{"id":96356,"date":"2026-06-30T13:54:10","date_gmt":"2026-06-30T18:54:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/?p=96356"},"modified":"2026-06-30T13:54:10","modified_gmt":"2026-06-30T18:54:10","slug":"the-falling-away","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-falling-away\/","title":{"rendered":"The Falling Away"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\t<p>by Hugh DeLong<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;<em>But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons, by means of the hypocrisy of liars seared in their own conscience as with a branding iron<\/em>&#8221; (I Timothy 4:1-2).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Paul&#8217;s warning is based upon the fact that &#8220;<em>The Spirit explicitly says<\/em>&#8221; (or the Spirit speaks explicitly) &#8211; this is God&#8217;s message to disciples. It not only could happen, but it <b>would <\/b>(and did) happen. <b>Who <\/b>and <strong>what<\/strong>\u00a0happened?<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Who? &#8211;\u00a0 &#8216;some&#8217; &#8211; that is, <strong>disciples<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>What? &#8211; fell away.<\/li>\n<li>From what? &#8211; <strong>the <\/strong>faith.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>These disciples did not become atheists; they just began listening to a different authority! They remained religious, but their religion was based on different teachings.<\/p>\n<p>Throughout these letters, Paul has spoken of &#8220;<em>sound doctrine.<\/em>&#8221; &#8216;Sound&#8217; means that which is healthy &#8211; healthy for one&#8217;s soul and relationship with God. Sound teaching (I Timothy 1:10; II Timothy 4:3; Titus 1:9; 2:1); Sound words (Titus 1:13; 2:2, 8).<\/p>\n<p>There is in these phrases a meaning of a norm or standard of teaching. <b>That <\/b>is from Paul (and hence from apostolic teaching revealed through the apostles and prophets). Note again what Paul wrote:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;<em>O Timothy, guard what has been entrusted to you, avoiding worldly and empty chatter and the opposing arguments of what is falsely called &#8216;knowledge&#8217;<\/em>&#8221; (I Timothy 6:20).<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;<em>Retain the standard of sound words which you have heard from me, in the faith and love which are in Christ Jesus<\/em>. <em>Guard, through the Holy Spirit who dwells in us, the treasure which has been entrusted to you<\/em>&#8221; (II Timothy 1:13-14).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Now it is <strong>your turn<\/strong>! What teaching are you guarding and retaining? From what source did you learn it?<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>by Hugh DeLong &#8220;But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons, by means of the hypocrisy of liars seared in their own conscience as with a branding iron&#8221; (I Timothy 4:1-2). Paul&#8217;s warning is based upon the fact&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27],"tags":[617],"class_list":["post-96356","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-apostasy"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":91008,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/truth\/","url_meta":{"origin":96356,"position":0},"title":"Truth","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 3, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Zeke Flores There it stands in all its unvarnished, audacious boldness. It dares us to grasp it, to apprehend and understand it, to obey it. Truth tells us what we don't want to hear (turn from sin!) and urges us to do what we don't want to do (be\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Article&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":9036,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-did-jesus-ignore-the-canaanite-woman\/","url_meta":{"origin":96356,"position":1},"title":"Why did Jesus ignore the Canaanite woman?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 17, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: In reference to Matthew 15:22-28, this passage talks about a woman who approaches Jesus asking for help for her daughter. It appears from what she says that she was quite aware of who He was by referring to Him as the Son of David. My question - Why did\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":91668,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-brothers-of-jesus-did-not-believe\/","url_meta":{"origin":96356,"position":2},"title":"The Brothers of Jesus Did Not Believe","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 30, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Hugh DeLong This title is open to some misunderstanding - at the time that this interaction took place, they did not believe. We are not explicitly told why, but from the context, several things are possible. This one is recognized as a 'first class' conditional sentence which, from the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Article&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":96031,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-to-handle-romans-14\/","url_meta":{"origin":96356,"position":3},"title":"How to Handle Romans 14","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 10, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"by Hugh DeLong In studying this chapter, the tendency\u00a0that appears to me is to drag\u00a0all\u00a0disagreements among\u00a0disciples into this context, including things specifically condemned by the scriptures. Yet, there are plain declarations in other scriptures that put boundaries on our understanding of the limits, at least some of them, on the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Article&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":26534,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/works-of-the-flesh-things-like-these\/","url_meta":{"origin":96356,"position":4},"title":"Works of the Flesh: &#8220;Things Like These&#8221;","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 19, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"by Ethan R. Longhenry Having warned them regarding the danger of apostasy in committing themselves to the Law of Moses (cf. Galatians 1:1-5:16), the Apostle Paul reminded the Galatian Christians regarding the conflict between the desires of the flesh and the ways of God in the Spirit and exhorted the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Article&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":85757,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/were-the-apostles-in-full-agreement-on-all-doctrine\/","url_meta":{"origin":96356,"position":5},"title":"Were the apostles in full agreement on all doctrine?\u00a0","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 19, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Were the apostles in full agreement on all doctrines?\u00a0 Answer: \"Doctrine\" means teachings. Jesus told his apostles, \"But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak;\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96356","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=96356"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96356\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=96356"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=96356"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=96356"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}