What Is A "Heretic"?

Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. - 1 John 4:1


About a year ago I got into an interesting discussion with a brother over whether Joel Osteen was a heretic or not. This conversation came hot on the heels of his comments concerning Mormonism. He was being interviewed by Chris Wallace from Fox News when he was asked the question, "Is a Mormon a true Christian." Joel's response was, and I quote, "Well, in my mind they are. Mitt Romeny has said that he believes in Christ as his savior and that's what I believe so I'm not the one to judge the little details of it so I believe they are."

The brother I was talking to was adamantly calling Joel Osteen a heretic of the highest order. I asked him what actions had Joel undertaken to earn this label of "heretic". He responded with shock and dismay that I would even ask such a question. Clearly Joel was a heretic because his comments on Mormonism contradicted those of the clearly taught Word of God.

I asked him to define the word "heretic" for me. His definition, I am sure, is the same definition that many people have for this word. To most Bible-believing, church attending, evangelical, fundamentalist Christians a heretic is anyone who wrongly divides the Word of God and preaches something in error. In other words, every time someone stands behind the pulpit of any church in the world, they'd better have their doctrine and theology right or else they'll be branded a heretic.

Now, I don't disagree with the need for preachers to know their stuff; obviously that is a vital component of Bible preaching. But, if someone preaches or says in an interview something that doesn't jive with our understanding of scriptures does that automatically make them a "heretic"? To many church going Christians, the answer to that question is an overwhelming "YES!"

This line of reasoning is one of the foundational reasons for the division in our churches. I can remember the series of sermons preached by my pastors lining out all of the doctrinal differences between all of the "Christian" denominations and why everyone else was wrong except our particular brand of Christianity. I'm sure those same sermons were preached in other denominational churches branding our group as heretics too.

To listen to most church attendees, there are a lot of heretics running around this globe spreading their lies and half-truths and bringing ruin to the Body of Christ. I submit to you that the real cause of the division isn't due to all of these so-called heretics, like Mr. Osteen, but rather, and many people won't like this statement, the chief cause of the division in the church is the ungodly attitudes and scriptural ignorance of most church attendees...including pastors.

Allow me to define the word "heretic" for you. The word appears one time in the KJV in Titus 3:10 and is spelled "heretick". It comes from the greek word hairetikos and it means: schismatic, factious, a follower of a false doctrine.

Now, there are two words in that definition that we don't use anymore; "schismatic" and "factious". Both of these words mean essentially the same thing; divisive. The understanding of this Greek word was that a heretic was someone who knowingly and intentionally manipulated people as well as the scriptures in order to bring division and chaos to a (supposedly) unified body of believers. This speaks not only of the actions of the individual in question but also his motives. That is why we are instructed to "try the spirits" of the speaker in question rather than try them intellectually or even doctrinally. After all, what if your understanding of doctrine isn't flawless?

We live in an age of literally tens of thousands of denominations all claiming to believe in the same God and all reading from the same book. We are divided on so many levels that it is impossible to list them all. I've been to churches where the congregation was divided up in social cliques and the warfare between these factions (someone who creates factions would be called "factious" by the way) was obvious. What I am saying is there is much more to being a heretic than what most people are aware of.

I do not believe Joel Osteen to be a heretic. I don't see him as a harbinger of deceit and division in the body of Christ. What I do see is a young minister who doesn't have all the answers who is caught up in the wind of his growing ministerial fame and who is adept at playing the political games that have infiltrated far too many of our churches. None of these flaws make him a "heretic"...they make him human. And as a human being Joel Osteen, like the rest of us, is subject to making mistakes.

His comments on Mormonism were wrong, plain and simple. Mormon doctrines are not the same as the doctrines of Jesus Christ. You don't have to be a theologian to see that; just read their book. Joel's comments displayed his ignorance of Mormonism's teachings but they don't make him a schismatic, factious follower of false doctrines. Now, if Joel got into his pulpit one Sunday and began teaching the doctrines of Joseph Smith then he would be guilty of heresy. Making mistaken or ignorant statements is regrettable and can cause some confusion and damage but how much more damage has been done by some of the brethren who rush to judgment based on little study, even less prayer and no godly wisdom. How much division has been caused by the ignorant and judgmental among us?

Are there false prophets and heretics among us? Absolutely. How does one discern who is a heretic and who is simply mistaken? 1 John 4:1 gives us some instruction on this. We need wise men and women of God who understand the principles of "trying the spirits" instead of self-taught armchair theologians who have just enough Bible knowledge to be dangerous. Most of all, we must be careful who we play the heretic card on. I know I've made mistakes and preached things out of ignorance that I later found to be untrue. That is part of the process of growing up in Christ; we all make mistakes.

Making mistakes doesn't make any of us heretics; it just makes us wrong. People who are in error don't need snap judgments and ostracizing labels. They need loving correction. Joel Osteen, by his profession of faith, is a brother of mine. If I hear him say something in error my first response is to pray for him to receive some loving correction. That's what we all need and I am thankful that we have a God who is the master of lovingly correcting us...

...because we all make mistakes.