A Wolf Dressed in a Sheepskin on a HillsideBible World
7:15Matthew 7:15
Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.
Beware means to stay on guard against teachers who come outwardly gentle, faithful and sheep-like as if belonging to the flock, yet inwardly are predatory, destructive and ravening wolves seeking to mislead, harm and devour. No one need remain uncertain, for they are to be known by their fruits, since a good tree brings forth good fruit and a corrupt tree evil fruit, and men do not gather grapes of thorns or figs of thistles. By fruits is meant the character, conduct, lifework, teaching, principles and influence a person produces, judged by agreement with God's word, the law and the testimony in both speaking truth and living it. The warning belongs to the whole gospel age but presses with increasing force at the close of earth's history and in the last days, when deception of every kind is at hand and teachers claiming truth multiply with error and heresy on every hand. Safety comes by studying Matthew 7 word by word for one's own heart rather than to fault others, searching the Scriptures for oneself, walking in the light received, and praying humbly with experienced students to learn whether a teaching is the Lord's way or a false path.
Language and Setting
Beware means to stay on guard against false prophets who come outwardly harmless, gentle, faithful and sheep-like, appearing to belong to the flock, but who inwardly are dangerous, destructive, predatory and ravening wolves seeking to harm, mislead and devour. They pretend to be Christians while concealing an inward purpose to destroy, and safety lies in placing the feet in Christ's footsteps through faithfulness and obedience rather than listening to personal ideas, plans and suggestions of the mind. Their true character is exposed by what they produce in the same way a tree is known by whether it bears good or evil fruit, and they are numerous.
The warning belongs to the Sermon on the Mount, given especially to the disciples while the assembled multitude also heard it. Its truths were spoken plainly so that even the poor and unlearned could understand them as a sure foundation for faith and practice, while Satan and his angels were present seeking to counteract the Teacher's influence. Its teaching shows that God's holy law reaches beyond outward conduct to the principles of the heart, for the state of the heart regulates life and character, so teaching the law's claims must impress its spirit and far-reaching principles. That pure gospel explains God's holy law as requiring love for God and neighbor, a standard that exposes business conduct unjustly taking another's means as failing Christian character.
The warning applies throughout the gospel age for distinguishing true prophets from false ones by their fruits, meaning moral character judged by agreement with God's word in both speech and life. It applies with increasing force in the last days and at the close of earth's history when everything is in confusion, the time of deception of every kind is at hand, and teachers claiming truth multiply with error and heresy on every hand and will be seen more and more as the end draws near. Then false messages not from God lead into error, fair words cover inward selfishness watching to get gain while working at cross purposes with God and misappropriating His goods, and divided lives professing to serve the Lord scheme their own plans that hold back Christ's work while Satan quietly confuses minds that know the truth by misleading sentiments. True prophets faithfully reprove sin and warn of coming judgment, while saying Lord, Lord, prophesying, casting out devils and doing wonderful works in Christ's name does not save, for only doing the will of the Father enters the kingdom and workers of iniquity will finally be disowned as those He never knew, and claiming righteousness without the fruit of true conversion and inward cleansing is worthless. Safety is not taking their word or following feeling but searching the Scriptures for oneself, learning their contents and holding to the plain declaration of the Word.
The Sermon on the Mount teaches that failing to walk in the light God has given separates people from Him, with darkness coming in proportion to the light allowed to shine on the path. Obeying God's plainly revealed will would have displayed a godly character to the world.
Known by Fruits
No one need remain in uncertainty, for the verse gives a test all may apply that supplies sufficient evidence for intelligent faith: they shall be known by their fruits. Men do not gather grapes of thorns or figs of thistles, every good tree brings forth good fruit and a corrupt tree evil fruit, neither can do the opposite, and every tree that brings not forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire. Yet God never removes all occasion for doubt, so those who love doubt and turn from the weight of evidence over a few things unclear to finite understanding are left in unbelief and skepticism and make shipwreck of faith.
Fruits mean the character, conduct, lifework, principles, teaching, results and influence a person produces. Good conduct comes from a good heart and evil conduct exposes a corrupt heart, and since people cannot reliably read hearts or separate those who only appear faithful, character is known by what it produces in the same way a tree is known by its fruit. Words and works testify on which side a person stands, and the principles guiding life and work reveal the difference between genuine belief and unbelief. A deceitful source cannot produce unadulterated truth and sanctifying power, while the character and results of work show whether it is good or evil.
Outward profession, fair speeches, exalted professions, and impressive religious works do not prove belonging to Christ. Prophesying, casting out devils, doing wonderful works in Christ's name, and even baptism cannot establish that one speaks for God or will enter the kingdom when the life clings to old habits and worldly ways. Only doing the will of the Father and hearing Christ's words in obedience enters the kingdom, while those who practice iniquity are rejected as those He never knew. True readiness is shown by good works and a life changed to reflect Christ, with conduct and spirit at home as well as abroad revealing Christ.
