Heretics in Christian history
The word "heresy" is closely associated with the idea of "schism," breaking off from the church, and theologians have made a distinction between "formal" and "material" heresy. Formal heresy is a stubborn denial of vital Christian doctrine—those who have heard the truth and then rejected it. Material heresy is what happens when a person embraces a false doctrine out of ignorance. One of the ways we combat material heresy is through education, knowing the Scriptures and the history of Christian doctrine.
Let's examine nine of the most notorious heretics in Christian history.
1. Simon Magus
In Acts chapter 8, Simon the Magician was the guy who wanted to purchase the power of the Holy Spirit from the apostles. He saw them performing miracles and essentially wanted to buy the ability to impart the Holy Spirit to whoever he laid his hands on. The early Christian apologist Irenaeus says that after Simon was rebuked by the apostles, he grew more and more full of himself and taught others that he was the loftiest of all powers. Irenaeus didn't just see Simon as a heretic but as the father of heretics. Many saw him also as the originator of Gnosticism, from the Greek word "gnosis," which was a second- and third-century aberration of Christian doctrine. Gnosticism was often characterized by a spirit-matter dualism—spirit is good, matter is bad—together with a focus on secret knowledge imparted only to a select few, the “spiritual ones.”
Many of the heretics in this list have Gnostic tendencies, and you can't talk about early Christian heresy without bringing up Gnosticism.
2. Marcion of Pontus
Marcion had been excommunicated by the church in Rome, and he founded his own sect around 144 AD, setting the law (i.e., the Old Testament) in full opposition to the gospel (i.e., the New Testament). Marcion subsequently rejected the Old Testament and was thus deemed a heretic. He is another one of those fountainheads of Gnosticism, adopting a radical duality between flesh and spirit. Marcion didn't like the physical body or sex or childbirth even, and these were all a part of the “lower” and “less spiritual” world that we're trying to break free from.
3. The Phrygian prophet Montanus
In the middle of the second century between 135 and 175 AD, Montanism was a charismatic, moralistic, and apocalyptic sect that broke from the Christian church, in part because its adherents didn't think the Christian church was rigorous or holy enough. Montanus claimed that Jesus's promise about the coming helper or the Paraclete referred to him. He had signs and wonders and visions. As time progressed, Montanism got more and more strange. There were reports of people being baptized in the name of the Father and of the Son and Lord Montanus, making it clear that as time went on, Montanism fell into Trinitarian heresy.
4. Sabellius
Sabellius is a heretic out of Rome in the early third century. He was excommunicated by Callixtus, the bishop of Rome, for the heresy of modalism, which teaches that the terms “Father” and “Son” don't refer to real distinctions in the godhead—the Father and the Son are really the same person. It emphasizes the oneness of God while undermining the clear and biblical differentiation between the persons of the Holy Trinity.
This kind of thinking often led to another heresy called patripassianism, the belief that the Father underwent the same suffering that the Son experienced throughout his life and especially on the cross.
5. Arius
Arius, an Alexandrian priest, died sometime around 336 AD. He taught that the Son, Jesus, was divine with a lowercase d. Arius appealed to various Bible passages, such as Proverbs 8, which speaks of the creation of wisdom, and gospel texts where Jesus said the Father was greater than he was, to argue that the Son was the first created being of the Father through whom the Father fashioned the universe. This meant that the Son wasn't eternal but that he had a beginning.
But the Arians couldn't escape the fact that the entire church worshiped Jesus. They were left with a theology that subordinated Jesus to the Father even while having to affirm the universal practice of the church to worship Jesus as equal with God. The modern-day Jehovah's Witness cult has basically tried to revive Arius's teaching, but it stands condemned definitively by the teaching of Scripture and also explicitly at the First Council of Nicaea in 325 AD.
6. Donatus
Donatus was the fourth-century founder of a North African sect that, like the Montanists, was concerned with the ethical purity of the church. Donatism was the belief that the grace that God gave the church through the sacraments was jeopardized by the holiness, or rather the lack of holiness, of the person administering those sacred ordinances.
