53 Bible Verses about False Teachings

but I have a few things against thee, because thou hast there those that hold the doctrine of Balaam, who counselled Balac to ensnare the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols, and to commit fornication. you have likewise those that hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, which I hate.

whoever therefore shall break any commandment, tho' of the least importance, and shall teach men so to do, shall not have the least admittance into the kingdom of the Messias: but whoever shall do and teach them, he shall be great in the kingdom of the Messias.

Now we conjure you, brethren, that with respect to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and our being assembled with him, you would not by any pretended revelation, by any discourse or epistle ascrib'd to us, be immediately perplex'd in your minds, or under any concern for the approach of the day of the Lord.

Now the spirit says expresly, that in the latter times some shall abandon the faith, by giving credit to seducing spirits, and the doctrine concerning demons; broach'd by hypocrititical impostors, whose consciences are cauteriz'd, interdicting marriage; and the use of animal food; which God created for the repast of the faithful, who embrace the truth with thankfulness.

notwithstanding, I have a few things against thee, because thou sufferest that woman Jezabel, who stiles herself a prophetess, and teaches and seduces my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed to idols.

but in vain they worship me, teaching for doctrines the institutions of men."

in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the institutions of men."

let no man mislead you by vain reasonings: for it is for these vices, that the wrath of God lights upon the incredulous.

If then you are dead with Christ, in respect of those shadows of the Jewish state; why do ye, as if you were still in that state, submit to those ordinances? "don't eat this, don't taste that, nor touch it:" which yet were all made to be consumed for our use, notwithstanding the injunctions and doctrines of men:read more.
by which indeed they make a pretence to wisdom, by a worship of their own devising, by an air of humility, and self-denial, and a disregard to the gratifications of sense.

At my departure from Macedonia, I advised you to stay at Ephesus in order to charge certain persons not to teach any different doctrine, or trouble their heads with fables and endless genealogies, which rather promote disputes than the gospel-dispensation: such a charge will produce that charity, which arises from purity, from a good conscience, and a sincere belief:read more.
for want of which, some have lost themselves in frivolous disputes, pretending to be doctors of the law, tho' they neither understand what they advance, nor upon what it is founded.

As there were false prophets among the people of Israel, there will likewise be false doctors among you, who by introducing pernicious sects, and by renouncing the Lord, who bought them, will bring upon themselves swift destruction.

Beware of false prophets, who to outward appearance are sheep, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves.

for I know when I am gone, you will be oppress'd by wolves, that will not spare the flock. nay, among your own body some will start up to vent their intricate conceits, and draw a number of followers.

For there are many, especially among the Jews, who are obstinate, vain talkers and deceivers; who ought to be curb'd, who pervert whole families, teaching things which they ought not, for sordid lucre.

nay, among your own body some will start up to vent their intricate conceits, and draw a number of followers.

that we should be no longer children, fluctuating, and carried about with every empty doctrine, by men vers'd in sleight and the crafty arts of deceit:

O Timothy, keep what is deposited in your care, avoiding the prophane empty declamations and objections of a spurious science, which some have profess'd, and thereby deviated from the true principles of faith. grace be with you. AMEN.

for the mind is better improv'd by the gospel-dispensation, than by the distinctions about meats, in which some have been so uselesly vers'd.

their eyes are inflam'd with adultery, and unextinguishable vice: they insnare the souls of the inconstant. their minds are practis'd in the arts of avarice: an execrable race, who have deserted the right way, and are gone astray to follow the practices of Balaam of Bosor, who loved the wages of iniquity;

These things have I written to you concerning those that would seduce you.

many will follow their destructive maxims, and by their means christianity will be traduc'd.

Jesus answered them, take care not to be deceived by any one: for many shall come in my name, saying, I am the Christ: and shall deceive many.

