Shalom Aleichem...
Reflections is a weekly Christian Teaching Ministry. Each week we will talk about the Bible and lessons we can put to use in our daily life. We will try to, on a weekly basis, provide to you stories, thoughts, and just easy ways to live your life on a straight path.
THIS WEEK'S TEACHING....January 22, 2018
We continue this week in the Book of 2 Peter dealing with false teachings.
We will be using 2 Peter 2:11–22 as our source.
Chapter 1 of 2 Peter is a positive, encouraging summons for us to confirm our call and election by availing ourselves of God's power for godliness through faith in his precious and very great promises. Chapter 2 is a very bleak portrayal of the false teachers in the churches who do not avail themselves of God's power and give themselves over to sexual indulgence in the name of Christian freedom. The main point of the chapter is that these false teachers and those enticed by them will in the end experience condemnation and destruction. The chapter intends to do in a negative way what chapter 1 aims to do in a positive way, namely, make us earnest about the business of confirming our call and election.
We saw last week from verses 1–10 that the heresy of the false teachers is a moral heresy. They deny the Master who bought them, by promoting sexual license. Instead of submitting to Christ's way of sexual purity, they despise authority and teach that by grace we are free in Christ to use our bodies as we please. The more we rise above the limitations of the law, the more we magnify the grace of God. Therefore, as it were, let us sin that grace may abound (Romans 6:1)! Peter warns in verse 10 that God will hold such people under punishment until the day of judgment. Heaven and hell are at stake in whether we rely on Christ for our hope and obey his Word, or whether we deny him by our disobedience.
Today we will be together in the rest of chapter 2 and try to see what lessons there are for us. We will go through verses 10–22 in four sections. In verses 10b–13a the focus is on the brazen willfulness and pride and self-sufficiency of the false teachers. In verses 13b–16 the focus is on their unashamed indulgence in sex and their love of money. In verse 17 the emptiness of their teaching is exposed. And in verses 18–22 Peter warns how these false teachers entice new and unstable Christians into moral apostasy where their last condition is worse than if they had never known the way of righteousness. Let's look at these sections briefly, one at a time.
Boastful and Reviling
First, verses 10b–13a. Describing the false teachers, Peter says: "Bold and willful, they are not afraid to revile the glorious ones, whereas angels, though greater in might and power, do not pronounce a reviling judgment upon them before the Lord. But these (i.e., the false teachers), like irrational animals, creatures of instinct born to be caught and killed, reviling in matters of which they are ignorant, will be destroyed in the same destruction with them, suffering wrong for their wrongdoing."
It is possible that the "glorious ones" mentioned in verse 10 are the fallen angels of verse 4, and that Peter is saying: the false teachers are so brazen and cocky and self-assured that they revile the evil spirits as though they were safe from any supernatural evil influence at all. And to show the arrogance of such an attitude of false security, Peter says: even the good angels who, unlike the false teachers, are stronger than the evil ones, nevertheless do not presume to pronounce a reviling judgment on them. They humble themselves and leave judgment to God.
But it seems to be very unlikely that Peter would have used the phrase "glorious ones" to refer to fallen angels. Literally the term is simply "glories" and was used in 1 Peter 1:11 to refer to all the glories surrounding Christ in his exaltation and second coming. In 2 Peter the word "glory" is associated with the future of Christ's second coming (1:3, 17, where the transfigured Christ foreshadows the glorious returning Christ, 3:18). And in 2 Peter 3:3, 4 the false teachers are pictured as mocking this glorious second coming. So I am inclined to think that the "glories" which the false teachers revile are the glories of God and Christ, especially associated with the second coming.
Then when it says in verse 11 that "the angels (notice it does not say 'good' angels since there is probably no contrast with bad angels in view), though greater in might and power, do not pronounce a reviling judgment upon them before the Lord," it probably means that the angels don't revile the false teachers, even though they deserve it and the angels are in an exalted position to give it. This contrast shows how incredibly puffed up the false teachers are. Even angels yield to the authority of God to pass just judgment. But the false teachers despise all authority and rise above the angels to scorn the glories of the holy God, probably by denying the second coming.
