What is a tare and why should we care?
Welcome to my blog. The church is God’s plan to implement His purposes for this time period before Christ’s return. It should function efficiently with love and characteristics consistent with God’s word. The church (universal) consists of true believers only (1 Corinthians 12:13).
However, Christ promised in Matthew 13 that there would be tares in the church. The Oxford Dictionary defines tares (in biblical use) as ‘an injurious weed resembling wheat when young’ (Matthew 13:24–30). Jesus was referring to those who appear as a Christian, but really are not true believers. Christ indicated in the parable tares would be hard to differentiate from true believers until the end times.
Therefore, since we know the church includes unbelievers, we should try our best to discern their identity, so we might help them come to faith in Christ (1 John 2-4).
Teleios research
We investigated the potential incidence and effect of tares in the church by surveying users of the Instagram account, Instapray, often visited by young adult Christians (https://teleiosresearch.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/Tare-data.pdf). In total, 1526 individuals participated and 73% described themselves as evangelicals. Just over half had at least some college education and the average age was 23.
- First question – We asked participants how they were saved in a multiple-choice question which included no correct response indicating ‘saved by grace’. To answer the question appropriately the participant had to choose ‘other’ and supply the correct answer.
- Second question – We then asked respondents directly if they were ‘saved by grace through faith alone.’ After seeing the proper response, participants could not return to the prior question and change their answer.
Interestingly, in the first question, only 25% knew the correct response was not available and supplied an answer under ‘other’. Of these, approximately 60% included some statement regarding being ‘saved by grace or faith without works,’ otherwise, 16% of the total survey population.
In contrast, the second question, which provided the right answer as a choice, was selected by 93% of participants.
These two questions created a spread of 16-93% (77% difference) between those who could express salvation by grace without a written prompt versus having to read the correct answer.
These data are important to pastors and lay teachers because they suggest, at a minimum, a significant percent of people identifying as evangelicals do not clearly and/or confidently understand their salvation; and might even be an unbelieving ‘tare’.
Additional survey questions found that these potential tares often demonstrated several other attributes:
- Reduced adherence to the Christian faith
- Lower levels of wellbeing
- Greater levels of guilt
- Less favorable opinions of church leadership
Why are tares important?
Unfortunately, an unbelieving or immature Christian church member might pursue a personal agenda that can be distracting to the unity of the body either by wasting people’s time or congregational resources or perhaps even a deeper discord leading potentially to division. Although we do not know that this question has been researched specifically, from information from our prior surveys (https://www.gotquestions.org/church-splits.html), a tare might negatively influence the church in several ways by:
- Desiring control – Building a power base by which they can control a portion of the church ministry.
- Showing attention seeking behavior – While some church members appropriately need assistance for genuine emotional pain (Galatians 6:2), this situation can become draining if a person is not willing to change to conform their life to scripture and is solely interested in seeking personal attention.
- Living a passive Christian life – Even if the tare is not overtly disruptive, they can have a negative influence by merely talking continuously about subjects that are non-biblical, or not encouraging others to seek scripture or act in godly ways. Otherwise, they hide the truth by their words and actions.
Scripture stresses the importance of unity in the church (Ephesians 4:1-7). Therefore, all groups of believers actively need to pursue unity (in the context of important doctrines and biblical behavior) both corporately and between individuals.
In summary, in your church group or fellowship if you see those who are not acting or growing into a biblically conformed life and are seeking what a routine basis their own interest consider they might be a tare (an unbeliever) as an explanation of their behavior.
Thank you for joining me today over this important topic. Next time we will discuss how to help tares and bring them to faith in Christ. Please join me then.
Read more at https://teleiosresearch.com/tares-an-important-subset-of-unbelievers/.
William C. Stewart, MD
For questions or to view more of our research…
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Disclaimer - This blog and its content are provided only as information. No content on the website should be taken as advice or recommendation to any personal or institutional situation. The views expressed are those of the author and not necessarily either shared or endorsed by Teleios. Both the blog and the contents are subject to change at any time without notice. Although I endeavor to ensure that the blog and the content are current and accurate, it may contain errors. I do not represent that the blog or the content is current, accurate or complete, or appropriate for your specific requirements. I do not accept any liability from any person for the blog, the content or any other information (or the use of such information) I provide. I do not have a seminary degree, but I have trained myself in the scriptures to teach and provide this information. For any specific question, I suggest you contact experts in that field and or do your own research into the scriptures.
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