Category: Epistles – Is his letter to our church?

Epistle of Paul to the Romans

Epistles ἐπιστολή or Letters

I charge you by the Lord that this epistle be read to all the holy brethren.

Paul’s First Letter to the Thessalonians

Don’t miss our recent FEATURED SERIES

JUNE 2024 – 2025 —

1 CORINTHIANS

———————————————————-

Letters – Is he writing to me?
The short answer: YES.

In their epistles or 1st century church letters the Apostles and other men sent out by Jesus build up the saints [small – ‘s’] or members of local first century churches.

A Disciple or other witness of JESUS would write it. Messengers then delivered these church letters to many isolated worshipers.

Followers of Jesus Christ receive these letters as a major encouragement to their personal faith. Then leaders read them to worshipers of their church.

Although the Epistles 0r Letters to the Church were originally written to churches of the first century,

Romans through Jude will seem like letters to your 21st century church.

What do Peter, Paul, John and others tell us we must do?
Is he talking about an issue in your 21st c. church as well?
How does the writer’s advice, warning, or encouragement to the 1st c. believers apply to you as well
Is the writer of this letter talking about something you need to address in your 21st century ‘christian’ life?

Contemporary Application of the Letters (Epistles)

Most New Testament writers take on specific issues confronting faithful followers of Jesus Christ. These same issues continue to confront believers until the Lord’s coming again in these last days.

Certainly Christ our Lord will come again to those God has chosen for eternal life.

Believers currently suffer more than most of you who know Christ in your local church can imagine.

In other lands Christians continue to suffer by the hand of the ungodly.
Go into all the world

A 21st century Common Era church can see and hear nearly any atrocity of man or artificial imagination of sinful man’s mind, yet ‘christians‘ dare not speak of any absolute truth of the Lord God or talk of JESUS CHRIST.

Will YOU comment on Scripture and share the Gospel?

I invite you to read the inspired word of Scripture written in these LETTERS TO THE CHURCH.

YES, He IS writing to YOU.

Beloved brother or sister in Christ Jesus,

Will you read this ‘CHURCH LETTER’ and talk of JESUS through your comment, sharing and email to me about this ‘Letter to you?”

Roger@talkofJesus.com

2 Timothy – Apostolic Faith and Pastoral Oversight by Paul
Introduction

God and Christ became incarnate in order to restore Their personal relationship with sinful man.

Roger@TallkofJesus.com

God and Apostles, Disciples of men

Our purpose in introducing Paul’s final epistle to a pastor is:

1. to reintroduce you to the Apostle Paul and

2. to reacquaint you with Timothy, a disciple of Paul who served him in varying roles,

BOTH whom we’ve met in Acts of the Apostles and other epistles.

Let us begin with God
```
(says the teacher to his class). 
```
God — YHWH the LORD — Is One.

One in Being. One in Essence. One in Substance.

There IS no other god.

God IS the Creator of all things and of all mankind.

He had a relationship in the beginning of time — before which He Exists and after which He Exists — the LORD’s relationships are perfectly personal.

God IS: Father, Son — Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit.

Christ, Apostles and Disciples

The Apostle Paul writes to Timothy in his first epistle:

This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief.

First letter of the Apostle Paul to Timothy

Jesus, the incarnate Son of God the Father, taught the Gospel with all perfection to men for three years.

The Twelve Disciples (which included neither Paul nor Timothy) followed the Lord, ate and slept with Jesus — they all knew the incarnate Son of God personally.

Consider the interpersonal relationships connecting each of these roles as defined by Scripture and what the Lord Jesus, our Teacher, instructs:

Disciple (follower), Master (teacher), Servant (slave) and Lord

The Disciples Matthew, John and Peter were all present with the incarnate Christ Jesus personally when the Lord said this:

The disciple is not above his master, nor the servant above his lord.

Gospel of Matthew 24:14 – Jesus’ to The Twelve Disciples; Instructions for Service & meaning of discipleship – KJV

μαθητής – mathētēs – disciple (268x) – a learner, pupil, one who follows one’s teaching:

The Twelve followed JESUS for three years, discipleship at its most personal.

Furthermore, many others would follow JESUS’s teachings as ‘Christians’ chosen by God for the Way of eternal life.

