“But the Spirit expressly states that in later times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons, in the hypocrisy of liars, having been seared in the own conscience, forbidding to marry, commanding to abstain from foods that God created for reception with thanksgiving by the faithful and those knowing the truth.” 1 Timothy 4:1-3
When reading this we might straightaway assume it to apply to those of the new creation. We might even see it as evidence against eternal security. But that is not the case. The fight against the perversion of the gospel of Christ, is what the early church had to contend with from the get go. Paul in Galatians writes, “To whom we did not yield in subjection for even an hour, so that truth of the gospel would be preserved with you.” Galatians 2:5 He said this of those who sought to mix grace with law, through, the introduction of the simple act of circumcision. And Paul attributes the source of such error to, “Because of the [false brothers] brought in secretly, who came in by stealth to spy out our freedom which we have in Christ Jesus that they will enslave us.” Galatians 2:4
The point we want to make is departure from the faith is a slow and long process. A small departure to justify ourselves in the flesh would inevitably have detrimental effect on the generations to come, the end of which may very well be the denial of the Lord. An example of such consequence that was manifested through history is the dark ages. When the grace of God was forgotten, the truth of the simplicity of the gospel was hidden and buried for centuries. People were made to traverse on bended knees up and down marble stairs to earn forgiveness, even tricked into buying their way into heaven, being enslaved and fearful while some men were exalted to infallible heights. Which made a way for all manner of superstitions to enter in, to which a great many are still held in bondage to.
“But there were also false prophets among the people, as there will be [false teachers] among you also, who will stealthily introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master having bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction. And many will follow after their sensuality, through whom the way of the truth will be maligned.” 2 Peter 2:1-2
Here Peter is coming near to the end of his ministry and is giving the same kind of warning as Paul did at the end of his ministry, “I know that after my departure, grievous wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock, and out from your own selves, men will rise up, speaking perverse things to draw away disciples after them.” Acts 20:29-30
Peter also attributes these destructive heresies to [false teachers] and says, “Many will follow in their depravity.” That is through their false teachings, of what they naturally understand; many will be made to miss the path of truth. The source of their folly is that they are in the natural, Paul in Corinthians writes, “The natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness to him, and he is not able to understand them, because spiritually they are discerned.” 1 Corinthians 2:14 That is they have not known the Spirit of God in order to impart spiritual truths. But of his ministry and those who serves with him he says, “Our sufficiency is of God, who also has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter, but of the Spirit.” 2 Corinthians 3:5-6
“They went out from us, but they did not belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us. But their departure made it clear that none of them belonged to us.” 1 John 2:19
John shows here, the very essence of their beginning to be false. That is the teachers themselves are not born of the Spirit. “They never belonged to us.” Paul calls them servants of Satan, which present themselves as servants of righteousness yet their purpose is to bring in destructive heresies by which many will be mislead. “For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, [masquerading as apostles of Christ]. And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. It is not surprising, then, if his servants masquerade as servants of righteousness.” 2 Corinthians 11:13-15 They appear to serve Christ while being of the flesh. Which is open to all sorts of abuse, idolatry, and all manner of depravity and false teachings, because it is based on the natural and not according to the Spirit.
“These are springs without water and mists being driven by storm, for whom gloom of darkness has been reserved. For speaking arrogant words of vanity, they entice to sensuality with the passions of the flesh those barely escaping from those living in error, promising them freedom, themselves being slaves of corruption. For by what anyone has been subdued, by that also he is enslaved.” 2 Peter 2:17-19
The key point to this passage is, “to have known the way of righteousness.” [vs. 21] Which is through faith in Jesus Christ alone and not of our own works. The assumption we make in this passage is that we think it speaks of being overcome by some sort of sensual sexual sin but that is not the source but the end. Sexual sin or whatever sort of sin, is what they seek to escape from in the first place. The very essence of these false teachers teaching is freedom from sin, “They promise them freedom.” while they themselves are in bondage. Meaning they are not in the Spirit, “springs without water.”
The source of their failure is, they have turned away from the way of righteousness, which is through the knowledge of the Lord and saviour Jesus Christ. They turned away from grace and sought freedom by whatever sort of heresies; these false teachers propagate. Which appeal to the sensual passion of the flesh, which is through appeasing the natural mind. They sought to mortify their flesh through works, which seems to satisfy their sensual fleshly need to purchase what God has freely given to us through Christ. Which Jude likeness to the way of Cain, that is a mind that seeks to pay its own way by the sweat of his brow, therefore cannot submit to the grace of God. Therefore they found themselves, wallowing in the very same place they sought to escape.