The law of God is the standard for judging whether fruits are good: true prophets both speak in agreement with God's word, the law and the testimony, and live according to it. They faithfully reprove sin and warn of coming judgment, even when their testimony brings anger from self-righteous people who have been deceived. False claims are without foundation when men do not feel the weight of the moral law, make light of God's precepts, break one of the least of His commandments and teach men so, or reject the moral law for a human standard. Professing sanctification, being wholly led by the Spirit, and claiming great light do not make claims trustworthy without being sanctified through the truth and keeping the commandments broad enough to reach even the thoughts.
Evil fruit is seen in selfishness, greed, pride, love of pleasure over love of God, and a form of godliness denying its power. It appears in speaking fair words while full of selfishness and always watching to get gain, misappropriating God's goods and working at cross purposes with Him, so that claiming righteousness without true conversion and inward cleansing is worthless. Sharp and unfair dealings reveal selfishness and greed beneath respectable appearance, bringing Satan's principles into sacred work, damaging fellowship and love, and wounding rather than nourishing others. Dwelling on and speaking accusations against neighbors unsettles trust between fellow believers and tears character apart, marking corrupt character rather than Christian fruit. Secretive self-seeking actions shown in flattery, misconstruing, prevarication, disrespect for appointed agencies, refusal to counsel, grasping to be first, and pressing independent divisive plans injure God's cause.
Marks of False Teaching
The warning exposes teachers who present themselves as faithful shepherds while declaring that the Ten Commandments ended at Christ's death, that God has told them obedience is no longer required, or that the commandments were abolished. Such claims are deceptive and must not be accepted, for God does not contradict Himself or lie. Their message is known by whether it leads to reverence and fear of God and to love shown by loyalty to His commandments, and if men do not feel the weight of the moral law, make light of His precepts, break one of the least of His commandments and teach men so, they shall be of no esteem in heaven and their claims are without foundation.
It warns against advocates of false theories and against accepting new and startling ideas from desire to be original, which must be heeded rather than passed by with carelessness because accepting falsehood leads on into ruinous practices. In investigating doctrines the work is to know what is truth and to shun falsehood and error, and no man's word is to be taken as the voice of God merely because the man is loved and was believed to have been led by God in the past. It also exposes teaching human maxims and traditions for the commandments of God without any Thus saith the Lord for authority. Safety under the warning comes by going to the Word of God in a teachable, humble spirit, seeking the help of those of experience and diligent Bible students, and praying to know whether a teaching is the way of the Lord or a false path where Satan would lead, for those who do this receive light and escape out of the net of the fowler.
False prophets are those who have departed from the faith by giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils, seducing others through falsehood and misrepresentation. They appear harmless and godly while inwardly acting like ravening wolves, tearing down what God through His agencies is seeking to build up and leading people astray and away from the narrow path and the strait gate. They spread pleasing fables, falsehood, and error to oppose God's truth. Those unwilling to know the truth greedily listen to their pleasing fables, rejoice in iniquity, receive their wicked opposition into their own hearts, and are led into wicked opposition against God's commandment-keeping people with scandal, reproach, falsehood, false witnesses, hired spies, watching and distorting every word and action, and demanding signs, acting with the same spirit the Jews showed when they refused the truths Christ unfolded from Old Testament prophecy and rejected Him despite His miracles, bringing eternal infamy on themselves. They are doing the very work that originated with the prince of darkness, the enemy of God.
The warning applies to infidels and rationalists who demand a miracle before they will believe while refusing the Word of God and treating the miracles of Christ as idle tales. They come in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravening wolves because they have rejected great light and the record of past workings of power, have closed their eyes and senses, have encased themselves in the science of Satan's workings, and cherish scientific delusions. No further evidence will be given them, and Christ's word concerning them is to let them alone, while the warning to beware of them and to know them by their fruits is to be set directly before them.
It exposes multiplied declarations about where Christ is, claims to have great light, claims that prophetic gifts are widely given that may instead foster spurious spiritual exercises, fanaticism, selfish schemes or humiliating acts, and claims of visions the Lord has not sent. Outward appearance is not a safe guide, for false prophets may look harmless, gentle, faithful and godly outwardly while being destructive and devouring within, and their true character is shown by their fruits. Such claims of prophecy can lead people into fanaticism and give self-seeking people an opening to exploit excitement, and claims of visions that urge fanatic or humiliating acts are not to be heeded when the Lord has not sent those who make them. New notions and claims to great light should be received carefully and tested with a humble spirit, prayer, and joint examination of the Scriptures with spiritual people, and not followed by feeling, and lack of quick confidence from experienced leaders is not surprising. Against them believers are to press together, for in unity is strength, showing brotherly love, pity, courtesy and compassion, holding that God has a church that will not be overcome or overthrown and that true messengers sent by the Lord bear divine credentials, remaining with God's church which the gates of hell cannot overcome, discerning true messengers by coming to the light, and walking in the light they have lest darkness come upon them.
