17 Now I urge you, brothers, to keep your eye on those who cause dissensions and stumblings contrary to the teaching which you learned, and turn away from them. 18 For such men are slaves, not of our Lord Christ but of their own stomach, and by their smooth and flattering speech they deceive the hearts of the unsuspecting. 19 For the report of your obedience has reached to all. Therefore I am rejoicing over you, but I want you to be wise in what is good and innocent in what is evil. 20 And the God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet.
The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you.
21 Timothy my fellow worker greets you, and so do Lucius and Jason and Sosipater, my kinsmen.
22 I, Tertius, who wrote this letter, greet you in the Lord.
23 Gaius, host to me and to the whole church, greets you. Erastus, the city treasurer greets you, and Quartus, the brother. 24 [The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.]
25 Now to Him who is able to strengthen you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery which has been kept secret for long ages past, 26 but now is manifested, and by the Scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the eternal God, has been made known to all the Gentiles, leading to obedience of faith; 27 to the only wise God, through Jesus Christ, be the glory forever. Amen. Romans 16: 17-27 LSB
Romans 16: 17-27
V. 17 Keep your eye on those who cause dissensions and stumblings contrary to the teaching which you learned - The first part of this chapter started out with a commendation of those who were dear to Paul, those who were commendable for their faith and the changed life that flowed from it. Romans 1 defined sin for us, and throughout Romans we have heard some of the greatest doctrinal statements concerning our salvation. We have learned that we are not justified by works, and that salvation is of the Lord, as Romans 8 and 9 have made abundantly clear. We have also learned in Romans 11 about God's future plan for Israel, that all is not utterly lost and we should pray for their salvation, pray for the day of their awakening. From then on we learned of the practical implications of our faith, how it looks regarding our sanctification. Now Paul, after building such a great foundation, laying out Christ before them in everything, does not want this to be destroyed, lest they turn and believe another gospel, one that doesn't save. The other side of the coin of brotherly love is concern, and he must now address that which is not commendable, those who cause dissensions and stumbling. This is the least popular part of the message, and people will wax on for hours about how God loves you and has a beautiful plan for your life, but that is not the whole counsel of God. God is love, but He is also Holy in this love. He is a God of justice as much as He is a God of mercy. Jesus did not die arbitrarily. You and I have offended the eternal Being, and so Immanuel, which means God With Us, has to take on human flesh, because it is man that sinned, and our sin is against the eternal God. No other sacrifice will do, and all our righteousness is as filthy rags, so keep your eyes on those who cause dissensions, and how does Paul define them? "Those who cause dissensions and stumblings contrary to the teaching which you learned", those are the contentious, the ones that teach contrary to sound doctrine and teach of their own appetite, for their own glory. It is said that 18 of the 27 New Testament books warn of such. It is a big problem, but today we have changed dissension and stumbling to refer to those who we call "ungracious" for pointing out error. When people confront sin they are called bigots, but often they are the only ones that love us enough to tell us the truth while the rest prefer our approval.
15Beware of false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. 16By their fruit you will recognize them. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? 17Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit.… Matthew 7:15-17
…28Keep watch over yourselves and the entire flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which He purchased with His own blood. 29I know that after my departure, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock. 30Even from your own number, men will rise up and distort the truth to draw away disciples after them.… Acts 20: 28-30
V. 17b - Turn away from them - How are we to deal with them? Turn away from them; don't give them the time, don't leave them with the sheep. They are always looking to disciple. They want followers, they want to impose their will, their pet peeves. These men and women seek entry with an eye to influence, to gain power, to access the pulpit, the Sunday school, to get on the payroll because they are unsatisfied with their work outside the church. All of them insist that they are called, but like Lucifer they try to put aside who they are in order to entertain being something they cannot, they would skip off or redirect the glory that belongs to God alone.
…9Anyone who runs ahead without remaining in the teaching of Christ does not have God. Whoever remains in His teaching has both the Father and the Son. 10If anyone comes to you but does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your home or even greet him. 11Whoever greets such a person shares in his evil deeds.… 2 John 1: 9-11
That's not hard to understand, is it? All you have to do is translate that into your attitude toward your children, or toward your wife, or your husband or anyone you love. If you really love that person your greatest concern is for the safety of that person, the blessedness of that person, the prosperity of that person. And you will never see the love of Paul more clearly demonstrated, not even in his commendation, not even in his cordiality, than you will see it demonstrated in his caution. Why in Acts 20 does he say to the Ephesian elders that, "For the space of three years, night and day with tears I have warned you because I know that after my departure grievous wolves shall enter in, not sparing the flock, and of your own selves perverse men will arise." Why would he with tears for three years night and day warn them? That's the act of love. Love has a zeal that warns and cautions because its deepest affection is for the object.
