Jesus told us that there would be wheat and tares growing together, or false and true converts in the church, so why did God allow this?
The Sovereign God
[1]Before we address the question as to why God allows false converts in His church, we must understand that God has a reason for everything. Even if we don’t know the reason, God does, and we must accept that. God does not owe us an explanation. He alone knows at all times, what is good and best for all. So first of all, if God allows something, He has a reason since God is “Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords” (1 Tim 6:15). The Apostle Paul understood that God “works all things according to the counsel of His will” (Eph 1:11), and not man’s, and “all things” includes everything! Nothing is outside the scope of God’s sovereign control of events, time and history. Truly it is “His-story.” It is not man but God alone Who can and does “uproot and tear down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant” (Jer 1:10). No one but God “changes times and seasons; he removes kings and sets up kings” (Dan 2:21). So, God must have a good reason for allowing false converts in the church. In fact, the Book of Hebrews was written to a mixture of saints and the unsaved.
Using Evil for God
Of course, God is not the author of evil, but God can use mankind’s evil for His own good and glory (Gen 50:20). We can see that at the cross. When man was at His worst, God was at His best, using this great evil for great good (John 3:16). If God can use evil for God, then those who are not saved in the church must be there because it is God’s good pleasure. Remember, what God desires and decrees, comes to pass and nothing can stop it, so the church can never be free from false converts, but why?
Cheat and Wheat
I grew up in Kansas (the Wheat State) and have worked on a farm and during wheat harvest, so I’m very familiar with wheat and tares. It’s very difficult at first to tell the difference between the two, but once the wheat starts heading out (called, the “heading stage”), you can clearly tell the difference between the wheat and the tares or what is sometimes called “cheat.” This reminds me of Jesus’ statement that “you will know them by their fruits” (Matt 7:16). The fruit (the wheat headed out) reveals the root (an actual wheat plant). Over time, the cheat is exposed as a fraud, and even though we can’t tell who is saved and who is not for sure, we can see the fruits.
Seeding the Fields
Jesus spoke about false converts in Matthew 13 in the Parable of the Weeds. Our Lord said, “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field” (Matt 13:24), but it was “while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among” (Matt 13:25). Of course, the enemy is Satan. They later noticed that there were weeds coming up along the wheat and asked whether they should be pulled up. First off, this is not really a surprise to the Master (our Lord), so it wasn’t as if He wasn’t expecting it, but the Master said “No, lest in gathering the weeds you root up the wheat along with them” (Matt 13:29). For one thing, they were told to leave it alone. Why? They might make a misjudgment because only God can truly know the human heart and whether someone is truly saved or not. Thus, they are told to leave the weeds alone, lest the tear out the good wheat or what they thought were weeds but were actually wheat! They might uproot the wrong plant, so the Master says, “Gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn” (Matt 13:30). On the Day of Christ’s coming, He will separate the sheep from the goats (Matthew 25:31-46), so it’s not for us to do.
Why God Allows False Converts
[3]God may allow false converts for several reasons, like as a test of our faith. Is it genuine or not. It may be used as a means to refine true believers and what they truly believe. It might also be an opportunity for God to display His ultimate sovereignty and mercy, being patient, in that they might come to repentance and faith. I find the Apostle Paul’s reason for allowing false converts in the church, which of course is really God’s reason since it’s recorded in Scripture. Paul said in 1 Corinthians 11:19 that “there must be factions among you in order that those who are genuine among you may be recognized.” Did you catch that? “There must be…” Perhaps it is so we can recognize the true believers who are “genuine among you” in the church and those who are not genuine, so the church won’t listen to their teachings. So false converts and true saints in the church could be one of the ultimate tests of the church that God gives, separating genuine believers from pretenders and revealing who truly has God’s approval.
Summary
Finally, in Galatians 2:4, 5 the Apostle Paul wrote “that because of false brethren unawares brought in, who came in privily to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage: To whom we gave place by subjection, no, not for an hour; that the truth of the gospel might continue with you.” Notice that Paul says it is so “that the truth of the gospel might continue with you.” He wants them to cling tight to the essentials of the faith (i.e., Eph 2:8-9). God has sovereignly allowed outsiders or the unsaved into the church so that Paul (and the church) can revisit the important doctrines of salvation by grace alone and not by law keeping or presuming on God’s grace and living in sin. Those are the two ditches the church needs to avoid, and false teachers with their false doctrines make true believers restate and defend the faith once delivered to them (Jude 1:3-4). The false placed next to the true makes the true stand out more clearly, so false converts and their false teachings are a sort of litmis test to refine true believers faith, bringing more clarity to the essential doctrines of grace (1 Cor 15:1-5).
Conclusion
I pray you have put your trust in our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. If that has not happened yet, my friend, you are in real danger of hell fire. And I mean, in immediate danger. You’re one breath, one heartbeat…one accident away from eternity when it will be too late to repent. Today is the best day to believe (2 Cor 6:2) since tomorrow is no guarantee. If Jesus Christ came today, here is your fate (Matt 7:21-23). This is why I plead with you as you read this, repent today…and I mean right now. Put your trust in Jesus Christ. If you do not, you will face God’s judgment after death guaranteed (Heb 9:27) or at Jesus Christ’s appearance (Rev 20:12-15), which could happen at any moment.
Here is some related reading for you: Can You Tell Whether Someone is Saved or Not? [4]
Resource – Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), Crossway Bibles. (2007). ESV: Study Bible: English standard version. Wheaton, Ill: Crossway Bibles. Used by permission. All rights reserved.