It warns against religious leaders who profess to know and worship the true and living God while wholly misrepresenting Him. They have the Scriptures yet wrest them to evade their truths, and having so long presented human ideas they make God look like a stern judge incapable of compassion, mercy, and love. Christ's sermon on the mount is in every way opposed to their theories and practice and contradicts the doctrines of the self-righteous scribes and Pharisees, sweeping away misrepresentations to restore confidence in the love of God and reveal Him in paternal love as Our Father by a new and living way. False prophets can appear to be friends of truth while being its enemies, and may use true teachings to stir up strife and confusion in the church, making them especially dangerous to the cause of truth.
Wolves Identified in History
The scribes and Pharisees are wolves, claiming to be disciples of Moses and expositors of Scripture while seeking to scatter the sheep and covering Christ's work with unbelief, contempt and derision. They cast the healed blind man out of the synagogue for bearing living witness to Christ's power, ready to cast out of the fold and devour one entitled to the Lord's pasture, while Jesus as the True Shepherd sought the cast-out sheep and gave him a place within the fold. The same image applies to leaders and teachers who should have worked faithfully in God's vineyard but acted unjustly and pursued their own gain, whose religious privileges and claims of dependence on God stood against their departure from His word and evil conduct. Some who had promised obedience became like wolves, while others repented and entered God's service.
The Roman Church is such a wolf, presenting a fair front and wearing Christlike garments while concealing the same cruel and despotic principles held in the past. Its outward appearance has changed and apologies have been offered, but its doctrines, pride, cruelty and despotic principles remain unchanged. A pope claiming spiritual authority was charged with acting as a tyrant rather than caring for the church, appearing as a shepherd while inwardly acting as a predator.
People newly convicted and truly converted by gospel preaching are sheep in danger from ravening wolves and false destructive influences that would harm or scatter them if left unguarded. Safety requires gathering and organizing converts under pastoral care and watchful oversight, as Wesley did in organizing his converts in the Methodist Connection even without intending to form a new denomination. Converts not followed up with personal labor will be devoured by wolves in sheep's clothing, so they must be edified and perfected by full instruction as to what the truth is and carried forward from point to point in the knowledge of Jesus Christ, or their piety degenerates into a form and they become spiritually dead when the stirring appeals are no longer heard. God's people left without labor are scattered sheep who are torn by wolves and starve without spiritual food even while clinging to the truth, making faithful testimony urgently needed to feed them through continual prayer, watching unto prayer, correctly representing the holy faith in every word and action, and being so connected with God that light shines in words, spirit and deportment.
Those who should shepherd God's people can become wolves in disguise, harming and destroying the flock and devouring the sheep of the Lord's pasture. All along in the history of the third angel's message there have been men among believers who do much harm to God's cause as wolves among sheep, ready to bite and devour, delighting to bear false witness and cruelly injure the reputation of others. When God judges the world the wheat and tares will be separated and it will be clearly revealed that those who sought to destroy the reputation of God's servants are hypocrites, with testimony from their own lips clearing from suspicion those against whom they reported evil. Even among God's own people hirelings will come as wolves in sheep's clothing to persuade the flock to sacrifice to other gods, corrupting and drawing away youth not established, rooted and grounded in the truth as blind leaders of the blind, despising the sovereignty of the Ancient of Days and putting on the throne a false god of their own defining as agents in Satan's hands corrupting the faith of the unwary. Men seeking the ministry whose selfishness, deception and other serious sins had become ordinary to them with seared consciences are wolves among sheep, for outward religious position does not make them safe shepherds. Men professing to be chosen servants of the Lord while deceiving God's people act under satanic influence, with pious appearance concealing dark designs and evil deeds that the Lord will expose. Those engaged in medical missionary work, especially physicians and managers in sanitariums, are accountable to lead those connected with them in the way of truth and purity by daily putting on Christ to be clothed with the robe of His righteousness, for God is not pleased with superficiality and cheap pretense of serving Him and calls for cleansing, purification, greater sanctification to a far higher standard, with plans and manner of working entirely changed.