Verse 12 adds that the false teachers are like animals in two senses. First, they are utterly ignorant of what they speak. Their reviling at the glories of Christ is like a wolf howling at the sunrise. And, second, they will be destroyed like the animals. They will come to and end in judgment, and all their howling will be silenced. We are admonished, therefore, to beware of spiritual pride. As Paul says, "Let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall" (1 Corinthians 10:12). We are utterly dependent on the grace of God and dare not boast in any self-sufficiency.
Carousing and Greedy
The second section is verses 13b–16.
They count it pleasure to revel in the daytime. They are blots and blemishes reveling in their dissipation, carousing with you. They have eyes full of adultery insatiable for sin. They entice unsteady souls. They have hearts trained in greed. Accursed children! Forsaking the right way they have gone astray. They have followed the way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who loved gain from wrongdoing, but was rebuked for his own transgression; a dumb ass spoke with human voice and restrained the prophet's madness.
Here the brazen willfulness of the false teachers is seen in their doing in the daytime (v. 13) what other sinners only dare to do at night. The term rendered "carousing with you" in verse 13 means literally "eating feasts with you." The picture seems to be of an all-church banquet where these men show up as spots and blemishes (contrast 3:14) with their eyes full of adultery (v. 14). They can't look on a woman without thinking about sexual relations. With hearts well-trained in greed they try to isolate the unstable new-comers and draw them away in licentiousness (v. 2).
Peter does not say how the false teachers aim to make money, but the analogy of Balaam (in vv. 15, 16) gives a clue. When the Israelites were approaching the land of Moab, Balak, the king, was afraid of them and sent for a prophet named Balaam and offered him money (Numbers 22:7) to come and curse the Israelites. This is what Peter zeroes in on in verse 15: Balaam loved gain from wrongdoing, specifically, gain from someone willing to pay for his prophetic services. Probably, then, the false teachers were not only luring young converts away into sexual license, but were charging them for their own special teaching. If you pay for something, you take it more seriously!
Notice who the false teachers go after in verse 14: "unsteady souls." We get an even clearer picture in verse 18: "they entice . . . people who have barely escaped from those who live in error." In other words, new converts; people who are unstable in their grasp of truth. This is a strong admonition, first, to establish our own doctrinal stability in the Word, but then, also to labor seriously to ground our children and all new converts quickly in the truth of Scripture. Let's be a family where we are constantly helping each other to send our roots ever deeper into the rock of God's truth.
Waterless Springs and Mists
The third section is just one verse. Verse 17: "These are waterless springs and mists driven by a storm; for them the nether gloom of darkness has been reserved." Picture yourself in the desert with a parched tongue, longing for water to satisfy your thirst. You see an oasis with trees and grass. You run, thrown yourself down by the spring, and it is dry as a bone. These false teachers offer thrills and insight and freedom, but in reality they are empty and barren. They are like mists that seem to promise rain for the land, but are quickly blown away. What a need there is in the church for discernment between waterless springs and springs of living water! The one bubbles up unto eternal life. The other sinks down into the gloom where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth. We must become a deeply discerning people.
Distorting the Gospel of Freedom
The last section is the most straightforward warning to the church about the perils of being drawn away in this false teaching. Verses 18–22:
Uttering loud boasts of folly, they entice with licentious passions of the flesh people who have barely escaped from those who live in error. They promise them freedom, but they themselves are slaves of corruption; for whatever overcomes a man, to that he enslaved. 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 delivered to them. It has happened to them according to the true proverb, "The dog turns back to his own vomit, and the sow is washed only to wallow in the mire."
