False Teachers

We could describe the relational structure of the Christian church with the following unflattering description:

Or, let’s take the same idea in light of a narcissist’s agenda:

  • An opportunity to gain authority by claiming the name of Christ.
  • A vast variety of opportunities to gain reputation through:
    • Regular attendance
    • Dramatic representation of the Bible and religious sayings
    • Free attention while playing music or singing along
    • Honor from everyone through appearing to be very humble
  • Limited accountability from hard-to-define goals, with opportunities to deflect blame through an endless supply of new volunteers.
  • Two major opportunities for self-gratification (narcissistic abuse) with the rest of the members’ near-endless support:
    1. Hold people as a captive audience under the pretense of sharing Jesus Christ.
    2. Opportunity for endless one-on-one narcissistic supply from the newest and most suggestible members.
  • An opportunity, with the right framing, to create allies over any form of hardship.

In that sense, the Christian Church has been a magnet for narcissists since the beginning. It’s a true miracle in and of itself that any goodness in the Church even happens!

How God feels

Despite this cynical approach, God has a very strong opinion about these people.

In some way, every single 2nd book of the New Testament warns about false teachers:

  • Paul wrote to the Corinthian church about false apostles who claimed an authority other than Christ (2 Corinthians 11).
    • This is a clear follow-up to the sin the church had permitted in His first letter (1 Corinthians 5).
  • Paul echoes the same message to the Thessalonian church (2 Thessalonians 2:1-11).
  • Paul warns about these people directly to Timothy (2 Timothy 3:1-9).
  • Peter says the same thing (2 Peter 2:1-3:13).
  • John focuses on teachers who refuse to acknowledge Jesus Christ coming in a human body (2 John 7-11).
  • There’s a unique passage in Hebrews that very much talks about these sorts of people (Hebrews 6:4-6).
  • Finally, Jude also describes them in explicit detail (Jude 3-16).

And, when we overlay these passages, Scripture paints a severe, unflinching picture.

The good news

First, God has prepared believers from time immemorial to maintain a simple, unswaying devotion to Christ.

  • God has come to earth and died in a human body as Jesus Christ.
  • Jesus hasn’t come back yet.
  • God is bigger and more powerful than any spiritual institution or theology.

The ugly truths

Rebellious, false teachers are claiming to be disciples of Christ.

  • They heard the simple truth of Jesus Christ but have twisted it into something worse than when they started.
  • They make the Gospel more complicated than He ever meant.
  • These false teachers also work to undermine the love and sacrifice of the original disciples and Jesus Himself.

And, just like the devil is an angel of light, they appear to be righteous.

  • However, they exalt themselves above all authority that has ever existed.

The apostles’ versus the false teachers’ results reveal the truth:

  • Their authority comes from all forms of power, false signs, and deceptive words, but their teaching has zero substance.
  • While they promise freedom, they’re enslaved and burdened with impulsive sins that defile their body, reject authority, and slander glorious beings.
  • They sneak their way into homes and use shame and the body’s passions to trap vulnerable people (especially women) weighed down with sins.
  • They’re like mindless animals: constantly learning, never coming to understanding, and blaspheming things they don’t understand.
  • Further, they’ll revel in the lies they’ve maintained while they keep pursuing their sin.

Their lies will bring many followers, to the point that people will mistake their actions and condemn the Gospel itself.

The good news again

God, however, designated these false teachers long ago for condemnation.

  • They certainly have power but won’t stay that way for long, and God will bring them to an open shame.
  • When their works show who they really are, He will judge them rapidly over the evil they love so much.
  • In the meantime, God has given them a powerful delusion so they believe their lies.
  • He is extremely patient and persists because He wants everyone to come to repentance.
  • Their journey is the same as the fallen angels in hell, the people from Noah’s time, and Sodom and Gomorrah.

    Further, believers have nothing to be afraid of.

    • Before He created the world, He chose His children to share in Jesus Christ’s endless glory.
    • Like Lot, He will rescue the righteous people from the middle of the evil crowd.

    How believers should respond

    In light of this, the biblical answer is far more nuanced than simply loving them and forgiving their sins.

    Absolutely any interaction with a narcissist “Christian” is sharing in their evil:

    • Do not receive the narcissists into your home.
    • Do not eat with narcissists.
    • Do not even greet the narcissists.

    Christians must conduct themselves in holiness and godliness.

    This is far easier than it sounds, especially if you’re a church leader or have trauma from narcissistic abuse.

    However, believers are part of God’s Church (and not the other way around).

    He knows what He’s doing when He tells us to back away.