Reading for April 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 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: Baalam (Num 22) provides another biblical example of a "false pophet" 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 off 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 preverse idea only leads to slavery, not freedom, and to 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 privious vomit and mud. The opponents' doctrine, then, only leads to a bad end-roof that it is wrong. Comments or Questions..