Author/Speaker: Justin Peters

Article 9 — Heresy: Explanation by Justin Peters

WE AFFIRM that heresy is a denial of or departure from a doctrine that is essential to the Christian faith. We further affirm that heresy often involves the replacement of key, essential truths with variant concepts, or the elevation of non-essentials to the status of essentials. To embrace heresy is to depart from the faith once delivered to the saints and thus to be on a path toward spiritual destruction. We affirm that the accusation of heresy should be reserved for those departures from Christian truth that destroy the weight-bearing doctrines of the redemptive core of Scripture. We affirm that accusations of heresy should be accompanied with clear evidence of such destructive beliefs.

WE DENY that the charge of heresy can be legitimately brought against every failure to achieve perfect conformity to all that is implied in sincere faith in the gospel.

Heresy. The word itself likely conjures up images of the Inquisition, medieval torture devices and angry torch wielding mobs. Though such un-pleasantries are now in the past (hopefully), heresy remains a very serious theological reality and poses an eternal danger to countless souls.

The Greek word for heresy, hairesis (αἵρεσις), carries the basic meaning of division. Titus 3:10 which states, “Reject a factious (divisive) man after a first and second warning” employs this term. In fact, the King James version renders it quite literally, “A man that is a heretic after the first and second admonition reject.”

Though division often carries a negative connotation, not all division is bad. Some division is absolutely necessary. As Christians we are to be wholly devoted to the authority of God’s inerrant, infallible, all sufficient word. That devotion necessitates that we divide from those who are not so devoted. Jesus himself will one day separate the sheep from the goats (Matthew 25:32). Division can be a good thing.

There is nothing good, however, about heresy. Heresy constitutes a willful departure from Christian orthodoxy and has been a problem in the church practically since its inception. Jesus and the New Testament writers repeatedly warned about the rise of false prophets (Matthew 7:15-20; Acts 20:29-31; 1 Timothy 4:1; 2 Timothy 4:3-4). In fact, almost every book in the New Testament directly warns of false doctrine.

There are many different categories of heresy. There are heresies regarding the godhead such as Modalism[1] which denies the trinity and Open Theism which denies God’s knowledge of the future. There are Christological heresies such as Arianism and Kenosis theology, both of which denigrate the deity of Christ.[2] There are soteriological heresies such as Universalism and the Roman Catholic doctrine of Infused Righteousness that deny salvation by faith alone in Christ alone. This brief list is barely the tip of the heretical theological iceberg. To imbibe one or more of these heresies is to depart from the “faith once delivered to the saints” (Jude 3) and to put one’s soul in eternal peril.

It is important to understand that all heresy is error but not all theological error is heresy. There are a number of secondary or tertiary biblical and theological issues about which genuine Christians can disagree and still have fellowship in Christ. For example, who wrote the book of Hebrews? Some say Paul, others say Luke or Barnabas or someone else. The fact of the matter is that we do not know who wrote it; only that the author was inspired by the Holy Spirit. If one person believes Paul wrote Hebrews and another person believes Luke wrote it, at least one of them is wrong – and possibly both are – but neither is in heresy.

Drs. John MacArthur and the late R.C. Sproul differed on at least two theological issues: eschatology and the ordinance of baptism. MacArthur is a “leaky dispensationalist” in his eschatology and holds to believer’s baptism whereas Sproul was amillennial and affirmed paedobaptism. It is not that eschatology and baptism are unimportant issues. They are both quite important – but they are not essential components in and of themselves to the gospel. They differed with one another on these issues and yet they respected each other greatly. They spoke at each other’s conferences. They spoke highly of one another. MacArthur preached at Sproul’s funeral. They loved one another. They were friends. Despite differences on these non-essential issues, these two men were absolutely united in the gospel. How MacArthur and Sproul interacted with one another serves as an inspiring model for me and many, many other believers around the world.

This having been said, some points of error even though they may not be intrinsically heretical may, and often do, lead to heresy. The Apostle Paul warned that false teaching “spreads like gangrene” (2 Timothy 2:16-17). Error almost always begets more error.