The way the false teachers entice new and unstable converts is by promising them freedom, according to verse 19. I think it's possible to get a pretty good idea how they argued. In 1 Peter 2:16 Peter says, "Live as free men, yet without using your freedom as a pretext for evil; but live as slaves of God." The false teachers were right to promise people freedom. The call to freedom is at the heart of New Testament faith. But this was not a call to give free reign to your passions. For then you are really a slave of corruption as verse 19 says. The apostolic call to freedom recognizes 1) that Christ had died to free us from the guilt and power of sin; 2) that we are free from the law in the sense that we need no longer strive to keep it in our own strength; and 3) that we are given new hearts by the Holy Spirit so that freely we delight in holiness.
But everywhere this gospel of freedom was preached, false teachers distorted it. And 2 Peter 3:16 shows that the writings of the apostle Paul were a sitting duck for this distortion. It says, "There are some things in them hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction." The false teachers take the unstable souls (of 2:14) and teach how to use the letters of Paul to justify their view of sexual freedom.
Paul already knew that his teaching about freedom was open to this abuse, and he warned against it. For example, in Galatians 5:13 he says: "You were called to freedom, brethren; only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love be servants of one another." But the false teachers were doing just that, using their freedom as an opportunity to indulge their love for money and their love for praise and their love for sexual pleasure. They probably quoted Galatians 5:1 with great power among the new and unstable converts: "For freedom Christ has set us free; stand fast therefore and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery!" "Away with the enslaving rules that govern the life of the body! You are not under law; you are under grace!" But they probably neglected entirely those other teachings of Paul, "If you live according to the flesh, you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live" (Romans 8:13). So Peter blasts the trumpet of warning: they are twisting the Scriptures to their own destruction, and their promised freedom is a bondage to corruption.
Storing Up More Judgment
Then in verses 20 and 21 the decisive word of warning rings out to the church in danger of being enticed: if you turn away from the holy commandment and forsake the way of righteousness and by your actions deny the Master who bought you (v. 1), then you are not saved and your condition is worse than when you had never known the way. Peter pictures the real possibility in verse 20 that by learning of Christ some people make a start in the Christian life, and by all outward appearances have escaped from the defilement's of the world. Then the cares and riches and pleasures of life (as Jesus says) choke the young plant, and it withers and bears no fruit and dies (Luke 8:14).
Two parts need to be stressed from these verses. First, notice the principle that the more you know of Christ and his way, the more severe will be your judgment for not trusting and obeying Christ. Better never to have known the way, Peter says in verse 21. And in this he simply preserves the teaching of Jesus. He said, "Woe to you Chorazin and Bethsaida! For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I tell you, it shall be more tolerable on the day of judgment for Tyre and Sidon than for you" (Matthew 11:21–22).
The more evidence you have of Christ's reality, the more severe your judgment for not repenting. "Everyone to whom much is given, of him much will be required" (Luke 12:47, 48). Peter warns the new converts: if you forsake the way now, after all you have learned and experienced, your doom will be more miserable than the pagans'. The doctor gave me ten days worth of antibiotics and said, "Don't stop taking them after five days just because your sore throat clears up. If you do, it may flare up all the worse." So it is in the Christian life: if you stop trusting the heavenly doctor and disobey his prescription for your redemption, your latter state will be worse than the former.
The second point that needs to be stressed is that Peter is not teaching that God's elect can lose their salvation. He is most definitely teaching that church members can be lost, and people who make outward professions of faith and even begin to clean up their lives can turn away from Christ and be lost. But in verse 22 he explains to us in a proverb that we should not be overly surprised at this: dogs characteristically return to their vomit; and no matter how clean you make a pig on the outside, if it is still a pig, it will return to the mire. In other words, those who leave the way of righteousness, never to return, simply show that their inner nature had never been changed.
