How can we help people misled by false teaching?
Text: Galatians 1:10-24
Hosts:
J. Kent Edwards
Vicki Hitzges
Nathan Norman
Narrator: Brian French
The CrossTalk Podcast is a production of CrossTalk Global, equipping biblical communicators, so every culture hears God’s voice. To find out more, or to support the work of this ministry please visit www.crosstalkglobal.org
Produced by Nathan James Norman/Untold Podcast Production
© 2025 CrossTalk Global
Brian: In the United States, 28% of all freight, about 1.5 billion tons of raw materials and finished goods moves by train. Trains are especially good at transporting heavy, bulky items over long distances unless a problem occurs and they come off the rails. Re railing a train isn't simple. Minor derailments can often be fixed with ramps and jacks, but major ones need large cranes to lift and move the cars. Not an easy job. Trains aren't the only thing that come off the tracks. Churches can also be derailed. When that happens, it's not due to faulty mettle but flawed teaching. It happens today, and it happened in the first century to the churches of Galatia. How can we rescue a church that's been derailed by bad teaching? Join Nathan Norman, Vicki Hitzges and Kent Edwards as they look and learn from the apostle Paul's strategy in Galatians, chapter 1, verses 10 to 24. Welcome to Crosstalk, a Christian podcast whose goal is for us to encourage each other to not only increase our knowledge of the Bible, but to take the next step beyond information into transformation. Our goal is to bring the Bible to life, into all our lives. I'm Brian French. Today, Dr. Kent Edwards, Vicki Hitzges and Nathan Norman continue their discussion through the book of Galatians. If you have a Bible handy, turn to Galatians, chapter one, verses 10 to 24, as we join their discussion.
Kent: Last week we saw how false teachers were leading the Galatian churches astray by teaching a doctrine that denied justification by faith alone. But is bad teaching just a first century issue? Have you ever seen people wounded by bad teaching?
Nathan: Oh, absolutely. From all stripes. I mean, you have the you cannot touch the Lord's anointed. And so you have a pastor who is a wolf in sheep's clothing who is trying to consume the flock either sexually or financially or just a bully and destroys people's spiritual lives. And they think, oh, I can't touch the Lord's anointed. I can't touch the Lord's. I can't say, hey, there's a problem here. This person's fruit isn't what it should be and it ruins lives. Absolutely. I have seen orthodoxy so right. Teaching raised up above orthopraxy, right? Practice, right? So there are people with all of the right head belief, so to speak, right? They could say, hey, I know the gospel, but they don't have the fruit of the spirit. They don't have love, they don't have joy. They're not kind. Right. They're not gentle. They don't correct people who have different doctrinal issues or don't understand the Bible as well as they do with peace and grace. Instead, they are malicious and hateful and angry, and they make disciples who are malicious, angry, and hateful. Oh, yeah. I've seen lots of people wounded by bad teaching.
Kent: In fact, it's interesting that there are a number of very popular preachers on the Internet and television these days who specialize in information. They know a lot about the Greek or Hebrew, and they'll spend a lot of time telling you details about a text. But, Vicki, you may be surprised to hear no application. They talk about the what but not the so what. There's no way your dad would have tolerated that.
Vicki: No. And there's no way, just as a listener, I would have tolerated that, you guys either. I'm sure if you just get a bunch of facts stuffed in your head, so what? In fact, that's my dad's final question. When he teaches people to preach, his final question that needs to be answered before you step up into the pulpit is so what? Meaning, okay, so you take all this, and then so what? You got to tell people what to do with it.
Kent: Your father, Haddon Robinson, was big on application.
Vicki: Big on.
Kent: It's gotta be behavioral change. And every sermon in the Bible does that. Every book of the Bible gives application. But there are some even today, who say, no, it's the Holy Spirit's job to apply, and we don't have to do that.