Methodism, founded upon the teachings of John and Charles Wesley in the 18thcentury, was once committed to the authority of scripture and the preaching of the gospel. Then, in the early 1920s, the denomination began to ordain women as “local preachers” and later granted women “full clergy rights” in 1956.[3] Today the Methodist denomination is hopelessly liberal. It holds that practicing homosexuals can be Christians and even permits their ordination to ministry provided that they take vows of celibacy. The other mainline denominations (Presbyterian Church USA, Episcopal Church and United Church of Christ) have already embraced homosexual marriage and homosexual ordination. The United Methodist Church, and all the mainline protestant denominations, are far more concerned with social and environmental issues than they are the gospel. Their dwindling numbers reflect this sad truth. John and Charles Wesley would not recognize Methodism today. The doctrinal slide into heresy began with allowing women to preach.

One of the things that most alarms us as the initial signatories of the Statement on Social Justice and the Gospel (and the nearly 10,000 others who have signed as of this writing) is that within the evangelical social justice movement (heretofore ESJ) we are seeing and hearing some of the same arguments that swayed once theologically conservative denominations that are now in spiritual ruin. For many years Beth Moore has publicly preached to men[4] but now within the Southern Baptist Convention there exists serious talk of her actually becoming its president. There can be no credible doubt that the ESJ movement is promoting egalitarianism.

Even more ominously, within the ESJ movement we are seeing a push for the acceptance of celibate “gay Christians.” The stated purpose of the Revoice Conference held in July of 2018 is:

Supporting, encouraging, and empowering gay, lesbian, same-sex-attracted, and other gender and sexual minority Christians so they can flourish while observing the historic, Christian doctrine of marriage and sexuality.[5]

That purpose statement alone should have brought swift, decisive and universal condemnation of Revoice for it flies in the face of clear biblical teaching that God saves people out of homosexuality (1 Corinthians 6:9-11), not that it permits them to hold onto a “LGBTQ-lite” identity.

Notice the pernicious nature of false teaching as described by the Apostle Peter:

But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves. – 2 Peter 2:1

Heresy is never advertised as such to God’s people. It is not introduced to the church with fanfare and clearly marked labels. It is introduced secretly and in camouflage. It is always intermingled with the truth. To adapt a phrase from Mary Poppins, ‘Just a spoonful of theological sugar helps the heresy go down.’

The charge of heresy is a serious one to levy and the label of heretic is not one to be carelessly applied. Sadly, such aspersions are coming from some in the ESJ camp. Dr. Eric Mason, Pastor of Epiphany Fellowship in Philadelphia, PA, and author of the newly released book entitled Woke Church: An Urgent Call for Christians in America to Confront Racism and Injustice[6] tweeted the following:

We need a modern day ecumenical council on race and justice! We need canons and synods and creeds on this! Come to Philly and we can call it the Council of Philadelphia! Limit it to 300 key men and women pastors and scholarly secretaries. Rebuke the heretics and affirm the sound.[7]

Thabiti Anyabwile immediately responded to Dr. Mason’s tweet with an enthusiastic, “I’m in!”[8]

The charges of heresy and racism are not coming from those of us who signed the SJ&G, they are coming from those who oppose it. This is wrong and it is sinful. And, ironically, by levying false accusations it foments the very ethnic division that those in the ESJ movement claim to oppose.

In conclusion, we are not seeking to divide from anyone unnecessarily. We see this as a fraternal debate but one with extremely serious consequences. As the introduction to the SJ&G statement says, “we grieve that…we are taking a stand against the positions of some teachers whom we have long regarded as faithful and trustworthy spiritual guides. It is our earnest prayer that our brothers and sisters will stand firm on the gospel and avoid being blown to and fro by every cultural trend that seeks to move the Church of Christ off course.”

It is not that those in the ESJ movement are denying the exclusivity or deity of Christ. It is not that they are denying salvation by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. It is not that they are denying the authority of scripture – at least not directly. In other words, they (at least most of them) are not necessarily heretical in what they teach, but we do believe them to be in serious theological error; error which, left unchecked, will inexorably lead to heresy. The error we are seeing today in the ESJ movement is the error that seemed benign to Methodists a century ago. Out of love for God and concern for His sheep we are trying to sound the alarm.

