2 Peter 2:20-21

I thought the RCC rejected 2Peter as inspired scripture, but here goes....

Verse 9 of said chapter...
"The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished:"

The verses you put out deal with those who hear, and reject the truth.

 

Well, Ron, that's a great point. Since I posted that, I've dug out a few recources, and can only say that it must mean a loss of earthly blessing. It doesn't say that God disowns us, or gives us over to death, but it says things will be worse for us than before we believed.

I keep using Elvis Presley as an example. It is obvious that he was saved as a teenager, but turned away from his faith, making himself a miserable person.

I know you will automatically disagree, but I don't believe the verses you posted equal a loss of salvation, but a promise of severe chastening here.

 

'Instead of expending energy on trying to find verses to defend falling from grace, you need to study the context of this passage, since you elevated it for our viewing.

II Peter chapter two begins by dealing with false prophets which we would classify as non-Christian people. God goes on in vs. 4-6 explaining the fate of fallen angels, the ungodly of Noah's time, and the sinning Sodomites/homosexuals and other people who rebel against the Lord God. In vs. 13 Peter speaks of those 'who shall receive the reward of the unrighteous' men who have 'eyes full of adultery who cannot cease from sinning.' They are 'wells without water' vs. 17 and 'servants of corruption' vs. 19, hardly lapsing Christians.

In verse 20 Peter says they knew about the Lord because of their attachment to the fellowship of the church and had 'known the way of righteousness' vs. 21 but turned from the truth of the Gospel.

In vs. 22 the Lord would never call a backslidden child of God a 'dog' and for sure not a sow/pig, the one returning to his expelled food, while the other returned to the muddy pig pen.

In verse 20 they were false prophets and hypocrites for awhile as they fellowshipped with the church but eventually they returned to their real self, the sinner's life style. 'There latter end was worse than their beginning' because they had Hell for their future, not because they were sinners but because they never received Christ and never had a sincere faith in Him.

I concure with the Greek scholar Dr. Kenneth S. Wuest who says,

'These unsaved teachers, cleaned up on the outside, experiencing an outward moral reformation but not an inward regeneration, like the sow, went back to their wallowing in the gross forms of sin from which they had been outwardly delivered by the cleasing action of an intellectual knowledge of the Word of God.'

Dr. Strachen says, 'But as they persisted in their false teaching that grace gave license to sin, they became entangeled in their former licentious ways. "Entangle" is (empleko,) "to interweave." The noun speaks of an interweaving, a braiding. Their going back to their former immoral lives was not the act of a moment, but a gradual process, as the word implies.' All thse quotes are from Dr. Wuest's "In These Last Days" II Peter, I,II, III John and Jude in the Greek New Testament, William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, p. 62

Contextual and word studies will improve your exegetical and theological serve.

 

So you are saying that a little chastening in this life is worse than an eternity of damnation?</font>[/QUOTE]Dwell upon what Br. Curtis has said here. From out of his own mouth, he speaks of a "severe chastining"?

Now, if Bro. Curtis would now tell us exactly when this occurs, if indeed, this is not the eternal punshment of hell.

No, a "severe chastining" does not adequately describe a condemnation to the eternal punishment to hell, but it certainly seems that to be in a condition that is worse them before describes hell.

Bro. Curtis' description describes another "chastining," however, and I have a name for it.....
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PURGATORY!

God bless,

PAX

Bill+†+


Pillar and Foundation of Truth, the Church. (1 Tim 3:15)

 

If people would just take this scripture at face value and would stop forcing it to fit their belief in OSAS, there would be no problem here. The verses are clearly talking about those who knew Jesus and thereby escaped the pollution of this world, but later returned to it.

To try to say it doesn't say this is to change what the Bible clearly states.