Nathan: So the incredible thing. So Haddon taught Kent very well, because I remember the first sermon I preached in seminary. Man, I had this down. I felt I knocked it out of the ballpark. I repeated my statement. It was. I had a good statement. It was great. I was like, this is good. And then Kent comes in, he asks all the students, all right, what do you think? And people were, like, praising me. And I'm like, yeah, this is good. And then Kent just says two words when he gives his commentary. So what? My heart just sank. My pride was obliterated with those two words. And I knew in that moment he was right, because I was like, there was absolutely no application to this. I knew what the text said, but I didn't apply it to our lives.
Kent: And when I hear students do that in class through the years, the class loves it. Everybody loves to hear good theology that doesn't require anything from them. Anyway, bad teaching is not only in the churches of Galatia, it's all over the place. And undoing the damage of wrong doctrine is not easy. Just as Getting a freight train on its rails is not easy. So it's helpful to see Paul's threefold strategy of addressing the problem of bad teaching. Let's start this week by examining Paul's initial strategy in chapter one. Notice what he says in verse 10.
Vicki: Okay. He says, am I now trying to win the approval of human beings or of God? Am I now trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ. I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that the gospel I preached is not of human origin. I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it. Rather, I received it by revelation from Jesus Christ.
Kent: Paul insists that his goal is not to try and win a popularity contest. I'm not trying to please people. If he was, he'd probably be preaching, you know, if you do good stuff, maybe you'll get God's favor. But instead, he's preaching justification by faith alone. Reminds me of that first chorus of that famous hymn, Amazing Grace.
Nathan: Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me I once was lost but now am found Was blind but now I see.
Kent: Paul says, I'm not trying to please people. The gospel I preached is not of human origin. I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it. I received it by revelation from Jesus Christ. Wow, that raises questions. Nathan, have you ever thought about this? I mean, what do you think Paul meant when he said, I've received the gospel, the message that he gives by revelation from Jesus Christ?
Nathan: Well, revelation is a very specific term where God is revealing something that previously was hidden, and he received it directly from Jesus himself when he was on the road to Damascus in Acts, chapter nine. And Jesus said, paul, why are you persecuting me? Who are you? Jesus? Oh, no. Jesus revealed himself to Paul, and Paul understood the gospel from Jesus himself. So he is being revealed the gospel by God. Paul is saying, I'm not repeating what I've heard. I didn't hear an argument and say, okay, that sounds good. Jesus himself revealed himself to me, and that is the gospel I preach to you.
Kent: I think you're right. Obviously, that's what happens in Acts, chapter nine. But I wonder if there's not more to that as well. After all, look at what we read in verses 13 and following, he says.
Vicki: For you have heard of my previous way of life in Judaism, how intensely I persecuted the church of God and tried to destroy it. I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my own age, among my people, and was extremely zealous for the tradition of my fathers. But when God was pleased to reveal his Son in me, my immediate response was not to consult any human being. I did not go up to Jerusalem to see those who were apostles before I was. But I went into Arabia. Later I returned to Damascus. And then after three years, I went up to Jerusalem to get acquainted with Cephas and stayed with him 15 days. I saw none of the other apostles, only James, the Lord's brother.
Kent: So Paul wants us to know that the message that he preaches didn't come from other people. It came directly from God, which began in Acts 9 when Jesus appeared to Paul and gave him his mission. But what do you think he was doing for three years? Three years in Arabia?
Nathan: He was essentially being re educated. He's re understanding the Scriptures in light of who Christ is.
Kent: Now. He said, I was a Jewish Jew. I mean, I was as full Jew as you could possibly be. I studied the traditions of the faith and all the rabbinic scholars. He knew them all. But now he went back and relooked at the Bible through new eyes, helped of course by Jesus encounter with him in Acts 9. But I think the Holy Spirit has a role in teaching us. That was probably also involved, don't you think?