We have seen this movie before.

[1] Modalism is a heresy that denies that there is one God who eternally exists in three Persons, as the Bible teaches. Rather it holds that there is one God in three manifestations. One notable adherent is T.D. Jakes, pastor of The Potter’s House in Dallas, TX. See https://thepottershouse.org/explore/belief-statement/

[2] Both Arianism and Kenosis theology are alive and well in the Word-Faith/New Apostolic Reformation movements.

[3] Source: http://www.umc.org/what-we-believe/commentary-why-do-united-methodists-ordain-women

[4] Beth Moore has preached to men in numerous venues including but certainly not limited to a Sunday morning sermon July 1, 2012 at Passion City Church pastored by Louis Giglio and has preached to thousands of men at multiple Passion Conferences, just one example of which can be seen here. Josh Buice, one of the initial signatories of the SJ&G statement has written about the many concerns regarding Beth Moore as has Elizabeth Prata and Michelle Lesley.

[5] Source: https://revoice.us

[6]  Woke Church was released October 2, 2018.

[7] Tweet dated May 13, 2018. Source: https://twitter.com/pastoremase/status/995744250603212803?lang=en

[8] Ibid.

Article 7—Salvation: Explanation by Justin Peters

WE AFFIRM that salvation is granted by God’s grace alone received through faith alone in Jesus Christ alone. Every believer is united to Christ, justified before God, and adopted into his family. Thus, in God’s eyes there is no difference in spiritual value or worth among those who are in Christ. Further, all who are united to Christ are also united to one another regardless of age, ethnicity, or sex. All believers are being conformed to the image of Christ. By God’s regenerating and sanctifying grace all believers will be brought to a final glorified, sinless state of perfection in the day of Jesus Christ.

WE DENY that salvation can be received in any other way. We also deny that salvation renders any Christian free from all remaining sin or immune from even grievous sin in this life. We further deny that ethnicity excludes anyone from understanding the gospel, nor does anyone’s ethnic or cultural heritage mitigate or remove the duty to repent and believe.

Salvation. It, along with the related term gospel (the subject matter of Article VI), is one of the most widely used and recognized of evangelical terms but also one about which there is much misunderstanding.

The New Testament employs two primary words for salvation: sozo (σῴζω) and rhuomai (ῥύομαι), both of which carry the idea of rescue or deliverance. Salvation then, in a very real sense, is an act of deliverance and being saved is to be in a constant state of being delivered. When God saves someone, He delivers that person. In Psalm 144:1-2 David writes, “Blessed be the Lord, my rock…my lovingkindness and my fortress, my stronghold and my deliverer.” God, by His character and nature is a deliverer. But from what? From what are we delivered and into what are we delivered?

We are delivered from ourselves – Most people today have this vague belief that as long as they are “good” people who do good works and are sincere that these efforts will earn them a place in Heaven. The notion that we can save ourselves, referred to by theologians as autosoterism, may be popular but it is foreign to the Bible. Scripture very clearly teaches that “all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment” (Isaiah 64:6) before a thrice holy God. Good works will profit those apart from Christ nothing in the day of judgment and will serve only as damning testaments against their self-righteousness.

Just as the Ethiopian cannot change his skin and the leopard cannot change his spots (Jeremiah 13:23), so we cannot deliver ourselves. Repentance from sin is not something a person can do on his own. Repentance unto salvation is in and of itself granted by God (Acts 5:30-31; 11:17-18; 2 Timothy 2:24-26). Saving faith in Christ’s atoning work on the cross is also granted by God. The Apostle Paul writes,

For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9).

The “gift of God” in the Greek is grammatically neutral indicating that both grace and faith are divine gifts sovereignly given by God. If we could somehow gin up faith on our own then we would have reason to boast in ourselves. But such self-boasting is exactly one of the things from which the Gospel delivers us.1

We are delivered from sin and its power – When God grants repentance and saving faith a person is delivered from the judicial penalty of sin. Every human being is a sinner by nature, by choice and by action (John 3:19; Romans 3:23; 5:12) and is spiritually dead deservedly facing eternal judgment in Hell (Ephesians 2:1, 3; Romans 6:23; Revelation 14:9-11). Once wrought in the human heart, the miracle of the new birth frees so completely from the penalty of sin that “there is now therefore no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” and against God’s elect no one can bring a charge (Romans 8:1, 33).