This was Peter's way of saying what 1 John 2:19 says, "They went out from us, but they were not of us, for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us; but they went out that it might be plain that they are all not of us." Or as Jesus said, "He who endures to the end will be saved" (Matthew 10:22). Or as Hebrews puts it, "We share in Christ if we hold our first confidence firm to the end" (Hebrews 3:14). Or as Paul says, "I preached to you the gospel which you received, in which you stand, by which you are saved, if you hold it fast" (1 Corinthians 15:1, 2). The whole New Testament is agreed: there is no salvation apart from persevering faith. And persevering faith always works itself out in the way of righteousness. Therefore, to abandon the way of righteousness is to exclude oneself from salvation.
But this can never happen to God's elect. If it could, verse 10 of chapter 1 would be nonsense. There Peter says, "Be the more zealous to confirm your call and election." If the elect could be lost, there would be no advantage in confirming our election. The point of verse 10 is that the elect will never fall but will enter into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. And therefore we should be utterly earnest about confirming our election.
And 2 Peter 2 was written to help us do just that. It aims to help us confirm our election by warning us not to deny the Master who bought us (v. 1) , and by strengthening us to resist the temptations of spiritual pride and self-sufficiency (11–13), the love of money and all its destructive tendencies (14–16), and the summons to unbridled sexual license (2, 7, 14, 18). It's not the kind of chapter we enjoy reading. But not all medicine tastes good. God, the great physician, knows our need. And every word is profitable. If it increases our earnestness in realizing the full assurance of hope to the end, it will have succeeded. May God make it so. Amen.
DID YOU EVER WONDER???
This story came from a friend in Arizona. How true it is. Thank you, Madeline:)
True peace comes from knowing God is in control. ~ Peace Equals Power Quotes
There are many things in life that can make us lose our peace. We stress and worry about so many things. But when we stop and realize that God is in control we can relax and experience what true peace is.
Over the years we have moved many times. It can be stressful trying to sell a house. The phone rings asking to show the house! The anticipation that maybe this is the day the house will sell is exciting. Then the call comes that they aren't interested, or they didn't even show up. Believe me, these things can disrupt our peace.
After going through this cycle several times I learned to keep in mind that God is in control. If the house was meant to sell it would if not it wouldn't.
We've sold a few houses. Some took forever and some sold quickly. The one we're in now didn't sell at all when we listed it. Praise God it didn't because the out of state company Bill was working for went bankrupt and we needed to stay right where we were.
Our Bible verse says, "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid." John 14:27 NIV
When we start to feel troubled and afraid we can remember that true peace comes from knowing God is in control.
BOOKS OF THE BIBLE...A TEACHING
The Gospel of Matthew continues....
The Parable of the Wedding Feast
22 And again Jesus spoke to them in parables, saying, 2 “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son, 3 and sent his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding feast, but they would not come. 4 Again he sent other servants, saying, ‘Tell those who are invited, “See, I have prepared my dinner, my oxen and my fat calves have been slaughtered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding feast.” ’ 5 But they paid no attention and went off, one to his farm, another to his business, 6 while the rest seized his servants, treated them shamefully, and killed them. 7 The king was angry, and he sent his troops and destroyed those murderers and burned their city. 8 Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding feast is ready, but those invited were not worthy. 9 Go therefore to the main roads and invite to the wedding feast as many as you find.’ 10 And those servants went out into the roads and gathered all whom they found, both bad and good. So the wedding hall was filled with guests.
11 “But when the king came in to look at the guests, he saw there a man who had no wedding garment. 12 And he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment?’ And he was speechless. 13 Then the king said to the attendants, ‘Bind him hand and foot and cast him into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ 14 For many are called, but few are chosen.”
