Holy Heresy (Part 1) by Andy Underhill
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| Heresy? What is it? Schism? What is that? Apostasy? What is that? Declension? What is That? |
At first
blush, it seems like a strange statement to say that the true Church needs
heresy. But history demonstrates the truth of this assertion. The great
ante-Nicene African theologian, Tertullian, wrote, “We ought not to be
astonished at the heresies (which abound) neither ought their existence to
surprise us, for it was foretold that they should come to pass; nor the fact
that they subvert the faith of some, for their final cause is, by affording a
trial to faith, to give it also the opportunity of being ‘approved’.” 1 This
statement is especially poignant when one stops to remember that Tertullian
himself fell for Montanism is his later years. St. Paul warned that heresies
must occur. He said, “For there must be also heresies among you, that
they which are approved may be made manifest among you.”2
Perhaps at
this point we should define heresy. In the earliest uses it meant
primarily the work of schismatic or divisive teachers within in the
Church. But by the writing of Peter’s second epistle, heresy had come to
mean the false teachings of these schismatic or divisive teachers. This
is the meaning which has persisted to the present day. Peter calls their
teaching,”damnable heresies.” 3
But even in the Old Testament,
God warned Israel that false
teachers would arise and that the whole point was
to test Israel’s faithfulness to God’s covenant. Moses wrote, “If there arise
among you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and giveth thee a sign or a wonder,
and the sign or the wonder come to pass, whereof he spake unto thee, saying, Let
us go after other gods, which thou hast not known, and let us serve them; thou
shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams: for
the Lord your God proveth you, to know whether ye love the Lord your God with
all your heart and with all your soul.”4 This means that attractive leaders are
not always led by God. New ideas from inspiring people may sound good, but we
must judge them by whether or not they are consistent with God’s
Word.
Throughout
the history of the Church, heresies have forced us to formulate more clearly
what we mean to say by the terminology we employ. In the first four centuries
of the Church, the heresies of Marcion, Arius, Paul of Samosata, Nestorius,
Eutyches, Sabellius and Pelagius drew forth from the early Fathers the great
Creeds of Nicaea, Constantinople and the definition of Chalcedon. During the
Reformation era, the Remostrants prompted the synod of Dort. This is perhaps
one of the greatest services of heresy for the true Church: it forces us to
think clearly. We are required by the exigencies of the situations to declare
the whole counsel of God not in an “uncertain sound.” 5
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