The appearance of false teachers: 1. Appearance of heretics and their danger v. 1 – 2 2. Their judgment is sure v. 3 – 9 3. Their attributes v. 10 – 22. 1. The appearance of heretics and their danger “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 brought them and bring on themselves swift destruction. And many will follow their destructive ways, because of whom the way of truth will be blasphemed.” (v. 1, 2) Satan does not stop to deceive people by marring the truth through manifesting things similar to it. As the Holy Spirit works in the true prophets witnessing to the Lord, so the devil works in the false prophets. (Jer. 14:14, 23:25, Deut. 13:1-5) As there are true shepherds, there are also false teachers. The Lord Jesus warned us to beware of them10, as St. Paul warned the bishops of Ephesus by saying, “And from among you men will rise up, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after themselves.” (Acts 20: 30) Tertillian the scholar said: 11 [We should not be astonished that there are heretics, for the Lord has previously warned us about them, for they ruin the faith of some, but they are as a test of faith to purify us. (1 Cor. 11:19)] Heresies have their disadvantages as well as their advantages. The disadvantages are: 1. They deny the Lord who bought them, reviling the precious blood paid for the true faith. 12 2. Not only they perish but they attract others for destruction. 3. They sin against God, for because of them, they blaspheme the way of truth. In spite of them claiming that they are abiding by the Gospel, yet they deviate from the orthodox faith so they bring blasphemy on the name of the Lord. The advantages of the heresies, as St. Augustine said 13 : [Heresies attract us to know the mysteries of God and strengthen our faith. My brethren, God uses even the evil for our own good, for the weak souls are troubled because of the heresies, but in the mean time, these heresies drive them to dig in the Holy Bible to seek the truth so they are nurtured with sufficient milk.] 2. Their judgment is sure “By covetousness they will exploit you with deceptive words; for a long time their judgment has not been idle, and their destruction does not slumber.” (v. 3) Since they revile the precious blood shed for them using deceptive words “by smooth words and flattering speech deceive the hearts of the simple.” (Rom. 16: 18) 10 Matt. 7: 15, 24: 24 11 Tert: The prescription against heretics 1. 12 Refer to Acts 20:28, 1 Cor. 6:20,37, Rev. 5: 9. 13 Sermons on certain chapters from the New Testament. 2 Therefore it was said that their judgment has not been idle and their destruction does not slumber”, even if they felt secure for this is a false secure and the proof is that: “For if God did not spare the angels who sinned, but cast them down to hell and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved for judgment.” (v. 4) We notice that saying “He cast them” in the past tense, means that this is assured for the future. St. Augustine 15 used this expression to prove that the evil angels were not created like that, but by falling in sin, they became evil. Second: The destruction of the old world: “And did not spare the ancient world, but saved Noah, one of eight people, a preacher of righteousness bringing in the flood on the world of the ungodly.” (v. 5) This sentence is related to the previous one, “For if God did not spare the ancient world during the time of Noah who preached righteousness and they did not listen to him. God punished them with a flood, so how can He not condemn the heretics?! He preserved Noah, who was the eighth person in the ark. Probably he entered after his sons and their wives to make sure that they were protected. Their few numbers did not prevent God’s care for them. Also, the multitude of the evil people does not prevent their condemnation. Third: Burning Sodom and Gomorrah: “And turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, condemned them to destruction, making them an example to those who afterward would live ungodly.” (v. 6) Turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes became a lesson for all the human history. Since their evil increased abundantly, then God has destroyed them; in the same manner every one who continues to commit evil and does not repent. 16 God condemned them by destruction, as one who is sentenced to death, for the wages of sin is death. Even in their destruction which is the fruit of their evil deeds, yet God can change that evil to the good of others so they may repent. God revealed how much He cares for His children, for in the burning of the two cities, God did not forget Lot with his two daughters. “And delivered righteous Lot, who was oppressed by the filthy conduct of the wicked (for that righteous man dwelling among them, tormented his righteous soul from day to day by seeing and hearing their lawless deeds. (v. 7, 8) Lot has put himself in the midst of the evil people, for he has chosen the fertile land and left the barren land to his uncle Abraham, therefore, he deserved to walk out empty handed However, Lot did not mingle with the evil people in their filthy conduct, but his soul was tormented day to day from what he sees and hears from their lawless deeds! God delivered Lot (Gen. 19: 16) for not defiling himself from the surrounding environment for he was tormented from the lawless conduct of the evil people.. “Then the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptation and to reserve the unjust under punishment for the day of judgment.” (v. 9) This is the result which the divine inspiration wants to declare: 15 Nature of good against wanichalns. 16 Refer to the interpretation of 7 (p. 7,8) 3 1. In the midst of temptation, God distinguishes between the godly and the unjust who are reserved for punishment. 