Strange Things to Our Ears!

Part 1 - Sharing the Strange, New, but True!

  A borrowed phrase (Acts 17:20) fits a common issue! What do we do when we hear some new allegedly “Christian teaching?" It might be far away in the Christian world, but it has been brought close by social media. Or it might be as close as your church’s pulpit. You hear something and wonder if it is true. Hopefully, you are already mature enough, well-fed by the regular absorption of the meat of God’s word publicly and privately, that you are not perplexed about a major doctrine. But there are many minor doctrines and small interpretive issues about which there are legions of Christian views. So, you hear something and wonder how to determine if it is right.

Let us use one of those minor doctrines of lesser importance as a lighthearted example: your friend rushes up to you and announces that she is a newly minted “dichotomist,” having left behind the errors of her previous “trichotomist” position.1 She is usually quite animated about doctrine, but you wonder what is true. Was she once right or is she now right? Turning to Google or an AI search engine seems foolish, so what do you do? Don’t worry! There are many wise things you can do when presenting or evaluating strange new things. Take the example of Peter.

What a new thought for Peter? “…God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him” (Acts 10:34-35). In hindsight, of course, Jesus had taught and modeled that, but he was not ready to “get it.” But now God has shown him that truth as he watched as “the gift of the Holy Spirit was poured out even on the Gentiles” (Verse 45). What a glorious moment, and then the criticisms began! That “circumcision party criticized him” (Acts 11:2)!

Peter’s response to criticism, and the concerned believers' response to it, are models of spiritual discernment and the fruits of spiritual maturity! Let’s learn from his example of teaching something new to believers and then come back in the next post to consider how we, as learners, can evaluate new teachings.

Presenting the New, Strange, but True!

First, Peter honored these Christians by listening to their concerns. Gone is the hot-headed and rash Peter who spoke too quickly and could slash with a sword as well as the tongue. To be quick to hear and slow to speak is a blessing (James 1:19), and it is the second thing he did right – he “explained it to them in order” (verse 4), relating the journey God had taken him on. He was not a pope, squashing their opinions beneath some imagined magisterial authority, for he had learned to be like Jesus, a servant leader (Matthew 20:26-28). 

Notice, third, that Peter had a plan for how he would present what happened. The Holy Spirit working within him prompted an explanation that was “mainly chronological, but the intention is primarily logical.”^[2] He had the confidence of God that “in the belief that when they heard it properly (instead of the fragmentary and possibly garbled reports that they had already received) they would be bound to see that God had led him to this action.”[3]

Fourth, he told them what God had done and how surprised and initially resistant he was. Notice that he retold in precise detail the vision of the unclean animals and his strenuous objections. Your testimony is not just how you were once saved or for unbelievers only. The story of how God has led you spiritually and to which doctrines is helpful for others.

Fifth, he linked his experiences and discovered Scripture. Now it sounds different to us because Peter references an oral saying of Jesus. Still, it was authoritative then and later written down: “I remembered the word of the Lord, how he said, ‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit’” (verse 16, Matthew 3:11; Acts 1:5).

        Whether we are teachers in the church introducing believers to deeper doctrines or those who love those teachers and encourage them (2 Timothy 2:24-25), let us remember that since God is the power behind his word, biblical teaching can always be done with grace. God’s words will convince his children, not persuasive ability or personal charisma.  As learners, we do not have to be paranoid or suspicious of new teachings; we just need to be careful (more about that in the second blog).

[1]Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine, Second Edition (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Academic, 2020), 600.

^[2] C. K. Barrett, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles, International Critical Commentary (Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 2004), 539.

[3] I. Howard Marshall, Acts: An Introduction and Commentary, vol. 5, Tyndale New Testament Commentaries (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1980), 208.