Error, Inconsistency, Sin, Heresy, and Disqualification

Revision note: Substantially revised July 20, 2026. The argument has been reordered according to the classical rhetorical movement, compressed where necessary, and given one consolidated Notes and Further Reading section.

Why a Christian Publication Must Judge with Biblical Categories

Theological controversy often goes wrong before the actual exegesis begins. It goes wrong when writers lose control of their categories.

A false statement is immediately called a lie. An inconsistency is treated as deliberate deception. A serious doctrinal error is called heresy without defining the doctrine supposedly denied. A sinful act is treated as automatic proof that a man is unconverted. A criticism of an elder’s teaching is mistaken for an ecclesiastical judgment removing him from office.

The opposite error is equally dangerous. A contradiction of Scripture is reduced to a harmless difference of opinion. A public teacher’s persistent refusal to correct demonstrated falsehood is called a minor misunderstanding. A doctrine historically condemned by the church is protected by endlessly demanding gentler terminology. Clear pastoral unfaithfulness is transformed into a dispute about tone.

A Christian publication must refuse both category inflation and category minimization.

Charity does not require calling grave error harmless. Courage does not permit calling every opponent a heretic. Biblical judgment requires that we name things according to what they actually are.

This is especially important for a lay theological publication. Such a publication may evaluate public teaching, identify doctrinal error, demonstrate confessional contradiction, and warn about dangerous consequences. It must also recognize that it is not a church court and possesses no authority to pronounce ecclesiastical censure.

The categories must therefore be distinguished carefully.

The First Category: Error

An error is a judgment, statement, or conclusion that is not true.

That definition is intentionally simple. A man may commit an error because he misunderstood a source, misremembered a date, mistranslated a word, overlooked evidence, reasoned invalidly, or accepted a false premise.

Every error should be corrected, but not every error has the same moral character.

A numerical mistake in a footnote is an error. Misquoting an author because a page was read carelessly is an error. Teaching that justification is partly grounded in human merit is also an error. The fact that all three belong to the general category of falsehood does not make them equally serious.

Errors differ according to their subject, cause, consequence, and persistence.

Some errors are:

• factual;
• historical;
• linguistic;
• logical;
• exegetical;
• doctrinal;
• methodological;
• or moral.

Some are minor and incidental. Others strike at foundational Christian truth. Some arise despite reasonable care. Others arise because proper care was never taken.

The first task of criticism is ordinarily to establish the error itself. What exactly was said? What is the correct fact, interpretation, or doctrine? What evidence demonstrates that the statement is false?

Until that work is done, stronger labels are premature.

Error Is Not Automatically a Lie

A lie is not merely a false statement. It is falsehood communicated with the intention to deceive.

A person may say something false while believing it true. He may have misunderstood the evidence or relied upon an inaccurate source. His statement remains erroneous, but it has not thereby been shown to be a lie.

This distinction is required by the ninth commandment. The same commandment that forbids falsehood also forbids rash and malicious judgments concerning our neighbor. To accuse someone of lying is to make a claim about his knowledge and intention. That claim requires evidence beyond the falsity of his statement.

A careful writer should therefore distinguish:

• “This statement is false.”
• “This statement had already been publicly corrected.”
• “The author had access to the correction.”
• “The author repeated the statement without addressing the correction.”
• “The author knowingly stated what he believed to be false.”

The first claim concerns the statement. The last concerns the heart and intention of the speaker. Evidence sufficient for the first may be insufficient for the last.

Persistent repetition after correction can increase culpability. It may eventually support a stronger moral judgment. But the steps must not be skipped merely because the writer is angry.

The Second Category: Inconsistency

A person is inconsistent when his conclusions, methods, or conduct do not agree with his professed principles.

Inconsistency is one of the most important categories in theological criticism because Christians often confess true doctrines while reasoning according to principles that undermine them.