2. Leaving the godly to live among the evil people, God does not mean that He had forgotten the godly but He delivers them from temptation, like in the parable of the wheat and the weeds. The sewer let the weeds and the wheat both grow until the harvest day. 3. God does not rush in punishing the ungodly but He keeps them under punishment for the Day of Judgment. 3. Their attributes: St. Peter summarized the attributes of the false teachers in the following: 1. They walk according to the flesh. 2. They despise authority. 3. They are ignorant like beasts. 4. They love pleasure. 5. They are deceivers. 6. They love wages. 7. They are barren. 8. They distort the concept of freedom. Some of these attributes were explained in the epistle of Jude. 17 1. They walk according to the flesh: “And especially those who walk according to the flesh in the lust of uncleanness”. In his article about chastity18, St. Augustine distinguished between: A. The flesh and its instincts: is from God who is full of goodness. B. The spirit with its energies: is from God who is full of goodness. C. The lusts of the flesh: are intruding on man because of man’s deviation from using the instincts in the right way which God had planned. D. The desires of the spirit: which are yearning to be in bosom of the Creator, and these are against the desires of the flesh, which are like diseases intruding on man. Saying “walking according to the flesh” means that man walks according to the lusts of the flesh or his earthly desires and not according to these desires of the spirit or God’s heavenly will. St. Augustine said 19:. [St. Paul has revealed this in a clearer way when saying, “Aren’t you carnal, walking according to men.” If it was that those who walk according to the flesh are reprimanded and those who walk according to men are praised, he wouldn’t have said “walking according to men”. Listen, O man, do not walk according to men, but according to your Creator. Do not escape from the One who brought you in existence. Do not escape from Him by depending on yourself, for he who did not according to men said, “Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God.” (2 Cor. 3: 5) Do not walk according to your own desires lest you perish. When you hear the saying, “If you live according to the flesh, you will die…” (Rom. 8: 17 Interpretation of St. Jude, p. 8 – 11. 18 Was translated in a pamphlet called “Chastity”. 19 Chastity by St. Augustine, p. 32 – 34. 4 13) Do not live according to your desires, for the devil does not have a body, but because he wanted to live according to his desires, he did not abide in the truth. (Rom. 8: 44) Therefore, those teachers walk according to the flesh that is according to their desires in the lust of uncleanness. What more uncleanness is when one accepts his will rather than God’s will and rather than being led by the Spirit of God. (Rom. 8: 14) 2. They despise authority: “And despise authority. They are presumptuous and self-willed. They are not afraid to speak evil of dignitaries, whereas angels, who are greater in power and might, do not bring a reviling accusation against them before the Lord.” (v. 10, 11) We previously have explained that in the epistle of St. Jude. They are very self opinionated and do not want to submit to the traditions which the church has received from generation to generation, but they interpret the Gospel according to their own private thoughts. They do not want to follow the example of the humble angels who, although they are full of power and understanding and wisdom, yet they do not judge the devils but they leave the judgment to God. (Refer to the interpretation of the epistle of St. Jude, p. 9) 3. They are ignorant like animals: “But these like natural brute beasts made to be caught and destroyed, speak evil of the things they do not understand, and they will utterly perish in their own corruption.” (v. 12) Since they reject the truth and oppose it, then they become without understanding like the beasts. St. Anthony the Great said 20 : {These souls perish like the brute beasts, for their minds are pulled by lusts as the wild horses pull their passengers.} Moreover, they became even less than them. A. The animals are brute by nature, while man has a mind, as St. Anthony the Great said: 21[To help man in his relationship with God.] But when they deviate from what they were created for, they become less than the animals. B. The animals are created for hunting and destruction, however, man is created to live forever. St. Anthony the Great said 22 : [When a sane person examines himself, he finds what is beneficial for him and guides himself to salvation. However, he avoids what is harmful for him, when he sees strange things leading to destruction.] C. The heretics, not only are ignorant about the truth but they attack the truth, though it would have been better if they would have been silent because of their ignorance. D. The reason for their destruction is not outside of them, for they utterly perish in their own corruption, which is they surrendered themselves to destruction. 4. They love pleasure: “And will receive the wages of unrighteousness, as those who count it pleasure to carouse in the daytime. They are spots and blemishes, carousing in their deceptions while they feast with you.” (v. 13) We see them as though they are successful in the world, for they have pleasure for a short day, which will end and the Day of Judgment will come. 20 Filokalia p. 41 21 Filokalia p. 48 22 Filokalia p. 21 5 This is their principle as the principle of the Epicureans, “Let us eat and drink for tomorrow we will die.” They rejoice for a temporary pleasure, ignoring the heavenly eternal pleasure. They follow Esau’s example that for the pleasure of eating lentil soup, he sold his birthright and wept bitterly, but was for no use. St. Paul said, “For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life.” (Eph. 6:8) Since they take their pleasure here, then they suffer over there in eternity. The danger of those heretics are that “they feast with you”, that is they relate themselves to the banquet of Christ and consider themselves as members in the church while they carry all hatred and animosity. 