Throughout the New Testament we see that, while persecution may be a threat, the real danger is deception. That has not changed. At the end of his momentous letter to the church in Rome, Paul advises the believers there to avoid two separate but related dangers: division and false teachers. He writes:
I urge you, brothers and sisters, to watch out for those who cause divisions and put obstacles in your way that are contrary to the teaching you have learned. Keep away from them. For such people are not serving our Lord Christ, but their own appetites. By smooth talk and flattery they deceive the minds of naive people. Everyone has heard about your obedience, so I rejoice because of you; but I want you to be wise about what is good, and innocent about what is evil. (Romans 16:17-19)
For the second group, the false teachers, Paul might well have been thinking about those who taught that Gentile Christians had to be circumcised. That seems to have been a constant issue Paul dealt with. For us today, his warning extends to anyone who teaches doctrines that are contrary to Scripture.
The first group Paul warns about is those who cause division. Just as there are some who introduce false doctrines into the church, so there are also self-appointed heresy hunters, who create doctrines out of “disputable matters,” (Romans 14:1) and set brothers and sisters against each other. If we’re not careful, the desire to avoid being deceived by false doctrines can become the very means by which we become deceived into dividing the body of Christ.
Thankfully, along with the warning, Paul also tells the Romans how to avoid both dangers. He writes to them, and through them us as well, to be “wise about what is good, and innocent about what is evil,” echoing Jesus’ words to his disciples, “I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves.” (Matthew 10:16)
Jesus and Paul both put innocence together with wisdom because both are necessary. Wisdom comes from the Spirit of God (1 Corinthians 2:13-16), by means of the word of God (2 Timothy 3:14-15). Innocence comes out of obedience, as this very passage in Romans indicates. Wisdom is part of our defense against the deceits of the enemy, but innocence, refusing to participate in sin, is the other part. Without both, deception leads to involvement in sin, and sin leads to further deception in a kind of feedback loop. False gospels that promote, for example, immorality or greed lead to a desire for more teaching that justifies those sins. Equally, listening to someone preach that one church or group is better than any other promotes pride. This leads to factions, quarrels and grudges, which make people more prone to believe the worst about each other, and causes them to be drawn to further divisive teaching.
But I am not called to live that way, “deceiving and being deceived.” (2 Timothy 3:13) Rather, I am called to be wise and to be innocent. To study God’s word, not so that people will think I’m smart, or even so that I really will be smart, but so that I can obey it (James 1:22). It’s impossible to obey God’s word if I don’t know what it says, and it’s pointless to know God’s word if I don’t do what it says. Innocence both requires wisdom, and gives wisdom meaning.
So stay alert. Be wise. Remain innocent of sin. And instead of tearing down the body of Christ, we’ll build it up together, for his glory.