Truth and Defection
By F.J. Harris
Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world. 1 Timothy 4:10.
F.J. Harris
His pastoral letter in The Bridge magazine June/July 1996.
In matters of weight and importance there are always to be found defectors, or those who totally abandon their beliefs. In times of peace some change their political allegiance, and in times of war some join the enemy. The same is true when it comes to the Christian Faith. At the Reformation there were those who sided with truth but who later persecuted those who proclaimed it. And today there are those who once claimed to be evangelical who now deny some of the major tenets of the gospel, including the verbal inspiration of scripture.
But there are more ways than one of defecting from the truth of Christ. Demas forsook Paul, and all he stood for, out of love for this world. Many a Christian and Christian leader has been allured by the delights of this life and abandoned the Faith they once professed to hold so dear.
Prejudicial
Defection from the truth can be sudden, or subtly slow, but either way it is prejudicial to the soul and should be vigorously guarded against. Nonchalance in this area is fatal – “Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall” (1 Corinthians 10:12). Watchfulness is essential if we are not to succumb to the same sin ourselves. Thos who are called upon to rescue the erring brother or sister must be especially careful: “restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted” (Galatians 6:1). He who thinks he is beyond the of any temptation is precariously perched. Was not Peter full of self-confidence? He was soon to fall and deny the One he loved most!
If we understood the New Testament aright, we would not be surprised at so many defections today. For instance, the writer to the Hebrews devotes much of his letter to the subject of Christian apostasy. He reminds his hearers that Christians are to “hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end” (Hebrews 3:14), and mentions Israel’s failure to enter the Promised Land even though they had been delivered from Egypt (Hebrews 3:16-19). The writer warns those who profess Christ against falling in a similar manner (Hebrews 4:11).
Paul, also, would have us “continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel” (Colossians 1:23). And Israel is cited, again, as an example to be avoided (1 Corinthians 10:5-11). Peter, too, had something to say on this matter. He speaks of those who have “escaped the pollutions of the world” and who “are again entangled therein, and overcome” (2 Peter 2:20). He likens such people to the washed sow that returns to the mud.
Warnings
We should take these warnings seriously. They are not rendered null and void by the teaching of final perseverance. They are in scripture as an incentive to persevere. When tempted to revert to the world and the pleasures of sin, we should remember Israel’s hankering for the melons and cucumbers of Egypt, and resolve to do better lest we share their fate.
But there are more subtle forms of defection that we should be aware of. The slow-moving ship need only vary slightly off course to find itself far from its destination after several nights at sea. So it is with Christians. It is essential that we adhere unreservedly to the chart and compass of Scripture or, before we know it, we will be far from where we intended to be. The current trend towards consumerism among evangelicals is a threat to Christianity itself. If the church is controlled by what people want and not by what the Bible says, there is no telling where it will be in a generation from now.*
That which is shaped by popular whim and sentimentality is sure to err. We must be governed, as someone has said, by the “onlys” of Reformation theology: God’s revelation is found only in Scripture; salvation is found only in Christ; salvation is the result only of grace; salvation is received only by faith, and is only by affirming these truths that we can also say, “To God be the glory.’”