5. Deceivers: “Having eyes full of adultery and they cannot cease from sin, enticing unstable souls. They have a heart trained in covetous practices, and are accursed children.” (v. 14) Whoever lives in lewdness, his eyes become full of adultery, so he loses the simple eye which lights the whole body; and his eyes become dark and see only what is evil and do not cease from sin. Those teachers, whose eyes are full of lewdness, do not cease to sin, tricking the unsteadfast souls through their outward appearance full of zeal, enthusiasm, chastity and purity. They have a heart trained in greediness; they are children of the curse that is their hearts carry what their eyes carry from lewdness. Their hearts are never satisfied, but they are in continuous greediness, not only in material things, but also in committing evil and in showing off and being self righteous, even on the expense of perishing the simple people and making them deviate from their simple faith! Thus they are called “accursed children.” 6. They love wages23 : “They have forsaken the right way and gone astray, following the way of Balaam the son of Beor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness; but he was rebuked for his iniquity; a dumb donkey speaking with a man’s voice restrained the madness of the prophet.” (v. 15, 16) They have forsaken the right way, which means that one day they were following the right way but they deviated from it. They were deceived by the way of Balaam who loved the wages of unrighteousness more than the service of God, so his mind was closed and could not understand. God has used the dumb donkey to rebuke the one who had lost his mind. 7. Infertile: “They are well without water, clouds carried by a tempest, for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever.” (v. 17) They have a deceiving appearance from outside. When a thirsty man finds a well, he is pleased because he can drink from it, but when he finds no water, he is disappointed; and also like a farmer who rejoices with the clouds but soon it is carried by the wind without sending rain. 23 Refer to the interpretation p. 11, 10 6 This reality will be revealed in the eternity, for “whom is revealed the blackness of darkness.” God is patient with them here on earth, but they are kept for eternal darkness. “For when they speak great swelling words of emptiness, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through lewdness, the ones who have actually escaped from those who live in error.” (v. 18) In pride and self righteousness, they claim that their teachings are correct, but in fact, they are deceived by the lusts of the flesh, that is by their own desires, and they attract people to cast them in what is worst than evil. They offer great hopes and open the door to sinners, and they rely on their own philosophy so they deviate the sinners in their corruption. 8. They distort the meaning of freedom: “While they promise them liberty, they themselves are slaves of corruption; for by whom a person is overcome, by him also he is brought into bondage.” (v. 19) They preach freedom, but unfortunately, they themselves are enslaved to sin because they are overcome by it. As the Lord Jesus said, “Most assuredly I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin.” (John 8: 34) Probably they used this nice word “freedom”, for which the Lord has come, incarnated, suffered, died, rose and ascended to heaven. All that so that He may ascend us with Him as free children and heirs of the kingdom. They used this word in a wrong meaning like: 1. To be liberated from the law by a mockery way. Father Theonas tackled this subject with Father John Kassian and Father Jermanios 24 . Father John said to Father Theonas 25 : [The person submitting to the laws of the law cannot reach the perfection of the gospel, even if he brags that he is a Christian and is liberated by the grace of God.] 2. To be liberated from the order which the church has put for the sake of her children. 3. Liberty meaning chaos in worship, where each one does what he wants without any guidance. “For if after they have escaped the pollution of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the latter end is worse for them than the beginning.” (v. 20) After they preached the Lord Jesus as Savior, they go back to sin enslaved by it, then their end is worse than the beginning. This is like the parable which the Lord Jesus said in the Gospel of St. Luke chapter (11: 26). After the devil has gone out of the man, he returned to the place from which he came, he found it swept and put in order, so he took seven other spirits more wicked than himself, so the last state of that man is worse than the first. The cause of their state in the second time was: 1. Their ignorance is no more an excuse. 2. He who fell deliberately does not listen any more to anyone who guides him. 3. Falling deliberately drives man to despair. 24 Kassian 21 (Rest during the holy fifty) 25 Kassian 21 (p. 528) 7 “For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered to them. But it has happened to them according to the true proverb: ‘A dog returns to his own vomit,’ and ‘a sow, having washed, to her wallowing in the mire.’” (v. 21, 22) St. Peter excerpted this verse from the book of the Proverbs: “As a dog returns to his own vomit, so a fool repeats his folly.” (Prov. 26: 11) Wallowing is the place for wallowing, and the mire is the black mud in which the pigs go into. After they have heard and talked about the freedom in Christ, they go back to the life of captivity because of their evil and they become slaves once more. St. Augustine said: 26[Though a good man is a slave, yet he is free, but though an evil person is a king, yet he is a slave.] 26 City of God 4: 12: 3.
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