D. Scott Meadows

Her prophets are light and treacherous persons: Her priests have polluted the sanctuary, they have done violence to the law. —Zephaniah 3.4

Evil ministers plague Christ’s Church. Even in this gospel age, we suffer the problem of people in places of spiritual leadership who are actually ministers of Satan, not Christ, masquerading as “ministers of righteousness, whose end shall be according to their works” (2 Cor 11.15).

Zephaniah the prophet lamented the “state and fate of the rebels [against the Lord] from Jerusalem,” of all places. His prophecy reveals that “God will judge not only those surrounding Israel (2.4–15) but Jerusalem itself” (NIVZSB). “Judgment must begin at the house of God” (1 Pet 4.16).

The “prophets” and “priests” of Old Testament Israel serving at Jerusalem were their spiritual leaders. A prophet was to read and teach the holy Word of God, the Scriptures as they had them, along with rare and exceptional new revelation from the Lord. A priest was especially to pray for the people and to offer sacrifices on their behalf. Essentially, the prophets spoke to the people for God and the priests spoke to God for the people.

By divine inspiration, Zephaniah indicts these men in Israel as a whole, without denying exceptions to the rule. He exposes their evil character, their unacceptable sacrifices, and their abuse of Scripture.

Their Evil Character

The first qualification for spiritual leadership in Christ’s church is godly character. Ministers must be true Christians first before they assume official ministry responsibilities. Without this, they necessarily are wolves in sheep’s clothing and render service to the devil, however good it may appear.

Zephaniah characterizes the evil ministers of his day as “light and treacherous persons.” The word “light” in this context means “easily influenced by trifling considerations; unsteady; unsettled; volatile; as a light, vain person” (Webster 1828; “fickle,” ESV). They were not steadfast and faithful. This vice is directly related to the second one of “treachery,” involving betrayal and deception. They would turn on a dime for a dime. These were men without faith, of self-interest only, lacking a moral spine, political pragmatists, standing for nothing and falling for everything.

Isn’t Christ’s Church today still plagued with these? One after another are announcing their shifting views to keep pace with our increasingly apostate and debased culture. As Isaiah mourned, “Yea, truth faith; and he that departeth from evil maketh himself a prey” (Isa 59.14). Anyone who dares to stand publicly for traditional, biblical morality is vilified.

Their Unacceptable Sacrifices

The first reason for a spiritual leader is to promote true worship among God’s people. That requires them to be examples of reverence in their own divine service, as they seek to please God above all in obedience to His revealed will. The priests of Zephaniah’s day were total failures in this regard. He says that they “have polluted the sanctuary.” This is a familiar Old Testament metaphor (Ezek 44.7, 8) for worship practices that violate the scriptural standard either in form, substance, or intention. The Lord still requires only and exactly what He commands, with the introduction of no innovations, and performed with sincerity of heart to glorify Him.

Liberal biblical scholars have long mistakenly alleged that later Judaism turned from cultic concerns to social ones of a moral nature. Zephaniah 3.4 is evidence against this theory. Social injustices were and are symptoms of apostasy from God and His true, instituted, formal worship. Abandon this and prepare for ethical chaos as sure as night follows day!

Many professing Christians today have never even heard of the Regulative Principle of Worship (see 2LCF 22.1), that we should worship God’s way as revealed in Scripture without human invention. Many that have heard of it openly oppose it, pleading their liberty to do many things in worship as long as they are not expressly condemned. Those who hold to strictly scriptural worship are marginalized as legalists. Pop religion altogether misses the weighty truth that aiming to please God according to His revealed will is essential to worship that He accepts! As a consequence, the examples in our day of polluted sanctuaries are legion.

Their Abuse of Scripture

The ungodly leaders of Zephaniah’s day are also charged with this crime: “they have done violence to the law,” where “law” is Scripture. The verb has also been translated “wrested” and “abused.” A related passage elaborates on their sin. “Her priests have violated my law, and have profaned mine holy things: they have put no difference between the holy and profane, neither have they shewed difference between the unclean and the clean, and have hid their eyes from my sabbaths, and I am profaned among them” (Ezek 22.26). Today that occurs when pseudo-spiritual teachers proclaim everything is holy (with the consequence that nothing is). According to them, it is wrong to recognize a difference between the sacred and profane in virtually any realm. Every day is the same (no weekly Christian Sabbath day, see 2LCF 22.7, 8), all work is the same (no sacred calling to the ministry), all money is the same (nothing set apart for tithes and offerings), and all people are the same (we’re all sinners alike and God loves everyone unconditionally and the same). Of course we should serve God every day whatever lawful work we do and in all our economic decisions. Indeed, all human beings are created in God’s image. These things were as true in the days of Zephaniah as they are today, but to turn them into a battering ram against the whole notion of “the holy” is an abuse of Scripture.

There are evil ministers within Christ’s visible Church today—unscrupulous, insidious leaders who constantly push against the biblical boundaries of ethics, worship, and devotion. Let us recognize them, resist them, and recover them where possible. And like Zephaniah, let us humbly admit our corporate sin and plead for God’s mercies in our time. Amen.