Wolves In Sheep's Clothing

Paul has spent three years in Ephesus. He is leaving, and he knows he will not see these elders again. So he calls them together for one final word. He does not spend it on logistics. He does not spend it on encouragement alone. He spends it warning them about what is coming.

Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood. I know that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves men will arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them. Therefore be watchful, remembering that night and day for a period of three years I did not cease to admonish each one with tears. Acts 20:28–31 (LSB)

That is a heavy passage. Paul is not predicting that something might go wrong. He says I know it will. Wolves will come. Men will rise up from inside the church. Disciples will follow them. The elders are charged to keep watch.

The phrase that has shaped a great deal of Christian conversation about false teaching is "wolves in sheep's clothing." That phrase shows up in our text by way of the word wolves, and most of us reach for it whenever a preacher says something we disagree with. But the phrase has a specific meaning in Scripture, and we owe it to the Word of God to handle it the way the Bible handles it, not the way we have come to use it.

What "Wolves In Sheep's Clothing" Actually Means

The phrase is not Paul's. It is the Lord's. Jesus uses it in the Sermon on the Mount.

Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Matthew 7:15–16 (LSB)

Read on through verse 23 and the meaning sharpens. Jesus says many will come to Him on the day of judgment claiming to have prophesied in His name, cast out demons in His name, done many miracles in His name. And He will tell them, "I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness." He did not say He was unaware of their existence. He knew them as workers of lawlessness. But He never knew them the way Adam knew Eve, the way a husband knows a wife, the way a shepherd knows his sheep. He never loved them. He never owned them. They were not His.

So a wolf in sheep's clothing, by the Lord's own definition, is a lost man dressed up like a sheep. He looks the part. He may talk the part. He may even do impressive religious things. But he is not saved. He is reprobate. And he is dangerous because the sheep cannot tell from the outside that he is not one of them.

Hold that thought. The label is heavier than we usually treat it. To call a man a wolf in sheep's clothing is to call him lost.

Sheep, Wolves, And Goats

God's people are sheep. That language runs from one end of Scripture to the other. Jesus is the good shepherd who lays down His life for the sheep. He says it plainly in John 10.

I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep. He who is a hired hand, and not a shepherd, who is not the owner of the sheep, sees the wolf coming, and leaves the sheep and flees—and the wolf snatches and scatters them—because he is a hired hand and is not concerned about the sheep. John 10:11–13 (LSB)

Notice the contrast. The wolves are not the sheep. They are something different. They are not His people. The same contrast runs through our text in Acts 20. The elders are told to feed the flock. The wolves come in among the flock and do not spare it. Two categories. Saved and lost. Sheep and wolves.

Some of the sheep, of course, are lost sheep. Jesus left the ninety-nine to go after the one in Luke 15. He sent His disciples to the lost sheep of the house of Israel in Matthew 10. Lost sheep get found. That is how the story goes. But never in Scripture does a wolf become a sheep. A wolf is what it is. The Bible does not use the imagery that way.

Not every lost man is a wolf, though. Some of the lost are goats. Matthew 25 makes the distinction. On the day of judgment the Lord separates the sheep from the goats and the goats go away into everlasting punishment. They are destined for hell because they will die in their sins without Jesus. They are reprobate, just like the wolves. But they are not so terrible as the wolves. They are not dressed up like sheep, sneaking into the fold, devouring the flock. They are just goats.

Here is the point. The Bible uses these words with care. When we throw the phrase "wolf in sheep's clothing" at every preacher who does not preach exactly like us, we are doing two things. We are calling that man lost. And we are flattening categories the Bible itself keeps separate.

We Cannot See What God Sees

You and I have no idea who the elect are. None. We cannot tell who are sheep and who are not. We see the outside. God sees the heart. So we ought not to be quick to label someone a wolf in sheep's clothing, not by biblical terminology. On the same token, we should not bend the biblical usage to fit our own agenda.

When a recent Facebook post stirred up some good brothers, I reached out to the preacher privately. Paul tells Timothy how to handle this kind of thing.

Do not sharply rebuke an older man, but rather plead with him as a father, to the younger men as brothers, the older women as mothers, and the younger women as sisters, in all purity. 1 Timothy 5:1–2 (LSB)

We need to stop seeing everyone who disagrees with us on every thing big or small as a wolf in sheep's clothing, an enemy. Many of them are brothers who can be taught.

Think of Apollos. He arrived in Ephesus mighty in the Scriptures, fervent in spirit, teaching accurately the things concerning Jesus, but he only knew the baptism of John. He was missing something. Priscilla and Aquila did not get on the public square and denounce him. They took him aside and explained the way of God more accurately. That is how it is supposed to work. How can we do that today if we get on Facebook and in our sermons calling every man who differs from us a wolf? We will not convince anyone of anything. We will only deepen the trenches.

Paul tells Timothy how the Lord's servant is supposed to handle opposition.

And the Lord's slave must not be quarrelsome, but be kind to all, able to teach, patient when wronged, with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition, if perhaps God may give them repentance leading to the full knowledge of the truth. 2 Timothy 2:24–25 (LSB)

Kind to all. Patient when wronged. Gentle in correction. Hoping that God may grant repentance. That posture rules out the trigger-finger labeling we see all over social media. There is real wolf-spotting work for pastors to do. But the way that work gets done has been laid out for us, and it does not look like an internet brawl.

Do Not Miss Verse 30

Read Paul's warning again. Verse 29 says savage wolves will come in among you. Verse 30 says something further. It is easy to miss because we read past it. Circle that word in your Bible.

I know that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves men will arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them. Acts 20:29–30 (LSB)

Two dangers. Not one. Wolves from outside the church, and men from inside the church who rise up and pull disciples after them. Do we not see that today? There are so many divisions between good brothers and good churches. Why? Because men have taken this Book and instead of opening it to rejoice in the things of God, they have opened it to find reasons to divide and to gather disciples around themselves.

Mark it down. The overseer of a church, what Paul calls a pastor or elder or bishop, is a defined office. Scripture sets it as a male role and lays out the character required of the man who holds it. Wolves are not so defined. A wolf can come from anywhere and wear any face. Wolves that scatter the flock may be men in the pulpit, or they may be little ol ladies in the pew. We must be on guard! The enemy is subtle!

Savage wolves among the sheep draw disciples away by doing their dirty work in different places. From the pulpit they do it by preaching false doctrine. From the pew they do it by spreading slander and sowing division. Many a church has been destroyed by the devilish work of wolves in either place. We must contend for the faith!

There is a difference between contending for the truth and tearing down brothers. A man who claims to defend the Word but cannot stop fighting his fellow ministers has confused the two. Paul warned of disciples drawn after a man instead of fed from the Word. That is the second danger he named, and it is alive in our day.

The Right Weapon

Paul closes another letter with a line that ought to govern this whole conversation.

For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the tearing down of strongholds. 2 Corinthians 10:4 (LSB)

We are to be in the business of demolishing strongholds, not tearing down people. So beware of wolves in sheep's clothing, they really do exist.... but also beware how you use the term. Some who disagree with you may be lost sheep who need salvation. Others may be lambs who have not been taught. Not everyone is an enemy. Pray that God will give you wisdom and discernment, and be a help to others as you go forward in serving Him in His church.