Audio Transcript

On this Monday, we jump right into the deep end to talk about the pathway from orthodoxy to demon theology. It’s a heavy topic, one inspired by a text we find in Paul’s first epistle to Timothy.

Here’s the question, from a podcast listener named Leland: “Hello, Pastor John, and thank you for taking heavy questions on the podcast. I have one of my own.” Indeed, he does. “In 1 Timothy 4:1, Paul writes that some professing Christians ‘will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons.’ This seems like a very stark transition for once-professing believers. What does this look like? Can it really mean Christ-worshipers become blatant demon-worshipers? Or is this move far more subtle? Can you explain to me what’s happening in this text?”

This is a good question for giving us an opportunity to clarify two things. First, can a true, born-again worshiper of Jesus be led astray into the kind of demonic deception that Paul has in mind? Second, how does this happen? What’s going on here? Does the departure from the church into involvement with demonic teaching happen suddenly or gradually?

Now, the reason I raised that first question is because Leland’s question for me has an ambiguity in it. On the one hand, he refers to “professing Christians departing from the faith to demons.” On the other hand, he asked the question about Christ-worshipers departing into demon worship. It wasn’t clear to me whether he was asking about genuine Christ-worshipers or whether he was asking about professing Christians who are not genuine Christ-worshipers deep down in their hearts.

I think Romans 8:30 teaches that those who are predestined are called, and those who are called are justified, and those who are justified are glorified, so that no genuinely called and justified Christian ever falls away into demon worship — not permanently, anyway. So then, the question becomes (and I think this is what he’s asking), What is happening when people in the church, who have been in the church for years and are outwardly identifying as Christian and yet are not truly born again, are swept away into the teaching of demons?

Lured by Lies

Let me read the text that he’s referring to.

Now, the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to [or paying attention to] deceitful spirits and teachings of demons, through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared, who forbid marriage and require abstinence from foods that God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. (1 Timothy 4:1–3)

What’s going on here? Well, first, Paul says, “There are deceitful spirits.” They would be manifesting themselves through people who claim to speak in the name of some supernatural being — in some charismatic way, perhaps, with a spirit of prophecy. This is the kind of thing John was referring to when he said, “Do not believe every spirit” — that’s what Paul is talking about here, deceitful spirits — “but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world” (1 John 4:1). So Paul is concerned that professing Christians will pay too much attention to deceitful spirits and not test them with biblical truth and be carried away into the teaching of demons.

Then he says that, through these spirits, there arise cult-like practices that contradict biblical teaching but look religious. In this case, he’s talking about forbidding marriage and forbidding certain foods. Then he says that these cultic practices have advocates whose consciences are seared and who lie about what the Bible teaches and deceive people away from teaching the truth and away from living by faith in Christ. When that happens, he says, “You can see that these are teachings of demons because that’s what the goal of demons is: to lure people away from Christ.”

Increasing Deception

Paul points out that this kind of departure from the faith will be intensified in the later times (1 Timothy 4:1). The danger of seduction by deceitful spirits and teachings of demons is always present throughout this fallen age, from the time of Jesus until Jesus comes back. They’re always there. But there will be a greater temptation as the end of the age approaches and the Lord draws near.

“The danger of seduction by deceitful spirits and teachings of demons is always present throughout this fallen age.”

Paul describes this in 2 Thessalonians 2. The people are worried that the day of the Lord may have come, and Paul says, “No, it hasn’t come, because first there has to be this great apostasy, this falling away, this rebellion, this deception.” A great deception comes first. “Let no one deceive you in any way. For that day will not come, unless the [apostasy] comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction” (2 Thessalonians 2:3). Then he says in 2 Thessalonians 2:7, “The mystery of lawlessness is already at work.” In other words, even though there will be a great deception of lawlessness at the very end of the age, the spirit of deception is always at work in some measure in this fallen age.

He describes it like this: “The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders, and with all wicked deception” — that’s what Paul is talking about in 1 Timothy — “for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. Therefore God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false, in order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness” (2 Thessalonians 2:9–12).

Jesus said in Matthew 24:12–13, “Because lawlessness” — the same lawlessness Paul’s talking about in 2 Thessalonians — “will be increased, the love of many will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.”