Then it is not to entice to acts of sin those who were escaping, [but] to corrupt the way of truth that these will also be entangled with them in their deception. They do not find freedom from sin, but pride in their works while persisting in the very same sins or even drawn into deeper dark ones.
Therefore the implication of the passage is not against those of the new creation, but against those who were looking to escape from the world. “[They] entice those who are just escaping from others who live in error.” And many [will follow] their destructive ways, the coming generations that do not know the way of truth but are feed on their teaching are set on the path to destruction. Generations who simply walk blindly in the path they found themselves in, who identify themselves with their denomination rather than with Christ. They entangle them away from the way of righteousness that is through faith in the finished works of Christ, to seek to earn forgiveness through acts of the flesh. “I have paid my way to God.”
They have departed from the faith, yet are unaware. And it probably all started with a small step that obscured the path of truth. Now they freely accept doctrines that are contrary to truth of God. “To follow deceitful spirits and the teachings of demons.” Doctrines that are attributed to some appearance of angles or some sort of apparition taking the form of the mother of the Lord, which speak words which are contrary to truth of God, yet they have been openly embraced by the leadership of the these churches and through it many are mislead into idolatress worship, generations are entangled by it. They have ignored Paul’s clear warning saying, “But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be under a curse! Galatians 1:8
Therefore passages that warn of departure from the faith do not speak against eternal security of the new creation but of those who miss the path entirely through the deceit of false teachers that are long gone. And those who persist to follow the path they have set are not born of the Spirit but are lulled into a form of religious godliness that serves no purpose but their destruction. If the path of the righteous goes brighter and brighter and the path that leads away by reason must go darker and darker. “even denying the Master having bought them.”
“Let no one disqualify you, delighting in humility and the worship of the angels, detailing what he has seen, being puffed up vainly by his mind of the flesh, and not holding fast to the head, from whom the whole body, being supplied and being knit together by the joints and ligaments, increases with the increase of God.” Colossians 2:18-19
Identify with Christ NOT Denomination.
We take offence at any correction given to a doctrine we have been imprinted with according to the tradition of men and not according to the truth of God. We take it as a personal affront to us. Why should that be the case? We are not our denomination we are of Christ. We should jump for joy for the tearing down of any false teaching that has been a cause to hold us in bondage. Why is the failing of false shepherds and teachers be a mark on us? We do not belong to them we belong to Christ. Paul said, “Even from your own number, men will rise up and distort the truth to draw away disciples after them.” Acts 20:30 Does that explain us?
Any mention of failures of the past is attributed to lack of forgiveness, but we forgive people not false doctrines. We are not to brush it aside as if, it was a slight blimp on the road. Through it countless people haven been condemned and still are enslaved to false teachings and all manner of superstitions.
We are ready to make and accept any excuse even when the evidence points to atrocious acts as the fruits that are born by it. The Lord Himself said, “Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. By their fruits you will recognise them.” Matthew 7:15-16
Paul by the Spirit warned, “They will forbid to marry.” And at the height of their dominance this supposed act of reverence to God, was a means to produce great acts of immorality. Rather than having a wife, they had countless mistresses, frequented houses of ill repute and took pleasure in adulteries. Did it produce the holiness as it was intended to? Did God receive honour by it? Was the way of truth celebrated? But this degradation did not stop at that, when the reformation brought to light their deeds, their lusts of the flesh were not abated but took turns to more depravity, to exact their desires out of the innocent to hide their misdeeds.
Yet, we are the one, who are offended when their deeds are brought to light, we are the one who are agitated when their doctrine is questioned? If the fruit is bad the tree is bad.
Until we see ourselves as belonging to Christ alone, we will always be entangled trying to justify, defend the position and teachings of these false teachers and be ensnared by them. We are not our denomination we belong to Christ. Do not take the bundle that comes with tradition, customs, regulations, laws, and superstitions handed down as if it is some precious family heirloom to be cherished. We belong to Christ. They were not crucified for us, Christ was.
Therefore we ought to have NO CAUSE for offence when the truth of God is brought to light by Spirit filled teachers who declare the word of God to us. We rather should pray they do not hesitate fearing they might offend us.
Bread Bait. 
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