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. (1Timothy 4:1)
We are living in a post-Christian world, consumed by the philosophy of humanism that influences the thinking and pursuits of modern man. Francis Schaeffer defined humanism as a system where man attempts to acquire the knowledge, meaning and values in his life by “having only Man as their integration point.”1
In other words, humanism disregards the God of the universe. It is a godless philosophy of life, characterized by the repudiation of Scripture, God’s revelation to mankind, providing absolute meaning, purpose and value to life. This viewpoint of life has affected the thinking in every sector of our culture: world leaders, civic leaders, business leaders, public school administrators and families. Sadly, it has also subverted the visible church: leaders of denominations, seminary professors, pastors and even the individual sitting in the pew. The focus of this study contemplates this infiltration of humanism within the Church of Jesus Christ.
Making The Case
The departure from the doctrines of inspiration of Scripture, the authority of Scripture and true spirituality is evidence of how many denominations that claim to be representatives of Christianity have embraced the humanistic values established by the culture. This can be substantiated by their rejection and compromise of Biblical truth, condoning degenerate sexual perversions such as homosexuality, lesbianism, transgenderism, transsexualism, gay marriage and openly gay ministers.
This is not the only time that God’s people have fallen away from the faith. In the Age of Israel, Jeremiah spoke of disastrous problems having overtaken his nation. Note the prophets’ expression of grief:
We have transgressed and rebelled, and you have not forgiven. You have wrapped yourself with anger and pursued us, killing without pity; you have wrapped yourself with a cloud so that no prayer can pass through. You have made us scum and garbage among the peoples. All our enemies open their mouths against us; panic and pitfall have come upon us, devastation and destruction; my eyes flow with rivers of tears because of the destruction of the daughter of my people. (Lamentations 3:42–48 ESV)
This lament of Jeremiah’s describes the fall of Jerusalem in 586 b.c. Israel at that time was God’s representative nation to the world, just as the United States has been for two centuries. Israel had rebelled against God, just as a large segment of the Christian community in our country. As God warned Israel and executed His judgment upon them, the warning to Christians today comes from the relentless harassment of the political left.
Schaeffer describes the falling away from the faith as apostasy and explains:
The book of Jeremiah and the book of Lamentations show how God looks at a culture which knew Him and deliberately turned away. But this is not just the character of Jeremiah’s day of apostasy. It’s my day. It’s your day. If we are going to help our own generation, our perspective must be that of Jeremiah, the weeping prophet…who in the midst of his tears spoke without mitigating his message of judgment to a people who had had so much and yet turned away.2
This apostasy or falling away is what the apostle Paul had wrote to the Thessalonians, that the Day of the Lord, the end times, “will not come unless the apostasy comes first” (2 Thessalonians 2:33). The Greek word translated apostasy4 appears only twice in the New Testament, here and in Acts 21:21, where in most English versions it is translated forsake. In a religious sense, the word has the meaning of abandonment5 or defection.6 Other modern English versions render the word as rebellion7 or falling away.8
The apostle Paul’s usage of this word refers specifically to religious apostasy — the falling away from the faith. C.I. Scofield notes that “Apostates depart from the faith, but not from the outward profession of Christianity (2 Tim. 3:5).”9 For here the word faith refers to: “That which is believed, body of faith or belief, doctrine.”10 This is explained precisely by Thomas Constable:
This is a revolt, a departure, an abandoning of a position once held. This rebellion, which will take place within the professing church, will be a departure from the truth that God has revealed in His Word...a specific distinguishable apostasy that will come in the future.11
The religious apostasy prevalent in Christianity today does not necessarily suggest that the Day of the Lord is at hand, since the Christian church has been beset by apostasy almost from its inception. This is corroborated by the historical evidence of the early Church of Rome’s persistent departure from Scripture which instigated the Protestant Reformation. But just because the apostasy of this day may not be a signal for the end times, it doesn’t mean we should remain idle and do nothing.
Our Directive
Christians have a two-fold responsibility: first, on a personal level, we are to continue to advance in our knowledge of doctrine; by acknowledging the authority of Scripture and utilizing the literal principle of interpretation. And above all, being mindful that:
All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work. (2 Timothy 3:16–17)
Secondly, we must boldly speak out against all present day false teachings that distort the absolute truth of God’s Word. Jude advises us to “contend earnestly12 for the faith which was once for all handed down to the saints” (Jude 3).
But what does it mean to contend? The Greek word Jude employs is only found here in the New Testament and means to fight for or in reference to something.13 Richard Lenski’s observation is insightful:
Jude states it in a positive form: “to keep earnestly contending for the faith,” and not negatively: “against the heresies or heretics.” The negative is implied, for one contends for something when there are antagonists.14
Jude stated that we must contend with ungodly persons:
For certain persons have crept in unnoticed, those who were long beforehand marked out for this condemnation, ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ. (Jude 4)
We need to call them out for what they are: apostates. They can be identified as those today who are infiltrating local churches and denominations with their false teachings that promote and condone the godless perspective of a culture inundated by secular humanism. In so doing they deny the truth — for the truth is Jesus Christ (John 14:6), “our only Master and Lord” (Jude 4).
The Appeal
If the United States of America is to maintain its status as God’s representative nation to the world, there must be an awakening within the Body of Christ; a unified return of teaching the foundational doctrines of the Christian faith and an earnest contending for the faith, by exposing apostasy and ceasing to condone the deviant values of today’s humanistic culture. We have been instructed not to be friends with the world — this culture. That is defined by James as spiritual adultery:
You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. (James 4:4)
Thus, until the Church of Jesus Christ is no longer seeking friendship with the morally decadent world, only then will the truth of God's Word have its intended impact upon our culture.
[1] Francis A. Schaeffer, The Complete Works of Francis A. Schaeffer, (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 1982) 1.9.
[2] Schaeffer, 4.213
[3] As translated in the New American Standard Bible and the Catholic New American Bible.
[4] The Greek word ἀποστασία comes from the verb aphístēmi meaning to depart, fall away (1 Tim. 4:1).
[5] William Arndt et al., “ἀποστασία” In A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1979), 98.
[6] H.G. Liddell, A Lexicon: Abridged from Liddell and Scott’s Greek-English Lexicon (Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 1996), 107.
[7] English Standard Version, New International Version and New Revised Standard Version
[8] King James Version and the New King James Version
[9] C. I. Scofield, ed., The Scofield Reference Bible: The Holy Bible Containing the Old and New Testaments (New York; London; Toronto; Melbourne; Bombay: Oxford University Press, 1917), 1281.
[10] William Arndt et al., 669 §3.
[11] Thomas L. Constable, (1985). In The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures, J. F. Walvoord & R. B. Zuck, Eds., (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1985), 2.718.
[12] “The word speaks of a vigorous, intense, determined struggle to defeat the opposition.” Kenneth S. Wuest, Wuest’s Word Studies from the Greek New Testament, (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1997), 16.235.
[13] Spiros Zodhiates, The Complete Word Study Dictionary. (Chattanooga, TN: AMG Publishers, 2000), G1864.
[14] R.C.H. Lenski, Commentary on the New Testament, (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 2001), 11.610.
© 2026 David M. Rossi
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