«　WEEK 10　DAY 1　»

　　Deut. 13:3-4 You shall not listen to the words of that prophet or to that dreamer of dreams; for Jehovah your God is testing you in order to know whether you love Jehovah your God with all your heart and with all your soul. You shall follow Jehovah your God; and you shall fear Him, keep His commandments, listen to His voice, serve Him, and hold fast to Him.

　　In Deuteronomy 12 Moses was strict in the matter of division, and in Deuteronomy 13 he was strict in the matter of apostasy.

　　In the Old Testament, apostasy denotes the giving up of God and the turning away from God to idols. In the New Testament, apostasy denotes the denial of Christ’s deity; it refers to not believing that Christ is God incarnated to be a man. (Life-study of Deuteronomy, pp. 86, 81)

　　We need to be clear regarding the difference between teaching apostasy and being wrong in doctrine. Someone may not be correct in his teaching about a certain doctrine, but this does not mean that he is apostate. For example, suppose a brother in the Lord, a genuine believer in Christ, is somewhat mistaken in his teaching regarding the rapture….According to the New Testament, someone becomes apostate not by teaching incorrectly about the rapture but by giving up the faith that Jesus Christ is God and that He came in the flesh to be a man.

　　In Romans 14 and 15 Paul is generous, broad-minded, and all-embracing, but in Romans 16:17 he is very narrow and strict. “I exhort you, brothers, to mark those who make divisions and causes of stumbling contrary to the teaching which you have learned, and turn away from them.” On the one hand, we need to receive all kinds of genuine believers; on the other hand, we need to be narrow and strict in dealing with divisive ones. In 16:17 Paul does not say, “These divisive ones are brothers. We need to receive them and love them.” No, he tells us to mark them and to turn away from them. To turn away from those who make divisions and causes of falling is to quarantine them.

　　Like the apostles in the New Testament,…we also must be very strict concerning division and apostasy. This means that we must keep the unique oneness of God’s people and the unique faith in the person and redemptive work of Christ.

　　The New Testament term for apostasy is heresy. Apostasy and heresy are an insult to the person of God. In the Old Testament the apostates turned away from God and followed idols….In the New Testament the heretics denied that Jesus Christ is God incarnated to become a man. Such a denial is heresy, New Testament apostasy. This heresy damages the person of Christ. In both the Old Testament and the New Testament, God does not tolerate apostasy or heresy.

　　The Lord hates division because it destroys His people as His expression. In the Old Testament the children of Israel were God’s people for His corporate expression. In the New Testament the corporate expression of the Lord is the Body of Christ. Whereas heresy insults and damages the person of Christ, division damages the Body of Christ. Division kills the Body of Christ and cuts it into pieces. Because heresy damages the Head and because division kills the Body, the Lord, in both the New Testament and the Old Testament, will never tolerate heresy and division.

　　Instead of sympathizing with those who make divisions and causes of falling, we are charged by Paul to turn away from them. The reason we must turn away from those who cause divisions is that division is extremely serious—it destroys the Body of Christ….Apostasy and division damage the entire economy of God. (Life-study of Deuteronomy, pp. 82-84, 86-89)

　　Further Reading: Life-study of Deuteronomy, msgs. 12-13; CWWL, 1979, vol. 2, “The Genuine Ground of Oneness,” chs. 1, 4