Know the Heretics by Justin S. Holcomb Part 2
Each chapter of Know
the Heretics is broken up into five parts: the historical background to the
heresy, the specifics of the heretical teaching, the orthodox response, the
contemporary relevance (or resonance), and discussion questions and further reading.
Some of the chapters look at heresies that are associated with specific people
or groups (eg. Marcion, Judaizers, Manichaenism), whilst others look at
theological tendencies (eg. Gnosticism and Docetism). In the first section of
the book (Chapters 1-5), the heresies tended to be an incorrect understanding
of the following issues: the Old and New Testaments and their relationship to
each other; that salvation is by grace alone, and not by our works; that God
has revealed himself completely through his son; and that Jesus is fully human
(and not just God).
In thinking through the orthodox position on each of these
topics, I was reminded how important they are to my faith. For instance, in the
chapter on the earliest heretical group, the Judaziers, I was reminded that as
a church (and I mean both generally and the church I attend specifically) we
can exclude people on the basis of their behaviour, only welcoming those who
practice our particular brand of Christianity. We can also open ourselves up to
the sin of pride if our focus is on how we
demonstrate our obedience to Christ: “In fact, since obedience can become a
point of pride, doing good can even be detrimental- we must sometimes repent of
our virtues as well as our vices.” (p. 30)
The chapter on Docetism looked at a general heretical
theology that “taught that Jesus Christ was totally divine and that his
humanity was merely an appearance. Although he seemed to have a human body, he
was not subject to any kind of human experiences. This included being immune to
human ‘birth, fatigue, thirst, hunger, suffering [and] death.’” (p. 56) As
Holcomb points out, a lot of popular liberal theology, particularly of the 19th
and 20th Centuries had a similar spirit, wanting to remove the
miraculous and supernatural elements of Christ’s life and ministry, going so
far as to deny the bodily resurrection. The danger of Docetism for us is found
in its motivations, as we look for ways to communicate the Gospel to seemingly
ever-widening cultural divides: “The root of Docetism was the desire to make
Christ more palatable to a world that sees the cross as foolishness. But the
more they tried to please the world, the farther they strayed from the truth
contained in Scripture.” (pg. 59-60)
In reading these chapters, they affirmed for me what Holcomb
established in his introduction: that heresies, in the end, lead people away
from Christ, not towards him. The danger for us, as Holcomb touches on at the
end of each chapter in the section on ‘contemporary relevance’, is that in our
efforts to engage with the (various) cultures we find ourselves in, we will be
selective. We might downplay certain parts of the Bible (maybe we don’t preach
very often from the Old Testament, or avoid a Bible Study series on it), or
aspects of Jesus Christ, or we may start to believe that it is what we do as
Christians that makes our salvation secure. In the end, we are never very far from
heresy in our lives as Christians. We should continue to pray Paul’s words to
the elders of the Church at Ephesus “Keep watch over yourselves and all the
flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the
church of God, which he bought with his own blood. I know that after I
leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock. Even
from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away
disciples after them. So be on your guard! Remember that for three years I
never stopped warning each of you night and day with tears.” (Acts 20:28-31)
About this month's contributor, Sian Lim
Siân enjoys reading, talking about literature, writing and helping people to do these things. She is delighted that she can earn an income doing this as a high school English teacher, whilst continuing to develop herself professionally by attending theatrical performances with her husband, and reading by herself and with her three boys. She is thankful to God for words: that he created by His word, that Jesus came as the Word incarnate, and that by the Spirit she can say “Jesus is Lord”.
Siân enjoys reading, talking about literature, writing and helping people to do these things. She is delighted that she can earn an income doing this as a high school English teacher, whilst continuing to develop herself professionally by attending theatrical performances with her husband, and reading by herself and with her three boys. She is thankful to God for words: that he created by His word, that Jesus came as the Word incarnate, and that by the Spirit she can say “Jesus is Lord”.