Not Everyone Who Disagrees With You is a Heretic
Editorial by Justin Nash
Heretic. It’s the Evangelical equivalent to racist, bigot, Nazi or fascist. It’s the label we often throw at people who disagree with us so we can put the final termination point on a theological dispute. “You’re a heretic,” we say, drop the microphone and stomp out triumphantly. The problem of course, is that everyone who disagrees with us theologically is not a heretic. But you wouldn’t know that perusing Christian social media feeds or websites. I’ve heard or seen the H-word hurled at Calvinists by Arminians and vice versa. Egalitarians and Complementarians fire the word at each other’s camp on a regular basis. Conditionalists are often on castigated as heretics by those who hold to the traditional view of hell.
What is a Heretic?
Heresy is a real thing that should concern the church greatly, especially pastors and church leaders. Heretics really do exist. But we need to be judicious with our use of the word. Theological precision, love for our neighbor and prudence demand we do so. Literally, heresy means to choose to go your own way. In the context of theology, heresy means to deviate from orthodox teaching in favor of one’s own insights. The early church maintained that heresy meant directly denying the central orthodox beliefs of the church.
First Order Theological Issues
Heresy is any false teaching that undermines, contradicts, denies or corrupts the essential and foundational elements of the Christian faith. For instance, if someone denied the physical resurrection of Jesus from the dead or justification by faith alone, they would believe in a heresy. If they taught it, they would be a heretic. The denial of one of a first-order doctrine is the denial of Christianity itself. To label someone a heretic is to say they are not a Christian.
Second Order Theological Issues
Now there are a number of doctrines that are very important but don’t rise to the level of foundational and essential to the faith. A few examples would be the aforementioned Arminian/Calvinist dispute, the role of women in ministry and the nature of eternal punishment. Though these second-order doctrines can create significant boundaries between believers, the set of second-order doctrines is distinguished from the first-order by the fact that believing Christians may disagree on the second-order issues. To sum it up, if you deny first-order issues you are not a Christian, but faithful Christians can disagree on the second-order issues. We must learn to distinguish between two.
The Problems With Labeling Everyone a Heretic
At least three problems arise when we hurl the heretic label at everyone that disagrees with us. First, if we have a disagreement over second-order doctrines, then we are bearing false witness against our brother or sister. To call someone a heretic is to say that they are not a Christian. We don’t want to speak falsely of others, especially fellow members of the family of God.
Second, throwing around the heretic label violates the golden rule. We wouldn’t want others to paint us uncharitably, even to the point of questioning the genuineness of our faith. Why would we do that to others. Listening for clarity and understanding will go a long way toward this end.
Finally, when we call everyone a heretic, the word will lose its meaning and power. We are called to “contend for the faith once for all delivered to the saints” (Jude 3). False teaching is divisive and corrosive to the church. There are plenty of heretical teachings floating around today. We must be prepared to meet these threats with swiftly and mercilessly. Labeling everyone with whom we disagree a heretic will make it very difficult to identify the actual heretics threatening our churches.
So, don’t call everyone who disagrees with you over a theological issue a heretic. Instead, be more gracious, charitable and respectful. Talk less and listen more. Have hard, yet civil, conversations. That’s not as easy as playing the heretic card, but it will be much more fruitful.
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