A man may sincerely affirm the authority of Scripture while using a method that grants final judgment to autonomous human reason. He may affirm providential preservation while describing the text of Scripture as an indefinitely lost object awaiting scholarly reconstruction. He may confess that God alone is Lord of the conscience while demanding submission to a human opinion that cannot be established from Scripture.¹

In such cases, the critic need not immediately conclude that the man consciously denies his confession. He may be inconsistent.

This is a real criticism, not an escape from criticism. Inconsistency can be serious. A method that contradicts one’s confession may gradually alter the confession itself. It may teach others to retain orthodox language while abandoning the principles that give the language meaning.

But inconsistency leaves room for several possibilities:

1. The person has not recognized the contradiction.
2. He recognizes a tension but believes it can be resolved.
3. He uses words differently from the critic.
4. The alleged consequence does not actually follow.
5. He has become inconsistent with his former confession.
6. He privately accepts the consequence but avoids stating it publicly.

Evidence must determine which conclusion is warranted.

A responsible critic should first demonstrate the contradiction. He should set the relevant statements beside one another, define the terms, and show why both cannot consistently be maintained.

Assertions, Implications, and Tendencies

Three different kinds of criticism must be kept separate.

Direct assertion

A direct assertion is something a person expressly states.

If an author writes, “The church has never possessed the complete text of Scripture,” the critic may accurately say that the author expressly denies that the church has possessed the complete text.

Necessary implication

A necessary implication is a conclusion that follows logically from the author’s stated premises, whether or not he recognizes or accepts it.

The Westminster Confession recognizes that doctrine may be established not only by what is expressly stated in Scripture but also by “good and necessary consequence.” Necessary inference is therefore a legitimate form of reasoning.

If an author’s premises necessarily entail a conclusion, the critic may identify that conclusion. But he must describe the situation accurately:

“This position logically entails X.”

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1. Titus 1:9–13; 3:10–11; 1 Timothy 3:1–7; James 3:1 distinguish error, divisiveness, persistence, and fitness for office. ↩

That is different from saying:

“This author consciously believes X.”

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1. Titus 1:9–13; 3:10–11; 1 Timothy 3:1–7; James 3:1 distinguish error, divisiveness, persistence, and fitness for office. ↩

The author may deny the conclusion because he has not recognized the inconsistency. His denial does not necessarily show that the implication is false; it may show that his position is unstable. But the critic must not attribute conscious belief merely because he has demonstrated logical consequence.

Practical tendency

A practical tendency is a direction in which a position is likely to lead, even if the result does not follow by strict logical necessity.

A method may tend to diminish confidence in Scripture. A rhetorical practice may encourage contempt for ordinary readers. A theory may make future doctrinal compromise more likely.

These are legitimate subjects of criticism, but they should be identified as tendencies, risks, or foreseeable effects—not necessary conclusions.

A website that carefully distinguishes direct assertion, necessary implication, and practical tendency will be far more difficult to dismiss as unfair.

The Third Category: Sin

Sin is any want of conformity unto, or transgression of, the law of God.

An error becomes a matter of sin when it involves violation of a divine duty. This means that some intellectual and doctrinal errors are sinful, but it does not mean that every mistake carries equal guilt.

Human understanding has been affected by the fall. Pride, laziness, prejudice, fear, ambition, and attachment to human approval can influence what people are willing to examine or believe. A man may reach a false conclusion because he failed to perform the study required by his office. He may suppress evidence because it threatens his reputation. He may misrepresent an opponent because answering the actual argument would be difficult.

In those circumstances, the error possesses a moral dimension.

A theological error may be sinful because it involves:

• careless handling of Scripture;
• failure to investigate before making a public accusation;
• refusing correction out of pride;
• concealing relevant evidence;
• misrepresenting another person;
• allowing friendship or status to determine judgment;
• fear-driven refusal to confess known truth;
• teaching beyond one’s competence;
• or persisting in a claim after recognizing that it is false.

Yet guilt is aggravated or diminished by circumstances. The Westminster Larger Catechism teaches that sins vary in seriousness according to the person offending, the person offended, the nature of the offense, and the circumstances surrounding it. Greater knowledge, gifts, office, public profession, and influence may aggravate a sin because the person should have known better and because others are more likely to follow his example.