Not only are we delivered from sin’s penalty, but we are also delivered from its power over us. Before conversion a person is a helpless slave to the ruthless master of his own depraved desires. After conversion, he is indwelt by the Holy Spirit of God and is a slave to his new Master, Jesus Christ. The Christian has been granted a new nature and with it comes new desires. As believers we begin to love what God loves and hate what He hates.

It is not that a Christian is incapable of sin. Though often used in an evangelistic context, 1 John 1:9 is written to believers, not the lost. As Christians we can and do sin. But the glorious truth is that though Christians stumble into sin, they do not swim in sin. Christians do not relish sin and look for opportunities to sin. One of the hallmarks of a genuine believer is that when he does sin it grieves him. Arthur W. Pink writes:

The nature of Christ’s salvation is woefully misrepresented by the present-day evangelist. He announces a savior from hell rather than a savior from sin. And that is why so many are fatally deceived, for there are multitudes who wish to escape the Lake of Fire who have no desire to be delivered from their carnality and worldliness.2

It is good and it is right to warn people to flee from the wrath to come. But just as much as we should want deliverance from hell, we should want deliverance from sin. We should have a godly sorrow over our sins (2 Corinthians 7:9-11). When we sin, it should grieve us because we understand that our sin grieves God. The gospel delivers us from our love of sin to a love for holiness.

This deliverance from our fallen affections leads to a deliverance toward holiness and sanctification. In 1 Corinthians 6, the Apostle Paul gives a long list of sins which mark the lives of unbelievers: fornication, idolatry, covetousness, drunkenness, homosexuality, theft, reviling and swindling. Such people will not inherit the kingdom of God. Then Paul says, “Such were some of you” (vs. 11). Notice the past tense. His readers were those things, but they are not anymore. We can no more speak, for example, of a gay Christian than we could of a murdering Christian. Christians do not have their identity in sin, but in Christ.

Paul then says, “but you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God” (vs. 11). Notice these three terms: washed, sanctified, and justified. The two bookend terms, “washed” and “justified,” deal with the new birth, salvation. The term in the middle, “sanctified,” deals with the believer’s personal growth and conformity into the image of Christ. Those whom God saves, He sanctifies. There are no exceptions to this. Where there is no sanctification, there has been no salvation. It is a package deal. The initial, definitive sanctification that occurs at conversion continues throughout the believer’s life until glorification.

We are delivered into a new family – The new birth gives us a new family. Those who receive Christ are “given the right to become the children of God” (John 1:12) and have “received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, ‘Abba! Father!'” (Romans 8:15). That is a staggering reality. God takes those who were formerly His enemies, delivers them from sin and adopts them into His own family. Consider this passage from Matthew’s gospel:

“While He was still speaking to the crowds, behold, His mother and brothers were standing outside, seeking to speak to Him. Someone said to Him, ‘Behold, Your mother and Your brothers are standing outside seeking to speak to You.” But Jesus answered the one who was telling Him and said, ‘Who is My mother and who are My brothers?’ And stretching out His hand toward His disciples, He said, ‘Behold My mother and My brothers! For whoever does the will of My Father who is in heaven, he is My brother and sister and mother'” (Matt. 12:46-50).

Many of us have experienced a strain in relationships or even alienation from members of our family after conversion to Christ. What a comfort this passage is in such times. Our salvation may result in alienation from our blood family but we also gain a new family – and a big one at that. We instantly gain millions of brothers and sisters in Christ scattered all over the world.

This brings me to one aspect of the social justice movement that deeply grieves my heart. The message from many in this camp is that the gospel is sufficient to cleanse one’s conscience and turn one’s behavior from adultery, theft, fornication, blasphemy, etc., – but not racism! To deal with racism the big guns must be brought to bear. I do not understand such thinking.

