shoot the wolves

Many of you may remember Mark Driscoll’s talk at the Desiring God National Conference this year. Item number three in that message is that we have a responsibility to shoot the wolves. As I mentioned here, shooting the wolves means to publicly call out false teachers before they have a chance to harm the flock. Their error must be exposed and publicized to prevent as much damage as can be prevented.

I love the way Mark puts it after quoting extensively from Matthew 23:

Jesus shoots the wolves. Some of you get very frustrated because you want to be treated like sheep, but the problem is you are acting like wolves. We are supposed to love the sheep and shoot the wolves because we love the sheep.

Here is a particular instance of a brave christian leader accepting his responsibility to shoot the wolves.

Thank you Adrian for refusing to accept the invitation to let bygones be bygones on such a foundational matter as Penal Substitutionary Atonement. I know that you know, but let me affirm that you are quite correct that without this pillar there is no gospel.

I love the whole post, but the tone is evident in this bit:

The truth is, there could scarcely be a more important subject. On the one side are people like Steve Chalke who genuinely believe that many evangelicals today are teaching a barbaric pre-Christian lie that is destroying the Church’s witness. On the other hand are those of us who believe that if we were to deny that Jesus took the punishment that was due us for our sin, turning aside the wrath of God by bearing it in himself, quite simply there would be no gospel left.

I can’t see how people who really believe either of those two positions can just agree to disagree and work together as fellow evangelicals. One group must be wrong. Whichever group is right are also clearly quite correct to be very concerned about the opposite group who are, by their false teaching, distorting the gospel and preventing people from coming to a true knowledge of what Jesus has done for them. There are some issues on which we can compromise. This is not one of them.