Can false teachers sound polished and knowledgeable?
Yes. False teachers can sound as though they have all the answers, appear polished, and be like an Apollos, with knowledge that would make others look uneducated. Yet they are false teachers who lead people astray, often entering secretly to spy out liberty.
Les teaches that these men may sound as though they have all the answers; they may be polished, and they may be like Apollos, possessing a knowledge that would make him look like just an uneducated cowman. Even so, he says they are false teachers leading people astray. He connects this to Galatians, where the same word and same modus operandi appear: false teachers are brought in without the whole knowing who they are. They come in privately or secretly to spy out our liberty—the liberty Paul means is freedom from the demands of the Mosaic Law. The gullible cannot see the difference.