8 Bible Verses about False Teachers

Most Relevant Verses

2 Peter 2:1-3

But false prophets arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. These false teachers will infiltrate your midst with destructive heresies, even to the point of denying the Master who bought them. As a result, they will bring swift destruction on themselves. And many will follow their debauched lifestyles. Because of these false teachers, the way of truth will be slandered. And in their greed they will exploit you with deceptive words. Their condemnation pronounced long ago is not sitting idly by; their destruction is not asleep.

1 Timothy 6:3

If someone spreads false teachings and does not agree with sound words (that is, those of our Lord Jesus Christ) and with the teaching that accords with godliness,

Jude 1:4

For certain men have secretly slipped in among you -- men who long ago were marked out for the condemnation I am about to describe -- ungodly men who have turned the grace of our God into a license for evil and who deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.

Bible Theasaurus

From Thematic Bible


Contempt » Exemplified » False teachers

2 Corinthians 10:10

because some say, "His letters are weighty and forceful, but his physical presence is weak and his speech is of no account."

Deceit » False teachers » Preach

Jeremiah 14:14

Then the Lord said to me, "Those prophets are prophesying lies while claiming my authority! I did not send them. I did not commission them. I did not speak to them. They are prophesying to these people false visions, worthless predictions, and the delusions of their own mind.

Jeremiah 23:26

Those prophets are just prophesying lies. They are prophesying the delusions of their own minds.

Deceit » False teachers » Impose on others by

Deceit » False teachers » Are workers of

Deceit » False teachers » Sport themselves with

2 Peter 2:13

suffering harm as the wages for their harmful ways. By considering it a pleasure to carouse in broad daylight, they are stains and blemishes, indulging in their deceitful pleasures when they feast together with you.

False teachers » Instances of » Witnesses » Against paul

Acts 16:20-21

When they had brought them before the magistrates, they said, "These men are throwing our city into confusion. They are Jews and are advocating customs that are not lawful for us to accept or practice, since we are Romans."

Acts 24:5

For we have found this man to be a troublemaker, one who stirs up riots among all the Jews throughout the world, and a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes.

Acts 17:5-7

But the Jews became jealous, and gathering together some worthless men from the rabble in the marketplace, they formed a mob and set the city in an uproar. They attacked Jason's house, trying to find Paul and Silas to bring them out to the assembly. When they did not find them, they dragged Jason and some of the brothers before the city officials, screaming, "These people who have stirred up trouble throughout the world have come here too, and Jason has welcomed them as guests! They are all acting against Caesar's decrees, saying there is another king named Jesus!"

Acts 25:7-8

When he arrived, the Jews who had come down from Jerusalem stood around him, bringing many serious charges that they were not able to prove. Paul said in his defense, "I have committed no offense against the Jewish law or against the temple or against Caesar."

False teachers » Instances of » Witnesses » Against jesus

Matthew 26:59-61

The chief priests and the whole Sanhedrin were trying to find false testimony against Jesus so that they could put him to death. But they did not find anything, though many false witnesses came forward. Finally two came forward and declared, "This man said, 'I am able to destroy the temple of God and rebuild it in three days.'"

Mark 14:54-59

And Peter had followed him from a distance, up to the high priest's courtyard. He was sitting with the guards and warming himself by the fire. The chief priests and the whole Sanhedrin were looking for evidence against Jesus so that they could put him to death, but they did not find anything. Many gave false testimony against him, but their testimony did not agree. read more.
Some stood up and gave this false testimony against him: "We heard him say, 'I will destroy this temple made with hands and in three days build another not made with hands.'" Yet even on this point their testimony did not agree.

False teachers » Instances of » Witnesses » Against stephen

Acts 6:11

Then they secretly instigated some men to say, "We have heard this man speaking blasphemous words against Moses and God."

Acts 6:13

They brought forward false witnesses who said, "This man does not stop saying things against this holy place and the law.

False teachers » Instances of » Witnesses » Against naboth

1 Kings 21:13

The two villains arrived and sat opposite him. Then the villains testified against Naboth right before the people, saying, "Naboth cursed God and the king." So they dragged him outside the city and stoned him to death.

