When you correct false teaching, somebody always says, “Who cares? Why does it matter? Can’t we all just get along?” Let me answer that question honestly, because the answer is not “I care about being right.” The answer is souls.
“…that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.” (Jude 1:3, KJV)
It matters because deception is real, and dressed up
Here is why it matters, child of God: the deception is real, and it is subtle. Paul feared the church could be led away “as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty”: receiving “another Jesus… another spirit… another gospel” (2 Corinthians 11:3–4). And no wonder: “Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light” (2 Corinthians 11:14). Error rarely shows up ugly. It shows up looking spiritual, sounding loving, wearing a smile.
And the stakes are eternal, not academic
So this is not a debate club, and it is not about winning. The gospel that saves is fixed: “Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures… he was buried… he rose again” (1 Corinthians 15:3–4), received “by grace… through faith” (Ephesians 2:8). And Scripture warned it would be attacked from the inside: “some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits” (1 Timothy 4:1); “of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things” (Acts 20:30); “they will not endure sound doctrine” (2 Timothy 4:3). A false gospel does not just lose an argument: it can cost a soul.
So test everything, and hold the truth out to people
That is why every believer is told, “Prove all things; hold fast that which is good” (1 Thessalonians 5:21), and every elder must be one “holding fast the faithful word… by sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers” (Titus 1:9). Who cares about doctrine? The people whose eternity depends on hearing the true gospel and not a counterfeit. We are “ambassadors for Christ” (2 Corinthians 5:20), so we point men to the real Jesus and His finished work. That is not being difficult, child of God. That is love. Glory to God.
Related Teaching
- Contending for the Faith
- Standing for the Truth Is the Church’s Responsibility
- Why I Reject Baptismal Regeneration and Oneness Doctrine
“And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God. For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.”
2 Corinthians 5:18-21 (KJV)
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