And there's little doubt in my mind that he took his cue from his own Lord, who repeatedly warned against false prophets, who repeatedly warned against false shepherds who would come in not sparing the flock, false Christs, saying in the end time there will be those who say, "Here is Christ” and “There is Christ." And there will be a deception, our Lord warns. And as you read the epistles of Paul there is warning all through those epistles.
I'm reminded of a great portion of 2 Corinthians, but markedly chapter 11 verses 13 to 15, where he says, "Be aware of Satan coming in disguised as an angel of light and his ministers as angels of light." I'm reminded of Galatians 1 where Paul cries out to the Galatians with such extreme emotion that he skips the amenities at the beginning of the book and just cries out against those who are preaching a false gospel and curses them. And Paul calls on Timothy, in 1 Timothy, to set things in order in the church and correct the heresy that is leading people astray and damning their souls with an untrue message. In 2 Timothy he warns about the false teachers and false prophets in their lying teaching.
And so it is the nature of love to do that. Paul, even writing to the Corinthians in 1 Corinthians 4, says, "Because you are my beloved children, I warn you.” I warn you. And let's look at his warning in verse 17. "Now I beg you, I urge you, I beseech you, I plead with you out of my heart, brethren..." This is a pleading. This is something he feels very deeply. The same heart attitude we saw in chapter 12 as he pleaded for commitment to the will of God, for separation from the world, for total dedication. And here the same pleading comes and his pleading here is to mark them who cause divisions and offenses contrary to the doctrine which you've learned and avoid them. To be aware of those who cause division and offenses contrary to the doctrine you have learned.
He identifies false teachers as those who teach false doctrine and create division. And that's what a false teacher does. He teaches something different than the truth and creates a division, brings schism, division, discord, conflict, stumbling blocks into the church. The divisions, the schisms, the offenses would be the stumbling block, the skandaliz, the trap. And this is because they bring in another gospel. John Calvin said, quote: "Men are distracted from the unity of the truth when the truth of God is destroyed by doctrines of human invention." And false teachers inevitably come with human teaching, doctrines of human invention, sometimes very close to the truth, sometimes taking part of the truth and thus being very subtle. But they bring division and they bring offense, trapping people, causing them to stumble, and fracturing the purity of the church.
Love, as proposed in the contemporary ecumenical movements of today, is a far different kind of love than this kind of love. This kind of love warns against error. The kind of love we hear about today, which is sort of a sickly sentimentalism, wants to set doctrine aside in the name of so-called love. Any love that is destructive of truth, any love so-called that ignores truth, any love that is tolerant of error or propagates error has to be shunned, because that's not...that’s not the essence of real love. All the talk about love and all the talk about unity among people that want to set truth aside is the work of false teachers, false prophets. They just want to cause division. They want to break up the church, and they're very successful at that. And we've talked a great deal about that so I don't want to belabor the point. You can go back to our message in Matthew 7:15 to 20 and listen to that again if you will and find there the character and the content and the effect of the false teachers, as our Lord outlined it. - J Mac from GTY Sermon archives
V. 18 By their smooth and flattering speech - These men are good at putting people at ease. The best way to do this where people know sound doctrine is to learn and teach sound doctrine, but we are told to look at both the person's doctrine and life. Flattery should expose them to us, but we have been taught that that is really just them being encouragers, yet it comes from being slaves to their stomachs. What do they hunger for? Some want money, and we see that in prosperity teachers easily, but some want the same thing and are not so obvious in their preaching. They all want power and influence. People seek fame and some of those end up getting notoriety instead, the type of fame that is a blemish upon the body of Christ. I have seen those who like shiny gifts and hate the idea of having a job as a tent maker. We have seen countless examples of those who say they are called, who get on the payroll, have access to the sheep and then end up in all sorts of sexual controversies. Women are what feeds their egos. Don't be "unsuspecting", examine yourself as you examine their doctrine, for the same they things that they work for are those things which they will use to lure you end. They are driven by ego to the extent of praising their own "humility", so be careful of flattery, they will use your own ego against you.
…5having a form of godliness but denying its power. Turn away from such as these! 6 They are the kind who worm their way into households and captivate vulnerable women who are weighed down with sins and led astray by various passions, 7who are always learning but never able to come to a knowledge of the truth.… 2 Timothy 3: 5-7
…18For as I have often told you before, and now say again even with tears: Many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. 19Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and their glory is in their shame. Their minds are set on earthly things. 20But our citizenship is in heaven, and we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ,… Philippians 3: 18-20
Vs. 19-20 Wise in what is good and innocent in what is evil - Their doctrine is commendable but they still need to take care, to exercise discernment.
Vs. 21-27 Now to Him Who is able to strengthen you - The power is from God, the glory belongs to God. The life he is calling them to is a supernatural one, which rules out the works of fallen creatures and the inventions of men.
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