Slow or Sudden Turn

In other words, the mystery of lawlessness will have a huge impact on nominal Christians, whose love for Christ is shallow and unreal. They will grow cold. Their resistance to the deception of demons will give way. They will not endure to the end.

This may happen gradually, as the church falls away from preaching the truth, and the people’s love for Christ becomes more and more perfunctory. You see this in churches. It’s tragic to watch. It just becomes perfunctory. They’re just going through the motions. All the former seeming passion and biblical faithfulness for Jesus is gone. Then come the deceitful spirits, and these folks are vulnerable to being swept away into a great deception and the teaching of demons.

“If we remain in the grace of God and treasure Christ above all, we will be kept.”

Or it may happen suddenly. A satanic miracle worker comes to town with a ministry of signs and wonders, like Simon in Acts 8. He takes people by storm because their roots are so shallow. They’re more dazzled by the deceitful miracles than by the beauties of Christ and his salvation and his teaching. Oh, the need for depth and rootedness in the truth in our churches. This is a word for pastors. This is why Paul urges us in Ephesians 6 to “put on the whole armor of God, that [we] may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil” and “keep alert with all perseverance,” praying earnestly to be spared this kind of deception (Ephesians 6:11, 18).

If we remain in the grace of God and treasure Christ above all, we will be kept. That’s 1 Peter 1:5. It’s so precious. I love this promise. I put it on my mother’s gravestone (with my father’s permission), in fact. “Kept by the power of God.” But here’s what the text says: “By God’s power [we] are being guarded [being kept] through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.” That’s our hope. Those whom the Lord calls, the Lord keeps.

http://rss.desiringgod.org/link/10732/15005095/how-to-speak-to-the-spiritually-dead

Audio Transcript

The apostle Paul, writing in 1 Timothy 1:15, declared himself to be the world’s worst sinner. Is that hyperbole? Or is that apostolic self-deprecation? Or is that true? Was Paul really the world’s worst sinner? You want to know. I want to know. A listener named Joel wants to know. So we ask Pastor John.

Joel writes, “Pastor John, hello to you! Paul makes this claim in 1 Timothy 1:15. ‘The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost.’ Foremost? It must be true because this is the authoritative word of God. But is Paul exaggerating his claim here? The context seems to suggest that Paul meant he truly was the worst sinner. He goes on to say in verse 16 that he was saved as an example that if he, the chief of sinners, was saved, then surely others can be saved as well. So was Paul really the world’s worst sinner?”

Paul said,

The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost. But I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life. (1 Timothy 1:15–16)

So the claim really does seem to mean foremost among all sinners, not just a little group, because he is comparing himself with all those whom Christ came to save. He says, “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners,” and among that group, “I am the foremost.” That’s all sinners — at least all at that time.

Foremost Sinner?

The Greek word behind the English word “foremost” is prōtos, which simply means “first.” I’m first. It’s used 155 times in the New Testament, almost always meaning first temporally. Well, Paul doesn’t mean that. He doesn’t mean temporally, as if there were no sinners before him — like, “I’m the first sinner.” He doesn’t mean that. He means first in line, measured on some other scale — not temporally, but some other scale.

So the task is to figure out from the context what scale. How is he the first, the foremost before others? In what way? By what criteria? And Paul gives us three scales, so to speak, in 1 Timothy 1:13: “Formerly I was a [1] blasphemer, [2] persecutor, and [3] insolent opponent.” Let’s just take those one at a time and see how he measures, how he’s thinking about his “firstness.”

Blasphemer

This means he spoke. Blasphemy means something you do with your mouth. He spoke demeaning lies about Jesus, the Son of God. His words directed people away from the truth about Jesus. His words tarred and feathered Jesus with false descriptions. They belittled Jesus and mocked Jesus. His words treated Jesus as a pretender — in effect, a liar.

“The seriousness of the sin rises with the glory and dignity of the person you’re demeaning.”

Paul could not argue with any credibility that Jesus did not exist. Good grief — he lived at the same time. So he had to argue that Jesus put himself forward as something he wasn’t. He was a hoax. And when you treat someone that way, the seriousness of the sin rises with the glory and dignity of the person you’re demeaning. So Paul considered his slanderous language about Jesus as the first thing to be mentioned in his unworthiness. So that’s where he starts.

