“Now the spirit is saying explicitly, that in subsequent eras some will be withdrawing from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and the teachings of demons, in the hypocrisy of false expressions, their own conscience having been cauterized.” (1 Timothy 4:1-2)
That was written 2,000 years ago so I assume the hypocrisy is still around. But how are we to identify the hypocrites? The only way I see is to compare what people teach with the Scripture to see if their teaching sets forth "false expressions".
Here are examples of true expressions in the Bible:
1. Jesus is “the Savior of the world.” (John 4:42)
2. Jesus “takes
away the sins of the world.” (John 1:29)
3. Jesus "is
the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins
of the whole world." (1 John 2:2)
4. "..trust in the living God who is the Savior of all humanity." (1 Timothy 4:10)
Words that deny any of the above are "false expressions" of the hypocrites following "deceiving spirits".
So, what are we to do when we hear false expressions?
"Now a slave of
the Lord must not be fighting, but be gentle toward all, apt to teach, bearing
with evil, with meekness training those who are antagonizing, seeing whether
God may be giving them repentance to come into a realization of the truth, and
they will be sobering up out of the trap of the Adversary, having been caught
alive by him, for that one’s will." (2 Timothy 2:24-26)
We are to do the best we can to point out the deception of false expressions, hoping to win these people over to the truth by
sharing the true expressions found in the Bible. Paul encourages those who know the truth to guard themselves
against the deceiving spirits giving out false expressions.
“I am conjuring you in the sight of God and Christ Jesus, Who is about to be judging the living and the dead, in accord with His advent and His kingdom: Herald the word. Stand by it, opportunely, inopportunely, expose, rebuke, entreat, with all patience and teaching. For the era will be when they will not tolerate sound teaching, but, their hearing being tickled, they will heap up for themselves teachers in accord with their own desires, and, indeed, they will be turning their hearing away from the truth, yet will be turned aside to myths.” (2 Timothy 4:1-4)
False expressions were rampant among the Jews when Jesus came to earth and He warned them.
"Woe to you,
Pharisees, and you religious leaders! You are like beautiful mausoleums—full of
dead men’s bones, and of foulness and corruption. You try to look like saintly
men, but underneath those pious robes of yours are hearts besmirched with every
sort of hypocrisy and sin." (Matthew 23:27-28)
The thing that bothers me most is that those making false expressions are usually completely unaware that they come from Satan.
"No