Stay Away

And now I make one more appeal, my dear brothers and sisters. Watch out for people who cause divisions and upset people’s faith by teaching things contrary to what you have been taught. Stay away from them. Such people are not serving Christ our Lord; they are serving their own personal interests. By smooth talk and glowing words they deceive innocent people.
-Romans 16:17-18 (New Living Translation)


Paul is giving the church at Rome some last minute instructions, and we’d be good to heed his warning as well. He’s talking about false teachers and people who cause division. Let’s break these verses down.

I've heard many Pastors talking about how when people backslide from God, they try and pull people down with them. How they try and cause division. This was a problem, even in the time of Paul. Paul says in verse 17, “And now I make one more appeal, my dear brothers and sisters. Watch out for people who cause divisions and upset people’s faith by teaching things contrary to what you have been taught. Stay away from them.”  False teachers and false preachers have been a problem since the very beginning. The problem that causes these false teachers is that people try and add to, or take away from, what is found in the Bible. If something in the Bible doesn't suit the person reading it, they take it out, and teach others the same thing.  Paul warns us to stay away from them who teach things that are contrary to the Scriptures. There are many, many false teachings going on around our world today. The only way to keep from falling into these false teachings is to stay in the Word, and know what the Bible says. 

Verse 18 says, “Such people are not serving Christ our Lord; they are serving their own personal interests. By smooth talk and glowing words they deceive innocent people.” Paul says that people who cause divisions and people who teach things that are contrary to what the Bible teach are not serving Jesus. Who or what are they serving? Themselves. Their false teachings sound good because they use smooth talk and glowing words. People are deceived by their words. 


Friends, we must stay away from the false teachers and false preachers of our day. We must stay true to and stay in the Word of God. Think About It.