Dirty Words: Heresy

Rather too long ago now I announced the start of a new series, some in-depth examinations of some of the words that float around Christianity and Theology, but are so often misunderstood. To finally kick off that series, I want too look at that most prickly of words, so fondly used and misused by authors such as Dan Brown, and ignored in many parts of the church today. There is a flip-side to this, of course, and that is that many people, often genuinely and personally asking questions, are cast aside with the insult 'Heretic!', when in fact they are no such thing. Pronouncing, as the Roman Catholic Church does and calls it, 'anathema' on someone is not an act that any human can do, truth is properly the domain and possession of God. And it is because of this, because of the risk of error and the risk of abuse, and the errors all around and in between, that today I want to talk a bit about heresy.

A few seconds with Google can offer up a reasonably useful definition of the word 'heresy';

her-e-sy

Noun - belief or opinion contrary to orthodox religious doctrine

This is an interesting place to start, because we immediately run in to two other words that can cause people in our contemporary culture, and even/especially our contemporary church culture, to baulk; 'orthodox' and 'doctrine'. In the simplest terms, 'orthodox' basically means right belief, whilst doctrine is essentially a reasonable summary of what the Bible says (often with reference to church tradition) regarding any given topic. For instance, part of an 'orthodox' explanation of the 'Doctrine' of the Trinity might be the observation, as seen in Wayne Grudem, as he observes that we can 

"summarise the teaching of Scripture in three statements:

1) God is three persons

2) Each person is fully God.

3) There is one God"

I've blogged elsewhere about the Trinity as a Doctrine, but it is an excellent example of both orthodoxy and doctrine, because it isn't explicitly obvious in the Bible, but serves as a touchstone for Christian orthodoxy. The great 'ecumenical creeds', such as the Apostles Creed and the Nicene Creed, are essentially Trinitarian, and a sure fire way to start finding out about heresy is to look at Trinitarian theology! Due perhaps in part both to its complexity and importance, there are various Trinitarian heresies, which each try to deny a basic part of the Christian understanding of a Trinitarian God, broadly centred on those three helpful statements above.

We've now unpacked a little bit about what orthodox and doctrine mean, so we can roll on to one of the trickier parts of this question. Who gets to decide what Heresy is? Ultimately, I believe, only God does that. But because God has spoken in Scripture, and continues to guide his Church by the Holy Spirit, I believe Christians themselves can and should be aware of what Heresy is. I concede that this is perhaps easier - for the individual at least - in a denomination where there is an ultimate figure of authority, or a council of leaders. The basic rule to measure heresy against is Scripture, and perhaps also authoritative Creeds or Confessions depending on your denomination.

People who follow Jesus need to be wary, though not pre-occupied, with three essential errors. The first is perhaps the most obvious on paper, though not in reality: don't fall into heresy. In my write up of a recent Vineyard UK Theology event, I quoted Bishop Graham Cray as saying "bad theology kills", and he is completely right. We need to believe in Jesus, and importantly, we need to know what we can about him, in order to live the lives of love he has called us to. If we are to be faithful to Jesus in our culture and in our churches, then we need to be brave enough to resist the lie of the enemy that theology is an academic nonsense, and that heresy is an irrelevant term. If we love Jesus, we are going to want to be faithful to him, and what he taught. 

Another error we can easily fall into is that of making everything into a first-order doctrine. I've written before about keeping the main thing the main thing, and that is where the word heresy comes in useful. We can use it to describe ideas that err and miss the point, that detract from, or worse distort, the glorious story of the Gospel and the powerful truths of Trinity and Incarnation. When we forget that first and foremost we are sinners who have been given the grace to utter "Jesus is Lord", we commit the sin of Adam all over again, pretending to knowledge we just don't have. I wrote a post a little while ago called "Do it Yourself Heresy", where I looked at just this topic. 

The final reason we need to care about, and consider using, the word heresy, is because the Bible is clear that there is such a thing as truth, and this is important. I'm reminded of the strident, but God-inspired words of 2 Peter 2:1-3; 

"But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be fasle teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who brought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction. And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of truth will be blasphemed. And in their greed they will exploit you with false words. Their condemnation from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep"

Here Peter is making it clear that false prophets (simply put, prophets are people who do, or claim to, speak for God) arise, as they did in the past. He notes that there will be false teachers among you, and mentions that dirty word, 'heresies'. Then he mentions the important thing, the fear, the error that we must not make, because when Peter writes of 'the Master' he means Jesus himself. Peter's words are sobering. Many will follow false teaching, but they will be held accountable. The close of verse three here is sobering indeed, and echoes the clear teaching elsewhere in the New Testament that teachers/preachers will be held especially accountable.

So then, how can we get anywhere? Are we not at risk of heresy every day? Well, to be frank, we might be! But we can rest easy, safe among the currents of culture and the risks of wrong answers, because our God is very big, has spoken, and loves us. The God of the Bible can cope with our questions, our doubts, our hopes and fears. Rather than demanding unthinking faith, we serve a living God who wishes to communicate the truth of himself to our very hearts. I told a bunch of students recently, and I stick by it, that;

"there are no wrong questions, there are wrong answers"

This is because Christianity, at its heart, at its very essence of being Good News for everyone, is true. The Gospel is simple enough for anyone to grasp and far too complicated and grand for the most highly trained theologian to claim to understand. The unchanging, eternal truth that Jesus loves you, died for your, justified you once for all, and invites you to live in his Kingdom in perfect relationship with the Triune God, is as simply true today as it was when Jesus walked on the earth, proclaiming the Kingdom of God and performing miracles. Heresy is that false choice, the choice that damages the Gospel, that detracts from the truth, or distorts the glory of Grace.

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I hope you enjoyed reading this post, and that it has provoked some thought! I'd love your feedback in the comments, as ever, and would also direct you to a few posts to which the word 'heresy' is particularly relevant. The first of these relates to an issue so emotive that the term 'heretic' is all-too often bandied around, Women in Leadership. I'd love you to read "Don't be Scared, be Sensitive". I'd also direct you to my post about one of the thornier issues in our culture, "Christianity and Homosexuality: A New Approach". For a real life example of why heresy is a needed term, check out my post 'Truth Matters: An American Case Study". Finally, if you are up for some investigation into gruesome church history, then why not look at some facts regarding an execution in "Calvin and Servetus".

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