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While we often think of Paul as a great orator for the fundamental doctrines of the faith, in fact most of the speeches given by Paul as recorded in the book of Acts revolved around or touched on a single topic.

Heresy.

The Apostle Paul’s first recorded words at the beginning of his ministry were not about Jesus, but a rebuke to a man who misappropriated the name of Jesus for his own purposes. The man was called “Bar-Jesus” in Acts 13:4-12 which literally means, “Son of Jesus.” Paul confronted this man’s heresy in front of many witnesses saying, “Will you not stop making crooked the straight paths of the Lord?” (13:10)

What makes this remarkable is that Luke, the author of the book, could have chosen to write out one of Paul’s many messages about the Messiahship of Jesus, or many proofs from the Old Testament of His identity. Instead, Luke chose Paul’s first recorded words in ministry to be a rebuke of a false teacher.

In this period of Paul’s ministry the church was less than 20 years old. Though most of the Apostles were still alive at this time, many in the church embraced various forms of aberrational or heretical teaching. Much of the New Testament is actually a defense against various heresies including Jewish legalism, antinomianism, and the appropriating of Christianity, or Jesus’ name, into aberrational religious teaching. In fact, in the 11 recorded speeches of Paul in the book of Acts, six of them warn about heresy or teachers who will turn people away from Christ and to themselves, or he is forced to deal with idol worship (13:4-12, 14:8-18, 15:1-29, 16:16-19, 17:22-24, 20:17-36).

When reading Paul’s writings in the New Testament the theme of heresy arises time and again. Paul’s fight against early church heresy was a vigorous and a necessary one. Paul saw early on in his ministry the need for a young church, unfamiliar with the history of the Old Testament, to be brought into a full understanding of the Divine nature, Jesus’ exclusivity, and the holiness of a righteous and loving God. To combat against the aberrations or heresies in the young church, Paul focused on two types of heresy:

  1. The misuse of the name and reputation of Jesus for the purpose of advancing false religion or material gain, and
  2. False teaching that draws believers away from devotion to Christ and instead draws men to themselves.

That the author of the book of Acts places such an emphasis on Paul’s fight against heresy should not be brushed aside quickly.