Persecutor

He went way beyond words. Now these are cumulative; he’s mounting things up here, and I guess the third one’s going to be the climax. But here we are at number two. He’s a persecutor. He went way beyond words. He pursued people to prison. He oversaw the murder of Christians. Here’s the way Luke puts it in Acts 9:1–2:

Saul, still breathing out threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the Way [that’s Christianity], men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.

And what would happen there? Perhaps stoning.

In Galatians 1:13–14, he says,

You have heard of my former life in Judaism, how I persecuted the church of God violently and tried to destroy it. And I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my own age among my people, so extremely zealous was I for the traditions of my fathers.

So when he connects his aim to destroy the church with his advancing beyond any other zealous peers in Judaism, I think he meant, “Nobody went after the church like I did — nobody. My murderous, imprisoning, persecuting efforts to destroy the church were literally unsurpassed.” I think that’s just literally true. I think Paul said that, meant it, and there’s no reason to think it’s not the case.

Insolent Opponent

Now here’s the third one. He calls himself not only a persecutor and a slanderer of Christ, but an “insolent opponent.” Now the word is in Greek hybristēn, and you can hear in English the word “hubris.” We get “hubris” from it — arrogance, haughtiness, pride. I think this is the key to understanding how literally Paul meant it when he said he was the foremost, the first, of sinners. To be a blasphemer or a slanderer, we can measure that by a person’s words. To be a persecutor, we can measure that by a person’s actions. But how do you measure proud insolence — haughty, arrogant insolence? Only God could see this evil perfectly, and only Paul could feel it existentially. And Paul perhaps knew it and felt it more than all the rest of his sins.

On the Damascus road, the words that Jesus used to convict Paul were these:

“Saul, Saul [that was his Hebrew name], why are you persecuting me?” And he said, “Who are you, Lord?” And [Jesus] said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.” (Acts 9:4–5)

This put all of Paul’s blasphemy, all his persecution, all his arrogance in a new light. Now Paul had to measure his blasphemy and persecution and arrogance not by itself, but in relation to the one he was sinning against: the risen, living Son of God. And my guess is that this set Paul to thinking not just about the greatness of Christ as the one he was persecuting, but also about the privileges that he was sinning against.

Depth of Paul’s Sin

Just think of it. I think this is what stirred up the sense of the depth of his arrogance. First, he was sinning against his own destiny, because God had set him apart from his mother’s womb to be an apostle (Galatians 1:15). Second, he was sinning against the greatest Bible knowledge of his time. He was a Hebrew of Hebrews, a Pharisee, he said in Philippians 3:5. That is, he was a great Bible scholar. He was sinning against all that knowledge.

Third, he was sinning against the nearness, the historical nearness of the historical Jesus. Paul was alive when Jesus, the Son of God, was on planet earth. He knew this was not myth. Hundreds of eyewitnesses to the miracles and the words of Jesus existed. Paul was sinning against great evidence. He was sinning against the beautiful love and mercy of martyrs. Paul was there, face to face with Stephen when he was stoned to death. They laid their garments at his feet (Acts 7:58). He heard Stephen say, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. . . . Lord, do not hold this sin against them” (Acts 7:59–60). He saw that beautiful demonstration of Christlike mercy. He was sinning against all that.

“The pride of Paul’s own heart was so terrible in his eyes that he pronounced himself the foremost.”

So when Paul considered all that he was sinning against, and that his blasphemy and his persecution were in the face of all that truth and beauty, the insolence, the arrogance, the pride of his own heart was so terrible in his eyes that he pronounced himself the foremost.

None Beyond His Reach

And if we wonder, “How could he know that no one was worse?” the ultimate answer is, I think, that Jesus revealed this to him. And this seems right, because this very “firstness” in sin was part of the inspired writing with which God intended to encourage others who despaired that they could never be saved because they were that insolent (almost).

So it seems right to say that God would see to it that Paul realized this, felt this about his own arrogant heart. “You, Paul, are the least deserving of my mercy. So I’m going to save you, so that when you write 1 Timothy, no one will ever be able to say, ‘I am too undeserving.’”