Creeps in households

For among them are those who creep into households and capture weak women, burdened with sins and led astray by various passions, always learning and never able to arrive at a knowledge of the truth. 2 Timothy 3:6-7

Paul warned Timothy that men driven by selfishness and sin will infiltrate the church. The danger is not of a full assault. The danger is a household trickle that turns into a bigger debacle. And in my experience through four decades of loving the local church, this is the most insidious and common way that error enters the church. It starts small. It hits households first. A false teacher finds a susceptible home and emphasizes the exclusivity of their “doctrine”, the uniqueness of the belief, and attacks orthodox truth in the gospel.

But notice what Paul says… by abandoning apostolic doctrine the false teachers never come to truth. They usually have a personal reason to downplay sin, deny the need for confession and repentance, and claim secret insights that the rest of the church “didn’t get” for thousands of years. And then they LOVE to flip the script saying that ALL THE REST OF CHRISTIAN TEACHING is wrong. Only their little household has it right.

In the end such heresy is opposition to truth, corruption of the mind, and a disqualification of saving faith (2 Timothy 3:8). That’s right… denying the gospel for salvation and sanctification is the mark of unbelieving, hell-bound false teaching. In the end it gets nowhere but judgment (2 Timothy 3:9). So be on the guard! Know biblical theology. Look out for the creeps in the households!