Today’s passage: 2 Peter 2:11-16
Helpful thoughts:
- This passage starts with verse 10b, “Bold and willful…“
- False teachers think highly of themselves. This pride makes them:
- Irrational
- Impulsive
- Speaking as experts (Fully believing they are) in areas of ignorance…which results in more false teaching
- False teachers don’t wait until the darkness to unleash their sinfulness.
- False teachers target the church.
- False teachers target those who are “unsteady”.
- The feasting and greed could be termed today as chewing people up and spitting them out.
- False teachers will reap consequences for their actions.
- Balaam’s story starts in Numbers 22.
Questions to consider:
- What kinds of things could be true of a Christian who is presently “unsteady”? What would make them vulnerable? What would they need to be “steadied”?
- Who is the false teacher seeking to benefit? How would he/she feel toward those they are hurting? To whom would they attribute fault when conflicts and troubles arise or when their methods and lies come into question?
- What did it take to restrain (Not stop…) Balaam’s “madness”? How can this give us wisdom in our desire to attempt to confront and stop a false teacher?