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To read:
2 Peter
2:4-21
For if God did not spare the angels when they sinned, but cast them
into hell and committed them to chains of deepest darkness to be
kept until the judgment; and if he did not spare the ancient world,
even though he saved Noah, a herald of righteousness, with seven
others, when he brought a flood on a world of the ungodly; and if by
turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to ashes he condemned them
to extinction and made them an example of what is coming to the
ungodly; and if he rescued Lot, a righteous man greatly distressed
by the licentiousness of the lawless (for that righteous man, living
among them day after day, was tormented in his righteous soul by
their lawless deeds that he saw and heard), then the Lord knows how
to rescue the godly from trial, and to keep the unrighteous under
punishment until the day of judgment especially those who indulge
their flesh in depraved lust, and who despise authority.
Bold and willful, they are not afraid to slander the glorious ones,
whereas angels, though greater in might and power, do not bring
against them a slanderous judgment from the Lord. These people,
however, are like irrational animals, mere creatures of instinct,
born to be caught and killed. They slander what they do not
understand, and when those creatures are destroyed, they also will
be destroyed, suffering the penalty for doing wrong. They count it a
pleasure to revel in the daytime. They are blots and blemishes,
reveling in their dissipation while they feast with you. They have
eyes full of adultery, insatiable for sin. They entice unsteady
souls. They have hearts trained in greed. Accursed children! They
have left the straight road and have gone astray, following the road
of Balaam son of Bosor, who loved the wages of doing wrong, but was
rebuked for his own transgression; a speechless donkey spoke with a
human voice and restrained the prophet's madness.
These are waterless springs and mists driven by a storm; for them
the deepest darkness has been reserved. For they speak bombastic
nonsense, and with licentious desires of the flesh they entice
people who have just escaped from those who live in error. They
promise them freedom, but they themselves are slaves of corruption;
for people are slaves to whatever masters them. For if, after they
have escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of
our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them
and overpowered, the last state has become worse for them than the
first. For it would have been better for them never to have known
the way of righteousness than, after knowing it, to turn back from
the holy commandment that was passed on to them. |
To think about:
Today’s text is not an easy one to
understand. Its message, however, is clear: God will punish the
ungodly, but he saves those who remain faithful in the face of
falsehood. Several examples of God’s punishment of the wicked are
given in the opening verses: he cast the devil and his angels into
hell when they sinned; he brought a terrible flood upon the ancient
world; and he reduced the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to ashes. But
the good news is that he saved Noah and his family, and he spared
Lot, and he also will save you and me and all who remain faithful to
him.
We live in a world today that is full of evil—deceit is everywhere,
false teachers mislead millions, the lines between right and wrong
are often blurred, morality is made to look old fashioned; the list
could go on and on. How are we to recognize and handle all the evil
and falsehood that exists in the world? Peter gives us a word of
warning on how to recognize those who have gone astray. He says such
people slander what they do not understand, they have eyes full of
adultery, their appetite for sin is insatiable, they are greedy,
they speak nonsense, and they try to entice those whose faith is
weak.
How often are we guilty of these sins? Perhaps more often than we
want to admit, but the good news is that we have God’s full
forgiveness of our sins through the death and resurrection of our
Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We have his full assurance that he
will forgive the times when we, too, are greedy, or dishonest, or
make the wrong choice, or yield to temptation. Although we all
stumble and fall repeatedly during our journey through this life,
Christ’s journey to the cross is our assurance that he still loves
us in spite of our sinfulness. Thanks be to God! |