Ignorance does not always excuse. Sometimes ignorance results from neglect. But neither may we assume equal knowledge merely because two people repeat the same error.

The objective wrongness of a doctrine and the subjective culpability of a person must be distinguished, even though they may ultimately converge.

Saying That a Position Is Sinful

A Christian publication may sometimes conclude that a principle, method, or practice is sinful. But it should show its work.

To establish that something is sinful, the writer should ordinarily identify:

1. The relevant divine command or prohibition.
2. The action, teaching, or method under examination.
3. The relationship between that action and God’s command.
4. The circumstances affecting responsibility.
5. Any evidence concerning knowledge, intention, persistence, or repentance.

For example, it is not enough to say that a scholarly method produces conclusions we dislike. We must demonstrate that the method violates a biblical duty—perhaps by treating autonomous human judgment as supreme, concealing known truth, handling Scripture deceitfully, or binding consciences without divine warrant.

Once that relationship has been established, refusing to use the word sin would not be charitable. It would be morally evasive.

But the judgment should be properly bounded. A method may be objectively sinful while those participating in it bear different degrees of guilt. One person may understand its principles and consciously embrace them. Another may use the method inconsistently while sincerely attempting to honor Scripture. A third may simply be repeating what trusted teachers taught him.²

The sinfulness of the principle does not prove equal culpability in every participant.

The Fourth Category: Serious or Dangerous Error

Not every error is heresy, but some errors are more than minor mistakes.

A serious error substantially distorts an important biblical doctrine or Christian duty. A dangerous error is one that, if believed or consistently practiced, threatens the faith, worship, assurance, holiness, unity, or stability of the church.

These categories are useful because they allow the church to speak forcefully without prematurely using the word heresy.

An error concerning a historical date may have little doctrinal consequence. An error concerning the authority, inspiration, preservation, or truthfulness of Scripture affects the foundation upon which every doctrine is known. An error concerning the gospel may endanger the souls of those who accept it.

The seriousness of an error should be evaluated according to questions such as:

• What biblical doctrine does it contradict?
• How central is that doctrine to the Christian faith?
• Does the error directly deny the doctrine or indirectly undermine it?
• What follows if the error is consistently applied?
• How widely is it being taught?
• Does it overthrow the faith of hearers?
• Is the teacher willing to receive correction?
• Is the error isolated or part of a larger system?

Calling an error dangerous is not the same as declaring every person influenced by it a heretic. It is a judgment about the nature and consequences of the teaching.

The Fifth Category: Heresy

The word heresy must neither be abandoned nor used carelessly.

In Scripture, the word can refer to a sect, party, or divisive faction. It also comes to describe destructive doctrinal deviation. Peter warns of false teachers who will secretly introduce “damnable heresies,” even denying the Lord who bought them (2 Peter 2:1). Paul includes heresies among the works of the flesh (Galatians 5:20).

Titus 3:10–11 says:

“A man that is an heretick after the first and second admonition reject; knowing that he that is such is subverted, and sinneth, being condemned of himself.”

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1. Titus 1:9–13; 3:10–11; 1 Timothy 3:1–7; James 3:1 distinguish error, divisiveness, persistence, and fitness for office. ↩
2. Westminster Larger Catechism 144–145 supplies the duties of truth, charitable construction, proportionate judgment, and protection of reputation. ↩

This passage joins together doctrinal or factional corruption, persistence after admonition, sin, and eventual rejection. Historically, Reformed theologians have generally used heresy for serious doctrinal error that contradicts or subverts a fundamental article of the Christian faith, particularly when the error is knowingly and obstinately maintained. Several elements therefore ordinarily belong to a mature judgment of heresy:

• the doctrine concerns a fundamental or essential article;
• the teaching objectively contradicts or subverts that article;
• the contradiction is clear rather than imaginary;
• the person understands what is being disputed;
• proper correction or admonition has been provided;
• and the person persists in the error.

