cupotea
Puritan Board Junior
Recently we had some controversy over the issue of false teacher.
I would quote someone’s opinion :
1. What is a true teacher:
Based on the Scriptures, reformed faith thinks a pastor needs all following qualifications:
1）Christ’s call through Holy Spirit
2）Under Holy Spirit’s guidance, the Church confirms and verifies the above calling, specifically in regarding 3) & 4)
3）the candidate’s characters (long term verification), for the standard please refer to I Timothy 3,Titus1.
4）the candidate’s gifts（mainly the teaching & ruling gifts）
Reformed faith thinks that someone is gifted (that he could teach) doesn’t necessarily mean that he has the calling; without the teaching gifts, one is surely without the calling to be a pastor. Characters are not only necessary, they are more important that gifts.
2. Comparatively speaking, if someone is not a true teacher, he must be a false teacher, I’d like to remind you:
1）2 Peter 2：1-3 is not about the definition of false teachers, rather it is the descriptions of the behaviors of one kind of false teachers, whose behaviors are similar to the behaviors of false prophets.
2）there are many scriptures about the false teachers’ characters and behaviors, such as Luke 1：6-8；16：14；1 Ti 4：1-5；James 3：7；1 Ti 6：5；2 Ti 3：8；Exodus 7：11；Romans 1：28；2 Ti 4：3-4；1 Ti 1：4；1 Ti 6：3-5；Matthew 15：9；Isa 29：13；2 Ti 4：4-5；Titus ：10-12；1 Ti 1：6-7；Eph 4：14；2 Pe 2：12-19；Ph 3：19；Jude；Romans 6：16etc.
3）the above scriptures are important criteria to judge if someone is a false teacher, if someone fits some of them (even one), he could be counted as a false teacher.
Reformed church evaluates one person based on the above standards to see if someone is a true teacher（teaching gifts and characters as a bishop）；if someone fails to meet the standard, he would not accepted as teacher, if someone breaks the standards, he will be disqualified. Those people who are disqualified due to sins, they are not only faulty in truth upholding and personal characters, they also usually fit in one or several Scriptures on the false teachers as mentioned above.
End of quote
My concerns are:
This gentleman’s teaching ,that “Comparatively speaking, if someone is not a true teacher, he must be a false teacher”, does it hold water ? Is there a yes or no approach to determine if someone is a false teacher ? After all, does the Bible use the terminology of “true teacher”?
Base on his statement:
“Reformed church evaluates one person based on the above standards to see if someone is a true teacher（teaching gifts and characters as a bishop）；if someone fails to meet the standard, he would not accepted as teacher, if someone breaks the standards, he will be disqualified. Those people who are disqualified due to sins, they are not only faulty in truth upholding and personal characters, they also usually fit in one or several Scriptures on the false teachers as mentioned above.”
It seems that he implies someone disqualified would usually be a false teacher, since “they are not only faulty in truth upholding and personal characters, they also usually fit in one or several Scriptures on the false teachers as mentioned above”, and “the above scriptures are important criteria to judge if someone is a false teacher, if someone fits some of them (even one), he could be counted as a false teacher”.
Does reformed churches hold this opinion?
And he says, that “2 Peter 2：1-3 is not about the definition of false teachers, rather it is the descriptions of the behaviors of one kind of false teachers, whose behaviors are similar to the behaviors of false prophets”, is it really 2 Peter 2：1-3 not about the definition of false teachers?
My understanding is false teacher is unregenerate and unsaved, there’s a huge difference between a faulty teacher and a false teacher, what do you think?
Thanks for your input.
I would quote someone’s opinion :
1. What is a true teacher:
Based on the Scriptures, reformed faith thinks a pastor needs all following qualifications:
1）Christ’s call through Holy Spirit
2）Under Holy Spirit’s guidance, the Church confirms and verifies the above calling, specifically in regarding 3) & 4)
3）the candidate’s characters (long term verification), for the standard please refer to I Timothy 3,Titus1.
4）the candidate’s gifts（mainly the teaching & ruling gifts）
Reformed faith thinks that someone is gifted (that he could teach) doesn’t necessarily mean that he has the calling; without the teaching gifts, one is surely without the calling to be a pastor. Characters are not only necessary, they are more important that gifts.
2. Comparatively speaking, if someone is not a true teacher, he must be a false teacher, I’d like to remind you:
1）2 Peter 2：1-3 is not about the definition of false teachers, rather it is the descriptions of the behaviors of one kind of false teachers, whose behaviors are similar to the behaviors of false prophets.
2）there are many scriptures about the false teachers’ characters and behaviors, such as Luke 1：6-8；16：14；1 Ti 4：1-5；James 3：7；1 Ti 6：5；2 Ti 3：8；Exodus 7：11；Romans 1：28；2 Ti 4：3-4；1 Ti 1：4；1 Ti 6：3-5；Matthew 15：9；Isa 29：13；2 Ti 4：4-5；Titus ：10-12；1 Ti 1：6-7；Eph 4：14；2 Pe 2：12-19；Ph 3：19；Jude；Romans 6：16etc.
3）the above scriptures are important criteria to judge if someone is a false teacher, if someone fits some of them (even one), he could be counted as a false teacher.
Reformed church evaluates one person based on the above standards to see if someone is a true teacher（teaching gifts and characters as a bishop）；if someone fails to meet the standard, he would not accepted as teacher, if someone breaks the standards, he will be disqualified. Those people who are disqualified due to sins, they are not only faulty in truth upholding and personal characters, they also usually fit in one or several Scriptures on the false teachers as mentioned above.
End of quote
My concerns are:
This gentleman’s teaching ,that “Comparatively speaking, if someone is not a true teacher, he must be a false teacher”, does it hold water ? Is there a yes or no approach to determine if someone is a false teacher ? After all, does the Bible use the terminology of “true teacher”?
Base on his statement:
“Reformed church evaluates one person based on the above standards to see if someone is a true teacher（teaching gifts and characters as a bishop）；if someone fails to meet the standard, he would not accepted as teacher, if someone breaks the standards, he will be disqualified. Those people who are disqualified due to sins, they are not only faulty in truth upholding and personal characters, they also usually fit in one or several Scriptures on the false teachers as mentioned above.”
It seems that he implies someone disqualified would usually be a false teacher, since “they are not only faulty in truth upholding and personal characters, they also usually fit in one or several Scriptures on the false teachers as mentioned above”, and “the above scriptures are important criteria to judge if someone is a false teacher, if someone fits some of them (even one), he could be counted as a false teacher”.
Does reformed churches hold this opinion?
And he says, that “2 Peter 2：1-3 is not about the definition of false teachers, rather it is the descriptions of the behaviors of one kind of false teachers, whose behaviors are similar to the behaviors of false prophets”, is it really 2 Peter 2：1-3 not about the definition of false teachers?
My understanding is false teacher is unregenerate and unsaved, there’s a huge difference between a faulty teacher and a false teacher, what do you think?
Thanks for your input.
