Contradictions and false teaching

Faith can be described as the ability to hold biblically opposing ideas in each hand and trust God that both are true. For instance, “God so loved the world” (John 3:16) and “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.” (Romans 9:13) How can God love the world and yet hate anyone in it?

Because of this definition of faith, I interpret the following verses as referring to the inability to deal with these seemingly contradictory teachings. They say . . .

“For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.’ (2 Timothy 4:3–4)

Sound teaching says those opposites are both true. God loves, but God also hates. The myths are picking up only one of them to the neglect of the others. That is, those with itching ears will select “God loves everyone and therefore will not condemn anyone” OR “God is angry at everyone and there is no hope (unless you join our group).”

Other seeming contradictions include: God saves only those He chooses AND only those who choose God are saved. God is sovereign AND sinners have a free will. God is one AND the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are God.

In the beginning of faith, new Christians usually focus on one side or the other of these contradictions. When the opposite one is raised to their attention, questioning and conflict begin. For some, this is enough to put faith in a closet because they insist on using reason to figure it out. For others, it will mean years of arguing and putting down the group or denomination that focuses on the side that they do not agree with. This kind of thinking often causes church splits (although they can also be the result of less significant differences).

Fortner takes what appears to be the extreme Calvinist side. Those who put more emphasis on human choice are in another camp. Through the church age, Christians have wrestled with these ‘contradictions’ to our detriment. Far better to compare them to railroad tracks. Biblical opposites are like them in that they run together and merge in the distance. All those contradictions will merge when we reach glory. If we insist one is true and the other is not, we are apt to run off the rails.

False teaching goes beyond taking sides on those seeming contradictions in Scripture. It includes notions like:

·         God does not exist.

·         God does not know or care about me or what I do or do not do.

·         Jesus is a myth, a representation of an ideal.

·         Jesus did not really die or rise from the dead.

·         Jesus is not who He claimed to be; he is only a man and a good teacher.

·         The Holy Spirit is a force, not a person.

The list could go on, but for the most part, false teaching can be identified when those who promote insist that they are correct and everyone else is wrong. Only Jesus can make statements like this: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6)

^^^^^^^^^^

Jesus, as I read the whole Bible, questions come to mind. Promises are fulfilled but some are not yet fulfilled. You say one thing here and another there. But in getting to know You, I am convinced that Your thoughts are higher than mine, and that one day it will all make sense. I’m also convinced that You can be trusted — even with those ideas that do not seem to match up. The problem is not with You but with my inability to fully understand. Thank You for faith that can hold these opposites in tension without insisting only one of them can be true.

Secularism

Secular describes the realm of worldly, temporal, unspiritual things, including the attitude toward life of an ungodly person. It was this attitude that ruined Esau. He had been hunting. When he came home, he was hungry and his brother was stirring a pot of stew. When he asked for some, Jacob offered to trade it for the “birthright” that belonged to the eldest son. Esau replied, “I am about to die; of what use is a birthright to me?” (Genesis 25:32)

The Bible says Esau was more concerned about his stomach than his eternal well-being. The birthright was an important part of his heritage and had high spiritual values for God’s people, but this man didn’t care. He’d rather eat, and while being hungry is not a sin, putting food ahead of a sacred blessing gave Esau a historical designation; both Old and New Testaments record God as saying of him…

Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated. (Malachi 1:2-3 and Romans 9:13)

The New Testament comments on Esau as an example of someone who falls short. Bitterness can do it, as can sexual immorality, but so can having a secular or godless mind.

See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no “root of bitterness” springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled; that no one is sexually immoral or unholy like Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal. For you know that afterward, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no chance to repent, though he sought it with tears. (Hebrews 12:15–17)

Some Bibles translate “unholy” as “profane,” a description of people who judge things by coarse earthly standards, without spiritual understanding or insight. They are aware of every other desire, but have no inclination or desire toward God.

Esau had no self-control, but also no appreciation of spiritual values. To him, the birthright was a vague religious blessing, so when the choice came, it seemed a distant sentiment compared to the here and now advantage of a full stomach.

I could put down Esau, but I know how easily I can drift into that secular realm, to have my spiritual values sail off into the sunset while I busily become taken up with the things of this life. I can forget that all of life is sacred and give up on seeking to be godly in all that I do. As today’s devotional writer says, it is easy when “soul wars with sense” to “depreciate everything that is beyond sense” and let my moral standards sag. It is for good reason that the Scripture warns, “See that no one… is godless like Esau.”

Living below my privileges and spiritual opportunities is equivalent to despising my birthright. I am a child of God, reborn to an inheritance and a joint heir with Christ. I belong to the kingdom of heaven, but when I forget or ignore that, I am disinheriting myself as Esau did.

There are consequences. When secular temptation strikes a weak spot, my spiritual life becomes dim. God’s love and holiness, the reality of His kingdom and righteousness, and my life of faith, prayer and fellowship with Him become shadowy and far off.

Besides that, eating the stew is no profit either. Momentary gratification of even legitimate passions mean nothing when that moment is a trade-off for clarity of spiritual vision and a pure heart. What profit is easy self-indulgence if I trade it for peace, love, holiness and joy? Perhaps the worst is what happens after such a trade-off…

Then Jacob gave Esau bread and lentil stew, and he ate and drank and rose and went his way. Thus Esau despised his birthright. (Genesis 25:34)

Esau had his fill and carried on. He didn’t even notice that his life was impoverished. Only later, when he wanted the birthright did he finally realize it was no longer his — but it was too late to do anything to get it back.