Jesus answer'd by saying, take care not to let any one impose upon you; for many shall come in my name, and say, I am the Messiah; and deceive many.

for the time will come, when they will not endure sound doctrine, but get teachers of their own corrupt taste, to sooth their ears that itch for flattery:

when their language swells with vanity, by applying to the sensual passions of the licentious, they allure those who were escap'd for a while, from such deceivers: whilst they promise others liberty, they themselves are slaves to their corrupt passions. for he that is vanquished, is a slave to the conqueror.

Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world. by this you may distinguish the spirit of God: "every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh, is from God. and every spirit that does not own that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh, is not from God." this is that anti-christian spirit which you have heard was to come, and even now it appears in the world.read more.
ye are of God, my dear children, and you have overcome them: because he that is in you, is superior to him that is in the world. they are of the world: therefore their doctrine is worldly, and the world are their disciples.

for there shall arise false Messiahs, and false prophets, and shall shew such astonishing miracles and prodigies, as to deceive, if that can do it, the very converts themselves.

for false Christs, and false prophets shall rise, and shall shew signs and prodigies, so as to seduce, if it were possible, even the very elect.

who by the instigation of satan will make his parade with various arts, with fallacious signs and prodigies, and with all the vile methods of imposture, to the ruin of those, who are averse to the truth, by which they might be saved.

Then I beheld another beast coming out of the earth, it had two horns like a lamb, but it spake like a dragon. he exercised all the power of the first beast by his authority, and caused the earth, and those who dwell therein, to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed. he perform'd great wonders, so as to make fire come down from heaven on the earth, in the sight of men.read more.
and he deceived the inhabitants of the earth, by the prodigys which he had power to effect by the influence of the beast, by telling the inhabitants of the earth, that he had made an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, but yet did revive. he had power likewise to animate the image made for the beast, so that the image was made to speak, and as many as would not worship the image were order'd to be killed.

Now the spirit says expresly, that in the latter times some shall abandon the faith, by giving credit to seducing spirits, and the doctrine concerning demons; broach'd by hypocrititical impostors, whose consciences are cauteriz'd,

but I fear lest by some means or other, as Eve was beguiled by the subtilly of the serpent, your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is due to Christ. if he that is come to you, preaches another Jesus whom I have not preached, or if ye receive other gifts of the spirit, than what ye have received from me, or another gospel, than what you have accepted, you might well bear with his pretensions:

Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world. by this you may distinguish the spirit of God: "every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh, is from God. and every spirit that does not own that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh, is not from God." this is that anti-christian spirit which you have heard was to come, and even now it appears in the world.

and I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet. for they are the spirits of demons working miracles, which make a progress to the kings of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God almighty.

By their artful discourses they will make you the tools of their avarice; but their condemnation has been a long time advancing, and their ruin is far from lingring.

beware lest any one seduce you by the vain illusions of philosophy, founded upon human traditions, and meer shadows, and not upon Christ:

by this you may distinguish the spirit of God: "every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh, is from God. and every spirit that does not own that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh, is not from God." this is that anti-christian spirit which you have heard was to come, and even now it appears in the world.

wherefore I give you to understand, that no man who has the spirit of God, can pronounce Jesus anathema: and that no man can acknowledge Jesus to be the Lord, but by the holy spirit.

As for you who have receiv'd the unction of the holy spirit, you know the whole affair. I have not written to you, as to people unacquainted with the truth of the gospel: but as to such who know it, and know that it cannot give rise to any imposture. who is so great an impostor as he, who denies that Jesus is the Christ? he is antichrist, that denies the father and the son.read more.
whosoever denieth the son, disowns the father:

Beware of false prophets, who to outward appearance are sheep, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. you will know them by their fruits: do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? so every good tree yields good fruit: but a corrupt tree yields bad fruit.read more.
a good tree cannot produce bad fruit: neither can a corrupt tree produce good fruit. every tree that doth not yield good fruit, is hewn down and cast into the fire. by their fruits then shall ye know them.

if a man impose upon you, if he preys upon you, if he makes a gain of you, if a man insults you, if he disgracefully assaults you, I mean it as to their reproaches, you take it all;

dear children, let no man deceive you: only he that acts justly is just, as he is just. he that lives in sin, imitates the devil; for the devil was a sinner from the beginning. for this purpose the son of God appeared, that he might destroy the works of the devil. whosoever is born of God, does not commit sin; for the divine principle remaineth in him: he will not sin, because he is born of God.read more.
In this the children of God are distinguished from the children of the devil: he that does not practise virtue, and fraternal benevolence, is not of God.

