What can ordinary people do about sinful religious leaders (Zephaniah 3:4)?
Answered from the commentary of William Kelly, C. H. Mackintosh, For the Young and 8 others
Ordinary people can test a religious leader’s teaching and way of life by God’s word, and follow only so far as the leader follows Christ; when obedience to a leader would mean disobeying God, they must obey God rather than men. A false teacher who rejects the word or the truth of Christ should not be followed, and his teaching should be refused. When a leader’s fault can be addressed, speak to the person directly, with meekness, and pray rather than gossip; if the evil affects the assembly, the saints should seek God’s wisdom and act together to judge it. If the evil persists, some passages call for withdrawing from it or refusing its fellowship, while others warn against rash separation or independent counteraction, urging patient, collective correction. The passages therefore agree on obedience to God’s word, but differ on when persistent corruption requires separation. Zephaniah’s charge against corrupt leaders is Zephaniah 3:4.
Verses: Zephaniah 3:4, Ezekiel 34:2, Ezekiel 34:3, Ezekiel 34:4, Ezekiel 34:5, Ezekiel 34:6, Ezekiel 34:7, Ezekiel 34:8, Ezekiel 34:9, Ezekiel 34:10, Jeremiah 23:1, Jeremiah 23:2, Jeremiah 23:3, Jeremiah 23:4, Matthew 23:1, Matthew 23:2, Matthew 23:3, Matthew 23:4, Matthew 23:5, Matthew 23:6, Matthew 23:7, Matthew 23:8, Matthew 23:9, Matthew 23:10, Matthew 23:11, Matthew 23:12, Matthew 23:23, Matthew 23:24, Matthew 23:25, Matthew 23:26, Matthew 23:27, Matthew 23:28, Matthew 18:15, Matthew 18:16, Matthew 18:17, 1 Timothy 5:19, 1 Timothy 5:20, Acts 5:29, Galatians 2:11, Galatians 2:12, Galatians 2:13, Galatians 2:14, 2 Timothy 3:1, 2 Timothy 3:2, 2 Timothy 3:3, 2 Timothy 3:4, 2 Timothy 3:5, 2 John 1:10, 2 John 1:11
The above is AI generated summary based on the writers below.
What the commentators say
The passages the answer is drawn from, the most direct first, with the words that bear on the question marked.
That is God's call, "Depart!"-- get away from them; do not touch their books; do not buy their literature; do not support their institutions; do not pay the preacher's salary if he does not preach the truth. If you do, the Lord is going to hold you responsible for them.
But there is a direction addressed to our responsibility also. "Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity." If a godly man thinks it iniquity to say that a person has received the Holy Ghost, perhaps from an unconverted man, so as to have the power of forgiving sins, and such like - if his conscience tells him it is iniquity to establish crowds of unconverted men who hate the gospel, as ministers of God in parishes, what is he to do? Mr. Innes may call it breaking up the Church, but the word of God commands him to depart from iniquity.
If Christ is not the centre of their teaching, but rather some religious fad, or if they demand your subjection to the teaching of some man or woman who assumes the place of prophet, or to some new revelation which somebody professes to have received, you may safely turn from them. If tested they prove to be but liars (see Rev. 2:2).
Therefore if any plausible individual presses upon you, by literature or by word of mouth, any teachings which undermine or are inconsistent with these great foundation truths on which you have rested your soul, he is a deceiver. Fall back upon your safeguard and, without the least hesitation, reject his teachings.
If they come to you with doctrines that cut athwart the simple gospel you have received, belittling the death and resurrection of Jesus, refuse and avoid them. They are false (see Gal. 1:6-8).
Do you need anything further to tell you whether or no you should lend an ear to that speaker? You do not. You may safely label him "NOT OF GOD"; and then leave him severely alone.
We are not to despise prophesyings, nor are we to receive everything that presents itself, even if professedly given by the Spirit, but to "prove all things," and "hold fast that which is good" (1 Thess. 5:20-21). If the truth ministered is proved by Scripture, and held in faith with God, we shall not waver in our convictions with every wind of doctrine. As J. N. D. has remarked, "One is not ever learning the truth of that which we have learnt with God." Again he has remarked, "If I do not believe the Word till it be sanctioned by someone else, I do not believe it at all; it is the sanction I believe." When, however, the teacher is exalted into a false position, and we accept what he says because he says it, without putting it to the test of the Word, we are in danger of being led into perversions of the truth, and losing the truth we once professed to hold.
If we find ourselves in a position where we feel morally bound to raise our voices, let us pray earnestly that we may be able to do it in a way similar to Paul. "When I saw … I said to Peter …" Our tendency always is to launch our complaints into the ear of someone other than the culprit himself. Notice, for instance, in Mark 2, that when the Pharisees object to the action of Jesus they complain to His disciples (ver. 16), and when to the action of His disciples, they complain to the Lord (vers. 23, 24). We shall do well to make it a rule, when remonstrance is needed, to make our remonstrance directly to the person concerned, rather than behind his back.
In Galatians 6:1 we read of how to react in such a case: 'Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted.' (Compare also with Matt. 18:15-18)
If it be a question of individual failure, the proper course is to go and speak tenderly and faithfully to the person himself. But this needs much grace and self-subjugation. Serious mischief may be done by approaching a failing or erring brother in a harsh, legal, knock-me-down spirit. If there be not moral power to act graciously in such a case, it is better to go and tell the Lord about it. So also as to what transpires in the assembly, if half the time spent in murmuring and complaining about this, that and the other, were spent in earnest prayer and loving intercession, how very different we should find it! We doubt not but that in very many cases, the deadness and lack of power complained of are caused by the wrong state of soul of the persons who complain.
Verses
- Zephaniah 3:4Her prophets are vain-glorious, treacherous persons; her priests profane the sanctuary, they do violence to the law.
- Ezekiel 34:2–102Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel, prophesy; and say unto them, unto the shepherds, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah Woe to the shepherds of Israel that feed themselves! Should not the shepherds feed the flock? 3Ye eat the fat, and ye clothe you with the wool; ye kill them that are fattened [but] ye feed not the flock. 4The weak have ye not strengthened, nor have ye healed the sick, and ye have not bound up [what was] broken, neither have ye brought again that which was driven away, neither have ye sought for that which was lost; but with harshness and with rigour have ye ruled over them. 5And they were scattered because there was no shepherd; and they became meat to all the beasts of the field, and were scattered. 6My sheep wandered through all the mountains, and upon every high hill, and my sheep have been scattered upon all the face of the earth, and there was none that searched, or that sought for them. 7Therefore, ye shepherds, hear the word of Jehovah 8[As] I live, saith the Lord Jehovah, verily because my sheep have been a prey, and my sheep have been meat to every beast of the field, because there was no shepherd, and my shepherds searched not for my flock, but the shepherds fed themselves, and fed not my flock, 9therefore, ye shepherds, hear the word of Jehovah. 10Thus saith the Lord Jehovah Behold, I am against the shepherds; and I will require my sheep at their hand, and cause them to cease from feeding the flock that the shepherds may feed themselves no more; and I will deliver my sheep from their mouth, that they may not be food for them.