Confronting
Sinners and Error
Christian Apologists
have been called unloving by religious people and marginal Christians.
Old Covenant Examples
1) Nathan confronted King David.
Then Nathan said to David, “You are the
man! Thus, says the Lord God of Israel: ‘I anointed you king
over Israel, and I delivered you from the hand of Saul. I gave you your
master’s house and your master’s wives into your keeping, and gave you the
house of Israel and Judah. And if that had been too little, I also
would have given you much more! Why have you despised the commandment
of the Lord, to do evil in His sight? You have killed Uriah the
Hittite with the sword; you have taken his wife to be your wife, and
have killed him with the sword of the people of Ammon. Now
therefore, the sword shall never depart from your house, because you have
despised Me, and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your
wife.’ Thus, says the Lord: ‘Behold, I will raise up adversity
against you from your own house; and I will take your wives before your
eyes and give them to your neighbor, and he shall lie with your wives in
the sight of this sun. For you did it secretly, but I will
do this thing before all Israel, before the sun.’” So, David said to Nathan, “I
have sinned against the Lord.” 2 Samuel 12:7-13
2) Elijah confronted the nation of Israel.
So, Ahab sent for all the children of Israel,
and gathered the prophets together on Mount Carmel. And Elijah came
to all the people, and said, “How long will you falter between two
opinions? If the Lord is God, follow Him; but if
Baal, follow him.” But the people answered him not a word. Then Elijah said to the people, “I alone am
left a prophet of the Lord; but Baal’s prophets are four hundred
and fifty men. Therefore let them give us two bulls; and let them choose
one bull for themselves, cut it in pieces, and lay it on the wood,
but put no fire under it; and I will prepare the other bull, and lay it on
the wood, but put no fire under it. Then you call on the name
of your gods, and I will call on the name of the Lord; and the God who answers
by fire, He is God.” So, all the people
answered and said, “It is well spoken.” Now Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, “Choose one bull for
yourselves and prepare it first, for you are many;
and call on the name of your god, but put no fire under it.”
And so it was, at noon, that Elijah mocked them and said,
“Cry aloud, for he is a god; either he is meditating, or he is
busy, or he is on a journey, or perhaps he is sleeping and must be
awakened.” 1 Kings 18:20-26
3) Isaiah confronted King Hezekiah.
Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Hear the word of
the Lord: ‘Behold, the days are coming when all that is in
your house, and what your fathers have accumulated until this day, shall
be carried to Babylon; nothing shall be left,’ says
the Lord. ‘And they shall take away some of your sons who
will descend from you, whom you will beget; and they shall
be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.’” 2 Kings 20:16-18
4) Jonah confronted the Assyrian Empire.
Now the word of the Lord came to
Jonah the second time, saying, “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and
preach to it the message that I tell you.” So, Jonah arose and went to
Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly
great city, a three-day journey in extent. And Jonah began to
enter the city on the first day’s walk. Then he cried out and said, “Yet
forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!” Jonah 3:1-4
5) Nehemiah confronted the rulers of Judah.
And I became very angry when I heard their
outcry and these words. After serious thought, I rebuked the nobles and
rulers, and said to them, “Each of you is exacting usury from his
brother.” So, I called a great assembly against them. And I said to
them, “According to our ability we have redeemed our Jewish brethren who
were sold to the nations. Now indeed, will you even sell your brethren? Or
should they be sold to us?” Then they were silenced and found nothing to
say. Nehemiah 5:6-8
6) John the Baptist confronts Jewish religious
and secular leaders.
But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his
baptism, he said to them, “Brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the
wrath to come? Therefore, bear fruits worthy of repentance, and do
not think to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’
For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these
stones. And even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees. Therefore,
every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”
Matthew 3:7-10
7) Jesus Christ confronts Jewish religious leaders.
“But woe
to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut up the kingdom of
heaven against men; for you neither go in yourselves, nor do
you allow those who are entering to go in. Woe to you, scribes and
Pharisees, hypocrites! For you devour widows’ houses, and for a pretense
make long prayers. Therefore, you will receive greater condemnation. Woe to
you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel land and sea to win one
proselyte, and when he is won, you make him twice as much a son of hell as
yourselves. Woe to you, blind guides, who say, ‘Whoever swears by the
temple, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gold of the temple, he is
obliged to perform it.’ Fools and blind! For which is greater,
the gold or the temple that sanctifies the gold? And, ‘Whoever
swears by the altar, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gift that is on
it, he is obliged to perform it.’ Fools and blind! For which
is greater, the gift or the altar that sanctifies the gift? Therefore,
he who swears by the altar, swears by it and by all things on it. He
who swears by the temple, swears by it and by Him who dwells in it. And
he who swears by heaven, swears by the throne of God and by Him who sits
on it. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe of
mint and anise and cummin, and have neglected
the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith.
These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone. Blind
guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel! Woe to you, scribes and
Pharisees, hypocrites! For you cleanse the outside of the cup and dish,
but inside they are full of extortion and self-indulgence. Blind
Pharisee, first cleanse the inside of the cup and dish, that the outside of
them may be clean also. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For
you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but
inside are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness. Even
so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of
hypocrisy and lawlessness. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!
