Everyone is trying to sell us something, whether it be on YouTube ads, interstate billboards, or commercials during the nightly news. Forbes reported in 2017 that the average American is exposed to four thousand to ten thousand ads every single day.[1] Everybody wants to convince us that their product or message will make our lives easier, better, or more enjoyable.
And this isn’t limited to secular media outlets. Even our pastors and churches feed us different messages every week. Many of these messages are rooted in the Word of God and are edifying and uplifting. However, there are also messages being delivered by “pastors” every week that are not rooted in Scripture, that are not truly edifying, and that actually lead people away from the truth of the gospel. Because of this, we must be like the Bereans, examining the Bible to see if what we are hearing lines up with God’s Word (Acts 17:11), and test the spirits (1 John 4:1).
To help you test the messages you’re hearing and discern whether what you’re being taught is biblical truth, I’ve compiled a brief list of nine heresies that originated in the early church and are still popular today and how the Bible disproves them.
Modalism
Modalism teaches that God is one person who has changed forms or modes over the course of history. He was the Father in the Old Testament, then became the Son in first-century Israel, then became the Holy Spirit after His death and resurrection. While the Bible affirms that God is one in being (Deuteronomy 6:4), it teaches that He is three in person (known as the Trinity). The three persons (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) are distinct from each other, yet They are all God, which means They have existed since eternity past (John 1:1-2, Genesis 1:1-2). During His ministry, Jesus spoke of the Father and the Holy Spirit as separate people from Himself (Luke 22:42; John 14:26, 15:26), and the Great Commission lists all three persons of the Trinity separately—
“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,” Matthew 28:19, ESV
Marcionism
Marcionism teaches that the wrathful and angry God of the Old Testament is different from and inferior to the loving and gracious God (Jesus) of the New Testament. Therefore, this heresy also claims that the Old Testament is not authoritative for Christians today. But Scripture teaches us that God never changes, that Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever (James 1:17, Hebrews 13:8). God has always been loving and wrathful, gracious and just, merciful and righteous. Additionally, both Jesus and the apostles had a high view of the Old Testament, which is evidenced by the numerous Old Testament quotations and references we find in the New Testament. The truth is that we should not shy away from proclaiming the whole counsel of God (Acts 20:27), including the Old Testament, because all Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for believers today.
“All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,” 2 Timothy 3:16
Adoptionism
Adoptionism teaches that Jesus was a sinless man, not God. When God saw that Jesus was sinless, He adopted Him as His Son. Jesus was indeed sinless during His life on earth (2 Corinthians 5:21), but this is because He is God (John 1:1). God’s Word makes it clear that no human being is or can be sinless (Romans 5:12). Jesus has been God and been with the Father since the beginning (John 1:2), and He was already the begotten Son of God when He became flesh (John 1:14, 3:16). Jesus was not adopted by God, but He has provided for us to be—
“But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.” Galatians 4:4-5
Arianism
Arianism teaches that Jesus was a created being, the first created being of God. This belief is rooted in verses like Colossians 1:15, which describes Jesus as the firstborn of all creation. But in Jewish culture, being the firstborn was a position and title of honor (Genesis 49:3, Psalm 89:27). Someone who was the “firstborn” was the heir of the majority of his father’s inheritance. Jesus, as the firstborn of all creation, is the heir of all things (Hebrews 1:2). All things belong to God, which means all things also belong to Jesus. And this makes sense, because all things were created through and for Him (John 1:3, Colossians 1:16). Because Jesus created all things, that must mean that He Himself is uncreated and self-existent (John 8:58). Jesus has always existed, which means He was not God’s first creation. He was and is God.
