The Old Testament's position on false prophets:

The Old Testament did not use the term heresy, regarding false teaching that is not in accordance with the will of God. Rather, it strongly condemned what it called false prophecies, as there were two types of false prophets who claimed to speak in the name of God, namely:

1.  False pagan prophets, such as the prophets of Baal and the prophets of Asherah in the days of the prophet Elijah, who ate at the table of the pagan Queen Jezebel, the wife of King Ahab, and misled the people.”
2.  False Hebrew prophets, such as Hananiah ben Azzur, who prophesied falsely in the days of the prophet Jeremiah to please the king and the people. He said to him, “Hear now, Hananiah! The Lord has not sent you, and you have made this people trust in lies. Therefore thus says the Lord: Behold, I will drive you out from the face of the earth. This year you shall die, because you have spoken rebellion against the Lord. So the prophet Hananiah died that year in the seventh month.”

God's strict attitude toward both types of false prophets is summed up clearly in Deuteronomy, among other things:  “But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in my name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that prophet shall die…”

The New Testament's position on false prophets and teachers:

The above word of God in the Old Testament, written in the Book of Deuteronomy (i.e., “But the prophet who will prevail…”) is a direct continuation of a prophecy announced by Moses about a special type of prophet whom God would raise up. Although he was a man among his brothers like himself, he was also a bearer of the voice of the Lord God Himself, concealing His great fire that kills:

“The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers. You shall listen to him, according to all that you asked of the LORD your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly, saying, ‘Let me not hear again the voice of the LORD my God, nor see this great fire any more, lest I die.’ The LORD said to me, ‘They have spoken well. I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers, and I will put my words in his mouth, and he will tell them all that I command him. And it shall come to pass, that whosoever will not hearken unto my words which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him: but the prophet that presumeth…

Therefore, just as God warned in the Old Testament against false prophets, the New Testament prophet, who is the Lord Jesus Himself, also warns against false prophets:

• “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves.”
• “For false Christs and false prophets will arise and show great signs and wonders, so as to deceive, if possible, even the elect.”

He also gives the parable of the tares sown in the middle of the field, to emphasize this fact, that the devil always sows tares (which are the sons of the evil one) in the midst of the good seed that the Son of Man sown in the field, which is the world.

Therefore, when he sent his messengers to preach to all nations and baptize them, he commanded them to teach them to observe all that he commanded them.”

Hence, the apostles were always concerned with emphasizing the preservation of the oral and written deposit that they had received, including the words of the Apostle Paul:

• “Therefore, brothers, stand fast in the traditions (paradosis) which you have been taught, whether by word of mouth or by our epistle.” And “hold fast the form of the ‘sound’ words which you have heard from me in the faith and love which are in Christ Jesus. Guard the good trust which has been entrusted to you through the Holy Spirit who dwells in us.”

Here we draw attention to the fact that the adjective “correct” (uJgiaivnousa), which usually accompanies “speech” and “teaching” in the Apostle Paul, is synonymous with the adjective “correct” and “correct” (ojrqhv), which usually accompanies “opinion,” forming with it a single adjective, “correct opinion” (ojrqovdoxoò). This last adjective, i.e. Orthodox, would be used by the Church Fathers frequently to describe those who adhered to the image of “correct speech” that the Church received from the Apostles, in contrast to the innovators who adopted heresy (aJivresiò), i.e. invented an incorrect opinion that the Church did not receive from the Apostles.

Speaking of heresies and deviations from the apostolic tradition, it is well known to all that the fathers took a firm and steadfast stance against them throughout their ages, which many Christians in our time criticize and even mock for various reasons. Here it must be clarified first that this stance of the fathers was not their own, which they invented, but rather it was the stance of the apostles themselves, which they received from them. And above all, it was the stance of the Lord of all, the incarnate God Jesus.

Here is the Apostle Paul confirming to the members of the churches - according to what he received from the Lord - that there must be heresies among them, and that “savage wolves will come in among them, not sparing the flock,” and even from among the elders of the church itself “men will arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them.” “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own lusts they will heap up for themselves teachers… and they will turn away their ears from the truth, and will be turned aside to myths.”

Indeed, in his days, groups appeared that deviated from the “correct teaching” that the apostles had delivered, such as those who held fast to the Jewish law as a basic condition for salvation, and who were subject to philosophical and pagan influences, such as the Gnostics (gnw`siò) and others. That is why his position was firm and unforgiving towards all of them, while constantly emphasizing adherence to the correct teaching of the apostles and preserving the deposit:

• “Now I urge you, brothers, to mark those who cause divisions and offenses contrary to the doctrine which you learned, and avoid them. For such do not serve our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly, and by good words and flattering speeches they deceive the hearts of the simple.”
• “I marvel that you are so soon turning away from him who called you in the grace of Christ, to another gospel, which is not another; only there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven preach any other gospel to you than what we preached to you, let him be accursed, as we said before. Now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you received, let him be accursed.
• “O Timothy, guard what has been entrusted to you, avoiding profane talk and the contradictions of falsely called ‘knowledge’ (gnw`siò), which some people profess have erred concerning the faith.”
• “The heretical man, after being warned once or twice, I turn away from him, knowing that such a person has deviated and is making mistakes, and is judged by himself.”