A minister who uses the confidence people place in his apparent piety to entice them into lustful practices is a wolf in sheep's clothing, making evil seem harmless, tempting under excuses, and leading into a snare that costs conscience, peace of mind and God's favor. Such ministers pretend to be pure in heart and life, wise shepherds entrusted with the gospel to win souls, while inwardly carnal-minded workers of iniquity given to debasing licentious practices. They gain sympathy and faith as holy men of God and then blindly lead unwary souls into licentiousness, causing transgression of the law of God and the seventh commandment by the devil's sophistry that impure union is spiritual harmony and indulgence shared with the holy is not sin, with even approaching a suggestion of impurity to a woman marking a base deceiver. A minister outwardly preaching solemn truth while corrupting others through deliberate sexually immoral conduct and deceptive reasoning tears and devours God's flock. Men who lure young women into vice hide predatory intentions beneath outwardly harmless appearance, and one who exploited girls while presenting himself as treating them hides a predatory nature beneath an appearance of care. A religious minister whose conduct is predatory and corrupt conceals lustful, harmful character beneath outward role. By misinterpreting right they break down the moral standard, lessen the sense of sin, sanctify sin so it is never again regarded in the loathsome light in which God looks upon it, perverting judgment so victims look upon sin as righteousness and righteousness as sin, ruining bodies and souls and leaving them almost impossible to recover pure thoughts, clear conception of God's requirements, and discernment between purity and corruption. They are more guilty before God than the common sinner because their profession is higher, and in the day of God when heaven's great ledger is opened they will feel condemnation and retributive justice and reap a sure crop of licentiousness as sown, confronted by the ruined souls they led astray.
Harboring jealousy and evil surmising and destroying confidence in fellow workers while magnifying self makes one an enemy in sheep's clothing, contrary to seeking to advance God's work and save perishing souls. Each one must instead seek the Lord, remember he has a soul to save, and persevere to make thorough work for eternity. False prophets may appear trustworthy while concealing harmful purposes, and people influenced by deceptive teaching may denounce a genuine messenger as false and distort the message so that God's truth is represented as a lie.
Guarding Against Deception
Matthew 7, including this warning with verses 12-20, is to be studied every word as for life. Ministers and members are to study it most critically again and again for their own enlightenment and individual benefit, not to prove supposed faults they discern in others. The defects of those absorbed with the faults of others are very serious, and unless decidedly converted many who think they are lights will prove stumbling blocks. The study compares words, spirit and actions with God's great moral looking glass, the law, and must produce first a work in the heart and then a work out of the common course of nominal churches to reach lost souls. Heard and done, doing the will of the Father in heaven, it builds upon the rock and enters the kingdom of heaven.
Safety lies in staying on guard, placing the feet in Christ's footsteps and turning them into the narrow way cast up for the ransomed, gaining a better knowledge of Christ and walking in light received. Danger is met by faithfulness and obedience rather than by listening to personal ideas, plans and suggestions of the mind. Believers must search the Scriptures for themselves and hold to the plain Word, going to God in teachable humble prayer with experienced diligent students to learn whether a teaching is the Lord's way or Satan's false path, and thereby receive light and escape the net, for God would have no one deceived. Obedience to the word of the Lord and response to the leadings of the Holy Spirit is required, for there is a right side and a wrong side, and words and works testify on which side a person stands.
In investigating doctrines the work is to know what is truth and to shun falsehood and error, heeding the warning rather than passing it by with carelessness or accepting new ideas from desire to be original, since accepting falsehood leads on into ruinous practices. No man's word is to be taken as the voice of God merely because the man is loved and was believed to have been led by God in the past. Those who claim to be wholly led by the Spirit and to have great light while setting aside the law of God and Scripture and not being sanctified through the truth are to be tested and not followed by feeling, with fruits and speech according to the law and the testimony as the test. Keeping that test makes it possible to discern between light and darkness and to bring the Sermon on the Mount into everyday life, since the commandments are broad enough to reach even the thoughts.
The danger must be met by people of clear understanding who know Scripture well, guarding against placing too much confidence and trust in those who may betray their interests. False prophets bring heresies that may deceive even the elect, so the church must learn to distinguish them from genuine teachers and to recognize the true Shepherd's voice rather than follow a stranger. Against multiplied declarations about where Christ is and multiplied claims to great light, especially from those whose work is to accuse and tear down, believers are to press together, for in unity is strength. They show brotherly love, pity and courtesy, remain with God's church which will not be overcome, discern true messengers by divine credentials, and come to the light. Such claims should be received carefully and tested with a humble spirit, prayer and joint examination of the Scriptures with spiritual people, walking in the light possessed lest darkness come, with lack of quick confidence from experienced leaders no cause for surprise.
The warning applies to churches today and at the close of earth's history when everything is in confusion. Satan works quietly to confuse minds that know the truth by misleading sentiments, especially through those living divided lives who profess to serve the Lord while scheming to carry out their own plans that hold back the work Christ gave His life to accomplish. It reaches many who desire to be first and to rule, who need deeper consecration and must make diligent work for their own salvation to be prepared to enter the holy city. Many will be deceived by the enemy while thinking they are doing the Lord's work, because they refuse to obey His commandments and refuse to be corrected, with Satan's angels leading them on in deception until forever lost unless they repent and are converted. Saying Lord, Lord, prophesying, casting out devils and doing wonderful works in Christ's name does not save; only doing the will of the Father enters the kingdom, and workers of iniquity will finally be disowned as those He never knew, with fruitless trees cut down and burned.
