Eight Characteristics of False Teachers

[from Coram Deo's eldership training class]

1. They turn secondary issues into primary ones (1 Tim 1:1-7, 2 Tim 2:23)
2. They cause division & dissension (1 Tim 6:3-5, Romans 16:17-18)
3. They prey on the weak (Rom 16:17-18, 2 Tim 3:1-9)
4. They talk a lot but say little (2 Tim 2:16, Titus 1:10)
5. They have un-Christlike character (Titus 1:16, 1 Tim 4:1-2)
6. They don’t call people to repentance (2 Tim 4:1-5, Jer 23:14)
7. They despise authority (Jude 8, Col 2:18-19)
8. They are ultimately tools of Satan himself (1 Tim 4:1, 2 Tim 3:24-26)

False teachers tend to distort the truth along one of two trajectories: legalism (1 Tim 4:1-5) or liberalism (Jude 4, 2 Pet 2:18-19)