The exact terminology has varied across theological traditions. Some have distinguished between material heresy and formal heresy.

A materially heretical proposition objectively contradicts an essential doctrine, regardless of the speaker’s knowledge or intention. A formal heretic knowingly and obstinately embraces or propagates such error.

The distinction can be useful if it is carefully explained. It permits us to say that a proposition is heretical in its content without immediately claiming that every confused person who repeats it is a hardened heretic.

Ordinarily, it is safer to establish that a teaching is heretical before declaring that a particular person is a heretic.

Not Every Confessional Error Is Heresy

A Reformed confession contains more than the minimum doctrines necessary to distinguish Christianity from unbelief. It presents an integrated system of biblical doctrine.

A minister may therefore depart from his confession at a point that is important and ecclesiastically actionable without necessarily becoming a heretic in the strict sense. His departure may violate his ordination vows. It may make him unable to teach consistently within a particular denomination. It may require examination or correction.³

But breach of confessional subscription and formal heresy are not identical categories.

Likewise, a doctrine need not be heresy before the church may warn against it. An error can be unbiblical, confessionally unacceptable, spiritually harmful, and incompatible with office without constituting a denial of Christianity itself.

If every meaningful confessional departure is called heresy, the category becomes too broad to remain useful. If only formal apostasy may be criticized strongly, the category becomes too narrow to protect the church.

The answer is not weaker judgment but more precise judgment.

The Sixth Category: Disqualification from Office

Church office has qualifications beyond credible profession of Christianity.

An elder must be blameless, sober-minded, of good behavior, able to teach, faithful in his household, mature, and of good reputation. He must hold fast the faithful Word so that he can exhort by sound doctrine and convince those who contradict it (1 Timothy 3:1–7; Titus 1:5–9).

A man may therefore be a Christian and yet be unqualified to serve as an elder.

This point is essential. Disqualification is not identical to damnation. To say that a man should not teach or govern the church is not necessarily to say that he is outside Christ.

Not every sin immediately disqualifies, because every elder continues to struggle with sin. Nor does every theological mistake prove inability to teach. Otherwise no man could remain in office.

Disqualification ordinarily concerns sins, patterns, doctrines, or deficiencies that substantially contradict the qualifications attached to the office. Relevant considerations include:

• the gravity of the conduct or error;
• whether it is public or private;
• whether it represents an isolated failure or settled pattern;
• whether the man acknowledges and repents of it;
• whether he remains able to teach sound doctrine;
• whether his conduct has destroyed necessary trust;
• whether he continues to meet the express biblical qualifications;
• and whether the church can responsibly place the flock under his care.

A teacher who makes a mistake and corrects it demonstrates something different from one who repeatedly misrepresents others and refuses correction. An elder who experiences fear but ultimately performs his duty is different from one who habitually sacrifices truth for institutional approval. A minister who struggles to understand a difficult doctrine is different from one who rejects the authority by which Christian doctrine is known.

The decisive question is not whether an elder has ever sinned. It is whether he presently possesses the biblical character and doctrinal fitness required for office.

Doctrinal Error and Ministerial Qualification

Titus requires an elder to hold fast the faithful Word and to answer those who contradict sound doctrine. This means that certain theological errors bear directly upon ministerial qualification.

An elder who rejects Scripture as the supreme epistemic authority of the Christian faith undermines the standard by which he is supposed to teach and govern. An elder who treats autonomous human judgment as the final court over God’s Word compromises the very task entrusted to him. An elder who cannot or will not defend sound doctrine against serious contradiction may fail a stated responsibility of office.

Yet even here the proper process matters.

We must determine what the man actually teaches. We must distinguish an unfortunate phrase from a settled position. We must account for clarification and correction. We must show why the teaching conflicts with Scripture and the confession. We must distinguish necessary consequences from consciously professed conclusions.

A website may argue that a publicly stated position is incompatible with the biblical qualifications of an elder. It may call the church to examine the matter. But the website does not thereby remove the man from office.