Beware means to stay on guard against teachers who come outwardly gentle, faithful and sheep-like as if belonging to the flock, yet inwardly are predatory, destructive and ravening wolves seeking to mislead, harm and devour. No one need remain uncertain, for they are to be known by their fruits, since a good tree brings forth good fruit and a corrupt tree evil fruit, and men do not gather grapes of thorns or figs of thistles. By fruits is meant the character, conduct, lifework, teaching, principles and influence a person produces, judged by agreement with God's word, the law and the testimony in both speaking truth and living it. The warning belongs to the whole gospel age but presses with increasing force at the close of earth's history and in the last days, when deception of every kind is at hand and teachers claiming truth multiply with error and heresy on every hand. Safety comes by studying Matthew 7 word by word for one's own heart rather than to fault others, searching the Scriptures for oneself, walking in the light received, and praying humbly with experienced students to learn whether a teaching is the Lord's way or a false path.
Language and Setting
Beware means to stay on guard against false prophets who come outwardly harmless, gentle, faithful and sheep-like, appearing to belong to the flock, but who inwardly are dangerous, destructive, predatory and ravening wolves seeking to harm, mislead and devour. They pretend to be Christians while concealing an inward purpose to destroy, and safety lies in placing the feet in Christ's footsteps through faithfulness and obedience rather than listening to personal ideas, plans and suggestions of the mind. Their true character is exposed by what they produce in the same way a tree is known by whether it bears good or evil fruit, and they are numerous.
The warning belongs to the Sermon on the Mount, given especially to the disciples while the assembled multitude also heard it. Its truths were spoken plainly so that even the poor and unlearned could understand them as a sure foundation for faith and practice, while Satan and his angels were present seeking to counteract the Teacher's influence. Its teaching shows that God's holy law reaches beyond outward conduct to the principles of the heart, for the state of the heart regulates life and character, so teaching the law's claims must impress its spirit and far-reaching principles. That pure gospel explains God's holy law as requiring love for God and neighbor, a standard that exposes business conduct unjustly taking another's means as failing Christian character.
The warning applies throughout the gospel age for distinguishing true prophets from false ones by their fruits, meaning moral character judged by agreement with God's word in both speech and life. It applies with increasing force in the last days and at the close of earth's history when everything is in confusion, the time of deception of every kind is at hand, and teachers claiming truth multiply with error and heresy on every hand and will be seen more and more as the end draws near. Then false messages not from God lead into error, fair words cover inward selfishness watching to get gain while working at cross purposes with God and misappropriating His goods, and divided lives professing to serve the Lord scheme their own plans that hold back Christ's work while Satan quietly confuses minds that know the truth by misleading sentiments. True prophets faithfully reprove sin and warn of coming judgment, while saying Lord, Lord, prophesying, casting out devils and doing wonderful works in Christ's name does not save, for only doing the will of the Father enters the kingdom and workers of iniquity will finally be disowned as those He never knew, and claiming righteousness without the fruit of true conversion and inward cleansing is worthless. Safety is not taking their word or following feeling but searching the Scriptures for oneself, learning their contents and holding to the plain declaration of the Word.
The Sermon on the Mount teaches that failing to walk in the light God has given separates people from Him, with darkness coming in proportion to the light allowed to shine on the path. Obeying God's plainly revealed will would have displayed a godly character to the world.
Known by Fruits
No one need remain in uncertainty, for the verse gives a test all may apply that supplies sufficient evidence for intelligent faith: they shall be known by their fruits. Men do not gather grapes of thorns or figs of thistles, every good tree brings forth good fruit and a corrupt tree evil fruit, neither can do the opposite, and every tree that brings not forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire. Yet God never removes all occasion for doubt, so those who love doubt and turn from the weight of evidence over a few things unclear to finite understanding are left in unbelief and skepticism and make shipwreck of faith.
Fruits mean the character, conduct, lifework, principles, teaching, results and influence a person produces. Good conduct comes from a good heart and evil conduct exposes a corrupt heart, and since people cannot reliably read hearts or separate those who only appear faithful, character is known by what it produces in the same way a tree is known by its fruit. Words and works testify on which side a person stands, and the principles guiding life and work reveal the difference between genuine belief and unbelief. A deceitful source cannot produce unadulterated truth and sanctifying power, while the character and results of work show whether it is good or evil.
Outward profession, fair speeches, exalted professions, and impressive religious works do not prove belonging to Christ. Prophesying, casting out devils, doing wonderful works in Christ's name, and even baptism cannot establish that one speaks for God or will enter the kingdom when the life clings to old habits and worldly ways. Only doing the will of the Father and hearing Christ's words in obedience enters the kingdom, while those who practice iniquity are rejected as those He never knew. True readiness is shown by good works and a life changed to reflect Christ, with conduct and spirit at home as well as abroad revealing Christ.
