The Shipwreck and Cancer of Christian Heresy

THE SHIPWRECK AND CANCER OF CHRISTIAN HERESY

By Ezekiel Kimosop

INTRODUCTION

What is Christian heresy?

Christian heresy can be described as a set of teachings or doctrines that materially contradict or violate the fundamental truths of the word of God in Scripture. Some of the areas of contradiction may include the denial or rejection of Christ as Lord and Savior. A heretic may also deny the universal impact of the fall of Adam n the human race. Some heretics even deny the divinity of the Holy Spirit and reject the trinitarian revelation of God in Scripture.

The burden of dealing with Christian heresy is a monumental one. Unfortunately few believers have the guts for confronting heresy. Most Christians seek to avoid "controversy" in circumstances that their biblical opinion would count. Scripture contemplates that Christian leaders ought to protect their congregations from the scourge of heresy by not only pointing out heresy whenever it rares its ugly head but by consistently and faithfully instructing believers in the truths of God's word.

Paul warned the elders at the Church of Ephesus that heretics and apostates would infiltrate the church upon his departure. He cautioned them, saying, "Therefore take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood. For I know this, that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. Also from among yourselves men will rise up, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after themselves. Therefore watch, and remember that for three years I did not cease to warn everyone night and day with tears." (Acts 20:28-29, NKJV). 

This article seeks to examine the scourge of Christian heresy within the context of two illustrations of New Testament Scripture. It will attempt to outline practical approaches to addressing heresy based on Paul's illustrations in both contexts. 

Two sets of heretics are mentioned in the Epistles of First Timothy and Second Timothy. One of the most compelling lessons that emerges from the two incidents is that Paul decisively confronted heretics without blinking an eye and proceeded to suspend them from the fellowship of the church of Ephesus. Heretics can only be restored to Christian fellowship if and when they repent and publicly recant their heresy. 

In our contemporary Christian societies, heresy abounds. It surreptitiously creeps into the pews and pulpits and is inadvertently assimilated into Christian doctrine so that a concoction of truth and error plays out in the end. A faithful instruction of biblical truth should be consistently applied to keep our pews cleansed. 

THE SHIPWRECK OF HERESY: THE HYMENAEUS AND ALEXANDER CASE 

1 Timothy 1:18-20 says "This charge I commit to you, son Timothy, according to the prophecies previously made concerning you, that by them you may wage the good warfare, having faith and a good conscience, which some having rejected, concerning the faith have suffered shipwreck, of whom are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I delivered to Satan that they may learn not to blaspheme" (NKJV). 

Two teachers are singled out in this context for their unwholesome violations. Paul considered the Christian error in the above passage to be equivalent to blasphemy. The Greek verb βλασφημέω for "blaspheme" can also be translated as "to speak evil of" or "slander" or "revile". This implies that the transgression was a grave one. Its impact lay in derailing believers from the way of Christ. Paul excommunicated the two heretics under a firm expectation that they would learn from their error and change their ways. 

Little is known about the precise nature of the heresy but the reader can pick up some hints from the study of the passage. Paul adds that the two men had suffered shipwreck, a metaphorical reference to a catastrophe in the context of their appropriation of Christian doctrine. We can infer from the above passage that the two men were perhaps prominent Christian teachers whose doctrines were not founded on genuine apostolic instruction. Their convictions were therefore radically misplaced from the pivotal truths that inform the convictions of a standing believer in Christ. 

The Greek verb ναυαγέω for "shipwreck" was deliberately chosen by Paul to demonstrate the devastation and catastrophe that heretics would visit upon the children of God through their polluted teachings that not only contradicted God's word but had the potential of destroying the Christian faith. 

Adam Clarke makes a startling observation of the catastrophic impact of Christian heresy by equating it with the reckless acts of a soldier in the battlefield. He opines thus: "Having thrust away; as a fool-hardy soldier might his shield and his breastplate or a made sailor pilot, helm, and compass." [1]. Adam Clarke construes heresy as utter and inconceivable recklessness! When a soldier throws away his shield and breastplate in combat, he exposes himself to open peril. Believers should always stand on guard and defend the sanctity of their Christian faith.

Newport J. D. White however cautions that we should not construe Paul's shipwreck metaphor as evidence that a believer who is steeped in heresy is lost beyond hope of recovery. [2]. Paul employed the shipwreck term to express the severity and impact that heresy brings to the Christian community of context. The fact that Paul mentions the two heretics by name is instructive of his apostolic authority and fidelity over the Gentile believers. He was inspired by his pastoral concerns in identifying and nipping in the bud the source of this poisonous Christian heresy. Paul must have reliably established the facts before calling out the two culprits. 

Warren Wiersbe observes that Paul was not in violation of Jesus' command in Matthew 7:1-5 regarding judging others. [3]. Dealing with cancerous Christian heresy overrides the exigencies of established religious protocols. It constitutes a call for an emergency response.

A shipwreck is a catastrophic sea peril that results in the loss of many lives. It is also associated with extensive damage to the vessel and loss of property arising from violent tempests of the sea. Timothy was serving in Ephesus, an ancient port city located near the confluence of the Cayster River and the Mediterranean Sea. The people of Ephesus therefore understood the impact of a shipwreck on sailors since this was the common mode of travel across ancient cities in Europe and Asia. A marine damage of this scale cannot be restored or reinstated even with the seasoned skills and diligence of expert seamen. 