Nathan: Absolutely. It's what the philosopher Alvin Plantinga says. It's a properly basic belief. So you don't need external evidences because it's that old song. He lives, he lives, Christ Jesus lives today. He walks with me and talks with me along life's narrow way. He lives, he lives Salvation to impart. You ask me how I know he lives. He lives within my heart. Right. God reveals himself to us. And so yes, you can have apologetics and you can have those external evidences, and those are good. But the Spirit of God reveals himself to us in that revelation. Yes, this is true and you know it's true. I don't need external evidence that I am myself. I don't need external evidence that I love my wife. I don't need external evidence that I'm breathing air. There is external evidence for all of those things. But I know that I am myself. I know that I love my wife and I know that I'm breathing air. And I know that Jesus is crucified for my sin rose again and calls to me.
Kent: And I know that some will take what you've just said in a wrong direction and say what you were not saying. But say that, well, God spoke to me directly. And so I have new revelation from God. And that is not what I think Paul is saying here? I think that in these three years he reexamined the Bible. And the role of the Holy Spirit is not to give us new information, but to illuminate our understanding of what is written in the Bible. The Bible is complete. It is finished. The Bible tells us everything we need to know about God and how we are to live in response to Him. We don't need new information, but we do need to understand fully the information that God has given us in His Word. I think he studied the Bible and I think the Holy Spirit opened his mind to allow him to move from beyond the Jewish understanding of Scriptures to see how Christ is the central figure through the entire Bible, how the flow of redemption began from Genesis through to Revelation. That's why in chapter three of Galatians, Paul will argue from the Hebrew Bible that Jesus was the Christ and that nobody was ever saved. By keeping the Old Testament law, he's going to reveal what he knew about the Bible. But he was careful to say, I'm not learning it from people. I'm not influenced by this teacher or that teacher. My sole authority is the word of God. Paul did not argue with the positions of the rabbis. He did not engage Jewish commentators. The authority Paul brings to the table is what God said either directly on the road to Emmaus or found in the Scriptures. That was enough. It reminds me of what Paul wrote to Timothy in his second letter. Do you remember that? In 2 Timothy 2:15 and following, he.
Vicki: Said, do your best to present yourself to God as one who correctly handles the word of truth. Avoid godless chatter because those who indulge in it will become more and more ungodly. Their teaching will spread like gangrene. Among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus, who have departed from the truth. They say that the resurrection has already taken place and they destroy the faith of some.
Kent: Interesting there, isn't it? He says, correctly, handle the word of truth. He's talking about the Bible, right? Interpret it and apply it properly. Avoid godless chatter because their teaching will spread like gangrene. I think Paul is demonstrating this in first part, this part of Galatians. He's saying, look, I'm sticking with the Bible. I'm not engaging these people. I'm not getting into fights, but I will come with a clear authority of God's word. He's saying, don't give false teaching oxygen. Don't dignify it by engaging them. But as you've said elsewhere, Nathan, let's just say what the Bible has said. Just let me give you Bible truth in response to this false teaching.
Nathan: Yeah. The metaphor is when the Secret Service is looking into counterfeit bills, they train people to spot counterfeit bills not by studying counterfeit bills, but by studying what real bills look like, what the real serial numbers look like, what the ink should look like, and what all the features of the bill are. So that way they know What a real $100 bill looks like. So well that when they see a counterfeit, they immediately know it's counterfeit because the serial number is wrong. The eye is a little weird. The ink is run in the wrong way or printed in the wrong direction. Right. They can immediately spot it because they are intimately aware of what a normal hundred dollar bill looks like.
Kent: So Paul's strategy was, in face of false doctrine, to come and clearly present the teaching of God's word. You cannot argue with it. It must be dealt with. And if it disagrees with the teaching, the teaching was wrong. Do we have false teachers today?
Vicki: Oh yeah.
Nathan: Boy howdy. Even more. Let's see. One of the frustrating ones that I am shocked has existed. I remember when I was going into college, open theism was an idea that was getting kicked around and I figured it wouldn't have any legs. That's the idea that God doesn't know the future because that would negate free will, which it doesn't. It's just we need to have bigger imaginations. But it also had kind of a pastoral thing because your kid dies in an accident and people say, why did God allow this to happen? Well, God didn't know it was going to happen and he grieves with you. Well, half of that is true. He does grieve with you, but he knew it was going to happen. I'm shocked that it's existed this long, but it continues to persist and you see it pop up in strange places.