The law of God is the standard for judging whether fruits are good: true prophets both speak in agreement with God's word, the law and the testimony, and live according to it. They faithfully reprove sin and warn of coming judgment, even when their testimony brings anger from self-righteous people who have been deceived. False claims are without foundation when men do not feel the weight of the moral law, make light of God's precepts, break one of the least of His commandments and teach men so, or reject the moral law for a human standard. Professing sanctification, being wholly led by the Spirit, and claiming great light do not make claims trustworthy without being sanctified through the truth and keeping the commandments broad enough to reach even the thoughts.
Evil fruit is seen in selfishness, greed, pride, love of pleasure over love of God, and a form of godliness denying its power. It appears in speaking fair words while full of selfishness and always watching to get gain, misappropriating God's goods and working at cross purposes with Him, so that claiming righteousness without true conversion and inward cleansing is worthless. Sharp and unfair dealings reveal selfishness and greed beneath respectable appearance, bringing Satan's principles into sacred work, damaging fellowship and love, and wounding rather than nourishing others. Dwelling on and speaking accusations against neighbors unsettles trust between fellow believers and tears character apart, marking corrupt character rather than Christian fruit. Secretive self-seeking actions shown in flattery, misconstruing, prevarication, disrespect for appointed agencies, refusal to counsel, grasping to be first, and pressing independent divisive plans injure God's cause.
Marks of False Teaching
The warning exposes teachers who present themselves as faithful shepherds while declaring that the Ten Commandments ended at Christ's death, that God has told them obedience is no longer required, or that the commandments were abolished. Such claims are deceptive and must not be accepted, for God does not contradict Himself or lie. Their message is known by whether it leads to reverence and fear of God and to love shown by loyalty to His commandments, and if men do not feel the weight of the moral law, make light of His precepts, break one of the least of His commandments and teach men so, they shall be of no esteem in heaven and their claims are without foundation.
It warns against advocates of false theories and against accepting new and startling ideas from desire to be original, which must be heeded rather than passed by with carelessness because accepting falsehood leads on into ruinous practices. In investigating doctrines the work is to know what is truth and to shun falsehood and error, and no man's word is to be taken as the voice of God merely because the man is loved and was believed to have been led by God in the past. It also exposes teaching human maxims and traditions for the commandments of God without any Thus saith the Lord for authority. Safety under the warning comes by going to the Word of God in a teachable, humble spirit, seeking the help of those of experience and diligent Bible students, and praying to know whether a teaching is the way of the Lord or a false path where Satan would lead, for those who do this receive light and escape out of the net of the fowler.
False prophets are those who have departed from the faith by giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils, seducing others through falsehood and misrepresentation. They appear harmless and godly while inwardly acting like ravening wolves, tearing down what God through His agencies is seeking to build up and leading people astray and away from the narrow path and the strait gate. They spread pleasing fables, falsehood, and error to oppose God's truth. Those unwilling to know the truth greedily listen to their pleasing fables, rejoice in iniquity, receive their wicked opposition into their own hearts, and are led into wicked opposition against God's commandment-keeping people with scandal, reproach, falsehood, false witnesses, hired spies, watching and distorting every word and action, and demanding signs, acting with the same spirit the Jews showed when they refused the truths Christ unfolded from Old Testament prophecy and rejected Him despite His miracles, bringing eternal infamy on themselves. They are doing the very work that originated with the prince of darkness, the enemy of God.
The warning applies to infidels and rationalists who demand a miracle before they will believe while refusing the Word of God and treating the miracles of Christ as idle tales. They come in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravening wolves because they have rejected great light and the record of past workings of power, have closed their eyes and senses, have encased themselves in the science of Satan's workings, and cherish scientific delusions. No further evidence will be given them, and Christ's word concerning them is to let them alone, while the warning to beware of them and to know them by their fruits is to be set directly before them.
It exposes multiplied declarations about where Christ is, claims to have great light, claims that prophetic gifts are widely given that may instead foster spurious spiritual exercises, fanaticism, selfish schemes or humiliating acts, and claims of visions the Lord has not sent. Outward appearance is not a safe guide, for false prophets may look harmless, gentle, faithful and godly outwardly while being destructive and devouring within, and their true character is shown by their fruits. Such claims of prophecy can lead people into fanaticism and give self-seeking people an opening to exploit excitement, and claims of visions that urge fanatic or humiliating acts are not to be heeded when the Lord has not sent those who make them. New notions and claims to great light should be received carefully and tested with a humble spirit, prayer, and joint examination of the Scriptures with spiritual people, and not followed by feeling, and lack of quick confidence from experienced leaders is not surprising. Against them believers are to press together, for in unity is strength, showing brotherly love, pity, courtesy and compassion, holding that God has a church that will not be overcome or overthrown and that true messengers sent by the Lord bear divine credentials, remaining with God's church which the gates of hell cannot overcome, discerning true messengers by coming to the light, and walking in the light they have lest darkness come upon them.
