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 21 – Beware of False Teachers

February 7, 2016

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Questions

Study

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

Peter continues this passage with harsh words of description of these false teachers: they are arrogant and proud, they scoff at supernatural beings, they are like unthinking animals, creatures of instinct, born to be caught and destroyed. They are well trained in greed and love to indulge in evil pleasures in broad daylight. They take delight in deceiving even as they eat and fellowship with you. They brag about themselves, not realizing that they are doomed to “blackest darkness”. They promise freedom but they themselves are slaves of sin and corruption. You are slaves to whatever controls you. When people escape from the wickedness of the world by trusting in Jesus as Savior and then sit under the tutelage of these teachers, they once again become entangled and enslaved by sin and they are worse off than before they were saved.

Questions

Who are the people especially susceptible to being seduced by false teachers?
How does Peter describe false teachers with animals?
What kind of claims do these false teachers make about themselves?
What impulses and desires control these false teachers?
What does Peter say about those who are seduced by these false teachers?

Answers

Those people who are unstable; those who do not take the time to read the Bible for themselves under the guidance of the Holy Spirit; those who might be new believers who end up in the wrong church or want to hear pleasant things only.
They are like unthinking animals, creatures of instinct, born to be caught and destroyed.
They brag with empty foolish boasting and promises freedom.
They indulge in evil in broad daylight; they take pleasure in deception; they commit adultery with their eyes; they lure unstable people into sin.
A man is a slave to whatever has mastered or has control over him.

Selected Scripture Verses

2 Peter 2:10-22

(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; (11) yet even angels, although they are stronger and more powerful, do not heap abuse on such beings when bringing judgment on them from the Lord. (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.

(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. (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, 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.

(17) These people are springs without water and mists driven by a storm. Blackest darkness is reserved for them. (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,” and, “A sow that is washed returns to her wallowing in the mud.”

Bible Study

Open Hands Church