Kent: And we need to be showing people that surprise. As we saw when we're going through Matthew 24 and 25. Yeah, Christ is coming again. History is in his hand. The future is not unknown. We may not know exactly when those events will unfold, but we do know what will unfold.
Vicki: Well, you see it on TV with prosperity gospel, send me money, you'll get rich. And people do it. Unbelievable.
Nathan: It's unreal. How do they get this many people to give the money?
Vicki: I don't know.
Kent: I mean, I see it in particularly in impoverished countries, but even in America, where there was relative wealth, it still works. We can name preachers who say that. And the money Rolls in, right.
Nathan: I need the private jet because I can't get stuck on a normal airline with all those demonic people. And people are like, yeah, that makes sense. I'm going to send you all my life savings.
Kent: Uh huh.
Nathan: Oh my word.
Kent: Yeah. Because God will make me rich and because he will give me health and everything else that I want. Yeah.
Nathan: I like what Shai Lin says about the prosperity gospel. He says, if you come to Jesus for money, Jesus is not your God. Money is.
Vicki: Oh, that's a good point.
Kent: The fact is that there has been and will be false teaching. Like Paul, we need to be able to engage in personal dialogue, showing from Scripture the evidence of why that wrong teaching is wrong. Our authority needs to be God's Word. I often tell students there's really only four things you need to know to succeed as a pastor. It's really easy. First, you need to know God. Secondly, you need to know the Bible. Thirdly, you need to know your people. And fourth, you need to know yourself. That's all you need to know. Easy. But let's not forget, you have to know the Bible. We can't give guidance, we can't give correction when it's needed if we are not familiar with what God's Word is saying. Paul spent three years having the Holy Spirit teach him and show him the truths of God's Word. We need to give our lifetime to that. It's not easy to lift a train back onto its rails. It's not easy to put a congregation back on track after it's been derailed by bad teaching. But let's learn from the Apostle Paul. He did not preach something that was man made. He taught what he learned from God. He corrected wrong teaching with biblical teaching. And we be wise to follow his example.
Brian: When fellow believers have been misled by false teaching, how can we help them? We can demonstrate that God's Word, properly understood, can be trusted. I trust that today's discussion of God's Word has been helpful and served as an encouragement to not just be hearers of the Word, but doers. Together, let's bring God's Word to life, to our lives. This week, the crosstalk podcast is a production of crosstalk Global, equipping biblical communicators so every culture hears God's voice. To find out more and to support the work of this Ministry, please visit www.crosstalkglobal.org Our next crosstalk events are happening in Asia and Mombasa, Kenya. Help us train the next generation of biblical communicators. All you have to do is click Donate in the show notes and make a donation of any size. You can also support this show by sharing it on social media and telling your friends. Be sure to listen next Friday as we continue our discussion of the Epistle of Galatians. You won't want to miss it.
Nathan: The other thing I heard about the prosperity Gospel is it's not that the prosperity Gospel promises too much. It's that it promises too little. All right? God's got bigger plans in our lives than just, hey, you're going to be wealthy. And we know that because of how we work through Jesus. Right? Like, the Christian life requires suffering. And if we're going to follow in the footsteps of Christ, the more we are suffering not for our own stupid mistakes, but the more we're suffering regardless of our stupid mistakes, the more we're following in the footsteps of Jesus, the more God is calling us to have the life like Jesus lived. That is one thing I will say Catholics get that a lot of evangelicals don't, is that suffering is a normal, not preferable. But God works through suffering in this life.
Kent: Yeah.
Nathan: And we tend to. Oh, no, a lot of us just want. We want the prosperity gospel to be true, don't we? I don't want to ever hurt. I don't want to suffer. And yet it's like, yeah, but how does God reveal himself? How does he reveal his love to us through Jesus on the cross? How does he reveal his hatred for sin through Jesus on the cross? How does he reveal the lengths that he'll go for us through Jesus on the cross? Right? It's like, there's a lot of information, there's a lot of revelation almost, to be understood through the cross.