One of the great blessings that has been mine as an evangelist is that God has granted me opportunities, as of this writing, to preach in 25 countries. I have preached in countries throughout Central America, South America, Europe, Africa, Australia, and Asia. It does not matter what country I am in, with what culture I am surrounded, how much or how little material belongings the people have, or even what language is spoken, when I am with like-minded believers in Christ there is an instant bond, an instant kindred spirit, an instant fellowship and an instant love between us.

Another thing that does not matter is ethnicity. I do not care what color their skin is nor do they care what color mine is. I have never been in a church overseas and had the thought, ‘They really need more white people in here.’ I have never once felt unwelcome. We do not mistrust one another. We love one another. Even though we may have just met for the first time I have an instant love for them and they for me – because we are family. And because we have all been delivered from Adam’s family into the family of God, none of these superficial differences matter. The dividing wall has been broken down (Ephesians 2:13-19) and we are all one in Christ Jesus (Galatians 3:28).

Salvation is deliverance. Glorious and beautiful deliverance. We have been delivered from the dead and made alive in Christ (Colossians 2:13). We have been delivered from sin and its deadly hold on our hearts. We have been delivered into the family of God where superficial differences matter not. And, we will one day be delivered and presented to the Son as a love gift from the Father where we will enjoy Him and glorify Him forever (John 6:37; 17:2, 9, 24) all “to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved” (Ephesians 1:6).

1. This in no way diminishes man’s responsibility and accountability before God. God is sovereign and man is responsible. God’s sovereignty and man’s responsibility are twin truths that, at times, are even seen in the same passage. See for example: Matt. 11:27-28; Acts 2:23.

2. Pink, Arthur W. “A. W. Pink’s Studies in the Scriptures,” pg. 373. Sovereign Grace Publishers, 2001.

Thanks for Nothing

That our society is permeated by an entitlement mentality should be manifestly evident to all. Most people, it seems, believe themselves to be victims in one way or another and are, therefore, entitled to various benefits even if said benefits are not earned and come at the expense of others.

This entitlement mentality is both the foundation of and fuel for the social justice movement that is sweeping through evangelical churches. [1] The evangelical church, though, should be the one bastion in which any sense of entitlement and victimhood finds no quarter.

Upon being confronted with sin, human nature’s inclination is to blame shift. Upon being confronted with her sin, Eve blamed the snake. Adam blamed God. Cain deflected. We, as their spiritual progeny, do the same. We all have the tendency to point the finger at someone else to explain away our own sin or our lot in life if it is not to our satisfaction. We all want to be innocent victims rather than morally accountable.

One of the subtlest and yet, left unchecked, deadliest dangers of the social justice movement is that it fosters in people the idea that they have been unfairly treated and are entitled to preferential treatment to compensate for this inequity. If we look hard enough, most of us could find someone or something to blame for not having what we want to have.

I was born with a moderate case of cerebral palsy. Through no fault of my own, many – likely most – occupations will never be options for me. I will never be able to be a server in a restaurant, police officer, firefighter, construction worker, janitor, mechanic, farmer, or pizza delivery man. Any occupation that necessitates carrying anything from one place to another while bipedal will forever be off limits for me. Daily tasks such as showering, getting dressed and the like that most people do in a few minutes take me nearly two hours. Some stores I cannot shop in because of steps leading into them.

Do I feel oppressed by society? No. Do I see myself as a victim? Not at all. By God’s grace I do the best with what He has given me. People have, at times, commended me for not just giving up. They commend me for not living off of the government (which I could do). But I am not to be commended in this. It is my responsibility before God to do the best with the abilities He has given me; a responsibility clearly espoused by Christ in Luke 17:10. To quote my wife, Kathy, “When you’ve done all you could, you’ve only done what you should.”

It is not that the temptation to see myself as a victim is not there; of course it is. But it is a temptation that I strive to mortify. To see myself as a victim would be to disparage others who suffer far more than do I. Here in the United States I have a nice pair of crutches, an electric mobility scooter, good medical care, and a truck with hand controls that allow me to drive. I’ve seen crippled people in poor countries like India and Uganda who have none of these things. Life is far harder for them than for me.

