Bible Study

Bible study is the 2nd and 3rd Sundays of each month instead of a regular service.

This is when we delve deeper in the scriptures, like the Bereans, to better understand what we are reading. Some people think we should not question God, but there are times when those hard questions nag at you like “why did God let the satan attack Job” or when a hard saying of Jesus like “if you call someone a fool you are liable to the fire of gehenna” just gets in the way of your faith. All over the Bible the Psalmists and prophets were constantly asking God some tough questions when they don’t understand what’s happening to them. And so, we, like them should not shy away from asking too. We might not get all the answers we are looking for, but we come away with a better understanding of the passages we are studying and knowing that our God is a big and does not feel threatened by our questioning.

Week 20 – Beware of False Teachers

January 31, 2016

Study
Questions

Study

The First Letter of Peter: Holy Living in the Midst of Fiery Trials.

Peter is now stating that just as there were false teachers in Israel, so there will be false teachers among us today who will teach destructive heresies and even deny our Lord, Jesus Christ, and make up clever lies to get hold of your money. See how true his words are today! Even though we are warned here, and just as Peter says, many will follow their evil teaching and shameful immorality and will cause the name of Jesus to be blasphemed. They turn the gospel of grace into a license to sin; but just as God did not spare the angels who sinned or those in Noah’s day or Sodom and Gomorrah, so He will judge wicked sinners. God is a merciful and compassionate God who is not willing that anyone should perish but that all should come to repentance. He has made a made a way of escape from that judgment through faith in Jesus, and when He is rejected then he will mete out punishment.

Questions

Of what does Peter warn the church?
What are some of the marks of a false teacher?
What will be one result of these false teachings?
What will happen to such teachers?
What evidence does Peter give that God will take righteous vengeance against these false teachers?

Answers

There were false teachers among the people of Israel in those days, and there will be false teachers among us today.
They will deny Jesus, teach clever destructive heresies, they will come in secretly/subtly.
Many will follow their immoral conduct and cause the name of Jesus to be blasphemed.
They will receive swift destruction.
He did not spare the angels that sinned; the ancient world of Noah’s day, and Sodom and Gomorrah.

Selected Scripture Verses

2 Peter 2:1-10

False Teachers and Their Destruction
But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them—bringing swift destruction on themselves. (2) Many will follow their depraved conduct and will bring the way of truth into disrepute. (3) In their greed these teachers will exploit you with fabricated stories. Their condemnation has long been hanging over them, and their destruction has not been sleeping.

(4) For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but sent them to hell,putting them in chains of darkness[b] to be held for judgment; (5) if he did not spare the ancient world when he brought the flood on its ungodly people, but protected Noah, a preacher of righteousness, and seven others; (6) if he condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah by burning them to ashes, and made them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly; (7) and if he rescued Lot, a righteous man, who was distressed by the depraved conduct of the lawless (8) (for that righteous man, living among them day after day, was tormented in his righteous soul by the lawless deeds he saw and heard)— (9) if this is so, then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials and to hold the unrighteous for punishment on the day of judgment. (10) This is especially true of those who follow the corrupt desire of the flesh and despise authority.

Bold and arrogant, they are not afraid to heap abuse on celestial beings;

Bible Study

Open Hands Church