A Warning from 2 Peter

But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction. And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of truth will be blasphemed. And in their greed they will exploit you with false words. Their condemnation from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.

For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgment; if he did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a herald of righteousness, with seven others, when he brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly; if by turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to ashes he condemned them to extinction, making them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly; and if he rescued righteous Lot, greatly distressed by the sensual conduct of the wicked (for as that righteous man lived among them day after day, he was tormenting his righteous soul over their lawless deeds that he saw and heard); then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment, and especially those who indulge in the lust of defiling passion and despise authority.

Bold and willful, they do not tremble as they blaspheme the glorious ones, whereas angels, though greater in might and power, do not pronounce a blasphemous judgment against them before the Lord. But these, like irrational animals, creatures of instinct, born to be caught and destroyed, blaspheming about matters of which they are ignorant, will also be destroyed in their destruction, suffering wrong as the wage for their wrongdoing. They count it pleasure to revel in the daytime. They are blots and blemishes, reveling in their deceptions, while they feast with you. They have eyes full of adultery, insatiable for sin. They entice unsteady souls. They have hearts trained in greed. Accursed children! Forsaking the right way, they have gone astray. They have followed the way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who loved gain from wrongdoing, but was rebuked for his own transgression; a speechless donkey spoke with human voice and restrained the prophet’s madness.

2 Peter 2:1-16, ESV

I came across a shorter version of this passage while reading through the daily lectionary and the power of this passage made me stop dead in my tracks.

Peter's words here are very strong and steeped in an understanding of the Old Testament which few of us keep these days- an understanding that the same God who sent Jesus out of compassion also performed acts of judgement in days gone by. The Christian Bible is not a story of two gods (one cruel and vengeful the other loving and forgiving) as some like to proclaim. There is One God who is full of both love and righteousness. This God is equally capable of wrath or mercy- and this God retains the right to pour out either without checking for our permission or approval before hand.

When we speak of grace in the Church, we are claiming that God treats us better than we deserve. Peter is reminding us that God does not have to continually share grace with those who have lost a zeal for holiness. Grace is a gift, not a right. And the gift-giver expects those who claim to teach grace to also teach righteousness.

You see, the sexual indulgence, avarice, and power-seeking which Peter is condemning is not that of the world. He is talking about false prophets- about religious leaders, pastors, deacons, bishops, teachers, apostles, brothers and sisters who claim to act on God's behalf while enticing people to seek wealth or physical pleasure.

He is talking about the in-house corruption within the people of God.

As Christians, our greatest temptations to sin may not be offered up by glossy magazine covers or naughty websites or worldly schemes.

Sadly, our greatest temptations may come from sermons and Bible studies which aim to seduce us onto an easy and self-indulgent path: a pathway which will lead to the wrath of the living God who will not sit idly by while His gift of grace and mercy is cheapened into a license for lawlessness.

The Good News in all this?

This very God who will judge those who corrupt the faith will also deliver those who stand firm.

In this Advent season, as we await the return of Christ, let us soberly reflect on how we treat the Gospel. Do we see it as a witness to the mercy and grace of a God who could rightly condemn us, but chooses to forgive those who repent and believe in the Son?

Or do we twist it into an indulgent tale of a God who will look the other way even if we keep breaking every rule in the Book and teach others to do the same?

Lord Jesus Christ, Lamb of God, have mercy on me, a sinner! And come quickly to deliver us all from this fallen world!