Apostles to the Jews and Gentiles

Of course from the beginning Jesus knew that Judas would betray Him and that a disciple Mathias would be chosen to replace the betrayer of Christ as a twelfth Apostle to the Jews.

Christ had taught and trained the Twelve how they would become Apostles — primarily, but not exclusively, to their fellow Jews —after His death, resurrection and ascension.

We last looked at the Apostle Simon Peter

Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ:

2 Peter 1:1 KJV

Paul also refers to himself as an Apostle, greeting his disciples (followers) in his first epistle and this final letter.

Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, according to the promise of life which is in Christ Jesus,

To Timothy, my dearly beloved son:

2 Timothy 1:1-2a KJV

So who are apostles?
Apostolos – a delegate, messenger, one sent forth with orders

specifically applied to the twelve apostles of Christ

in a broader sense applied to other eminent Christian teachers

– of Barnabas of Timothy and Silvanus
Apostles are ‘sent out’ by Christ.

As in the case of the Twelve and the Apostle Paul, the Lord himself instructed them Personally — that is, the Person of Jesus sent these Apostles out into the world personally.

Other apostles continued to be ‘sent out into all the world’ by the Holy Spirit after Jesus’ ascension, as Luke records for us of the day of Pentecost in ACTS 1.

As we learned from Acts of the Apostles that after the AD 49 Council in Jerusalem, Peter, Paul, John and all others were sent out ‘first to the Jews,’ but also into gentile areas of the Roman Empire (mostly Hellenist or Greek provinces) to include ALL as follows of Christ as part of each local church.

Jesus is Lord

Note that Jesus Christ refers to the Father as Lord (Kyrios in their common Greek language of the Roman Empire) with an authority and meaning no different than the original Hebrew scripture (Yahweh).

“Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?”

And He said to him,

“‘YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND.’

Matthew 22:36-37 LSB

Saul, a Jew of Jews, sent out by a Master crucified and risen!

About five years after the Jews of Jerusalem had crucified Jesus, a young disciple of Gamaliel witnessed the stoning of a follower of The Way.

They went on stoning Stephen as he was calling out and saying, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!” Then falling on his knees, he cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them!” And having said this, he fell asleep.

Acts of the Apostles 7:59-60 LSB

Stephen, even in his dying breath, called JESUS, “Lord” – twice.

And this young disciple of the rabbi Gamaliel had witnessed it personally.

Saul of Tarsus would become an apostle of the Sanhedrin specifically sent out to continue persecuting Christians.

But then, as we know, Christ appeared to Saul and instructed this new and unwilling (at first) Apostle to go to the Gentiles.

Damascus Road: Witness into all the World

Paul frequently writes that He is a slave (doulos) of JESUS or God(or of the gospel). The Lord Jesus himself points to the service required of this most personal relationship.
```
Many translations prefer servant to slave, but it is the same Greek word: doulos. 
```
The disciple is not above his master, nor the servant above his lord.

Gospel of Matthew 10:24 KJV

The Apostle Paul describes himself in another pastoral epistle written about the same time as his two letters to Timothy:

Paul, a servant^G1401 of God, and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God’s elect, and the acknowledging of the truth which is after godliness;

Epistle of Paul to Titus 1:1

Timothy – Paul enlists a disciple of The Way

Now Paul also arrived at Derbe and at Lystra.

And behold, a disciple was there, named Timothy,

the son of a Jewish woman who was a believer,

but his father was a Greek,

Acts of the Apostles 16:1

During Paul’s second missionary journey, which had begun inland through the mountains northwest of Tarsus in rural Galatia. While visiting churches established by Barnabas and him on a first missionary journey, the Apostle meets a young Timothy — a Greek, because of his father, but brought up as a Christ-follower by his mother(a Jew, as Paul had been) and Timothy’s grandmother.

A brief introduction of Timothy (Τιμόθεος – Timotheos)
```
Timothy's early journeys are found in Acts of the Apostles. 
```
~AD 49

Second Missionary Journey – Acts 16

Timothy joined Paul and Silas on mission, staying behind at Berea for a time with Silas. Paul, later commands the two by the Spirit to join him in Athens from where the trio proceed to Macedonia.

Paul then ‘sent into Macedonia two of them that ministered unto him, Timotheus and Erastus; but he himself stayed in Asia for a season.

