Making Merchandise of Souls

1
Making Merchandise of Souls (The Methodology of
the False Teacher)
2
Introduction
False Doctrines Kill
False Teachers seek to Profit from Others
Destruction
We must recognize their methods or fall prey to
their deceit
3
Deceive and Destroy
Secretly introduce destructive heresies
"1 This is now, beloved, the second letter I am
writing to you in which I am stirring up your
sincere mind by way of reminder, 2 that you
should remember the words spoken beforehand by
the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord
and Savior spoken by your apostles.2 Peter
312 (NASB95)
Secretly Used of spies or traitors introducing
themselves into an enemies camp (Vincent)
Heresy is the introduction of a choice or opinion
different from that usually received
This heresy would lead people to deny the Lord
Himself
4
Deceive and Destroy
"1 This is now, beloved, the second letter I am
writing to you in which I am stirring up your
sincere mind by way of reminder, 2 that you
should remember the words spoken beforehand by
the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord
and Savior spoken by your apostles.2 Peter
312 (NASB95)
If no one ever accuses us of excusing sin by our
doctrine of grace, perhaps our teaching on grace
is different than Pauls (Ro. 38 61). If no
one is moved to greater obedience and
sanctification by our doctrine of grace, perhaps
our teaching on grace is different than
Pauls(Ro. 61-23 85-14).
5
Introduce Doubt Rather Than Speak from Conviction
"6 I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting
Him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a
different gospel 7 which is really not another
only there are some who are disturbing you and
want to distort the gospel of Christ. 8 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!Galatians 168
(NASB95)
The Judaizer did not seek to save souls but to
place doubt in the minds of the saved
They could not use the Gospel to advance their
doctrine
bewitch slander, malignenvy, grudge, use ill
words to another (Vincent)
6
Introduce Doubt Rather Than Speak from Conviction
"6 I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting
Him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a
different gospel 7 which is really not another
only there are some who are disturbing you and
want to distort the gospel of Christ. 8 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!Galatians 168
(NASB95)
I wonder if our anti brethren ever preach on the
duty of the church to give? Do they use
1Corinthians 162? (Ben Vick)
7
Twist and Destroy
"16 as also in all his letters, speaking in them
of these things, in which are some things hard to
understand, which the untaught and unstable
distort, as they do also the rest of the
Scriptures, to their own destruction.2 Peter
316 (NASB95)
Distort to torture by twisting
Untaught They are untrained and unskilled in
hermeneutics and, therefore, arrive at
distortions of what is actually said (Hamilton)
Unstable lack of true conviction which allows
their teaching to change to meet their behavior
8
Twist and Destroy
"15 For if because of food your brother is hurt,
you are no longer walking according to love. Do
not destroy with your food him for whom Christ
died.Romans 1415 (NASB95)
It is interesting that the word "judge" is used
here as in Romans 14 3, where "the impotent" are
told not to "judge" those who are "strong" in
their refusal to observe religious dietary laws.
Who was doing this "judging" (condemning) of the
Christians for their non-participation in
observing dietary laws and religious days,
months, and years? It was not Jews, either
unconverted or converted, but the pagan brethren
of converted pagans
9
Twist and Destroy
"15 For if because of food your brother is hurt,
you are no longer walking according to love. Do
not destroy with your food him for whom Christ
died.Romans 1415 (NASB95)
These condemned the converted pagans for their
non-participation in such religious activities.
Paul's command "not to judge" the Christian in
Colossians 2 16, 17 is the same as Romans 14 3.
It is not a case of one Christian judging another
Christian, but of pagans judging Christians.
(Stephen Garrett http//baptistgadfly.blogspot.com
/search?qRomans14)
10
Twist and Destroy
"15 For if because of food your brother is hurt,
you are no longer walking according to love. Do
not destroy with your food him for whom Christ
died.Romans 1415 (NASB95)
In this chapter an analysis of Romans 14 1 -
151 will be presented. It will be shown that
"the weak," in this section, is a reference to
the class of the unsaved, to unbelievers, or to
non-Christians, as in I Corinthians, and that
"the strong" is a reference to the class of the
saved, to believers, or to Christians. (ibid)
11
Twist and Destroy
"15 For if because of food your brother is hurt,
you are no longer walking according to love. Do
not destroy with your food him for whom Christ
died.Romans 1415 (NASB95)
on verse 3 Paul is warning the Christians
about how they should regard their lost pagan
neighbors and brothers, not how they should
regard fellow Christians
12
Twist and Destroy
"15 For if because of food your brother is hurt,
you are no longer walking according to love. Do
not destroy with your food him for whom Christ
died.Romans 1415 (NASB95)
As has been observed in previous chapters,
regarding this same issue in the Corinthian
epistles, Paul is countering the attitude of
Christians towards pagans, which attitude was one
of superiority, of standoffishness, of unconcern
for their salvation. (idbid)
13
Assume and Assert
"17 and their talk will spread like gangrene.
Among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus, 18 men who
have gone astray from the truth saying that the
resurrection has already taken place, and they
upset the faith of some.2 Timothy 21718
(NASB95)
1st Century version of the no resurrection
doctrine was likely drawn from writings like
Romans 6 and Gal 2
These false teachers had no way to prove their
doctrine
They were forced to rely on circular reasoning
and ignoring facts that would have disproved them
14
Who is a False Teacher
"24 Now a Jew named Apollos, an Alexandrian by
birth, an eloquent man, came to Ephesus and he
was mighty in the Scriptures. 25 This man had
been instructed in the way of the Lord and being
fervent in spirit, he was speaking and teaching
accurately the things concerning Jesus, being
acquainted only with the baptism of JohnActs
182425 (NASB95)
Is every one with a false idea a false teacher?
Honest men have honest methods
The honest mistaken man changes when presented
with the truth, the false teacher continues in
his error