Judgment and Calling Out False Teaching Subtitle: Should Christians call out false teaching or exercise judgment?

By: Zachary Costello

Some years ago, I recall a controversy around a post from my close friend, Caleb Gordon. He was essentially posting about false churches, false converts, bad fruit, and the fact that we can and should rejoice when a person is pulled OUT of false churches. In this blog, I will give several common objections or statements from a modern evangelical who has been fed the “Don’t judge anyone or anything!” doctrine. This is someone who just wants to get along and never wants to call anything out. While I understand wanting to be “kind” to everyone (as we should), there are times when well-meaning Christians can take this idea too far and thus become what I like to call ‘squishy’, or if you like, an ‘evanjellyfish’. Trademark pending on that term – feel free to use it!

Some key verses for this discussion: 

1 Corinthians 2:12–14 (ESV) — “Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual. The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.”

Matthew 7:16–20 (ESV) — “You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus you will recognize them by their fruits.”

Luke 15:7–10 (ESV) — “Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance. Or what woman, having ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and seek diligently until she finds it? And when she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, “Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.” Just so, I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”

Objection #1: “Why would you rejoice about someone leaving a Church because they were not being fed?”

ANSWER: The question assumes some sort of malice or prideful rejoicing. But the premise is off. The issue was a Christian leaving a Church because of false doctrine, not because of subjective opinion or preferences on the buffet offered.

No one would blame a Christian for leaving a Church that was feeding bad doctrine. We in fact rejoice WITH them! Especially if God saved them in the process (which I have seen many times)! Afterall, all of Heaven rejoices when one sinner comes to true faith and repentance! It is a beautiful thing seeing God work out and fulfill His promise that He would lose not one of His sheep. (John 10)

The objection seems to suggest that we should NOT rejoice when someone leaves a false church who is preaching false doctrine and leading people astray.  But why would we not rejoice?  Shall we not rejoice if someone leaves the Mormon church for instance? Or the Jehovah's Witnesses? Or any other number of Cults? Why would we not rejoice when God graciously opens someone's eyes to the truth of His word, causing them to recognize the false teaching in their church, and causing them to leave and seek out a Biblical Church that faithfully preaches the Scriptures?

Objection #2: “I know there are false teachers out there who can lead baby Christians astray, but who am I to call out false teachers when I am also guilty of sin?”

Answer: This sounds like it’s coming from a place of humility, but it is actually quite dangerous. The issue in this question is not founded upon Scripture. This is similar to when people try to use the woman caught in adultery as a doctrinal foundation to “never judge anyone.” But this completely misses the point of that story. 

Setting aside the fact for a moment that the woman caught in adultery is what is called a "textual variant" (which is not found in most earlier manuscripts), it seems like the objector is saying: “Jesus told those who were without sin to cast the first stone, therefore we should not call out false teachers”.

In logic, this is what is called a non-sequitur (it does not logically follow). In fact, it contradicts what we see throughout the entire New Testament.  Jesus was of course sinless, being God incarnate, but he called out the false teaching of the Pharisees/Scribes CONSTANTLY.   

Moving on to the rest of us who are NOT sinless: Paul, Peter, Jude, James (all sinful men), constantly called out false teaching. In fact that's the entire context of Jude. 1 and 2 Peter heavily focus on false teachers as well. Paul even called out Peter to his face and by name when he strayed from the proper Gospel by going along with the Judaizers.  We see throughout the NT that we are in fact mandated to call out false teaching.  We are to warn people against those who are wolves, those who "teach for shameful gain what they ought not teach" (Titus 1:11).  

