STOPPING THE SPREAD

The Apostle Paul had much to say about false teachers.

Mostly what he said was "Beware of them!"

To Timothy, who had the responsibility of overseeing a local church body, Paul said - more than once - "When you find a false teacher in your midst, shut him down quickly." 

Immediate correction was important because otherwise "their teaching will spread like gangrene." (2 Timothy 2:17a)

It's a graphic simile. Gangrene is an infection resulting in the rotting of the extremities. Fingers, toes, even an entire limb, once alive - now clinically dead. 

And not coming back. 

But still attached. And spreading. 

The only means of saving the life of the body as a whole is amputation of the infected area. 

As an example of gangrene, Paul cites "Hymenaeus and Philetus who have wandered from the truth." (2 Tim 2:17b) 

Their false teaching? "They say the resurrection has already taken place and they destroy the faith of some." (2 Tim 2:18)

Obviously, by "the resurrection", they were not talking about the resurrection of Christ - because that HAD already taken place. Paul would agree. So what exactly were these two teaching about the resurrection? 

If you do some research, you will find that none of the historians know for sure! All they have is conjecture. 

The vague "resurrection already took place" idea does not seem to fit exactly with Gnosticism or any of the other heresies which gained ground in the early years of the church.

And that left me thinking ... 

I guess Paul practiced what he preached. 

Apparently he nipped that particular gangrene in the bud and stopped the spread.

If only the other church leaders had been as scrupulous.