Acts 19:22 KJV

We observe how personal all of the mentoring relations of the Apostle remain to Paul as Luke records those with the Apostle when once again the Jews laid wait to capture and kill him.

Paul was accompanied by Sopater son of Pyrrhus from Berea,

Aristarchus and Secundus from Thessalonica,

Gaius from Derbe, Timothy, and Tychicus

and Trophimus from the province of Asia.

Acts of the Apostles 20:4 Berean Standard Bible
```
We will mention more of Timothy's crucial later pastoral roles later in this epistle.  
```
Timothy wrote other epistles with Paul :

It is important for us to note that these Pastoral Epistles make known the Spirit-directed teaching of the Apostle Paul we must study, rather than focus on any pastors or saints to whom Paul writes, such as Timothy.
- ~AD 50-51
Thessalonians and the Righteous Judgment of God
- ~AD 55-56 the Apostle Paul writes:
  - 1 Corinthians with Sosthenes and
  - 2 Corinthians with Timothy
The Apostle Paul writes to the Corinthians with Sosthenes and a second time with Timothy
*graphic from a 2024 TalkofJESUS SERIES Post: Rebuke of ministers that perish without the Cross
- ~AD 60-62 The Apostle Paul writes to:
  - the Ephesians
  - the Philippians
Archaeological Site of Philippi: General view of the forum with adjacent agora marketplace

Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus,

To all God’s holy people in Christ Jesus at Philippi, together with the overseers and deacons:

Philippians 1:1 NIV
- the Colossians, with Timothy
- and a personal plea along with Timothy to Philemon, concerning Onesimus.
NEXT: 2 Timothy 1:

timotheos agapētos teknon

To Timothy, my beloved son

Comment on Scripture – Share the Gospel
January 6, 2026
Peter’s Steadfast Purpose and the coming Day of the Lord
Steady as a Rock – Steadfastness in writing again

WHY is the Apostle so steadfast in his calling to insist that the Church obey commands already given to them?

Could it have to do with how the Lord Jesus restored Peter’s faith and recall of what Christ had taught the Apostles all along?

He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?”

Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.

And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

Gospel of Matthew 16:15-18 NKJV

Why does the Apostle Peter write a second epistle to the church?

Beloved, I now write to you this second epistle (in both of which I stir up your pure minds by way of reminder)..

2 Peter 3:1 NKJV

Here in the conclusion of his letter Simon Peter is about to tell us, as the Apostle refers to BOTH epistles included in this reminder.

But his motivation certainly recalls his own solid steadfastness in the risen Christ Jesus in several encounters.

Jesus asked a third time, “Simon son of John, do you love Me?”

Peter was deeply hurt that Jesus had asked him a third time, “Do you love Me?” “Lord, You know all things,” he replied. “You know I love You.”

Jesus said to him, “Feed My sheep.”

Gospel of John 21:17 BSB

Simon Peter needed encouraged.

And so must believers be reminded of our faith in the midst of teachings from many false teachers.

στηρίζω – stērizō –
- to make stable, place firmly, set fast, fix
- to strengthen, make firm
- to render constant, confirm, one’s mind
Are you a stable Christ-follower?

Is your faith steadfast?

Peter’s second epistle to the church mirrors what the Lord had prayed prior to His crucifixion:

“But I have prayed earnestly for you, that your faith may not fail; and you, once you have returned, strengthen^G4741 your brothers.”

Gospel of Luke 22:32

The Apostle had recently written to these same believers:

For the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God;
and if it begins with us first, what will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel of God?
1 Peter 4: 17 NKJV [in context: vs. 12-19]

Resist him [the devil], steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world.

1 Peter 5:9 NKJV [in context: vs 8-10 ]

2 Peter 3:

God’s Promise Is Not Slack
```
Reads the Heading from the New King James Version:
```
.. I stir up your pure minds by way of reminder,

The Apostle of Jesus Christ makes TWO points to the Church. This is the first:
```
3:2  μνησθῆναι τῶν προειρημένων ῥημάτων ὑπὸ τῶν ἁγίων προφητῶν 
```
- that you may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets
A single greek word for ‘that you may be mindful’ is the same word of remembering used frequently in the gospels.