It warns against religious leaders who profess to know and worship the true and living God while wholly misrepresenting Him. They have the Scriptures yet wrest them to evade their truths, and having so long presented human ideas they make God look like a stern judge incapable of compassion, mercy, and love. Christ's sermon on the mount is in every way opposed to their theories and practice and contradicts the doctrines of the self-righteous scribes and Pharisees, sweeping away misrepresentations to restore confidence in the love of God and reveal Him in paternal love as Our Father by a new and living way. False prophets can appear to be friends of truth while being its enemies, and may use true teachings to stir up strife and confusion in the church, making them especially dangerous to the cause of truth.
Wolves Identified in History
The scribes and Pharisees are wolves, claiming to be disciples of Moses and expositors of Scripture while seeking to scatter the sheep and covering Christ's work with unbelief, contempt and derision. They cast the healed blind man out of the synagogue for bearing living witness to Christ's power, ready to cast out of the fold and devour one entitled to the Lord's pasture, while Jesus as the True Shepherd sought the cast-out sheep and gave him a place within the fold. The same image applies to leaders and teachers who should have worked faithfully in God's vineyard but acted unjustly and pursued their own gain, whose religious privileges and claims of dependence on God stood against their departure from His word and evil conduct. Some who had promised obedience became like wolves, while others repented and entered God's service.
The Roman Church is such a wolf, presenting a fair front and wearing Christlike garments while concealing the same cruel and despotic principles held in the past. Its outward appearance has changed and apologies have been offered, but its doctrines, pride, cruelty and despotic principles remain unchanged. A pope claiming spiritual authority was charged with acting as a tyrant rather than caring for the church, appearing as a shepherd while inwardly acting as a predator.
People newly convicted and truly converted by gospel preaching are sheep in danger from ravening wolves and false destructive influences that would harm or scatter them if left unguarded. Safety requires gathering and organizing converts under pastoral care and watchful oversight, as Wesley did in organizing his converts in the Methodist Connection even without intending to form a new denomination. Converts not followed up with personal labor will be devoured by wolves in sheep's clothing, so they must be edified and perfected by full instruction as to what the truth is and carried forward from point to point in the knowledge of Jesus Christ, or their piety degenerates into a form and they become spiritually dead when the stirring appeals are no longer heard. God's people left without labor are scattered sheep who are torn by wolves and starve without spiritual food even while clinging to the truth, making faithful testimony urgently needed to feed them through continual prayer, watching unto prayer, correctly representing the holy faith in every word and action, and being so connected with God that light shines in words, spirit and deportment.
Those who should shepherd God's people can become wolves in disguise, harming and destroying the flock and devouring the sheep of the Lord's pasture. All along in the history of the third angel's message there have been men among believers who do much harm to God's cause as wolves among sheep, ready to bite and devour, delighting to bear false witness and cruelly injure the reputation of others. When God judges the world the wheat and tares will be separated and it will be clearly revealed that those who sought to destroy the reputation of God's servants are hypocrites, with testimony from their own lips clearing from suspicion those against whom they reported evil. Even among God's own people hirelings will come as wolves in sheep's clothing to persuade the flock to sacrifice to other gods, corrupting and drawing away youth not established, rooted and grounded in the truth as blind leaders of the blind, despising the sovereignty of the Ancient of Days and putting on the throne a false god of their own defining as agents in Satan's hands corrupting the faith of the unwary. Men seeking the ministry whose selfishness, deception and other serious sins had become ordinary to them with seared consciences are wolves among sheep, for outward religious position does not make them safe shepherds. Men professing to be chosen servants of the Lord while deceiving God's people act under satanic influence, with pious appearance concealing dark designs and evil deeds that the Lord will expose. Those engaged in medical missionary work, especially physicians and managers in sanitariums, are accountable to lead those connected with them in the way of truth and purity by daily putting on Christ to be clothed with the robe of His righteousness, for God is not pleased with superficiality and cheap pretense of serving Him and calls for cleansing, purification, greater sanctification to a far higher standard, with plans and manner of working entirely changed.
