| From the TeachingtheWord Bible Knowledgebase |
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Many Christians are busy looking for antichrists out in the world. We must never forget that the most dangerous ones, in eternal terms, are within the visible church.
In Colossians chapter two beginning at verse eighteen, the Apostle Paul delivers a stern warning to the church against the tyranny of man-made doctrines. He identifies several key characteristics of those who bring such things into the church. One of them, he says, is that they seek to introduce counterfeit mediators between God and man, in place of Jesus Christ.
That is what Paul is talking about when he speaks of the "worship of angels" in verse 18. That is the form that this heresy took in the time of the Colossian church. People sought to introduce the worship of angels as mediators between God and man, instead of Christ alone. Those who introduce such things, Paul declares, are "not holding fast to the Head," the Lord Jesus Christ (verse 19).
First Timothy 2:5 tells us that "There is one God, and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus." But as we look at the history of the church, from the time of the Colossians right up to the present day, we find false teachers always seeking to introduce counterfeit mediators, either in place of or in addition to Jesus Christ. As such, they are, quite literally, antichrists - in the Greek of the New Testament, anti (against or in place of) christos (the true Christ).
Rome's Counterfeit Mediators
Such counterfeit mediators can take many forms - some very obvious, but others much more subtle. The most blatant examples are to be found in the long history of Roman Catholicism. Rome establishes human priests as mediators on earth between God and man. Rome alleges that Mary the mother of Jesus as a mediatrix in Heaven between God and man. Rome establishes thousands of saints as mediators in Heaven, supposedly interceding for man with God and dispensing benefits from God for various purposes.
Rome does not have one shred of authority for any of this in Holy Scripture. Rome has established the false doctrines of these counterfeit mediators in just the ways of which Paul speaks in Colossians chapter two. Rome's teaching of counterfeit mediators is based on counterfeit authority, and counterfeit revelation. And, Rome calls upon its people to render counterfeit worship to those who are supposed to be mediators alongside of or in place of Christ.
Federal Vision Theology's Counterfeit Mediators
But sometimes the doctrine of a counterfeit mediator slips into the church virtually unnoticed. Sometimes it happens even among those who would call themselves Protestants. In our time, many Reformed churches are falling under the evil tyranny of a man-made doctrine called Federal Vision theology. One of the essential elements of this theology is the false teaching that salvation begins with the water baptism of an infant child.
This is enough of an error all by itself. It is damnable heresy. The water of baptism is no substitute for the shed blood of Christ to cleanse the soul of sin. Hebrews 9:22 declares unequivocally that "without the shedding of blood there is no remission" of sin. But there is actually an even deeper error behind the more obvious error.
The deeper error is this: Federal Vision theology effectively establishes the man who administers water baptism to the infant child as a saving mediator between God and man. Federal Vision theology makes salvation a cooperative effort between God and man, mediated to the sinner by the hand of a man applying water to the head of a baby.
Dear friend, note this well: The man who takes it upon himself to do that, the man who believes that he is bringing about the regeneration of a soul by the application of water, is a counterfeit mediator. He is a deceiver. He is putting himself in the place of Christ. He is, therefore, an antichrist.
We Must Guard Our Souls Against "Many Antichrists"
In First John 2:18, the Apostle John warned the early church that "even now there are many antichrists." What was true in the time of the early church is true in epidemic proportions today. Roman Catholicism and Federal Vision theology are but two examples. We live in a time of "many antichrists."
We must be careful to recognize them. True believers must guard their souls, and the souls of their loved ones, against them. Many Christians are busy looking for antichrists out in the world. We must never forget that the most dangerous ones, in eternal terms, are within the visible church.
Paul exhorts us, "Let no one cheat you of your reward" that is in Christ (Colossians 2:18). We must not give any standing, in our minds, in our homes, or in the church, to those who are "not holding fast to the Head [literally, not in possession of the Head, our Lord Jesus Christ], from whom all the body [the entire true Church of Christ], nourished and knit together by joints and ligaments, grows with the increase that is from God" (Colossians 2:19).
We must take hold ever more tenaciously of the pure Word of God, and let it take hold of us: "But you must continue in the things which you have learned and been assured of...the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus" (2 Timothy 3:14-15).
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