Holding to a Form of Godliness while Denying its Power

“Holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; avoid such men as these” (2 Timothy 3:5). It was twenty years ago this fall that I met some of the nicest lost people I have ever met. I know that statement sounds pretty judgmental if not downright cruel. But it is an appropriate statement when one considers the true Gospel of Jesus Christ as revealed in the Scriptures. I was in my first semester of college and faithfully participating in the life and ministry of the local Baptist Student Union. I noticed a couple young ladies who would come in and hang out in the lobby of the BSU almost every day. What intrigued me about these two ladies was they had very long hair, dressed modestly (they always wore a dress), never wore make-up, and seemed genuinely interested in mine and others’ religious experience. We quickly developed a friendship and a few of my BSU brethren and I accepted their invitation to attend their midweek “church” service on several occasions. It didn’t take me long to figure out this so called “church” was nothing more than one expression of unbelief after another. They had “a form of godliness, although they denied its power.”

The very first thing noticed was about this “church” was their woman pastor. This immediately brought to mind Paul’s instructions concerning pastors and church leaders. “An overseer, then, must be above reproach, the husband of one wife…” (1 Tim. 3:2). “The women are to keep silent in the churches; for they are not permitted to speak, but are to subject themselves…for it is improper for a woman to speak in church” (1 Cor. 14:34-35). Paul here is not suggesting women are inferior or that they can’t say anything in church, but he is giving us God’s instructions concerning church leadership, particularly the office of elder/pastor. The second thing I noticed was the whole service seemed to be quite disorderly. They would run around, shout, clap their hands, and carry on in such a way that one wondered two things: what they were drinking and what was coming next. But God’s Word reminds us, “All things must be done properly and in an orderly manner” (1 Cor. 14:4). One would assume this rule applies to worship services in the local church. After all this carrying on, the woman pastor would then proceed to “preach,” which consisted of nothing more than picking a chapter from the Bible and reading it with an extra syllable (“uh”) on the end of nearly every word. There was no verse-by-verse exposition of Scripture. This was probably by design as any verse-by-verse exposition would surely reveal the error and outright rebellion of their unbelief. Despite all this, the one thing that both irked and saddened me to no end was their focus on tongues and the magic words, “in the name of Jesus Christ,” that they insisted must be said over a person at his or her baptism in order for salvation to occur. They had “a form of godliness, although they denied its power.” They denied Christ’s finished work on the cross and His subsequent resurrection as sufficient for salvation. It wasn’t “salvation by grace through faith” (Eph. 2:8) but rather words and experience that saved. The words, “in the name of Jesus Christ” said over you at your baptism and the experience of speaking in tongues was the necessary formula for salvation—never mind what the Bible actually teaches. But what is to be said of their so called experience of speaking in tongues? The Bible reminds us that Satan is the great deceiver “who disguises himself as an angel of light” (2 Cor. 11:14). What better way to deceive than to give someone the false notion they are saved because of some ecstatic experience.

It is interesting to note that nearly every verse they used to justify the necessity of speaking in tongues refers to the false gibberish of counterfeit pagan ecstatic speech found in the first century (and even today I might add). Not only this, but their proof texts for being baptized “in the name of Jesus Christ” (Acts 2:38; 8:12, 16; 22:26) have nothing to do with words said over a person at their baptism. Instead, the phrase used in these passages indicated, for the new believer, it was a crucial but costly identification to accept—that they were identifying with the Lord Jesus Christ, knowing that such identification may very well result in their execution for their faith. As far as words said at baptism, in the early church, baptism was always “in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit” (Matt. 28:19). That formula, which has no saving merit by the way, is the same formula for baptism the Church is to employ today. We are to “make disciples…baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that [Christ] commanded [us]” (Matt. 28:19-20). If I add to or subtract from what the Word of God teaches about salvation and following Christ, what I have in effect done is deny the true Gospel of Jesus Christ. In so doing, one indicates they have “a form of godliness, although they have denied its power.” They may be some of the nicest folks you will ever meet. But the sad reality is they are lost, having denied the power of the Gospel. The Bible says, “Avoid such men as these.”