Serving their own bellies

Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them. For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly; and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple. – Romans 16.17-18

One of the great general practices of the church is an attitude of goodness and kindness and well speaking and  thinking the best and avoiding harsh criticism of each other.

But there are times when we have to draw a line in the sand and stand for truth. Sometimes standing for truth means that we must reveal error and speak of it and even address those who promote error.

Here Paul warns against false teachers who cause divisions and error, those who claim to serve Christ but really only serve their own bellies with their good words and fair speeches.

I wish those guys were only there is Paul’s day. I wish we could say ‘well, that was then and this is now.’ Sadly though they are at least as prevalent today as they were then.

It is not loving or caring or kind to allow erring brother to continue in error. It is not fair to them and it is not fair to those affected by their error. Their error must be exposed and the seriousness of their error can require tough language.

We can’t afford to let error go unchecked. Differences of non-essentials are one thing, Paul talked about that earlier.

But error must be revealed and false teachers must be exposed for their sake and for the church’s sake and for the glory of God’s sake.