And Peter remembered the word of Jesus who had said to him, “Before the rooster crows, you will deny Me three times.” So he went out and wept bitterly.

Matthew 16:75 NKJV

Peter emphasizes the subject matter spoken before by the ‘holy prophets,’ referring to the major and minor prophets of Old Testament Scripture from Isaiah to Malachi—pointing to them as Holy [ἅγιος – hagios – (an awful thing)] and certainly in contrast to the misleading false prophets and teachers against whom the Apostle has already warned.

Secondly, Peter equates Apostolic authority in this reminder mentioning the Holy Prophets speaking God’s word even before Jesus instructed them in Person.
- and of the commandment of us,the apostles of the Lord and Savior..
  - commandment of the apostles of your Lord and Savior
  - or commandment of your apostles of the Lord and Savior.
ἐντολή – entolē

– an order, command, charge, precept, injunction;

– a commandment

The commandment of the LORD in Old Testament Scripture IS the same as the commandment of the Lord Jesus Christ to the Apostles!

“I and the Father are one.”

Gospel of John 10:30

The Last Days – ἔσχατος – eschatos

knowing this first:

that scoffers will come in the last days,

walking according to their own lusts,

You’ve heard of it (even if you hesitate to think about THE END) — eschatology – study of the last things or the end times.
```
Are we in them? 
```
And [the scoffers] saying, Where is the promise of his coming?

“What happened to the promise that Jesus is coming again?

“Where is his promised return?

2 Peter 3:4a – various translatrions
```
The end was neither 
— the incarnation of JESUS the Son of God nor 
— resurrection of JESUS the Son of David hoped for by some of the Jews. 

And don't Common Era scoffers also want a conquering King 
— bringing victory without cost and proclaimation without persecution, 
also saying:
```
… all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation.”

2 Peter 3:4c NKJV

And so they do, Peter suggests, but these [scoffers and doubters of Christ] are without excuse.

For this they willfully forget: that

by the word of God the heavens were of old,

In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.

and the earth standing out of water and in the water,

by which the world that then existed perished, being flooded with water.
```
A clear reference to Noah, who Peter has just mentioned. 
```
2 Peter 3:5-6 NKJV

But the heavens and the earth which are now preserved by the same word,

are reserved for fire until the day of judgment and perdition [apōleia – the destruction which consists of eternal misery in hell]

of ungodly [ἀσεβής – asebēs – destitute of reverential awe towards God]

men [anthrōpos – men or women].

2 Peter 3:7 NKJV
```
Has your Common Era Pastor preached this Apostolic caution? 
```
And all flesh died that moved upon the earth, both of fowl, and of cattle, and of beast, and of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth, and every man: …

And I will establish my covenant with you; neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood; neither shall there any more be a flood to destroy the earth.

Genesis 7:21, 9;11 KJV

The Apostle’s Timeless Response
```
agapētos HEAR THIS: 
```
But, beloved, do not forget this one thing,

that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.

The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us [or you]

not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.

2 Peter 3:8-9 NKJV

“Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance..
Gospel of Matthew 3:8 – a caution of JESUS to the religious

The DAY of the LORD

In the year of the Lord 2025 — dismissed by scoffers as: 2025 of the Common Era [2025 CE] — Do you fear the wrath to come when Christ returns?

But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night,

in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise,

and the elements will melt with fervent heat;

both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up.

[literally, utterly burned up and consumed by fire!]

2 Peter 3: 10 NJKV

Since everything around us is going to be destroyed like this, what holy and godly lives you should live, looking forward to the day of God and hurrying it along.

On that day, he will set the heavens on fire, and the elements will melt away in the flames. But we are looking forward to the new heavens and new earth he has promised, a world filled with God’s righteousness.

2 Peter 3:11-13 New Living Translation

The Apostle’s command to look ahead may not appeal to you anymore than considering your inevitable death of the flesh.

Ah, but what of your spirit, the resurrection of our familiar flesh and the judgment to come?

Peter assures Christ’s true followers — the saints of the Chruch which may include you:

And so, dear friends, while you are waiting for these things to happen,

make every effort to be found living peaceful lives that are pure and blameless in his sight.

And remember, our Lord’s patience gives people time to be saved.

