Second, we must remember that only God knows the heart of a false teacher. Possibly some who proclaim apostate teaching are themselves deceived.19 A true apostate is without hope, but we cannot always know who is a true apostate. After warning Timothy against false teachers, Paul urges him to “be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient, in meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth” (2 Tim. 2:24–25). Even so,