Did you know there is false doctrine in the Bible? This is not a trick question. It is an important subject because many cults depend on specific Bible passages that are false doctrine. Please don’t misunderstand, I believe the Bible was inspired by God (2 Timothy 3:16-17) as holy men and women were carried along by God-breathed inspiration (2 Peter 1:20-21). They recorded the whole truth. They didn’t leave anything out. They recorded accurately. They recorded words from God, angels, holy people, average people, wicked people, animals, demons, and Satan. These things were written as examples for our learning, but we should not follow their evil ways (Romans 15:4; 1 Corinthians 10:11).
- Satan’s conversation with Adam and Eve is despicably wicked, yet it is recorded accurately and truthfully. Nobody would ever think about basing a Christian doctrine on his words (Genesis 3). Satan said and did things that are recorded throughout scripture. We should not follow any of his devious schemes (John 8:44). Yet many do.
- Job and his friends argued about things they did not understand. (Job 42:7) It would be foolish to base any Christian doctrine on these conversations. And it would be really stupid to base any Christian doctrine on anything his 3 foolish friends said (Job 1-37). Yet surprisingly, many false cults pluck words and phrases out of Job to justify their evil divisive schemes.
- Solomon wrote Ecclesiastes as a wise man looking at what he saw under the sun. It seems obvious that you should not base Bible doctrines on what he wrote. Yet some very popular false cults base their fundamental doctrines on words and phrases from Ecclesiastes. Please don’t fall victim to their lies.
- Evil, wicked, enemies of God are accurately recorded in the Bible. Cain, Pharaoh, 31 bad kings of Israel and Judah, Nebuchadnezzar, Jezebel, Herod, and others all did evil in the sight of the Lord. We should never base any God-pleasing doctrine or lifestyle on what they said or did. Yet many do. Be careful to consider the full context of any proof text that controls you.
- Godly men and women who had fallen in sin are accurately recorded in the Bible. Adam, Noah, Abraham, Saul, David, Moses, Samson, Peter, and others all had failures. We can learn from them, but we should never follow the sin in their lives.
Satan is the real author of all false doctrine
Therefore Jesus said to them, “If God were your father, you would love me, for I came out and have come from God. For I haven’t come of myself, but he sent me. Why don’t you understand my speech? Because you can’t hear my word. You are of your father, the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and doesn’t stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks on his own; for he is a liar, and its father. But because I tell the truth, you don’t believe me. Which of you convicts me of sin? If I tell the truth, why do you not believe me? He who is of God hears the words of God. For this cause you don’t hear, because you are not of God.” (John 8:42-47)
But know this, that in the last days, grievous times will come. For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, fierce, no lovers of good, traitors, headstrong, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God; holding a form of godliness, but having denied its power. Turn away from these, also. For some of these are people who creep into houses, and take captive gullible women loaded down with sins, led away by various lusts, always learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. Even as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so do these also oppose the truth; men corrupted in mind, who concerning the faith, are rejected. But they will proceed no further. For their folly will be evident to all men, as theirs also came to be. (2 Timothy 3:1-9)
For deeper study
- The controversy of the Bible – A series on the controversy of the Bible. Not a book written about God, or about religion, or about morality, but a book written by God.
- The controversy of sin – The controversy of sin is not that we are sinners, it is how badly we are sinners, not that God hates sin, but what God has done about sin.
- 7 important reasons to study the Bible – Thy word, Jesus’ prayer of thanksgiving, Jesus’ rebuke to study, learning from examples, assurance of salvation, encouragement to do what the Bible says.
- The common-sense Golden Rule of Interpretation – When the plain sense of Scripture makes common sense, seek no other sense, lest it result in nonsense.
- Online Bible Study Resources – Here are some excellent online Bible study resources: Bible Hub, Bible Gateway, Blue Letter Bible, Bible Study Tools Online, and more.