Here is the Apostle Peter confirming the fulfillment of the words of Christ the Lord about the appearance of false prophets in the New Testament. Who are these if not false teachers who tell people falsely in the name of the Lord what they want to hear? That is, what agrees with the whims and desires of their listeners, not what agrees with the will of the Lord; just as the false prophets did in the Old Testament. Therefore, they bring upon themselves and upon many who follow them a swift destruction:

• “But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will bring in destructive heresies, and deny the Lord who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction. And many will follow in their destructive ways, because of them the way of truth will be blasphemed.”
• Why do heretics lie in the name of the Lord? The real motive is also their own passions and desires, and so they “turn away from the holy commandment delivered to them” that leads to life, and face inevitable judgment and eternal damnation:
• “And in their greed they will exploit you with deceitful words, whose judgment from of old does not linger, and their destruction does not slumber.”

And here Jude devotes almost the entirety of his only letter to the same subject to which the Apostle Peter devoted the greater part of his second letter, namely, to attacking false prophets who may be the same heretics that the Apostle Peter was referring to. Apparently, these false teachers combined heresy of faith with a call to permit immorality without fear of God’s punishment, and so he warns them, recalling various examples known to the Jews, of an inevitable eternal judgment:

• “For certain men have crept in unawares, who were long ago ordained for this condemnation, ungodly men, who turn the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and deny our only Master and Lord Jesus Christ…”
• The purpose of writing is his concern for the salvation of believers, warning against heresies and reminding them to “build themselves on their most holy faith,” “once delivered to the saints.”

And here is the beloved Apostle John in turn reminding the members of the churches in his first epistle of what they had previously heard from the apostles about the prophecies of Christ concerning false prophets and the Antichrist. He assures them that the hour of fulfillment of these prophecies has begun, because “now many antichrists have come.” He also stressed the need to test the spirits and not believe every spirit, “because many false prophets have gone out into the world.” And certainly these are specifically Christian heretics, because:

• “They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us, but only to show that they are not all of us.” Their basic heresy is that they “do not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh,” and therefore they are not of God.

His strict position towards them appears more clearly in his second letter:

• “For many deceivers have entered into the world who do not confess that Jesus Christ is coming in the flesh. This is the deceiver and the antichrist… Whoever transgresses and does not abide in the doctrine of Christ does not belong to God; but whoever abides in the doctrine of Christ, he has both the Father and the Son. If anyone comes to you and does not bring this doctrine, do not receive him into your house and do not greet him; for whoever greets him shares in his evil deeds.”

Thus it becomes clear to us that the firm position of the Church Fathers throughout the ages regarding heresies is precisely the position of all the apostles without exception, which they undoubtedly received in turn from their Lord and Teacher, who was the first to warn of the danger of the error of those whom he described as false prophets and ravenous wolves:

• “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. By their fruits you will know them. Do people gather grapes from thornbushes and figs from thistles? Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”
• “And many false prophets will arise and deceive many…”

Of course, the position of the One who “heaven and earth will pass away, but His words will never pass away” cannot change with the changing times, because “He is the same yesterday, today, and forever.” The clearest evidence of the unchangeability of His position towards heresies is the fiery letters that He addressed after His ascension to the angels of the seven churches through the vision of John the Theologian. In these letters, in which He asks those to whom He was sent to hold fast to the teaching they have until He comes, He shows His clear resistance and hatred for heresies that attempt to change this teaching, especially those of a permissive nature such as the Nicolaitans. Among these letters is His letter to the angel of the church of Ephesus, in which He rebukes him for abandoning his first love, asking him with a warning to repent, but He then makes amends by showing what intercedes for him:

• “But this you have, that you hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.”
• In contrast to the angel of Ephesus, he takes issue with the angel of the church of Pergamum for being lenient with the Nicolaitans, despite his praise of him in other matters, asking him to repent:
• “So you also have some who hold to the teaching of the Nicolaitans, which I hate. Repent, or else I will come to you quickly and fight against them with the sword of my mouth.”

Like the church in Pergamum, there is praise for the angel of the church in Thyatira. But there is rebuke for the leniency towards the woman Jezebel who taught and falsely claimed to be a prophet:

• “But I have this against you, that you allow the woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, to teach and seduce my servants to commit fornication and to eat things sacrificed to idols… Behold, I will cast her into a bed, and those who commit fornication with her into great tribulation, unless they repent of their deeds. And her children I will kill with death…”

In fact, would it have been possible for that great miracle to have been accomplished, without the faith and life of the Church of Christ changing fundamentally over two thousand years, had it not been for the position of its fathers, who struggled with the help of the Trinity with steadfastness and bitterness even to the point of bloodshed, faithfully preserving what they had received from the apostles and the Lord Jesus. Therefore, their position remained the same against every heresy and deviation “yesterday, today and tomorrow.”

Father George Attia
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