Examine the logic again: "because we are sinners, we can't call out false teachers". If this were true, then that would mean logically that we sinners could never ever call out any false teaching, no matter how blasphemous or heinous.  That is simply not true. See Paul’s calling out of Peter again, done publicly I might add! The fact that we are sinners does not mean we are "not allowed" to call out false teachers. On the contrary, we are commanded to do so, out of love for our fellow men, whom we do not wish to be led astray.  Of course we are not perfect, but if we see someone obviously teaching what is contrary to the Scripture, we are to call it out and warn our brothers out of love, concern, and care for them. The source of the “calling out” is always from a position of love and compassion, not haughty pride or a desire to be right.

Objection #3: “You are using Scripture to support your judging, but you are just misinterpreting it.”

ANSWER: We agree wholeheartedly that Scripture can be misinterpreted. The key is that it is the duty of the Christian to understand Scripture in context, thereby practicing good interpretation through the process of what is called Biblical hermeneutics (with assistance from the illumination of the Holy Spirit).  After all, no one can truly understand or apply Scripture without the help of God Himself. Spiritual things are spiritually discerned (1 Cor. 2:12-14).  

One thing you will notice in Churches that are NOT faithfully preaching the Word, is that they constantly rip and cherry pick single verses out of context with many different “translations” and paraphrases, and thus twist them in order to push/support their narrative...rather than understanding the context, and properly expositing what is meant by that verse IN CONTEXT. (As a loving admonishment: If you are in a Church that practices this kind of twisting, I implore you to RUN!)

We don’t have time for a full class on biblical hermeneutics in this blog post, but here are some quick, hopefully helpful principles: 

Historic biblical hermeneutics is the approach to interpreting Scripture that seeks to understand the Bible according to its intended meaning, in its literary and historical context, while interpreting Scripture with Scripture.

In short:

*Scripture interprets Scripture** — clearer passages help explain less-clear ones.

*Context matters** — consider the author, audience, historical setting, genre, and surrounding passage.

*One unified revelation** — the Bible has many human authors but one divine Author, so its teachings ultimately cohere.

*Christ-centered** — the whole Old Testament points directly to Christ, and the New Testament reveals Him as the fulfillment of God's redemptive plan.

*Covenantal** — God's dealings with humanity are understood within the unfolding biblical covenants.

*Literal doesn't mean wooden** — poetry is read as poetry, prophecy as prophecy, narrative as narrative, symbolic as symbolic, etc.

*Grammatical-historical concerns** — first seek what the text meant in its original context before asking how it applies today.

*The Holy Spirit illuminates** — sound interpretation requires the Spirit's work in our hearts and minds.

*Stand on the shoulders of giants before us** — The great theologians of the past are not infallible, but they are a great source of understanding and dedicated their lives to Scripture and the Church. If you believe something that is foreign to all of Church History, you are very likely in error. Or as we might say in Oklahoma: “If it’s new, it ain’t true.”

A concise TL;DR summary of hermeneutics would be:

Understand what the biblical author intended to communicate, in context, in light of the whole of Scripture, and ultimately in light of Christ and God's redemptive covenant.

Objection #4: : "But it’s not my job to judge others, it is my job to just love people!"

This is one of the most commonly misunderstood issues in modern American Evangelicalism and is foreign to historic Christianity. (See any letters sent to/from famous theologians and all Synods and Councils)

On the contrary, Scripture actually does tell us to judge, but to "judge rightly" or "judge righteously", meaning we judge things according to the standard of God in His Scripture (John 7:24). Nobody is defining the primary “job” of a Christian as prancing around on a high horse judging people – that would be preposterous and indeed counterproductive.

Yes, it is of primary concern for the Christian to love people - and the most loving thing you can do for a person is to do what Jesus did: Tell them the GOSPEL! Lovingly call them to repentance, warn them of the wrath and judgment to come.  Call them to come to Christ and live, for it is in Him alone that there is Salvation and eternal life.  That is the most loving thing you could ever do for someone: Tell them the truth with grace and gentleness, while not compromising on the truth.  To some people, that may come off as unloving, but it is not. Was Paul unloving when he gave his firm corrections to the Church at Corinth, or chastised the Churches in Galatia?

