Truth #364 - We have a duty to protect the church from false teaching. Jude

Jude 1:20-23 (ESV Strong's)

But you, beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit,
keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life.
And have mercy on those who doubt;
save others by snatching them out of the fire; to others show mercy with fear, hating even the garment stained by the flesh.

Truth:  Believers have a duty to correct and stay clear of false teachers

In Jude we have a warning to the church about how to interact with and deal with false teachers in the church.  It is not a question of "if" we will have a false teaching, but "when" will be have false teaching.  It is only a question of "what" will be our response to false teaching.   In the above passage, Jude outlines a multi-prong approach:

1]  We are to pray in the Holy Spirit for our safety, the churches holiness and their judgement.   We must make sure we realize this is a war of God against evil and our part is to petition God's intervention.

2]. We are to continue to demonstrate the love of God and what that means in the walk of faith.  This "love" will eventually lead to "mercy" and "eternal life" for some.   Our job is to love others to Christ.  

3]. We are to show mercy on those we can show mercy.   There will be some who are overtaken by the false teaching.  We are to reach out in mercy and show them the error of the teaching and lead them back, in mercy, to the truth of the Gospel.

4]. We are "snatch" others from the fire.   There will be times, in the church, that we need to have a sense of urgency of warning those who are entering into sin and who are in danger of God's judgement (Galatians 6:1-2; 1 John 5:16-17).

5.  We need to make sure we are not stained by the same false teaching.  The vivid picture Jude gives is that of someone who is so filthy from their own excrements that they have soiled their clothes, as well.   What Jude is saying is don't get close to them lest they soil you, as well.  There is a separation clause in Jude's warning.

God takes false teaching very serious in the church.  We are to handle it as a cancer but with grace and love and mercy and in the power of the Holy Spirit.