This resulted in the Donatists separating themselves from the church and claiming that they were the true church because they were holier than everyone else. At the heart of the problem with the Donatist belief was that it made the grace of God dependent upon man rather than upon God's word and promise. They put too much of an emphasis on man and not enough of an emphasis on God's objective promises in the sacraments.
7. Apollinaris
Apollinaris of Laodicea lived from 310 to 390 AD. He was actually an opponent of Arius, but in seeking to defend the deity of Christ, he swung too far in the other direction. He taught that in the incarnation, the Word took a human body, but not a human soul or mind. Rather, the Word or Logos replaced the human spirit animating the flesh of Christ.
If in one sense Arius rejected the full divinity of Christ, Apollinaris rejected the full humanity of Christ, which is what made his error so serious. Remember, the author to the Hebrews said regarding Jesus, "Therefore, he had to be made like his brothers in every respect so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God to make propitiation for the sins of the people." Apollinaris' teaching was condemned at the First Council of Chalcedon in 381.
8. Nestorius
Like Apollinaris, Nestorius had problems with how he articulated the doctrine of Christ, especially with regard to the incarnation. For him, Mary gave birth to a man who was sort of a vehicle for divinity. Nestorius' critics argued that he verged on splitting the God-Man, Jesus, into two separate persons, as opposed to one person with two distinct and inseparable natures, divine and human.
Nestorius also didn't want to attribute human suffering to the Word. But in the incarnation, God the Son truly took humanity to himself, so it's proper to say that God the Son suffers and dies in that humanity for our redemption. Nestorius' teaching was condemned by the Council of Ephesus in 431 AD.
9. Pelagius
Condemned by the Council of Ephesus in 431, Pelagius was a British monk who believed it was possible to achieve a kind of sinless perfection without the need for divine grace, and he also rejected the doctrine of original sin. Rather than inheriting Adam's guilt by imputation, Pelagius argued that we fall into Adam's sin by imitating him of our own free will.
St. Augustine was the primary defender of the orthodox view on this point, and he appealed chiefly to Romans 5:12–14. Focusing on the broader context, Augustine argued that all mankind sinned in Adam, resulting in the corruption of our whole nature. This doesn't mean that we're as bad as we could be, but it does mean we can't save ourselves. The gospel isn't “pull yourself up by your bootstraps.” It's the grace of God meeting dead men and women in the gospel of Jesus Christ. Pelagius's theology minimized our need for grace and our need for the gospel, and that's what made it so devastating.
The Bible warns against heretics and false teachers, urging believers to discern, reject, and guard against teachings that deviate from God’s truth.
Key Verses (Heretics in Christian history)
2 Peter 2:1—"They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them—bringing swift destruction on themselves" emphasizes the danger of false teachers who distort the gospel (biblerepository.com).
Galatians 1:8—"But "even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let them be under God’s curse!" warns against accepting any teaching contrary to the true gospel (biblerepository.com).
1 Timothy 6:3—"If "anyone teaches otherwise and does not consent to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which accords with godliness" emphasizes the necessity to adhere to sound doctrine (biblerepository.com).
2 Timothy 4:3—"For "the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers" shows that heretics appeal to personal desires rather than truth (biblerepository.com).
Matthew 7:15—"Beware "of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves" illustrates the deceptive nature of heretics (biblerepository.com).
Titus 1:10—"For "there are many insubordinate, both idle talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision" warns of those who disrupt the faith community (biblerepository.com).
2 Corinthians 11:13—"For "such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ" emphasizes the cunning tactics of heretics (biblerepository.com).
1 Timothy 1:3 says, "Stay there in Ephesus so that you may command certain people not to teach false doctrines any longer." This tells Christians to actively correct false teaching (scripturesavvy.com).
Titus 1:9 – "He must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught, so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it" underscores the responsibility to maintain doctrinal integrity (scripturesavvy.com).
Summary (Heretics in Christian history)
The Bible consistently warns that heretics and false teachers can infiltrate communities, distort the gospel, and lead believers astray. Believers are called to discern truth from error, adhere to sound doctrine, and correct or avoid those who teach contrary to God’s Word. These passages emphasize vigilance, spiritual discernment, and the importance of grounding faith in scripture to protect oneself and the community from deception (biblerepository.com)
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