates false prophets and false teachers with the destructive heresies they bring and writes that just as their teachings bring destruction to the church, so they themselves will face destruction.

But in light of what we have seen of the other uses of the word airesis in Scripture, it is best to see first if that meaning fits here, and if so, we should seek no other meaning.
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A Centered Set approach to church tries not to restrict anyone from participating. Sure, there are rules about how to participate, but in a Centered Set, since there are not boundaries, everybody by definition is “in.”

But what about the heretics? The really bad hell-bound heretics? The apostates and wicked men who lead people astray by lies and deceit? Cannot we at least restrict them?

Heretics Don’t Exist

Well, it may come as a surprise to learn that there is no such thing as a heretic. They are fictional creatures invented by religious leaders who want to scare people into strict compliance to everything the leader says. Like parents who try to scare their children into obedience by telling tales of the bogeyman, some church leaders try to scare their congregation with tales of fire-breathing heretics whose ideas originate in the pit of hell.

Scripture on Heresy

But doesn’t Scripture warn us about heresies? Yes, it does. More frequently than we realize.

The word heresy comes from the Greek word airesis, which is pronounced “heresies.” So the English word “heresy” is not a translation from the Greek, but is a transliteration, just like baptism (baptizō) and evangelism (euangelizō). Translators will often transliterate a Greek word when they are not fully sure how to translate it. They just take the Greek letters and change them into English letters, and call it good.
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