Tertullian Revisited: Chapter 5 - Every Generation in the Church needs to be aware of Heresy

Chapter 5 - Every Generation in the Church needs to be aware of Heresy.

Apart from confronting heresy, the Church also needs to use it as a means of fortifying the faith. The Gospel message has to be purely preached in every generation, otherwise the values of the past, which belong to Christ, will degenerate and faith will diminish. Popular slogans such as “getting back to the basics” or “what would Jesus do?” have lost their appeal because they have been used too often and treated glibly by Christians. What the Church requires is a long term plan for each generation to be nurtured and grown in the faith from birth to death. Biblical ignorance feeds heresy; Christian education destroys it.

Heresy seeks out the young and the lost. It looks for immaturity of faith and disappointment in the Church. It preys upon dissension and division, uncertainty and unholiness. It is cultic and tantalizing, hypnotic and intriguing. Souls are lost to heresy in people that seek flattery, importance and esteem, instead of humility, service, and devotion to God.

The degrees of heresy manifest themselves in arrogance, petulance, belligerence, and indifference. Instead of supporting the life, work, and mission of the Church, heretics have their own agenda to which all else must submit. They thrive on the silent and impassive nature of the sheepish majority. Where churches seek to keep the peace amongst the faithful, heresies abound because courtesy builds a hedge around confrontation. Where churches seek to make peace with God, heresy is confronted and exposed.

The real damage that heresies make in the Church is the amount of divisions that can occur in any one group. Fragmentation of the faithful community and severing traditional ways are given a high priority by heretics. They don’t want to be chained to the past, because this would make them mere servants of God. They want to emerge as a dominant force amongst the faithful, instead of merging with past generations. In short, they seek to glorify themselves and be exalted above all past generations. They see their movement as essential to the Church of tomorrow, forgetting that Christ is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow.

Past leaders of the Christ’s Church have tackled heresy by pointing out its failures to submit to the will of God and be subservient to Jesus. The tragedy of today’s Church is that it wants to be all inclusive at the expense of being faithful to God’s Kingdom. The Gospel values of the past are jettisoned, whilst the ever-present culture is engaged. Instead of being wed to Christ, the Church wants to be wooed by the world. Heresy, therefore, is a departure from all that has been revered in the past. It seeks to be falsely revered for its own sake, instead of being willing to be scorned for Christ’s sake.