They will say “but if we just love people with our outward actions by serving and feeding the homeless for example, that’s all we need! That’s what the Church is about!”

Yes, of course any God fearing, Bible preaching church filled with believers who love God will produce many fruits, one of which would naturally be serving their community and those in need.  On this we agree. But there are many “churches” out there (especially of the ‘mega-church’ variety) who focus heavily on “serving”, yet offer nothing in the realm of true lasting hope, because they neglect the most important thing: The sound preaching of the Gospel itself.  Any charitable organization can help the homeless and needy – That does not save anyone, nor does it truly glorify God if it is absent of Christ and His Gospel and a call to repentance and faith.  

Objection #5: “You’re wrong. Jesus even still loved Judas and never abandoned him. So we should love people regardless of their past.”

ANSWER: We agree that we should love people regardless of where they come from. There is no room for partiality in Christ’s Church (See the book of James). But the premise and conclusions in this statement are all wrong. Judas is the last place you want to go in order to support a “no judging” ideology!

Where do we get the idea from Scripture that Judas was not abandoned? I’d prefer to use a more biblical word: Judas was reprobate. Jesus most certainly did condemn and judge Judas, more than once!

He was and is being punished for his sin, eternally.  What do we think Jesus meant when He said "I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled." (John 17:12b)  Jesus even called Judas "a devil" on another occasion.  Judas, along with every person who dies in their sins is punished in Hell for eternity. If that's not abandoned, what else do you call it?  Jesus said in Luke 13:3 (ESV) — “No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.”

Objection #6: “Well if you are without sin, then you don’t even need to be in a Church! Don’t condemn churches just because you disagree with what they teach!”

ANSWER: Firstly, no sound Christian believes they are without sin. Absolutely, of course every church is full of sinners! RC Sproul once rightly said: “If you ever find a perfect Church, don’t you dare join it…you’ll ruin it.” 

The fact that every Church is full of sinners does not negate the fact that we as true believers are called to hate our sin as Scripture says, and to grow in Holiness through the renewing of our minds and by the power of the Holy Spirit as he molds us through the wonderful convicting work of the Scripture and the preaching thereof. This is the process of sanctification, as Paul details in Philippians 1 that "He who began a good work in you WILL be faithful to bring it to completion."

This is not to suggest that we blatantly stay in our sin and flaunt it. Rather, it is acknowledging our dependence on God’s Holy Spirit to constantly mold and refine us more into the likeness of Christ the Son. 

This is not merely an issue of “disagreement”. We do not simply condemn a church with some sort of personal authority because of our subjective opinions or preferences. We are to call out and warn against churches that are KNOWN to preach falsehoods:

Romans 16:17 (ESV) — “I appeal to you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and create obstacles contrary to the doctrine that you have been taught; avoid them.”

Titus 1:9 (ESV) — “He must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught, so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it.”

Notice: It is not those who are calling out or rebuking false teachers/churches who are “divisive” (one of the most misused words in the modern Church). Rather, it is those who teach false doctrine who are causing divisions. We are called to avoid and rebuke those who contradict the Word of God. This is simply a confirmation to do the work that the noble Bereans did, by "examining the Scriptures closely to see if these things are true."  We don't call out false teachers or false churches due to our opinions or our subjective, unfounded beliefs about them. We call them out because what they are teaching contradicts, twists, or abuses the objective standard of God's Scripture.  He is the standard, not us.  

Biblical judgment is not self-righteous condemnation; it is discernment according to God’s Word, exercised in love, rooted in compassion.

Love warns.

Love tells the truth.

Love protects the sheep.

Love calls sinners to repentance.

Love points people to Christ.

And ultimately, love does not compromise the truth in order to maintain peace. Biblical peace is not the absence of disagreement. True peace is found in reconciliation with God through Jesus Christ.

When we do these things according to God’s Word, we are indeed “judging rightly”, and we are most certainly glorifying God in doing so.