In insurance underwriting terms, such a perilous loss is appropriately construed as a constructive total loss within the meaning of the liability of a Marine insurance policy. This is because the possibility of retrieving any salvage under such circumstances is considerably remote and uneconomical. The marine vessel is eventually abandoned once it is technically established that the cost of retrieval of salvage exceeds the maximum limit of insurance liability under the policy. 

A shipwreck is in most cases decidedly a lost cause.

Now back to our text of context...

The two heretics in the church of Ephesus appeared to be emboldened in their error, having lost their convictions concerning the truth. They had strayed into false doctrine and were in danger of crossing into Christian apostasy if left unchecked. 

Paul uses a second adjective to describe the impact of the heresy. He speaks of their departure from the fundamental truths of God's word as blasphemy. This is a cardinal sin that a covenant Jew would not dare commit. We learn from the words of Jesus in the Gospels that blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is an unpardonable sin (Matthew 12:31-32). His statement was in response to the false claims by the Pharisees that sought to demean Him. 

In Matthew 12:24, the Pharisees had attributed the divine miracles of Jesus to Beelzebub, the chief of the demons (Satan).

Jesus had healed a paralytic on the Sabbath, a day that the Pharisees regarded as hallowed. In the minds of the Pharisees, Jesus had broken the Sabbath law. Jesus however denied braking the Sabbath and went on to affirm His preeminence as "Lord also of the Sabbath" (Mathew 12:8). It is instructive that the Pharisees rejected the divinity of Jesus Christ as Messiah, the Son of God. By their obstinacy and arrogance they committed high blasphemy!

Did the Ephesian heretics perhaps blaspheme against the divinity of Jesus Christ? While this is difficult to establish, it is however instructive that Greek Gnosticism embraced in the Greco Roman world denied the divinity of Jesus on account of His incarnation. Bible scholars say the Letter to the Colossians was specifically written by Paul to primarily address Gnostic heresy that was prevalent at the time.  The emphasis on sound doctrine in Ephesians 4:11-15 strongly suggests that the writer was aware of the influence of false teaching in Ephesus. 

The Council of Nicea was compelled to outline a statement on the divinity of Jesus Christ as God the Son who is co-equal in divine essence with God the Father. This laid to rest the Gnostic heresy on Christ's humanity and divinity. 

THE CANCER OF HERESY: HYMENAEUS AND PHILETUS

The second set of heretics is mentioned in 2 Timothy 2:16-19 where we learn that the two, Hymenaeus and Philetus, taught that the resurrection of saints had already taken place. This was a false teaching that contradicted the truths of Scripture. It implied that those who had been "left behind" were not legitimate members of the true church! This heresy is identified with some heretical sects that misrepresented the doctrine of Christian resurrection.

Elsewhere in Scripture, Paul taught that the resurrection of believers was a future event that would occur at the coming of Christ. It was a special event that awaited the living and the dead in Christ (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18). Bible scholars say that the Letter of 2 Timothy was Paul final epistle which was written shortly before he was martyred in circa 67 AD (cf. 2 Timothy 4:7-8). He too looked forward to the resurrection.

The other word that Paul employs in a metaphorical sense in 2 Timothy 2:17 is the Greek word καρκίνος for cancer.  Paul describes the two heretics, Hymenaeus and Philetus, as a dangerous lot whose spiritual harm was fast spreading. This heresy was therefore contagious. 

In medical science, the amputation of the affected part of the body is one of the surgical methods for stopping the spread of cancer in the human body. The two heretics therefore deserved to be isolated from the fellowship of right standing believers in order to protect the Christian community from their perilous influence. It would also serve as a stern warning to those who were allied to the teachers of heresy.

By their heresy, the two men overthrew the faith of many well-meaning believers who may have mistakenly held them in esteem. The allegorical application of the Greek word καρκίνος for "overthrow" denotes both an abrupt and violent impact. This epitomizes the very harm that false teachers bring into a Christian community. If left unchecked, their heresy will eventually destroy the ministry of the church by, among others, removing the cross from its pivotal position. False teachers must be called out at the earliest opportunity by those who remain standing on their spiritual feet within the congregation of context.

How a Christian community deals with heresy largely depends on its spiritual prudence and fabric and its grasp of the truths of Scripture.

Heretics are unsettling millions of Christians in our contemporary world. They ought to be condemned and their teachings shunned. If we fail to act, God's holy word will be reduced to trashcan stuff and believers would stumble under our watch (Ezekiel 33:1-11).

The battle against Christian heresy continues to confront the church, 2000 years later and must be fought in every generation of Christianity even as Christ shall tarry. It is a tragic thing for a Bible centered Christian community to overlook heresy in its pews! We should never hesitate in defending biblical truth in our contemporary Christian communities. Jude 1:3 exhorts us to defend the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints. 

We should also seek to rescue those that have been trapped in cultic heresy and apostasy and lead them in the way of Christ.  

Do you subscribe to biblical truth? Stand out for the purity of God's word. 

Keep it Christ.

REFERENCES 

[1] Clarke, Adam "Clarke's Commentary: The Holy Bible Containing the Old and New Testaments with a Commentary and Critical Notes" Volume 6 (Romans-Revelation) (New York: Eaton and Mains, 1832).

[2] White, Newport J.D. "The First and Second Epistles to Timothy and the Epistle to Titus: The Expositor's Greek Testament" Volume 4, Section 2 (1 Thessalonians-James) (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1897).

[3] Wiersbe, Warren W. "Be Faithful (1 & 2 Timothy, Titus, Philemon): It's Always Too Soon to Quit!" (The BE Series Commentary) (Colarado Springs, Colorado: Victor, 1981).

© Ezekiel Kimosop 2020