Doctrine Must Divide - Romans 16:17-18

    
 I appeal to you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and create obstacles contrary to the doctrine that you have been taught; avoid them. For such persons do not serve our Lord Christ, but their own appetites, and by smooth talk and flattery they deceive the hearts of the naive. - Romans 16:17-18

    Truth, for it to actually be the truth, must divide itself from the lie. Commingling the truth with error will always end up in more error. The chasm between the two should be as apparent as day is to night. The difference between truth and error should not be obscured by clever articulation, emotion, or falsehood of any kind. This is why doctrine must divide. “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already.” - 1 John 4:1-3
    The current state of Christianity in the 21st Century is rife with distortion, leading the faithful into misjudgment and confusion. Every conceivable lie is perpetrated. From the health-wealth gospels to the one-dimensional Jesus who preaches nothing but love for all men, even in their sin. These ever-present heresies ignore the perspicuity and evidence of God’s justice, wrath, and judgment. “Now we know that the law is good, if one uses it lawfully, understanding this, that the law is not laid down for the just but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for those who strike their fathers and mothers, for murderers, the sexually immoral, men who practice homosexuality, enslavers, liars, perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound doctrine . . .” - 1 Timothy 1:8-10. Those who preach a doctrine different from that of the Gospel of Jesus Christ (the Bible) are preaching heresy.
    Holy Scripture has never promised to be comfortable by the world’s standards. Those who promise comfort, health, and prosperity are not preaching from the Word of God! “If anyone teaches a different doctrine and does not agree with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching that accords with godliness, he is puffed up with conceit and understands nothing. He has an unhealthy craving for controversy and for quarrels about words, which produce envy, dissension, slander, evil suspicions, and constant friction among people who are depraved in mind and deprived of the truth, imagining that godliness is a means of gain.” - 1 Timothy 6:3-5. These are the heretics who preach all manner of ungodliness as ‘the truth,’ against the very Word of God. We have long been warned of such people “For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.” - 2 Timothy 4:3-4. And we have been given certain instructions regarding them. “If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house or give him any greeting, for whoever greets him takes part in his wicked works.” - 1 John 10-11.
    There is only one way. As we have been taught, we must be like the faithful Bereans. It is our Christian duty to test the veracity of the Word thru Scripture. “Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so.” - Acts 17:11. The Word of God is our litmus test. No church tradition, no Roman papacy, no Apocryphal writing, and no ‘emotional experience’ can or will ever replace the holy doctrines found within God’s revealed Word.
 “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.” - 2 Timothy 3:16-17. Holy Scripture must be the division of God’s true Word from all others so that we may be complete and equipped for every good work.