Rachel Workman: 12 These false teachers are like unthinking animals, creatures of instinct,
born to be caught and destroyed. They scoff at things they do not understand,
and like animals, they will be destroyed. 13 Their destruction is their reward
for the harm they have done. They love to indulge in evil pleasures in broad
daylight. They are a disgrace and a stain among you. They delight in
deception[e] even as they eat with you in your fellowship meals. 14 They commit
adultery with their eyes, and their desire for sin is never satisfied. They
lure unstable people into sin, and they are well trained in greed. They live
under God’s curse. 15 They have wandered off the right road and followed the
footsteps of Balaam son of Beor, who loved to earn money by doing wrong. 16 But
Balaam was stopped from his mad course when his donkey rebuked him with a human
voice. Interesting that Peter would say they are creatures of instinct. They
are doing what their master bids them to do. This verse stands out to me. They
delight in deception even as they eat with you in your fellowship meal. Careful
careful who we allow to feed our spirit. These passages sound awful. A desire for
sin that is never satisfied no thanks. They lure unstable people into sin,
which hurts my heart. These people are hurting and Satan takes advantage of
that. I see why they live under God’s curse.
17 These people are as useless as dried-up springs or as mist blown away by the wind. They are doomed to blackest darkness. 18 They brag about themselves with empty, foolish boasting. With an appeal to twisted sexual desires, they lure back into sin those who have barely escaped from a lifestyle of deception. 19 They promise freedom, but they themselves are slaves of sin and corruption. For you are a slave to whatever controls you. 20 And when people escape from the wickedness of the world by knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and then get tangled up and enslaved by sin again, they are worse off than before. 21 It would be better if they had never known the way to righteousness than to know it and then reject the command they were given to live a holy life. 22 They prove the truth of this proverb: “A dog returns to its vomit.” And another says, “A washed pig returns to the mud.” Can you imagine in your mind the blackest darkness? I don't want to. My mind can't go there. I'm pretty sure it's more horrible than we can imagine. I did like verse 19b For you are a slave to whatever controls you. How do we escape the wickedness of this world? By knowing our Lord Jesus Christ. I don't know what it's like to know God and be able to turn from him. I'll admit I tried through some hard times in my life. But I could not. I guess that goes back to the verse that says you are a slave to whatever controls you. I am a slave to Christ.
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John Burnett: 12 But
these people blaspheme in matters they do not understand. They are like
unreasoning animals, creatures of instinct, born only to be caught and destroyed,
and like animals they too will perish. To listen to false teachers
teach on Genesis 1 and 2, which should be taught with the Glorification of God
in mind, you would think that the people in the audience were buffoons and that
God had no idea what he was doing. They deny God of his deity and many of
his best attributes.
13 They
will be paid back with harm for the harm they have done. Their idea of pleasure
is to carouse in broad daylight. They are blots and blemishes, reveling in
their pleasures while they feast with you.[a] 14 With
eyes full of adultery, they never stop sinning; they seduce the unstable; they are
experts in greed—an accursed brood! 15 They have left the
straight way and wandered off to follow the way of Balaam son of Bezer,[b] who loved the wages of
wickedness. 16 But he was rebuked for his wrongdoing by a
donkey—an animal without speech—who spoke with a human voice and restrained the
prophet’s madness. Since most of what they teach are lies, they are
following the father of lies.
17 These
people are springs without water and mists driven by a storm. Blackest darkness
is reserved for them. When the Bible describes where you are going,
you know it is going to be bad. 18 For
they mouth empty, boastful words and, by appealing to the lustful desires of
the flesh, they entice people who are just escaping from those who live in
error. 19 They promise them freedom, while they themselves are
slaves of depravity—for “people are slaves to whatever has mastered them.” 20 If
they have escaped the corruption of the world by knowing our Lord and Savior
Jesus Christ and are again entangled in it and are overcome, they are worse off
at the end than they were at the beginning. 21 It would have
been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than to have
known it and then to turn their backs on the sacred command that was passed on
to them. 22 Of them the proverbs are true: “A dog returns to
its vomit,”[c] and, “A sow that is washed
returns to her wallowing in the mud.” Many of these false teachers at
one point or another probably knew the way of righteousness but chose to
fulfill their worldly desires instead of following God’s command of spreading
the Gospel. It says it would be better for them to not have known the way
to righteousness in the first place. The place is the same but the consequence
is going to be worse because God is just and anyone who leads people astray
will pay accordingly.
