We’ve been working through 2 Timothy on Sunday evenings. Last week I preached from 2 Timothy 3:6-9. It’s a passage–like many in the pastoral epistles–that deals with false teaching. Paul warns against the folly of false teaching (and against the folly of falling for it).

Which leads to the question: what is false teaching and how do we spot it?

Obviously, there is no foolproof scheme for identifying false teaching. Biblical discernment takes years of prayer, preaching, and practice. But there are certain questions that may be help us sift the good from the bad. Here are 15 discernment diagnostic questions I suggested to my congregation.

7. Does the teaching involve secrets? This was the appeal of Gnosticism. It purported to lead the initiate into the realm of secret knowledge. This is what makes me nervous about Masons, Mormons, and even many fraternities and sororities. Unless national security is involved, be wary of groups that are held together by tightly held secrets. Books with “secret” in the title are usually suspect too (Lesslie Newbigin’s The Open Secret being the exception that proves the rule).

8. Does it rely on a cartoon view of God? False teaching tends to cast God as either as a autocratic strongman or a friendly face passing out beads at Woodstock? By contrast, the God of the Bible shines forth with (to use Jonathan Edwards’ phrase) a host of diverse excellencies.

9. Does the teaching use big themes to negate specific verses? We should always interpret Scripture with Scripture, but we must not allow amorphous themes like love or justice or grace to flatten the contours of Scripture.

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