How can you tell if the teaching in your church is true and on target? One way you can do this is to look at its effects, or the fruit that it is producing.
Paul tells Timothy in his first letter that the results of teaching truth and error differ widely. Error, he says, leads to controversy and useless speculation (1 Timothy 1:4). At least, that was what was happening in Ephesus. The false doctrines of men devoted to myths and endless genealogies, were creating quarrels among people. Their speculations were producing uncertainty, and this was resulting in instability and division.
By contrast, the apostle continues, true gospel preaching produces faith and love (vv. 4,5). It nurtures faith because it brings a sure word from God that can be trusted. It exposes people to truth, not to speculation. And as a result, they grow in confidence and trust, and this in turn produces lives overflowing with love.
What a difference between the two outcomes: speculation and controversy on the one hand, and faith and love on the other. As Stott puts it, Paul here paints a "double contrast" for us, a contrast "between speculation and faith in God's revelation, and between controversy and love for one another" (p. 46). In effect, he says, we have here two practical tests for teaching. "The first is the test of faith: does it come from God, being in agreement with apostolic doctrine (so that it may be received by faith), or is it the product of a fertile human imagination? The second is a test of love: does it promote unity in the body of Christ, or if not (since truth can divide), is it irresponsibly divisive?" (p. 46).
Can we apply these tests to teaching in our own churches? Indeed we can. We can look and see if what is being taught is helping people grow in their grasp of the faith and knowledge of the Son of God (Ephesians 4:13). If it is, they will be trusting God more completely, resting in Christ more fully, witnessing more avidly and looking more earnestly for the return of the Lord Jesus at the end of the age. But if not - if our teaching has somehow got off centre or slipped into error - then the results will be different. People will be unsettled, argumentative, fearful and doubting. They won't know whether to believe what they hear or not. Parties will develop, people will leave and eventually schisms will occur. Instead of people loving one another deeply from the heart (1 Pet. 1:22), they will begin to suspect one another and draw back from each other.
These things are sure to happen when blatant error is introduced (teach, for example, that there are four Persons in the Trinity and see how people react). But they will also happen when more subtle forms of error arise. Over-emphasis, imbalance, and the neglect of complementary truths are all forms of error. So too is the insistence of a particular interpretation of an obscure point. Promote any of these forms of error and the results will fail both the faith test and the love test. Just let a preacher insist, for example, that the ten horns of Mystery Babylon in Revelation 17:3 can only refer to ten nations in the European Community and you will see controversy and disunity erupt.
Truth is important. It needs to be guarded and error exposed. But how can we recognize it? The faith test and the love test will help us.