Who concerning the truth have erred, saying that the resurrection is past already; and overthrow the faith of some.
Paul names Hymenaeus and Philetus as men who departed from the truth. Their departure lay in saying that the resurrection, the resurrection of the dead and specifically of the righteous dead, is past already and has already taken place. To make that claim is to err concerning the truth, not to present a true spiritual insight. Such teaching turns people from the truth and overthrows the faith of some.
Their word eats and spreads like a canker. It is exposed as false theories, foolish heresies, and strange speculative theories invented by human imagination and presented as truth. It is empty fables and doctrine of error described as the wine of Babylon, offering nothing sure or substantial, in contrast to the sure Word of God, the most wonderful truths, and the cup full of the preciousness of God which is the Holy Spirit. Errors of this kind can recur dressed up as new and wonderful ideas.
After the disappointment of 1844 this error appeared and reappeared in the same character, declaring that the dead had risen and that living believers were already perfected and ready for translation, with body, soul, and spirit holy and flesh purified so that it could not sin, repeated again and again. In that history the error was urged with excitement, noise, confusion, visions, falling to the floor, jumping, dancing, and shouting, confusing minds. It ensnared even excellent honest people in Satan's trap, became a reproach to the cause of God, and pressed minds beyond measure so that some in no way responsible for it lost their reason and became insane. The truth is that the saints receive immortal, incorruptible bodies at Christ's coming, not before.
Protection requires keeping teachers and students to a pure study and pure line of God's Word and away from vain, misleading ideas. Books that intermingle some truth with vain babblings must not be placed in students' hands, because such seed sown in the human heart will spring to life in time of temptation and lead minds away from God and truth into ungodliness. Souls are worth saving from this error by knowing the spirit of conversion, having the mind in captivity to the will of Christ and bringing thoughts into captivity to heaven, beholding Christ to be changed from glory to glory and from character to character under the controlling power of God, standing to the front rooted in truth, speaking the words God gives, and falling upon the Rock and being broken to feel the power of Christ. The error must be met with rebuke in the name of the Lord, and those caught in it can be brought to their right mind to see their delusion and repent sorely and afterward become reliable workers, while others walk ever after in sadness feeling unworthy to work.
Paul names Hymenaeus and Philetus as men who departed from the truth. Their departure lay in saying that the resurrection, the resurrection of the dead and specifically of the righteous dead, is past already and has already taken place. To make that claim is to err concerning the truth, not to present a true spiritual insight. Such teaching turns people from the truth and overthrows the faith of some.
Their word eats and spreads like a canker. It is exposed as false theories, foolish heresies, and strange speculative theories invented by human imagination and presented as truth. It is empty fables and doctrine of error described as the wine of Babylon, offering nothing sure or substantial, in contrast to the sure Word of God, the most wonderful truths, and the cup full of the preciousness of God which is the Holy Spirit. Errors of this kind can recur dressed up as new and wonderful ideas.
After the disappointment of 1844 this error appeared and reappeared in the same character, declaring that the dead had risen and that living believers were already perfected and ready for translation, with body, soul, and spirit holy and flesh purified so that it could not sin, repeated again and again. In that history the error was urged with excitement, noise, confusion, visions, falling to the floor, jumping, dancing, and shouting, confusing minds. It ensnared even excellent honest people in Satan's trap, became a reproach to the cause of God, and pressed minds beyond measure so that some in no way responsible for it lost their reason and became insane. The truth is that the saints receive immortal, incorruptible bodies at Christ's coming, not before.
Protection requires keeping teachers and students to a pure study and pure line of God's Word and away from vain, misleading ideas. Books that intermingle some truth with vain babblings must not be placed in students' hands, because such seed sown in the human heart will spring to life in time of temptation and lead minds away from God and truth into ungodliness. Souls are worth saving from this error by knowing the spirit of conversion, having the mind in captivity to the will of Christ and bringing thoughts into captivity to heaven, beholding Christ to be changed from glory to glory and from character to character under the controlling power of God, standing to the front rooted in truth, speaking the words God gives, and falling upon the Rock and being broken to feel the power of Christ. The error must be met with rebuke in the name of the Lord, and those caught in it can be brought to their right mind to see their delusion and repent sorely and afterward become reliable workers, while others walk ever after in sadness feeling unworthy to work.