⁶For some men, straying from these things, have turned aside to fruitless discussion, ⁷wanting to be teachers of the Law, even though they do not understand either what they are saying or the matters about which they make confident assertions.

False teachers are a mainstay in the opposition to truth. They begin by moving slightly off the truth, wanting to engage in never-ending discussions about minute points of doctrine. The more one speculates, the more prone to error one becomes. Proverbs warns: “When there are many words, transgression is unavoidable but he who restrains his lips is wise” (Prov. 10:19).

What causes this to happen? Our passage tells us the inner compulsion to be a teacher drives the problem. This is not the Spirit-moved desire to teach God’s Word, but the obsession that lacks spiritual character or teaching void of spiritual substance. The Lord Jesus criticized the aspiration to titles of rabbi or teacher (Matt 23:8). James cautions, “Let not many of you become teachers, my brethren, knowing that as such we will incur a stricter judgment” (James 3:1). Teaching is central to the Christian message, more so than the working of miracles. The supernatural confirms the truth, but it is the truth that gives us the foundation on which to build our lives and doctrine. That is why Paul speaks so much about the importance of teaching and warns against false doctrine.

Elsewhere he writes, “[If you] are confident that you yourself are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, a corrector of the foolish, a teacher of the immature, having in the Law the embodiment of knowledge and of the truth, you, therefore, who teach another, do you not teach yourself? You who preach that one shall not steal, do you steal?” (Rom. 2:19–21).

We are called upon to judge not only the doctrine of those who desire to be teachers of spiritual truth but also their motive and attitudes. Where does the teaching lead? Just endless discussions or changed lives? Do the teachings promote legalistic living or freedom in grace? Are the teachers over-confident in their interpretations, or are they humble in being vessels of solemn responsibility? Do they fill their teaching with elaborate sound bites, sophisticated oratory, and pious words, yet cannot explain their teaching in simple, understandable language? In other words, do their elaborate explanations cloud the truth or make the truth clear?

There is much today that passes off as biblical teaching that is nothing more than fluff disguised as profound preaching. Paul says to identify such and keep it away from the congregation of believers.

Lord, help me to avoid teaching things about which I know little.