Paying Taxes to Caesar
15 Then the Pharisees went and plotted how to entangle him in his words. 16 And they sent their disciples to him, along with the Herodians, saying, “Teacher, we know that you are true and teach the way of God truthfully, and you do not care about anyone’s opinion, for you are not swayed by appearances. 17 Tell us, then, what you think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?” 18 But Jesus, aware of their malice, said, “Why put me to the test, you hypocrites? 19 Show me the coin for the tax.” And they brought him a denarius. 20 And Jesus said to them, “Whose likeness and inscription is this?” 21 They said, “Caesar’s.” Then he said to them, “Therefore render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” 22 When they heard it, they marveled. And they left him and went away.
Sadducees Ask About the Resurrection
23 The same day Sadducees came to him, who say that there is no resurrection, and they asked him a question, 24 saying, “Teacher, Moses said, ‘If a man dies having no children, his brother must marry the widow and raise up offspring for his brother.’ 25 Now there were seven brothers among us. The first married and died, and having no offspring left his wife to his brother. 26 So too the second and third, down to the seventh. 27 After them all, the woman died. 28 In the resurrection, therefore, of the seven, whose wife will she be? For they all had her.”
29 But Jesus answered them, “You are wrong, because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God. 30 For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven. 31 And as for the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was said to you by God: 32 ‘I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not God of the dead, but of the living.” 33 And when the crowd heard it, they were astonished at his teaching.
The Great Commandment
34 But when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together. 35 And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. 36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” 37 And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. 40 On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”
Whose Son Is the Christ?
41 Now while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them a question, 42 saying, “What do you think about the Christ? Whose son is he?” They said to him, “The son of David.” 43 He said to them, “How is it then that David, in the Spirit, calls him Lord, saying,
44 “ ‘The Lord said to my Lord,
“Sit at my right hand,
until I put your enemies under your feet” ’?
45 If then David calls him Lord, how is he his son?” 46 And no one was able to answer him a word, nor from that day did anyone dare to ask him any more questions.
The third parable: the wedding banquet
In his third story, Jesus describes a king preparing a banquet (22:1–14). It is a wedding feast for his son. But the guests refuse to come! They busy themselves with their own lives—and even ill-treat and kill the king’s messengers.
In his anger the king destroys the people who have murdered his servants. Then he sends his invitation to as many ordinary folk as can be found—good and bad alike—until the wedding hall is filled.
Jesus is picturing God as the king and the banquet as his kingdom. There are those who have long been invited to the banquet—the people of Israel, and especially their leaders. When those who are invited spurn the invitation, then God welcomes others in—sinners, outsiders and Gentiles.
But the new guests must also meet a standard. When the king finds someone without wedding clothes, he has him thrown out. The wedding clothes are the new attitude of repentance and faith—without which no one can take part in the kingdom of God. God’s generous call must be matched by our wholehearted response.
HARD QUESTIONS
Matthew now tells us of three questions which different groups put to Jesus (22:15–40). The first two are certainly designed to trap him. The Pharisees join with the Herodians to ask Jesus if it’s right for Jews to pay Roman taxes. The Sadducees then ask an elaborate question about the resurrection of the dead.
The first question: is it right to pay taxes to Caesar?
Judea is part of the Roman empire. The Jews resent this. They see themselves as God’s own people, owing neither tax nor service to foreigners.
But the Romans impose a poll tax on every Jewish male. It is paid in Roman coins—a denarius, engraved with the emperor’s head and the words ‘son of god’.
The Pharisees and the Herodians are unlikely allies. The Pharisees have little to do with politics, except to avoid involvement with pagans as much as possible. The Herodians are supporters of the Jewish puppet king, Herod Antipas. Herod owes his position and power to his collaboration with Rome.
The two groups approach Jesus with flattery. He’s his own person. He’ll speak his mind. Then they put a question which is designed to lose him support. Is it right for Jews to pay the Roman tax? If Jesus says it is, all patriotic Jews will reject him. If he says it isn’t, the authorities will arrest him for making trouble.
Jesus asks for one of the Roman coins. He gets them to look again at the portrait of Caesar. Taxes are the price people pay for government—administration, roads, defense against enemies and protection from criminals. All this is Caesar’s business and is to be paid for in Caesar’s coin. But human beings are made in God’s image, and should offer themselves to him alone.