If any one deviate from this doctrine, not adhering to the wholesome instructions of our Lord Jesus Christ, the true doctrine of piety, he is full of pride and ignorance, touch'd with a spirit of chicanery and wrangling, productive of envy, contention, calumny, mischievous opinions, and a familiarity with pernicious ignorant impostors, who consider religion only as it makes for their gain.

At my departure from Macedonia, I advised you to stay at Ephesus in order to charge certain persons not to teach any different doctrine, or trouble their heads with fables and endless genealogies, which rather promote disputes than the gospel-dispensation:

discountenance such as hold vain irreligious discourse; for they will grow bold in impiety, and their doctrine will spread like the gangrene. Hymeneus and Philetus are such: they have deserted the faith themselves, and debauch'd the faith of others, by maintaining, "the resurrection is already past."

adhere therefore to what ye have learnt from the beginning. if you adhere to what ye have heard from the beginning, you will still persist to own both the son and the father.

from me, who called you by the grace of Christ; this can be owing to nothing but your being practised upon by some, who would overturn the gospel of Christ. but tho' I, or an angel from heaven should preach any thing to you for gospel, different from the gospel I have preached unto you, let him be accursed.read more.
as I said before, so say I now again, if any one preach any other thing to you for gospel, than what you have received, let him be accursed.

This charge, my son Timothy, I recommend to you, agreeably to the prophetic gifts heretofore conferr'd on you, by virtue of which you might carry on a successful warfare, assisted by faith and a good conscience: for some having discarded the one, have entirely lost the other. Hymeneus and Alexander are of that number, whom I have deliver'd to Satan, that they may learn not to blaspheme.

Keep that form of sound doctrine you receiv'd from me, which consists in christian faith and charity: that valuable depositum do you preserve by the holy spirit, which resides in us.

Now I beseech you, brethren, mark those who cause divisions and revolts against the doctrine which you have learned; and avoid them. for such as these serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own selfishness; and by flourish and flattery, deceive the open-hearted simple.

Take notice that in the latter days difficult incidents will arise; for men will be selfish, avaricious, vain, proud, slanderers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, villainous, unnatural, perfidious, defamers, debauchees,read more.
cruel, enemies to virtue, traitors, insolent, conceited, and more devoted to pleasure than to piety: of which they wear the appearance, but disclaim its influence. have no intercourse with such. Of this number are they, who insinuate themselves into families, to make a prey of the weaker sex, who are inveigled by their vitious suggestions, abetted by their own subtle passions, and by lending an assiduous ear to such lessons, render it impossible they should ever be acquainted with the truth. Moses did not meet with greater opposition from Jannes and Jambres, than truth does from men so corrupted in their mind, and so adulterated in their faith. but they will be stop'd in their career; for they shall be expos'd to the world for impostors, as those magicians were.

but avoid frivolous enquiries about genealogies, and vexatious disputes about the law; for they are unprofitable and vain. A man that is an heretick, after the first and second admonition, avoid: it being plain that such a person is perverted, and knows in his own conscience that his tenets are false.

no renegado that deserts the doctrine of Christ, has any interest in the deity: he that adheres to the doctrine of Christ, has an interest both in the father, and in the son. whoever comes to you unaccompanied with this doctrine, don't admit him to your house, nor treat him with the common term of civility. for he who shows that respect to such a man, is accessary to his wicked actions.