“I and the Father are one.” John 10:30
Kenoticism
Kenoticism teaches that Jesus stopped being fully God when He came to this earth as a human. This teaching is based on Philippians 2:6-7, which says that Jesus “emptied himself” and “did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped.” Those who ascribe to kenoticism claim that Jesus emptied Himself of His divinity. There are two major problems with this heresy. 1) There were things Jesus knew and did that a normal human being could never know or do (Matthew 14:25, Mark 8:31, Luke 5:22, John 4:17-18). Only God could’ve known and done what He knew and did. 2) If Jesus were not fully God, He could not have provided a sufficient sacrifice for our sins. No human being could be good enough or righteous enough to accomplish that. Only the God-man could die in our place and take away all our sins (2 Corinthians 5:21). During His life on earth, Jesus was still fully God. The whole fullness of deity dwelled in Him (Colossians 2:9). He did not empty Himself of His divinity when He took on flesh, but He did submit Himself fully to the Father’s will, even when it led to His crucifixion—
“So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise.” John 5:19
Docetism
Docetism teaches that Jesus was just a spirit and that He appeared to have a human body, even though He did not actually have one. Because He had no body, He never physically died on the cross, and there was no bodily resurrection. However, if Jesus was never crucified or resurrected, our faith is futile and pointless because we would still be in sin (1 Corinthians 15:17). Blood had to be shed for us to be forgiven (Hebrews 9:22). The truth is that Jesus really did come in the flesh (John 1:14). He had skin and bones, just like the rest of us (Luke 24:39). He experienced hunger, thirst, and fatigue (Matthew 21:18, John 4:6-7). He endured temptation and suffering (Matthew 4:1, John 11:35). And he really did die and rise from the grave (John 20:25, 27). Jesus was not simply a spirit, and John makes it clear that those who claim that He was are deceivers—
“For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not confess the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh. Such a one is the deceiver and the antichrist.” 2 John 1:7
Pelagianism
Pelagianism teaches that there was no original sin, and that we have not inherited a sin nature from Adam. According to this teaching, people are basically good, which means we can choose to live good, holy lives out of our own strength. But Paul made it quite clear in his letter to the Romans that Adam’s rebellion against God’s command caused sin and death to spread to all humankind (Romans 5:12, 15-19). We are not basically good (Romans 3:10-12). We are all sinners, and we’ve had a sin nature since we were born (Psalm 51:5). Nobody has to teach a toddler to disobey his parents or pout when he doesn’t get his way. Our tendency to sin is innate, and yet it is killing us, destining us for death (Romans 6:23, Ephesians 2:1, Ezekiel 18:20). But God has provided a way for us to be forgiven of our sins and freed from our bondage to death—
“For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:6-8
Antinomianism
Antinomianism teaches that Christians are not bound by any laws and that we are essentially free to live and sin in any way we desire. After all, God has already forgiven us of all the sins we will ever commit, right? This belief is rooted in a misunderstanding of what Scripture teaches about the Law. While it is true that we no longer need to obey the Old Testament Law in order to be saved (Galatians 3:23-25, Ephesians 2:15), this does not mean that there are no laws that Christians should obey. After all, Jesus came to fulfill the Law, not to abolish it (Matthew 5:17). Jesus commands us to love God and love our neighbors (Matthew 22:37-40), and God call us live holy lives (1 Peter 1:15, Romans 12:1-2). We can only truly know and love God when we obey His commandments (1 John 2:3, 5:3). If we have no desire to obey the Lord, we may need to ask ourselves if we really have been saved.
“What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?” Romans 6:1-2
Universalism
Universalism teaches that everyone will eventually be saved, regardless of whether a person puts their faith in Jesus during this life or not. Many people believe this because they don’t understand how a truly good and loving God could send people He created to Hell. Others subscribe to this teaching because they misunderstand Bible verses that appear to suggest that God will save the whole world (John 12:32, 1 Timothy 2:5-6, 1 John 2:2). But the Bible teaches that the unrighteous will go to Hell, a real place of eternal suffering and torment (Matthew 25:41, John 3:18). Because these people have never repented of their sins, they deserve the wrath of God, for He is a just, holy, and righteous God (John 3:36). But God is also gracious and merciful, and He has provided a way for us to be made holy and righteous, to be saved from our sins. All we have to do is believe in Jesus as our Lord and Savior (John 3:16, Romans 10:9). Jesus died on the cross to pay the penalty of our sins, and He acts as the mediator between us and God (1 Timothy 2:5). When we put our faith in Jesus, we are fully forgiven and destined to live with God eternally in Heaven when our time on this earth is done (Matthew 25:46). There is no other way that we can be saved (Acts 4:12). Jesus is the only Way.
“Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” John 14:6
Final Reminder
I know this was a lot of information, but I want to leave you with one final reminder. Author Doreen Virtue writes,
“Remember: just because a person is called a pastor or modern-day apostle or modern-day prophet, and just because a person is famous and has popular books and videos, and just because a person is onstage, with lots of cheering audience members, and just because a person is holding a Bible and quoting Scripture—he or she could be teaching deceptively.”[2]
We can’t just accept the messages that people are presenting to us, even if they seem to be coming from a trustworthy source. I’ve seen popular pastors and Christian influencers teach and advocate for the very heresies I listed above. Preachers, bloggers, and seminary professors don’t determine what is true. The Bible does. This is why we must know our Bibles and always test the spirits or messages of both the culture and the church. May we always believe and preach the true gospel and never fall captive to unbiblical, heretical teachings.
“Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already. Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.” 1 John 4:1-4
[1] Jon Simpson, “Finding Brand Success In The Digital World,” last modified on August 25, 2017, https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2017/08/25/finding-brand-success-in-the-digital-world/?sh=30b3e600626e.
[2] Doreen Virtue, Deceived No More: How Jesus Led Me out of the New Age and into His Word (Nashville: Emanate Books, 2020), 59.