Because you build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the monuments
of the righteous, and say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we
would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.’ Therefore,
you are witnesses against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered
the prophets. Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers’ guilt. Serpents,
brood of vipers! How can you escape the condemnation of hell? Therefore,
indeed, I send you prophets, wise men, and scribes: some of
them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will
scourge in your synagogues and persecute from city to city, that on you
may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of
righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, son of Berechiah,
whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. Assuredly, I say to
you, all these things will come upon this generation. Matthew 23:13-36
New Covenant Examples
1) Peter confronted Jews at Pentecost.
“Therefore, let all the house of Israel know
assuredly that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and
Christ.” Acts 2:36
2) Paul confronted Peter for being partial.
Now when Peter had come to Antioch, I withstood
him to his face, because he was to be blamed; for before certain men came from
James, he would eat with the Gentiles; but when they came, he withdrew and
separated himself, fearing those who were of the circumcision. Galatians
2:11-12
3) Paul confronted the false prophet Bar-Jesus.
Now when they had gone through the island to Paphos, they found a certain sorcerer, a false
prophet, a Jew whose name was Bar-Jesus, who was with the
proconsul, Sergius Paulus, an intelligent man. This
man called for Barnabas and Saul and sought to hear the word of God. But Elymas the sorcerer (for so his name is translated) withstood
them, seeking to turn the proconsul away from the faith. Then Saul, who
also is called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked
intently at him and said, “O full of all deceit and all fraud, you son
of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, will you not
cease perverting the straight ways of the Lord? And now, indeed, the
hand of the Lord is upon you, and you shall be blind, not
seeing the sun for a time.” And immediately a dark mist fell on him, and he
went around seeking someone to lead him by the hand. Then the proconsul
believed, when he saw what had been done, being astonished at the teaching of
the Lord. Acts 13:6-12
4) Paul challenged Timothy who was the pastor
at Ephesus.
Those who are sinning rebuke in the presence of
all, that the rest also may fear. I charge you before God and the Lord Jesus
Christ and the elect angels that you observe these things without prejudice,
doing nothing with partiality. 1 Timothy 5:20-21
5) Paul warned Timothy about anti-Christian
Alexander.
Alexander the coppersmith did me much harm. May
the Lord repay him according to his works. You also must beware of him,
for he has greatly resisted our words. 2 Timothy 4:14-15
6) Paul challenged Titus to confront false
teachers.
For there are many insubordinate,
both idle talkers and deceivers, especially those of the
circumcision, whose mouths must be stopped, who subvert whole households,
teaching things which they ought not, for the sake of dishonest
gain. One of them, a prophet of their own, said,
“Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons.” This
testimony is true. Therefore, rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound
in the faith, not giving heed to Jewish fables and commandments of men who
turn from the truth. Titus 1:10-14
7) John reminds Gaius about heretic Diotrephes.
I wrote to the church, but Diotrephes, who
loves to have the preeminence among them, does not receive us. Therefore,
if I come, I will call to mind his deeds which he
does, prating against us with malicious words. And not content with
that, he himself does not receive the brethren, and forbids those who wish to,
putting them out of the church. 3 John 1:9-10
8) Paul and Jesus Christ confronts the
church at Ephesus.
“Therefore, take heed to yourselves and to all
the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the
church of God which He purchased with His own blood. For I know this, that
after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock.
Also, from among yourselves men will rise up, speaking perverse things, to draw
away the disciples after themselves.” Acts 20:28-30
“Nevertheless, I have this against you, that you
have left your first love. Remember therefore from where you have fallen;
repent and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and
remove your lampstand from its place—unless you repent.” Revelation 2:4-5
9) Jesus Christ confronts the church at Pergamos.
“But I have a few things against you, because you have there those who hold the doctrine of Balaam, who
taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the
children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols, and to commit
sexual immorality. Thus, you also have those who hold the doctrine of the
Nicolaitans, which thing I hate. Repent, or else I will come to you
quickly and will fight against them with the sword of My mouth.”
Revelation 2:14-16
10) Jesus Christ confronts the church at
Thyatira.
“Nevertheless, I have a few things against you, because you
allow that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, to
teach and seduce My servants to commit sexual immorality and eat things
sacrificed to idols. And I gave her time to repent of her sexual
immorality, and she did not repent. Indeed, I will cast her into a
sickbed, and those who commit adultery with her into great tribulation, unless
they repent of their deeds. I will kill her children with death, and
all the churches shall know that I am He who searches the minds and
hearts. And I will give to each one of you according to your works.” Revelation
2:20-23
11) Jesus Christ confronts the church at Sardis.
“These things says He who has the
seven Spirits of God and the seven stars: ‘I know your works, that you have a
name that you are alive, but you are dead. Be watchful, and strengthen the
things which remain, that are ready to die, for I have not found your works
perfect before God. Remember therefore how you have received
and heard; hold fast and repent. Therefore, if you will not watch, I
will come upon you as a thief, and you will not know what hour I will come
upon you.’” Revelation 3:1-3
12) Jesus Christ confronts the church at Laodicea.
“I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could
wish you were cold or hot. So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold
nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth. Because you say, ‘I am
rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing’—and do not know that you
are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked— I counsel you to buy
from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich; and white
garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your
nakedness may not be revealed; and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you
may see. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore, be zealous
and repent.” Revelation 3:15-19
Purpose
for confrontation: Beloved, while I was
very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it
necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith
which was once for all delivered to the saints. For certain men have crept
in unnoticed, who long ago were marked out for this condemnation, ungodly men,
who turn the grace of our God into lewdness and deny the only Lord God and
our Lord Jesus Christ. Jude 1:3-4