Reading for February 6th

 Read 2 Peter 2.10b-22. In 2.10b-22: Assorted attacks. In verses 11-14: Peter resorts to name-calling (bold, willful), accusing his opponents of insulting the angels who are predicted to accompany the divine judgment (Mt 4.24, 30-31). More name-calling follows; irrational animals, blots and blemishes, adulterous, and greedy. He continually pronounces judgment on them (caught and killed, will be destroyed, suffering the penalty for doing wrong)--a judgment they deny. In verses 15-16: Balaam (Num 22) provides another biblical example of a "false prophet" who was rebuked by his dumb donkey. In verses 17-18: More name-calling, but in terms of things that fail; waterless springs are all promise and no payoff. he accuses his opponents of base motives (first greed and now license) and argues that their doctrine cannot lead to moral integrity. In verses 19-20: In promising freedom, they proclaim freedom from fear of God's judgment and presumably God's law, but this perverse idea only leads to slavery, not freedom, and to corruption, leads to slavery, not freedom, and for corruption not holiness. In verses 21-22: The opponents are likened to the most unclean animals in that culture, dogs, and sows, after baptism and purification, they return to their previous vomit and mud. The "opponents'' doctrine, then, only leads to a bad end--proof that it is wrong. Comments or Questions..