Some people with cerebral palsy cannot speak and cannot feed themselves. They are very intelligent, but they are trapped in bodies that they simply cannot control. That is something to which I cannot relate. No matter how much we think we suffer or how short we believe our end of life’s stick to be, it would behoove us to remember that others suffer far worse than do we regardless of which form that suffering takes. We should be grateful and content in all things (Philippians 4:12).

Additionally, to see myself as a victim would be to complain to God about what He has providentially decreed for me. It is His will that I have cerebral palsy. To complain about my physical condition would be to question God’s good providence and to suggest that He owes me more than what He has graciously provided. Whether we are limited by a physical malady, a government, or some unjust aspect of society, it is sinful to assert that God has made a mistake in placing us where He has or that He owes us anything other than what He has given.  And this leads me to what really troubles me about the social justice movement.

The Bible does not portray men as victims. The Bible portrays men as being born dead in sin and evil from the womb (Ephesians 2:8-9; Psalm 51:5; 58:3) whose hearts are deceitfully wicked (Jeremiah 17:9) and who love darkness while hating the light (John 3:19). The Bible says that men knowingly suppress the truth in unrighteousness (Romans 1:18) and are not only not seeking God (Romans 3:10-11) but indeed are His active enemies (Romans 5:10).

The social justice movement engenders in people an entitlement mentality. People believe that they are owed some form of restitution or preferential treatment because of some injustice, real or perceived, that has been done to them. But this is a profound misunderstanding of both the nature of man and of God.

We are indeed owed justice. But we don’t want it. The justice that we are owed is eternal punishment for our sin. Each of us deserves to spend all of eternity in Hell where the “worm does not die and the fire is not quenched” (Mark 9:48). Each of us deserves to “drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is mixed in full strength in the cup of His anger” and “be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb” (Revelation 14:10).

My pastor, Jim Osman, and I were talking theology one day over lunch and he said, “If God took from me my wife, children, health, every possession I own, and let me die a cold, slow, painful death alone lying in a ditch and then send me straight to Hell, He would have done me no wrong.”

How’s that for encouragement?

You may not find that sentiment on a Hallmark card anytime soon but it is absolutely true. God owes us nothing. God owes us neither physical health nor material goods. He does not owe us a fair and equitable society in which to live. We deserve nothing but judgment. Our sins have earned us nothing but holy wrath and to intimate otherwise is to have an elevated view of man and a diminished view of God.

There is a wonderful statement from David in Psalm 103:10:

He has not dealt with us according to our sins, nor rewarded us according to our iniquities.

Isn’t that wondrous? God would have been entirely just to deal with us according to our sins and reward our iniquities with everlasting punishment. I am grateful beyond what this written word can express that none of what my sins have earned He has visited upon me. And so, in a very real sense, I am thankful for…nothing.

Selah.

We are not victims of an unjust society, we are violators of God’s law.  Given that we have been delivered from eternal justice, how is it that we are disappointed if we do not have temporal, social justice? Paul stated in Romans 5:8, “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” Christ died for us while we were in open rebellion against Him. Anything short of Hell is God’s mercy.

In closing let me state unequivocally that neither I nor any of the other signatories denies that injustice exists. The Statement on Social Justice and the Gospel itself affirms injustice exists. The harmful effects and real pain experienced by people upon whom various injustices have been inflicted should never be belittled. All of creation groans under the terrible weight of sin yearning to be free from the same (Romans 8:20-25). We are part of the “all of creation.” We yearn for freedom from sin and the vanquishing of all of its painful consequences. But our yearning for this freedom must not spring from an unbiblical position of thinking we deserve it. We must yearn for this freedom because it will represent the final, eschatological victory of the Lamb and we should be thankful for it precisely because we do not deserve it.

The only justice that we deserve we do not want. God gave Another our justice so that we could be made just—and that, dear ones, is what we do not deserve.

[1] The term “evangelical” has lost much of its meaning but for simplicity sake, I will employ it to denote doctrinally sound churches that hold to salvation by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone as taught in scripture alone.