From the previous post, I have estalished that is is possible to know and in fact we are commanded to make righteous judgment and discern whether people are false teachers, and also whether they are saved. This is done through examining the fruits produced by them. Such fruits include:
I would like to go more in depth into each of these fruits.
We can judge a person's teachings and his/her salvation through whether they teach false doctrines and whether they preach another gospel. This shows definitely that the act of teaching and preaching is a very serious affair, since the teaching of false doctrines would damn us. Note first of all that this teaching of false doctrines is something that happens consistently, that is when the people involved truly do believe in them and thus teach them. However, how are we to find out whether a person who teaches something truly believes in what he teaches, and does not do so honestly out of ignorance? We can discern what a person believes through exposing him/her to the truth, and then noticing the reaction of the person teaching serious errors. If the person is honestly ignorant, that person would immediately repent. If, however, that person remains defiant, and that happens for quite some time, we can know for sure that the person is truly a false teacher and is not saved at all. This can be seen in the biblical example of the Judaizers. Initially, in the Jerusalem council as mentioned in Acts 15:1-31, the early Judaizers were shown their errors in trying to force the new Gentile believers to observe the Mosaic ceremonial laws. Later on however, after quite some time, the apostle Paul, when writing against these same group of people, pronounced anathema on them for teaching that Gentile believers are to observe the Mosaic ceremonial laws. Thus, we can see that the same group of people (the Judaizers) were treated differently, the first time as erring brethren and later the second time as heretics.
In the same way, when judging people who teach errors, we are to apply the same method of judging as taught by Scripture. For those who teach errors, we are to rebuke them and correct them in love through the Scriptures (2 Tim. 3:16), so that if they are truly saved, that they would repent of their sins. If, however, they persistently teach heresy, they are unsaved heretics and are to be regarded as such. If this standard seems rather harsh, then realize that the Scripture teaches that those who teach are to subjected to greater strictness in judgment (James 3:1). Reinforcing this concept, the Scriptures, echoing the fact that bad trees bear bad fruit, mention in Mt. 12:37 that 'by your words you will be justified, and by your words you would be condemned'. Since the context of this verse is with regards to knowing the trees by their fruits, this verse is an explicit declaration that through the fruits of our teaching others may discern and judge our fruits, and thus know the conditions of our standing and salvific status before God.
Some people may object to the fact that since Man has free will and is naturally weak, couldn't a true believer be deceived into believing and teaching heresy? I don't see why this couldn't be the case, and Scripture tell of people like Job's friends Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite who spoke wrongly of God ( Job 42:7-9) yet they are most probably saved. However, since Scripture says that a good tree can never bear bad fruit, it is obvious that those who are saved can never teached wrong doctrines willfully in defiance of God. God would thus correct them and basically His Spirit would preserve us believers so that we would never be able to fall away so grieviously such that we produce bad fruits of teaching heresy definatly and persistently like the unsaved heretics. If it is needed, God will execute disciplinary measures against his children who are teaching heresies to 'break' them and bring them to repentance in Him. In the case of Job's friends, God rebuked them and they did repent of their errors.
Now, we have been talking about people who preach and teach heresies. How about people who believe in them? Do different standards apply here?
In the case of people who believe in heresies, it is harder to judge since most beliefs are not clearly stated or not stated in the first place. However, if a person voices his belief in heresies, then we can justly rebuke and correct the person if possible. If the person persistently voices his belief in heresies, then he could be treated the same way as those who teach those heresies, since this shows forth the bad fruit that he denies the Lord Jesus Christ by denying His truth. However, since people who believe in heresies do not often voice out their heretical beliefs, unless for the prupose of teaching them, it is normally not the case whereby someone will need to excommunicate a person for believing in heresies (at least I hope so). Similarly, a person's heretical beliefs will normally be found out ONLY when the person attempts to teach those beliefs to others.
We will now look at the remaining bad fruits. Not loving the Lord is another fruit on par with denying the Lord Jesus Christ, insomuch as they could and most often are not seen visibly, and if such we cannot judge them. Since loving the Lord is by itself unprovable either way, as service rendered to the Lord could have ulterior motives involved, the only way that love for the Lord can be shown is in the person's walk with God through the doctrines he believe. We shall know them by their fruits, and thus we can judge a person's love for God if fruis are manifested which show forth their presence or their absence. Of course, such fruits are hard to discern, but when it comes down to certain concrete things like honoring God's truth and having passion for God, showing contempt for God's truth and embracing heresies, and showing hatred and contempt for God are definitely signs which point to the existence of bad fruits which are produced by bad trees.
Finally, the bad fruit of changing the grace of God into licentiousness shows that those who live like the world, having the moral standards of the world, and engaging in the same type of moral debauchery, are not saved. The bad fruits of moral decadence and its attendent heresy of antinomianism shows forth that one doesn't know Christ. Therefore, anyone who lives a life of persistent sinfulness can be judged to be unsaved.
In the next installment, I would look at various objections to the idea of judging heretics and their salvations, including a look at the idea of backsliding, and then I would return to my judgment of Ed Silvoso.
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