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- false teachers are bringing harm upon themselves. As
Christians, we should rebuke them in love and with scriptures - show them the
truth.
17 These people are as useless as
dried-up springs or as mist blown away by the wind. They are doomed to blackest
darkness. 18 They brag about themselves with empty, foolish
boasting. With an appeal to twisted sexual desires, they lure back into sin
those who have barely escaped from a lifestyle of deception. 19 They
promise freedom, but they themselves are slaves of sin and corruption. For you
are a slave to whatever controls you. 20 And when people escape
from the wickedness of the world by knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ
and then get tangled up and enslaved by sin again, they are worse off than
before. 21 It would be better if they had never known the way
to righteousness than to know it and then reject the command they were given to
live a holy life. 22 They prove the truth of this proverb: “A
dog returns to its vomit.”[g]
And another says, “A washed pig returns to the mud.”
- some very harsh words about falling away. We must stand
strong against the world.
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Mike Grimm: 12 These false teachers
are like unthinking animals, creatures of instinct, born to be caught and
destroyed. They scoff at things they do not understand, and like animals, they
will be destroyed. The false
teachers pretended that they knew a lot about God. But really, they knew very
little about him. They were not humble like the angels. Instead, the false
teachers were like animals. Animals have natural desires. But they do not have
moral standards. They do what they feel like doing. In the end, animals just
die. God will destroy the false teachers. They will not live for ever with him.
13 Their destruction is
their reward for the harm they have done. They love to indulge in evil
pleasures in broad daylight. They are a disgrace and a stain among you. They
delight in deception even as they eat with you in your fellowship
meals. Peter showed that bad moral behaviour is not
worthwhile. Galatians 6:7-8 also says the same thing.14 They commit adultery
with their eyes, and their desire for sin is never satisfied. They lure
unstable people into sin, and they are well trained in greed. They live under
God’s curse. Some men train their bodies so that they become
strong. But the false teachers had ‘trained’ their desires. They wanted more
and more money, goods or women. God was not pleased with them. 15 They have wandered off
the right road and followed the footsteps of Balaam son of Beor, who loved to
earn money by doing wrong. 16 But Balaam was stopped from his
mad course when his donkey rebuked him with a human voice.
17 These people are as useless as dried-up
springs or as mist blown away by the wind. They are doomed to blackest
darkness. 18 They brag about themselves with empty, foolish
boasting. With an appeal to twisted sexual desires, they lure back into sin
those who have barely escaped from a lifestyle of deception. The false teachers sounded very
confident. They wanted to impress other people. They tried to attract the
people who had just become Christians. These people had not learned very much
about God. They did not yet completely understand how to live in the right way.
They may have found that the Christian life is difficult. The false teachers
told them lies. They said that Christians do not need to change their
behaviour. They could still enjoy their former evil desires.
19 They promise freedom, but they themselves are
slaves of sin and corruption. For you are a slave to whatever controls you. 20 And
when people escape from the wickedness of the world by knowing our Lord and
Savior Jesus Christ and then get tangled up and enslaved by sin again, they are
worse off than before. 21 It would be better if they had never
known the way to righteousness than to know it and then reject the command they
were given to live a holy life. 22 They prove the truth of this
proverb: “A dog returns to its vomit.” And another says, “A washed pig returns
to the mud.” These two animals may look clean on the outside but
their desires are not good. They return to what is dirty. In a similar way, the
false teachers had not really changed. They said that they were Christians. But
they returned to their own desires and morally bad ways. They did not believe
that God would judge them.
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