Magalie Bodkin Garcia > I believe 2 Peter 2:18 "For when they speak great swelling [words] of vanity, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, [through much] wantonness, those that were clean escaped from them who live in error." “Swelling words of vanity”: Jude 16. That is, ostentatious verbosity. The false teachers deceive the weak with high sounding words that masquerade as scholarship or profound spiritual insight, and even as direct revelation for God. They may contradict the plain historic teachings of Scripture which in some cases they are not able to explain properly because of their lack of adequate training and diving wisdom (1 Cor. 2:14). In reality, they say nothing genuinely scholarly, or spiritual, or divine. Nevertheless, in spite of all the empty talk, false teachers entice others to their philosophies by appealing to people on the baser level. Seduction, rather than the winsomeness of truth, is their ploy. They offer people a kind of religion that they can embrace and still hold on to their fleshly desires and sensuality. Peter may also be implying that false teachers particularly aim to seduce women through sensual methods. “Allure” or enticing, which is a metaphor from fishing and appears also in verse 18. To entice is to catch with bait. False teachers do not capture those strong in the Word, but prey on the weak, the unstable and the young in the faith (see 3:15; Eph. 4:14; 1 John 2:13) “Escaped … error”: The preferred translation is “barely escaping” or “trying to escape.” This is a description not of saved people, but of people who are vulnerable because they have high levels of guilt and anxieties – people with broken marriages, people who are lonely and tired of the consequences of sin and are looking for a new start, even for religion or help from God. The false teachers exploit these kinds of people. All of this is speaking of happening within the church. This is not the world, but the church. It is speaking of the devil using false prophets in the church, who appeal to the flesh of man, leading those who have been in right relation with God away from the Truth. Wantonness is speaking of sins of the flesh. It is a very dangerous thing for the church to use things that appeal to the flesh to get people to attend church. The world and the evil desires of the flesh have no place in the church
Posted on: Tue, 30 Jul 2013 09:22:50 +0000
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