Rebuke Error and Remind Of Truth: A Biblical Pattern for Correction

We live in times fraught with many false teachings. Indeed not only in our times. But every Christian generation has had to deal with biblical error and falsehood. The New Testament, indeed the whole Bible presents us with many examples of the reality of false teachings. Constantly in Scripture, we see a pattern of confrontation of error. We are told the Scriptures are written for correction, rebuke and instruction in truth (2Timothy 3:16-17).

In his letter to the  Galatians for example, “Paul wrote… to counter judaizing false teachers who were undermining the central NT doctrine of justification by faith.”¹  Galatians then is a letter that mirrors for us  how error and false teachings must be dealt with.

Now often, we see an active engagement in rebuking error without a corresponding reminder of the truth. That is not a biblical pattern. Rebuke is meant to be restorative and corrective. Therefore when we rebuke, we must remind of the truth. And in Galatians, we see Paul doing these two: Rebuking Error and Reminding of Truth

O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly a portrayed as crucified. Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? (Galatians 3:1-3).

Rebuke Error

To rebuke someone is to criticize him or her sharply. The Greek word most often translated “rebuke” in the New Testament is elegchó. In its fullest sense, elegchó means “to reprimand and convict by exposing (sometimes publicly) a wrong.” There are times when all of us need to be rebuked, and there are times when a believer needs to rebuke another believer²

The above, is precisely why Paul wrote Galatians. To rebuke them for embracing error. The Galatian churches have been swayed from the truth and embraced a false teaching of justification by works rather than by faith. Paul calls this a different gospel (Galatians 1:6-9). The word “foolish” used by Paul in the original language is to be thoughtless: not examining issues closely. Decisions, beliefs are not weighed by their merit, implications and danger.  To be foolish is also to act unwisely.

And that’s what we see in Galatians. They heard the Gospel preached to them. They believed the gospel. But they jettisioned all they have believed because of false teachers. They departed from the true gospel: “I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to n a different gospel” (Galatians 1:6). The Bible at many places speaks about rebuke. We can’t be indifferent to error. We all have a task to defend the truth by rebuking error. Paul’s words “O foolish Galatians” is a sharp rebuke of a people who have deserted the gospel. And rightly so, when the gospel is distorted, the souls of people is at risk and we must be able to rebuke and correct. John Calvin in his commentary on Galatians noted that

When we hear that the Son of God, with all his benefits, is rejected, that his death is esteemed as nothing, what pious mind would not break out into indignation ? He[Paul] therefore declares that those who allowed themselves to be involved in so heinous a crime must have been …”disordered in mind.

Reminder Of The Truth

We are not only to rebuke, but to remind of truth. Rebuke that stops at rebuke is not helpful. So Paul doesn’t stop at rebuke but will immediately remind them of the truth they are departing from. He asked them a series of rhetorical questions to remind them of the truth.

Who has bewitched you?
Who has bewitched you? That word bewitched means to be fascinated or overpowered by something beyond ones control. And in this case, the false teachers in Galatians were pushing a false gospel down the throat of the Galatians. So Paul reminds them of the gospel he preached to them: “It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified, it is a picture of having presented Christ and his crucifixion to them in such a manner that, it was as if they were there.”

To portray the crucifixion of Christ to the Galatians is simply another way of saying, I preached the gospel to you. The gospel is that Jesus died for our sins. He died to save us from the wrath of God. He died to reconcile us to God (Galatians 1:4)

Are You Saved By Works Or By Faith?
The next question Paul asked “Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? is a reminder to the Galatians that their regeneration or salvation is only by faith. The only way by which sinners will be saved is by faith through the gospel. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the preached word (Romans 10:10).

Do You Live By You Strength?
The third question ties in with the second one: “having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the law? The point is that you don’t begin the Christian life by faith and then fall off into walking the Christian life by works of the law—making your salvation dependent on what your works. We begin by faith and walk by faith (Galatians 5:16;25)

All these lines of questioning from Paul is to remind the Galatians that the Christian life is built on faith—trust and confidence in God. Our salvation is by faith. Any work of God in our life is by faith. Central to the Christian life is this important doctrine of faith. Without faith it is impossible to please God (hebrews 11:6). We are saved by faith. Justified by faith. Adopted into the family of God by faith (Ephesians 2:8-10). We are not saved by our good works or morality. We are saved by grace alone through faith alone. Amen

Clearly, we are not only to be rebuking people of their errors. But while we do that, we must point them to the truth of the gospel. We must weld a double edged sword; rebuking error and reminding of truth.

Notes:

1. John MacArthur, The MacArthur Study Bible (Nashville, Thomas Nelson, 2006), kindle
2. GotQuestions, When is it necessary to rebuke another believer, https://www.gotquestions.org/rebuke-believer.html