Jesus tells his disciples to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees (Matt. 16:2).
What does this mean?
Well, leaven is small. It’s hardly visible. While small and seemingly insignificant, it spreads to the entire lump. So, the best word for it—in my opinion—it’s subtle.
Jesus is telling his disciples that false teaching is subtle and dangerous. Even the smallest amount of falsehood can go a long way to impact the entire thing.
Think for a moment about what the serpent to Eve in the Garden. “It won’t kill you…it will simply open your eyes and you’ll be like God, knowing good and evil” (Paraphrase, Gen. 3:4–5).
The serpent was right, in a way.
They did not die that day (at least physically). Also, they did, in fact, become like God. They became morally autonomous (deciding for themselves what was good and evil). What the serpent said was true, in a way.
It was what he implied that was the false.
His implication was that God was not out for their best interest. He was implying that God didn’t want what was best for them and was keeping something from them. Here is the lie.
Notice something here. The falsehood was in the subtly of implication.
Back to Jesus’ teaching: beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees. False teaching is subtle. It’s all in the little things. Sometimes hard to detect.
Just because it’s subtle and seemingly insignificant does not mean that it’s outcomes are insignificant.
Simply consider the result of Adam and Eve’s rebellion….subtle lie, huge consequences.
The New Testament repeatedly warns against false teaching. In fact, the New Testament itself exists as a guard against false teachings. Why did Paul write his letters? To correct false teaching. The same goes for many other works of the New Testament. The New Testament preserves, with accuracy, the truth of the apostles witness to the teachings of Jesus.
One lesson in all of this is to do just as Jesus said: beware. There’s a lot of false teaching out there. If the false teaching was overtly false, people wouldn’t fall for it! So, beware.
Also, beware of what you teach! We have to have vetted teachers.
Titus 1:9 describes the one fit to teach as one who must “hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught, so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it.”
We must ask, then, are you following right teaching?
With this, teachers, is your teaching right?
Teachers are held to a higher standard than others….and this is why. James 3:1 says, “Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with a greater strictness.”
The New Testament warns that many will be led astray in the end by false teachers (Matt. 24:11 and 24).