The Pharisees and Herodians have tried to embarrass Jesus by exposing his divided loyalties. They leave with a challenge to sort out their own: ‘Give Caesar his money, but give yourselves to God!’
The second question: what kind of resurrection?
The Sadducees are the Jewish ruling class. They are an elite group with an intellectual and sceptical faith. Their breeding, marriages, religion and politics are all geared to keep them in power.
While the Pharisees avoid all contact with Gentiles, the Sadducees are prepared to compromise with the Romans in order to have some influence in government. While the Pharisees believe in the resurrection of the dead and a future life, the Sadducees live for this life only.
The Sadducees come to Jesus with a question about the resurrection. Under the Jewish law, if a man dies without children, his brother must marry his widow. In this way he can raise a son and heir for his dead brother. This is called levirate marriage, and enables a man’s name to live on after his death (Deuteronomy 25:5–6). It’s a kind of ‘resurrection’ without involving heaven or an afterlife.
The Sadducees hope to show that resurrection is ridiculous and impossible. Supposing a woman has a number of levirate marriages. To which of the brothers will she be married in heaven?
Jesus shows that they are simply ignorant. They don’t know their scriptures, the nature of heaven or the power of God. In heaven there is no death and no need to have children. Relationships won’t be defined and restricted by marriage and sex.
Jesus reminds the Sadducees of what God said to Moses at the burning bush (Exodus 3:6). He introduced himself as ‘the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob’. He is the living God, and those who have faith in him will share his eternal life.
The third question: which is the greatest commandment?
The Pharisees ask Jesus which is the greatest commandment. This is a frequent point of discussion among Jewish teachers, because there are so many commandments in the law. What is the central thread which runs through these hundreds of regulations?
Jesus answers by twinning two commandments: ‘Love the Lord your God’ (Deuteronomy 6:5) and ‘Love your neighbour as yourself’ (Leviticus 19:18). All the other commandments depend on these two. They are also the heart of the message of the prophets.
Love is expressed in action. We show our love for God by obeying his law. We show our love for our neighbours by treating them as we would like to be treated ourselves.
JESUS ASKS A QUESTION IN RETURN
Having answered the Pharisees’ question, Jesus asks one of his own (22:41–46). What do they think about the Christ? Whose son is he?
If the Pharisees answer that the Christ is the ‘Son of David’, they are obviously expecting a human king. Their picture is of a great leader, descended from David, who will reign over Israel and make her a world power. Meanwhile, they reject the ‘Son of David’ who is Jesus, standing in front of them. He is nothing like the Christ!
Jesus refers the Pharisees to a psalm in which David speaks of the Messiah:
The Lord says to my Lord:
‘Sit at my right hand’ (Psalm 110:1).
‘The Lord’ is God and ‘my Lord’ is the Messiah. How can the Pharisees say the Messiah is David’s son if it is clear that David calls him ‘my Lord’?
The Pharisees are silenced. They don’t understand that the Messiah, descended humanly from David, is also the Son of God (Romans 1:3–4).
Knowles, A. (2001). The Bible guide (1st Augsburg books ed., p. 432). Minneapolis, MN: Augsburg.
Knowles, A. (2001). The Bible guide (1st Augsburg books ed., pp. 431–432). Minneapolis, MN: Augsburg.
Knowles, A. (2001). The Bible guide (1st Augsburg books ed., p. 431). Minneapolis, MN: Augsburg.
Knowles, A. (2001). The Bible guide (1st Augsburg books ed., pp. 430–431). Minneapolis, MN: Augsburg.
The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (Mt 22:34–46). Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.
The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (Mt 22:15–33). Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.
The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (Mt 22:1–14). Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.
HAVE A SAFE AND BLESSED WEEK:)
Ho'omaikaʻi ka Pua iā kākou