Smooth Talkers - 1

Now, it is my desire, brothers, that you will take note of those who are causing division and trouble among you, quite against the teaching which was given to you: and keep away from them. For such people are not servants of the Lord Christ, but of their stomachs; and by their smooth and well-said words the hearts of those who have no knowledge of evil are tricked. (Romans 16:17-18 BBE)

As usual I find these words taking on a new dimension when I look at the definitions of the various words from which they were translated. But I also sense that beyond just being very interesting that there is a great deal for me to apply to my own life in this passage. I cannot exempt myself from being a person who at times may cause dissension or create causes for stumbling within the body of Christ.

One thing that comes to my mind as I ponder this description of certain people within the body is that their influence is just the opposite as what would be seen from a person who's heart is full of the Spirit of Jesus. It is the undoing of the natural results of God's Spirit at work among His people as described about the early Christian church right after Pentecost.

Paul is saying here that the right way to relate to these kind of people is not to expose their faults or accuse them publicly but to avoid close association with them. I believe that one of the most important reasons for this is that we naturally tend to synchronize our spirit with the spirit of the people we are close to and we become more and more like each other. When we continue to have close association with people who are divisive and fault-finding in their spirit we will eventually become leavened by that spirit ourselves and will began to spread the infection of bitterness. I know about this all to well from first hand experience.

I also notice here that Paul first addresses how we are to relate to these kinds of people before he describes the make-up of their characters. The instructions given as to how we are to relate to them are decidedly different than what we might feel like doing if we were to first hear about their inner condition. After hearing the descriptions that Paul uses to describe them we might be inclined to condemn them, to expose them, to try to shame them into either being converted or leaving our company. But this is not what the Bible is telling us to do. It simply says we are to keep away from them.

But Paul goes on to describe the real condition of these people. This is because their true condition is not obvious to those around them. In fact, the image they project of themselves through their smooth talking and very convincing logic and reasoning is quite the opposite. So Paul has to lift the veil and show us what is going on at their heart level, to allow us to see things as God sees them.

This is not to say that these people are worth less than we are or are hopeless and destined to be lost because God arbitrarily determined it ahead of time. Their condition is a result of their choices in their own lives and their choices have set habits in place that have produced the character from which they operate. It is a character mostly hidden from view by the public because they have developed the fine art of image-management to help them have influence and power over others. But what is on the inside is a very different picture than what is seen on the outside.

What motivates these people who cause divisions between the hearts of others is really an attitude of inner slavery – a slavery of the flesh-controlled heart. These are sometimes people who live for emotions, who allow good feelings to take precedence over truth. They may either be people who are only living from their head, seeking to serve God from only an intellectual perspective, or they may be people who are truly living from their heart but from an unconverted heart. But they are not uneducated in the ways of religion or they would not be able to promote a seductive form of religion that would be so difficult to resist by others who do not realize the subtle, deceptive nature of their words.

They may appear to be true believers, maybe with very high “standards” or they may promote worship that appeals to the emotions that is tremendously exciting. But it will be very difficult to unmask the deceptions embedded in their religious teachings and activities simply by proving them wrong with counter arguments or logic. This is what they are best at doing themselves and no amount of arguing or accusing will undo the dissension caused by their presence. In fact, our natural reaction in attempts to stop their influence will likely result in causing further divisions among the hearts of believers which is precisely the tactic of the enemy.

They hide their divisiveness behind very attractive scenarios, philosophies, logic maybe even enhanced by slick media presentations. This is extremely attractive to hungry hearts that are hurting and looking for comfort and healing but are unaware of the danger and the deceptive nature of powerfully appealing stage productions. These deceptions may even be promoted through elaborate programs promoted in the churches and hailed as wonderful new insights and tools for building up the church. But there is a wrong spirit involved underneath the surface and Paul wants us to be aware of the hidden dangers that such a spirit will produce in our lives.

This situation may be very similar to the story of the wheat and the tares that Jesus told His disciples as described in Matthew 13. The servants in the story wanted to rush in and remove the weeds growing alongside the wheat to “purify the church”, to use our language. But the wise farmer in the story commanded the servants to leave them alone and let them grow together until the harvest when the external results of their belief systems would become more obvious. And even after all that the servants were not the ones entrusted with the job of separating the two groups but the angels were commissioned with that responsibility.

So too here, Paul is not telling us to point out the faults of these people who are so dangerous to the body of Christ while living alongside them under cover. Paul does not instruct us to engage in arguments or debate with them which would only reinforce their claims of authenticity and credibility and spread confusion into the hearts of more people. He simply gives us two simple instructions as to how we are to relate to them.

We are to keep an eye on them and we are to turn away from them.

And to know who the “them” refers to he first gives us a description of the symptoms of their activities. Their presence tends to produce dissension and their words create causes for stumbling in the lives of others. The effects of their lives and influence differs from the original truths that the early believers were taught.

The problem I often see today is knowing what are authentic, original truths of the gospel verses what are traditions and doctrines and ideas passed on originally to us from our ancestors and our church leaders and our culture. Because we are not really as familiar with the glorious truth of the original gospel that the early apostles taught as we believe we are, it is very easy to assume that the version of religion we grew up with is the one we are supposed to cling to based on this statement by Paul. But the teaching which we have learned is not necessarily the one taught by Jesus and His disciple's after Pentecost, though it may use the same words of Scripture to support it.

What I have been coming to realize over the past few years is that trusting in the religion of my upbringing can be a fatal mistake if I am not willing to reexamine every detail of that religion repeatedly with an open mind and a willingness to admit that it may have serious flaws. It is very frightening and disconcerting to be honest enough to challenge the religion of your past and a religion that is still strongly reinforced by many of those around you. But it is never safe to assume that just because our religion has a long history of adherents or widespread support that it is the same gospel that was embraced by the first Christian church. The message in the old gospel song, “Give Me That Old Time Religion” is not the standard we need to be using to identify the true gospel of God.

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