2 Peter 3:14-15a NLT

Might the Apostle actually be calling YOU, beloved member of Christ — in need of repentance for your impure fruit, to reject those easy false teachings which oppose the Lord Jesus Christ?

The APOSTLES, including Paul

NEXT, we will briefly study just one Epistle or Letter of the Apostle to the Gentiles [or Hellenists or Greeks], Paul.

Here Peter now mentions the Apostle Paul, due to an already developing false teaching in the early church broadly known as gnosticism [a Greek word meaning “knowledge.”]

Gnosticism

Such ‘knowledge‘ often accelerates into a down-hill slope into the pit of error. Therefore a brief summary here from BibleHub.com
- Dualism: Gnosticism is marked by a strong dualistic worldview,
  - The material world is often seen as the creation of a lesser deity,
    
    sometimes identified with the God of the Old Testament,
    
    who is distinct from the true, transcendent God.
```
This, of course, is NOT SCRIPTURAL from either Jewish Scripture 
OR the Gospel of the New Testament.
```
- Gnostics believe that.. salvation involves awakening this divine spark through gnosis.
- Some Gnostic texts depict Christ as a purely spiritual being .who did not truly suffer or die.
- Gnosticism generally views the physical world as corrupt or illusory.
  - This belief often leads to ascetic practices or,
  - conversely, to libertine behavior, as the material is deemed irrelevant to spiritual salvation.
Peter confirming Paul

So also our beloved brother Paul wrote to you according to the wisdom given him, speaking of this as he does in all his letters.

There are some things in them hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other scriptures.

You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, beware lest you be carried away with the error of lawless men and lose your own stability. But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Second Epistle of the Apostle Peter 3:16b-18a RSV

Doxology

αὐξάνετε δὲ ἐν χάριτι καὶ γνώσει τοῦ κυρίου ἡμῶν καὶ σωτῆρος Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ αὐτῷ ἡ δόξα καὶ νῦν καὶ εἰς ἡμέραν αἰῶνος ἀμήν

Grow, urges the Apostle — connecting our growth in faith to ‘our kyrios [lord] and sōtēr [savior]

iēsous christos

— and referring to Him, a traditional doxology as the Apostle’s final words in his final letter and will for the church:

autos ho doxa

To him be the glory

kay nyn

both now

kai eis hēmera aiōn

and to the day of eternity.

ἀμήν amēn
- so it is, so be it, may it be fulfilled.
- firm: a metaphor for faithful
2 Peter 3:18

Thus ends the epistles of the Apostle Simon Peter, the Rock upon whom Jesus began the building of His Church.

Talk of JESUS . com

Comment on Scripture – Share the Gospel
December 8, 2025
Finding the Evangelical Freedom of Balaam in our Evangelical Church
.. promising them freedom while they themselves are slaves of corruption..

2 Peter 2:19a LSB

Why does the Apostle Peter point to Balaam?
```
Do evangelical pastors of Christ's Church have the freedom to accept all prophesy and every doctrine? 
```
Note the similarities of the growing popularity of Balaam of Pethor, whom Moses introduces in Numbers 22, to the AD first century missionary journeys of Peter, Paul and John.

Moses led the Israelite people from slavery in Egypt by the hand of the Lord God to the land of Canaan.

Balaam is NOT a prophet of God! He travels to new lands to profit from his reputation as a seer. (This is not unlike many false teachers we meet in Acts of the Apostles.)

Balaam is an opportunist FORCED to obey the LORD. But in addition to Balaam’s error (as some call it), the prophet would easily mislead any away from truth and will of the God.

Worshipers of Baal and other gods will follow false prophets to inclusively worship other gods— even in this Common Era.

Balaam’s journey begins in his homeland, which is described as “Pethor, which is by the Euphrates.”

Balaam’s journey to Moab is marked by divine intervention .. highlighting the spiritual battle over Balaam’s intentions and the sovereignty of God over pagan practices.

BibleHub.com

2 Peter 2: False Teachers – Wandering Creatures

These false teachers are like unthinking animals, creatures of instinct, born to be caught and destroyed.

They scoff at things they do not understand, and like animals, they will be destroyed.

Their destruction is their reward for the harm they have done.

They love to indulge in evil pleasures in broad daylight.