Argument is not adjudication.

The Seventh Category: Ecclesiastical Judgment

Christ has given the keys of the kingdom to his church. Formal admission, discipline, suspension, deposition, and excommunication belong to lawful ecclesiastical authority, not to private publications.

A website can report that a church court has rendered a judgment. It can evaluate whether that judgment appears consistent with Scripture and church standards. It can petition appropriate authorities to investigate public teaching. It cannot make its own declaration function as ecclesiastical censure.

This limitation protects both the church and the publication.

It protects the church by preserving the jurisdiction Christ has established. It protects the publication from pretending that criticism carries authority it does not possess.

The site may conclude:

• “This statement is false.”
• “This position contradicts the Westminster Standards.”
• “This method logically undermines the confessed doctrine of preservation.”
• “This practice violates the ninth commandment.”
• “This teaching is materially heretical.”
• “If this position is established as the man’s settled belief, it appears incompatible with Titus 1:9.”
• “The appropriate church court should examine this matter.”

It may not declare:

• “We hereby depose this minister.”
• “We excommunicate this person.”
• “Our publication’s judgment binds the church.”

Those latter acts belong to a different authority.

Repentance Changes the Situation

Christian criticism must leave room for repentance, correction, clarification, and growth.

A man who retracts a false accusation should not be treated as though he continues to make it. A teacher who recognizes an inconsistency and revises his position should receive acknowledgment. A writer who corrects a factual error should not have the obsolete version continually quoted against him without mentioning the correction.⁴

Repentance does not erase every consequence. Public error may require public correction. Certain scandals may have continuing effects upon ministerial qualification. Trust can take time to rebuild.

But a publication that never allows correction to matter is not seeking restoration. It is preserving accusations.

The objective should be truth, repentance, protection of the church, and—where possible—reconciliation.

Category Discipline for This Website

The following procedure should govern controversial evaluations on this website. First, identify the exact statement or conduct under examination. Second, provide the relevant context and qualifications. Third, establish the biblical, confessional, factual, or logical standard. Fourth, state whether the problem is a direct assertion, necessary implication, practical tendency, inconsistency, or factual error. Fifth, distinguish the objective character of the teaching from the subjective culpability of the teacher. Sixth, identify aggravating factors such as public office, repeated correction, breadth of influence, or foreseeable harm. Seventh, use the narrowest category that fully communicates the seriousness of the matter. Eighth, distinguish theological evaluation from ecclesiastical adjudication. Ninth, correct the record if new evidence changes the judgment.

Tenth, speak more strongly when the evidence requires it—but never more strongly than the evidence permits.

These rules do not weaken polemics. They strengthen them. An opponent can dismiss reckless accusations as fanaticism. It is much harder to dismiss a carefully documented conclusion whose category has been deliberately limited to what the evidence proves.

Neither Timidity nor Recklessness

There will be times when the right word is error. There will be times when the right word is inconsistency. There will be times when an error must be called sinful, dangerous, heretical, or disqualifying.

Faithfulness requires using each term when warranted.

It is not charitable to call a destructive doctrine a minor disagreement. It is not courageous to call every theological mistake heresy. It is not submissive to ignore ministerial unfaithfulness. It is not righteous to pronounce ecclesiastical sentences without ecclesiastical authority.

A layman may demonstrate that a public teacher’s argument is false. He may show that the argument contradicts the teacher’s confession. He may establish that the teacher’s premises necessarily entail consequences the teacher denies. He may argue that a method violates biblical duties. He may warn that a settled position appears incompatible with church office.

But he must say what he has demonstrated—and no more.

The speaker’s office does not exempt his teaching from judgment. The critic’s lack of office does not grant him power to judge beyond the evidence.

Both remain under the Word. That is the governing principle: no immunity for the prominent, no license for the critic, no concealment of grave error, and no escalation beyond proof. The truth must be defended with categories that are themselves true.

Notes and Further Reading