Leaven » Illustrative of » False teachers

Galatians 5:8-9

This persuasion does not come from the one who calls you! A little yeast makes the whole batch of dough rise!

Christian Liberty » False teachers » Try to destroy

Galatians 2:4

Now this matter arose because of the false brothers with false pretenses who slipped in unnoticed to spy on our freedom that we have in Christ Jesus, to make us slaves.

Christian Liberty » False teachers » Promise, to others

Christian Liberty » False teachers » Abuse

Jude 1:4

For certain men have secretly slipped in among you -- men who long ago were marked out for the condemnation I am about to describe -- ungodly men who have turned the grace of our God into a license for evil and who deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.

Pride » Characteristic of » False teachers

1 Timothy 6:3-4

If someone spreads false teachings and does not agree with sound words (that is, those of our Lord Jesus Christ) and with the teaching that accords with godliness, he is conceited and understands nothing, but has an unhealthy interest in controversies and verbal disputes. This gives rise to envy, dissension, slanders, evil suspicions,

Prophecy » Respecting individuals, see under their names » False teachers

teaching » False teachers

2 Peter 2:1-22

But false prophets arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. These false teachers will infiltrate your midst with destructive heresies, even to the point of denying the Master who bought them. As a result, they will bring swift destruction on themselves. And many will follow their debauched lifestyles. Because of these false teachers, the way of truth will be slandered. And in their greed they will exploit you with deceptive words. Their condemnation pronounced long ago is not sitting idly by; their destruction is not asleep. read more.
For if God did not spare the angels who sinned, but threw them into hell and locked them up in chains in utter darkness, to be kept until the judgment, and if he did not spare the ancient world, but did protect Noah, a herald of righteousness, along with seven others, when God brought a flood on an ungodly world, and if he turned to ashes the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah when he condemned them to destruction, having appointed them to serve as an example to future generations of the ungodly, and if he rescued Lot, a righteous man in anguish over the debauched lifestyle of lawless men, (for while he lived among them day after day, that righteous man was tormented in his righteous soul by the lawless deeds he saw and heard) -- if so, then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from their trials, and to reserve the unrighteous for punishment at the day of judgment, especially those who indulge their fleshly desires and who despise authority. Brazen and insolent, they are not afraid to insult the glorious ones, yet even angels, who are much more powerful, do not bring a slanderous judgment against them before the Lord. But these men, like irrational animals -- creatures of instinct, born to be caught and destroyed -- do not understand whom they are insulting, and consequently in their destruction they will be destroyed, suffering harm as the wages for their harmful ways. By considering it a pleasure to carouse in broad daylight, they are stains and blemishes, indulging in their deceitful pleasures when they feast together with you. Their eyes, full of adultery, never stop sinning; they entice unstable people. They have trained their hearts for greed, these cursed children! By forsaking the right path they have gone astray, because they followed the way of Balaam son of Bosor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness, yet was rebuked for his own transgression (a dumb donkey, speaking with a human voice, restrained the prophet's madness). These men are waterless springs and mists driven by a storm, for whom the utter depths of darkness have been reserved. For by speaking high-sounding but empty words they are able to entice, with fleshly desires and with debauchery, people who have just escaped from those who reside in error. Although these false teachers promise such people freedom, they themselves are enslaved to immorality. For whatever a person succumbs to, to that he is enslaved. For if after they have escaped the filthy things of the world through the rich knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they again get entangled in them and succumb to them, their last state has become worse for them than their first. For it would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness than, having known it, to turn back from the holy commandment that had been delivered to them. They are illustrations of this true proverb: "A dog returns to its own vomit," and "A sow, after washing herself, wallows in the mire."

Topics on False Teachers

False Teachers, Characteristics Of

Galatians 1:6-8

I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are following a different gospel --

False Teachers, Examples Of

Revelation 2:14

But I have a few things against you: You have some people there who follow the teaching of Balaam, who instructed Balak to put a stumbling block before the people of Israel so they would eat food sacrificed to idols and commit sexual immorality.

Never miss a post

NET Bible copyright © 1996-2006 by Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C. NetBible