They are a disgrace and a stain among you.

They delight in deception even as they eat with you in your fellowship meals.

They commit adultery with their eyes, and their desire for sin is never satisfied. They lure unstable people into sin, and they are well trained in greed. They live under God’s curse.

2 Peter 2:12-14 NLT

They have gone astray by abandoning the straight path and have followed the path of Balaam, the son of Bosor, who loved the wages of wickedness,
2 Peter 2:15 CSB

but received a rebuke for his lawlessness:

A speechless donkey spoke with a human voice and restrained the prophet’s madness.

v.16

The Divine Coercion of Balaam

R.C. Sproel observes:

Only by divine coercion did Balaam obey God, and then he gave four prophesies…

ibid. p.236
```
The oracle of Balaam son of Beor,

the oracle of the man whose eyes are opened; 
the oracle of one who hears the sayings of God
and has knowledge from the Most High,
who sees a vision from the Almighty,
who falls into a trance with his eyes uncovered: 

I see him, but not now;

I perceive him, but not near.

A star will come from Jacob,

and a scepter will arise from Israel. 

       - Numbers 24:15-17 excerpt CSB
```
Further study of Numbers in the context of Peter’s witness will reveal how a fourth prophesy of Balaam may interest the church.

Freedom Restrained by Truth

The Apostle of Christ writes this second epistle to the church to instruct us:

We do NOT have the freedom to say whatever we want.

AND, in fact, prophets and teachers of false doctrine will walk among the saints of the Church seeking followers to leave the narrow Way of the Lord.

Peter is not describing pagans here but apostates.

R.C. Sproel – Be All the more Diligent to Make your Calling and Election Sure, p.234

Apostates

In these loose, liberal times of Common Era preaching, I believe it necessary to provide a brief definition of that against Peter warns.

An apostate is an individual who has abandoned or renounced their faith, particularly in the context of Christianity.

The term is derived from the Greek word “apostasia,” which means a defection or revolt.

Apostasy is considered a grave sin in Christian theology, as it involves a deliberate turning away from the truth of the Gospel and the rejection of the salvation offered through Jesus Christ.

BibleHub.com Topical Encyclopedia

Most Common Era christians have never heard of such a great sin of apostasy or do we recognize how false teachers have led us away from Christ to the gods of our imagination.
```
Referring to 2 Peter 2:15-16 Sproul continues: 
```
They know the right way; they have been exposed to the teachings of the Gospel;they know what the truth is—they have heard it proclaimed repeatedly—but they have forsaken it and gone a different way.

R.C. Sproul, ibid. pp 234-35

eleutheria – Freedom and Liberties

Fifteen years earlier [AD 49], at the time of the Council of Jerusalem, James writes in his Epistle:

Speak and act as those who are to be judged by the law of freedom.

James 2:12 CSB

And in his first epistle to the Church Peter had already written:

Submit as free people, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but as God’s slaves.

1 Peter 2:16 CSB

AND NOW THE APOSTLE WARNS:

Although these false teachers promise such people freedom, they themselves are enslaved to immorality. For whatever a person succumbs to, to that he is enslaved.

2 Peter 2:19 New English Translation

And what of Popes and false Prophets?

Whether all creatures in the time of Noah — the entire city of Sodom in which we live — the evangelical landscape of all-inclusive gods — speaking to wavering believers,

Does one walk sandalless in the error of Balaam?

The Apostle Peter warns every saint of the Lord Jesus Christ:

For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome,

the last state has become worse for them than the first.

For it would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness than after knowing it to turn back from the holy commandment delivered to them.

2 Peter 2:20-21 ESV

Peter is not finished with his warnings against these pernicious preachers yet to come and corrupt the Church. The Apostle of the Son of the One God — speaks through the Holy Spirit of disobedient angels and false prophets as irrational animals, creatures of instinct, born to be caught and killed.

AND, of those in the church who listen to false doctrine and are led astray, the Apostle writes:

For it would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness than after knowing it to turn back from the holy commandment delivered to them.

2 Peter 2:21 RSV
```
Have YOU escaped the corruption of the world by knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ? 
```
NEXT: a Steadfast Purpose and Day of the Lord

Comment on Scripture – Share the Gospel
December 2, 2025