Text: 1 Corinthians 13:6-7
One Who Simply Believes Error
- It is expected that our knowledge will grow from infancy to maturity (1 Peter 2:2; Hebrews 5:12-14)
- Growth can only happen through the teaching of the word (1 Peter 2:2)
- Error needs to be explained & refuted (2 Corinthians 10:5)
One Who Openly Promotes Error
- This one has a greater accountability (James 3:1)
- Mark & avoid him (Romans 16:17), do not receive him (2 John 10-11)
- Confront their teaching (Titus 1:10-11; Acts 15:1-2) — do so with urgency (Galatians 2:4-5)
- When one publicly teaches error, does Matthew 18:15 require us to go to him privately first? … No — that was for private sin, this is public error
- What about Apollos? (Acts 18:24-26) — he was not a Christian (“acquainted only with the baptism of John” — v. 25), not parallel with our response to brethren who teach false doctrine
- Are we to ignore error outside our own congregation? … Not if the influence of the error has the potential of reaching members of our congregation — What about autonomy? … This is about self-governance (1 Peter 5:2), not a prohibition against noticing and pointing out error when it is being taught
