identifying false teachers

¹⁵Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. ¹⁶You shall know them by their fruits. Can grapes be gathered from thorns, or figs from thistles? ¹⁷So then, every good tree produces good fruit, and the evil tree produces evil fruit. ¹⁸A good tree is not able to produce evil fruit, and an evil tree is not able to produce good fruit. ¹⁹Every tree which does not produce good fruit shall be cut down and cast into the fire. ²⁰Therefore, by their fruits you will know them.

¹Most beloved, do not be willing to believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see if they are of God. For many false prophets have gone out into the world.

³For there shall be a time when they will not endure sound doctrine, but instead, according to their own desires, they will gather to themselves teachers, with itching ears, ⁴and certainly, they will turn their hearing away from the truth, and they will be turned toward fables.

¹³For false apostles, such as these deceitful workers, are presenting themselves as if they were Apostles of Christ. ¹⁴And no wonder, for even Satan presents himself as if he were an Angel of light. ¹⁵Therefore, it is no great thing if his ministers present themselves as if they were ministers of justice, for their end shall be according to their works.

¹But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be among you lying teachers, who will introduce divisions of perdition, and they will deny him who bought them, the Lord, bringing upon themselves swift destruction. ²And many persons will follow their indulgences; through such persons, the way of truth will be blasphemed. ³And in avarice, they will negotiate about you with false words. Their judgment, in the near future, is not delayed, and their perdition does not sleep.

⁷For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not confess that Jesus Christ has arrived in the flesh. Such a one as this is a deceiver and an antichrist. ⁸Be cautious for yourselves, lest you lose what you have accomplished, and so that, instead, you may receive a full reward. ⁹Everyone who withdraws and does not remain in the doctrine of Christ, does not have God. Whoever remains in the doctrine, such a one as this has both the Father and the Son. ¹⁰If anyone comes to you, and does not bring this doctrine, do not be willing to receive him into the house, and do not speak a greeting to him. ¹¹For whoever speaks a greeting to him, is speaking with his evil works.

⁶I wonder that you have been so quickly transferred, from him who called you into the grace of Christ, over to another gospel. ⁷For there is no other, except that there are some persons who disturb you and who want to overturn the Gospel of Christ. ⁸But if anyone, even we ourselves or an Angel from Heaven, were to preach to you a gospel other than the one that we have preached to you, let him be anathema. ⁹Just as we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone has preached a gospel to you, other than that which you have received, let him be anathema.

²⁴For there will arise false Christs and false prophets. And they will produce great signs and wonders, so much so as to lead into error even the elect (if this could be).

¹⁷But I beg you, brothers, to take note of those who cause dissensions and offenses contrary to the doctrine that you have learned, and to turn away from them. ¹⁸For ones such as these do not serve Christ our Lord, but their inner selves, and, through pleasing words and skillful speaking, they seduce the hearts of the innocent.

²I know your works, and your hardship and patient endurance, and that you cannot stand those who are evil. And so, you have tested those who declare themselves to be Apostles and are not, and you have found them to be liars.

¹Now the Spirit has clearly said that, in the end times, some persons will depart from the faith, paying attention to spirits of error and the doctrines of devils, ²speaking lies in hypocrisy, and having their consciences seared, ³prohibiting marriage, abstaining from foods, which God has created to be accepted with thanksgiving by the faithful and by those who have understood the truth.

²⁸Take care of yourselves and of the entire flock, over which the Holy Spirit has stationed you as Bishops to rule the Church of God, which he has purchased by his own blood. ²⁹I know that after my departure ravenous wolves will enter among you, not sparing the flock. ³⁰And from among yourselves, men will rise up, speaking perverse things in order to entice disciples after them.

¹⁰For there are, indeed, many who are disobedient, who speak empty words, and who deceive, especially those who are of the circumcision. ¹¹These must be reproved, for they subvert entire houses, teaching things which should not be taught, for the favor of shameful gain. ¹²A certain one of these, a prophet of their own kind, said: “The Cretans are ever liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons.” ¹³This testimony is true. Because of this, rebuke them sharply, so that they may be sound in the faith, ¹⁴not paying attention to Jewish fables, nor to the rules of men who have turned themselves away from the truth. ¹⁵All things are clean to those who are clean. But to those who are defiled, and to unbelievers, nothing is clean; for both their mind and their conscience have been polluted.

¹⁶But avoid profane or empty talk. For these things advance one greatly in impiety. ¹⁷And their word spreads like a cancer: among these are Hymenaeus and Philetus, ¹⁸who have fallen away from the truth by saying that the resurrection is already complete. And so they have subverted the faith of certain persons.

⁴For certain men entered unnoticed, who were written of beforehand unto this judgment: impious persons who are transforming the grace of our God into self-indulgence, and who are denying both the sole Ruler and our Lord Jesus Christ.

³If anyone teaches otherwise, and does not consent to the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to that doctrine which is in accord with piety, ⁴then he is arrogant, knowing nothing, yet languishing amid the questions and quarrels of words. From these arise envy, contention, blasphemy, evil suspicions: ⁵the conflicts of men who have been corrupted in mind and deprived of truth, who consider profit to be piety.

¹But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be among you lying teachers, who will introduce divisions of perdition, and they will deny him who bought them, the Lord, bringing upon themselves swift destruction.