William Barclay and Harmless Heresy?

From time to time I turn to William Barclay’s commentaries and have been helped. I also have been often warned to be careful with William Barclay. It’s kind of like being a snake handling preacher. You may get by with it for a time but eventually you’re going to be bitten. Here is one of Barclay’s poisonous bites in his commentary on 1 Timothy 1:3-7:

“In this passage there is a clear picture of the mind of the dangerous heretic. There is a kind of heresy in which a man differs from orthodox belief because he has honestly thought things out and cannot agree with it. He does not take any pride in being different; he is different simply because he has to be. Such a heresy  does not spoil a man’s character; it may in fact enhance his character, because he has really thought out his faith and is not living on a second-hand orthodoxy” (William Barclay, The Letters to Timothy, Titus, and Philemon, DSB, pg. 31).

How does that strike you? Is there a real difference between a dangerous heretic and any other heretic?

I wonder if Barclay recognized the difference between the faith once for all delivered to the saints (Jude 3) and a man’s own faith cooked up to his own liking? Apparently a man’s own home brew is more noble than orthodoxy?

My goal here is not to discourage well thought out questions and disagreements with biblical truth. God’s word can stand against any challenge. My goal is to point out the danger of prizing the rejection of orthodoxy. A rejection of the truth no matter how apparently noble the reasons is still a rejection of the truth.