A minister who uses the confidence people place in his apparent piety to entice them into lustful practices is a wolf in sheep's clothing, making evil seem harmless, tempting under excuses, and leading into a snare that costs conscience, peace of mind and God's favor. Such ministers pretend to be pure in heart and life, wise shepherds entrusted with the gospel to win souls, while inwardly carnal-minded workers of iniquity given to debasing licentious practices. They gain sympathy and faith as holy men of God and then blindly lead unwary souls into licentiousness, causing transgression of the law of God and the seventh commandment by the devil's sophistry that impure union is spiritual harmony and indulgence shared with the holy is not sin, with even approaching a suggestion of impurity to a woman marking a base deceiver. A minister outwardly preaching solemn truth while corrupting others through deliberate sexually immoral conduct and deceptive reasoning tears and devours God's flock. Men who lure young women into vice hide predatory intentions beneath outwardly harmless appearance, and one who exploited girls while presenting himself as treating them hides a predatory nature beneath an appearance of care. A religious minister whose conduct is predatory and corrupt conceals lustful, harmful character beneath outward role. By misinterpreting right they break down the moral standard, lessen the sense of sin, sanctify sin so it is never again regarded in the loathsome light in which God looks upon it, perverting judgment so victims look upon sin as righteousness and righteousness as sin, ruining bodies and souls and leaving them almost impossible to recover pure thoughts, clear conception of God's requirements, and discernment between purity and corruption. They are more guilty before God than the common sinner because their profession is higher, and in the day of God when heaven's great ledger is opened they will feel condemnation and retributive justice and reap a sure crop of licentiousness as sown, confronted by the ruined souls they led astray.
Harboring jealousy and evil surmising and destroying confidence in fellow workers while magnifying self makes one an enemy in sheep's clothing, contrary to seeking to advance God's work and save perishing souls. Each one must instead seek the Lord, remember he has a soul to save, and persevere to make thorough work for eternity. False prophets may appear trustworthy while concealing harmful purposes, and people influenced by deceptive teaching may denounce a genuine messenger as false and distort the message so that God's truth is represented as a lie.
Guarding Against Deception
Matthew 7, including this warning with verses 12-20, is to be studied every word as for life. Ministers and members are to study it most critically again and again for their own enlightenment and individual benefit, not to prove supposed faults they discern in others. The defects of those absorbed with the faults of others are very serious, and unless decidedly converted many who think they are lights will prove stumbling blocks. The study compares words, spirit and actions with God's great moral looking glass, the law, and must produce first a work in the heart and then a work out of the common course of nominal churches to reach lost souls. Heard and done, doing the will of the Father in heaven, it builds upon the rock and enters the kingdom of heaven.
Safety lies in staying on guard, placing the feet in Christ's footsteps and turning them into the narrow way cast up for the ransomed, gaining a better knowledge of Christ and walking in light received. Danger is met by faithfulness and obedience rather than by listening to personal ideas, plans and suggestions of the mind. Believers must search the Scriptures for themselves and hold to the plain Word, going to God in teachable humble prayer with experienced diligent students to learn whether a teaching is the Lord's way or Satan's false path, and thereby receive light and escape the net, for God would have no one deceived. Obedience to the word of the Lord and response to the leadings of the Holy Spirit is required, for there is a right side and a wrong side, and words and works testify on which side a person stands.
In investigating doctrines the work is to know what is truth and to shun falsehood and error, heeding the warning rather than passing it by with carelessness or accepting new ideas from desire to be original, since accepting falsehood leads on into ruinous practices. No man's word is to be taken as the voice of God merely because the man is loved and was believed to have been led by God in the past. Those who claim to be wholly led by the Spirit and to have great light while setting aside the law of God and Scripture and not being sanctified through the truth are to be tested and not followed by feeling, with fruits and speech according to the law and the testimony as the test. Keeping that test makes it possible to discern between light and darkness and to bring the Sermon on the Mount into everyday life, since the commandments are broad enough to reach even the thoughts.
The danger must be met by people of clear understanding who know Scripture well, guarding against placing too much confidence and trust in those who may betray their interests. False prophets bring heresies that may deceive even the elect, so the church must learn to distinguish them from genuine teachers and to recognize the true Shepherd's voice rather than follow a stranger. Against multiplied declarations about where Christ is and multiplied claims to great light, especially from those whose work is to accuse and tear down, believers are to press together, for in unity is strength. They show brotherly love, pity and courtesy, remain with God's church which will not be overcome, discern true messengers by divine credentials, and come to the light. Such claims should be received carefully and tested with a humble spirit, prayer and joint examination of the Scriptures with spiritual people, walking in the light possessed lest darkness come, with lack of quick confidence from experienced leaders no cause for surprise.
The warning applies to churches today and at the close of earth's history when everything is in confusion. Satan works quietly to confuse minds that know the truth by misleading sentiments, especially through those living divided lives who profess to serve the Lord while scheming to carry out their own plans that hold back the work Christ gave His life to accomplish. It reaches many who desire to be first and to rule, who need deeper consecration and must make diligent work for their own salvation to be prepared to enter the holy city. Many will be deceived by the enemy while thinking they are doing the Lord's work, because they refuse to obey His commandments and refuse to be corrected, with Satan's angels leading them on in deception until forever lost unless they repent and are converted. Saying Lord, Lord, prophesying, casting out devils and doing wonderful works in Christ's name does not save; only doing the will of the Father enters the kingdom, and workers of iniquity will finally be disowned as those He never knew, with fruitless trees cut down and burned.