LIBERTY UNIVERSITY JOHN W. RAWLINGS SCHOOL OF DIVINITY
7 Traits of False Teachers
CLED 700
A Paper Submitted to
the Faculty of the School of Divinity
in Candidacy for the Degree of
Doctor of Ministry Department of Christian Leadership and Church Ministries
By
Henry Edwin Shikuku
Lynchburg, Virginia
10/2022
7 Traits of False Teachers
There were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers
among you.” (2 Peter 2:1)
There are no “ifs, ands, or buts” in Peter’s words. It’s a clear and definite statement.
There were false prophets among the people (of Israel in the Old Testament). That’s a matter of
history. False prophets were a constant problem in the Old Testament, and those who falsely
claimed to be prophets of God were to be stoned. The people rarely had the will to deal with
them, so they multiplied, causing disaster to the spiritual life of God’s people.
In the same way Peter says, “There will be false teachers among you.” Notice the words
“among you.” Peter is writing to the church and says, “There will be false prophets among you.”
So he is not talking about New Age people on television. He is talking about people in the local
church, members of a local congregation.
There is no such thing as a pure church this side of heaven. You will never find it. The wheat
and the tares grow together. Warren Wiersbe writes:
Satan is the counterfeiter. . . . He has a false gospel (Galatians 1:6-9), preached by false
ministers (2 Corinthians 11:13-12), producing false Christians (2 Corinthians 11:26). . . . Satan
plants his counterfeits wherever God plants true believers (Matthew 13:38).
Authentic or Counterfeit?
How would you recognize counterfeit Christianity?
In 2 Peter 1 we read about genuine believers. And in 2 Peter 2 we read about counterfeit
believers. If you put these chapters side by side you will see the difference between authentic
and counterfeit believers.
1. Different Source—Where does the message come from?
Peter says, “We did not follow cleverly invented stories when we told you about the power
and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ” (1:16). And then he says the false teachers exploit you
“with stories they have made up” (2:3). So the true teacher sources what he says from the
Bible. The false teacher relies on his own creativity. He makes up his own message.
2. Different Message—What is the substance of the message?
For the true teacher, Jesus Christ is central. “We have everything we need for life and
godliness in Him” (1:3). For the false teacher, Jesus is at the margins: “They will secretly
introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them” (2:1).
Notice the word secretly. It’s rare for someone in church to openly deny Jesus. Movement
away from the centrality of Christ is subtle. The false teacher will speak about how other people
can help change your life, but if you listen carefully to what he is saying, you will see that Jesus
Christ is not essential to his message.
3. Different Position—In what position will the message leave you?
The true Christian “escapes the corruption in the world caused by evil desires” (1:4). Listen
to how Peter describes the counterfeit Christian: “They promise . . . freedom, while they
themselves are slaves of depravity, for a man is a slave to whatever has mastered him” (2:19).
The true believer is escaping corruption, while the counterfeit believer is mastered by it.
4. Different Character—What kind of people does the message produce?
The true believer pursues goodness, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness,
brother kindness, and love (1:5). The counterfeit Christian is marked by arrogance and slander
(2:10). They are “experts in greed” and “their eyes are full of adultery” (2:14). They also
“despise authority” (2:10). This is a general characteristic of a counterfeit believer.
5. Different Appeal—Why should you listen to the message?
The true teacher appeals to Scripture. “We have the word of the prophets made more
certain and you will do well to pay attention to it” (1:19). God has spoken, and the true teacher
appeals to his Word. The false teacher makes a rather different appeal: “By appealing to the
lustful desires of sinful human nature, they entice people who are just escaping from those who
live in error” (2:18). So the true teacher asks, “What has God said in his Word?” The false
teacher asks, “What do people want to hear? What will appeal to their flesh?”
6. Different Fruit—What result does the message have in people’s lives?
The true believer is effective and productive in his or her knowledge of Jesus Christ (1:8).
The counterfeit is “like a spring without water” (2:17). This is an extraordinary picture! They
promise much but produce little.
7. Different End—Where does the message ultimately lead you?
Here we find the most disturbing contrast of all. The true believer will receive “a rich
welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ” (1:11). The false believer will
experience “swift destruction” (2:1). “Their condemnation has long been hanging over them
and their destruction has not been sleeping” (2:3).
Jesus tells us that there will be many who have been involved in ministry in his name, to
whom he will say, “Depart from me; I never knew you” (Matthew 7:21). Who are these people?
Surely Peter is describing them in this passage.
Don’t Be Naïve
We must not be ignorant: “There will be false teachers among you” (2:1). So how do we
apply this warning?
First, Peter’s plain statement reminds us that the church needs to be protected. Among the
many wonderful people who come to through the doors of the church each year, some would
do more harm than good.
They may seem the nicest of people, but they do not believe in the authority of the Bible or
the exclusivity of salvation in Christ. We welcome such people, because they need Christ as
much as we do, but we must not allow them to have influence in the church.
Second, skeptics will always be able to point to hypocrisy and inconsistency in the church.
They’ve always done it, and they always will. One of the strangest reasons for not following
Christ goes like this: “I’ve seen people in the church who are hypocrites.” So you will not follow
Christ because some people who claim to do so are hypocrites?
