Thematic Bible: Folly


Thematic Bible










But they will have no further success; for their folly will be as clearly manifest to all men, as that of the opponents of Moses came to be. Verse ConceptsFolly, Effects OfManifesting (making Something Clear)Foolishness Of MenAspects Of People Made Knowncancer








And, after a few days, He appeared to the people who had gone up with Him from Galilee to Jerusalem and are now witnesses concerning Him to the Jews. Verse ConceptsApostles, Function In Early ChurchGospel, Confirmation OfWitnesses, To Jesus ChristApostles, Duties OfContemporary Witness To ChristAction For A Long Time

For when we made known to you the power and Coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, we were not eagerly following cleverly devised legends, but we had been eye-witnesses of His majesty. Verse ConceptsFaith, As A Body Of BeliefsFablesGod, Power OfGospel, Transmission OfHistoryPeter, Preacher And TeacherWitnesses, To Jesus ChristInventionsMythsExperimental KnowledgeApostles, Duties OfSpectatorsMaking Christ KnownChrist's Own GloryThe Fact Of His Coming

on the authority of those who were from the beginning eye-witnesses and were devoted to the service of the divine Message, Verse ConceptsBeginning Of SalvationSpectatorsFrom The Beginning

beginning from His baptism by John down to the day on which He was taken up again from us into Heaven--one should be appointed to become a witness with us as to His resurrection." Verse ConceptsBeginning Of SalvationContemporary Witness To ChristChrist Is Risen

"And we are witnesses as to all that He did both in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. But they even put Him to death, by crucifixion. Verse ConceptsApostles, During Jesus Earthly MinistryHangingPeter, Preacher And TeacherPunishment, Legal Aspects OfContemporary Witness To ChristChrist Was KilledPeople Hung To Death







But there were also false prophets among the people, as there will be teachers of falsehood among you also, who will cunningly introduce fatal divisions, disowning even the Sovereign Lord who has redeemed them, and bringing on themselves swift destruction. And in their immoral ways they will have many eager disciples, through whom religion will be brought into disrepute. Thirsting for riches, they will trade on you with their canting talk. From of old their judgement has been working itself out, and their destruction has not been slumbering. read more.
For God did not spare angels when they had sinned, but hurling them down to Tartarus consigned them to caves of darkness, keeping them in readiness for judgement. And He did not spare the ancient world, although He preserved Noah, a herald of righteousness, with seven others, when He brought a deluge on the world of the ungodly. He reduced to ashes the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, and condemned them to overthrow, making them an example to people who might in future be living godless lives. But when righteous Lot was sore distressed by the gross misconduct of immoral men He rescued him. (For their lawless deeds were torture, day after day, to the pure soul of that righteous man--all that he saw and heard whilst living in their midst.) Since all this is so, the Lord knows how to rescue godly men from temptation, and on the other hand how to keep the unrighteous under punishment in readiness for the Day of Judgement, and especially those who are abandoned to sensuality--craving, as they do, for polluted things, and scorning control. Fool-hardy and self-willed, they do not tremble when speaking evil of glorious beings; while angels, though greater than they in might and power, do not bring any insulting accusation against such in the presence of the Lord. But these men, like brute beasts, created (with their natural instincts) being doomed to receive a requital for their guilt. They reckon it pleasure to feast daintily in broad daylight. They are spots and blemishes, while feeding luxuriously at their love-feasts, and banqueting with you. Their very eyes are full of adultery--being eyes which never cease from sin. These men set traps to catch unstedfast souls, their own hearts being well trained in greed. They are fore-doomed to God's curse! Forsaking the straight road, they have gone astray, having eagerly followed in the steps of Balaam, the son of Beor, who was bent on securing the wages of unrighteousness. But he was rebuked for his transgression: a dumb ass spoke with a human voice and checked the madness of the Prophet. These people are wells without water, mists driven along by a storm, men for whom the dense darkness has been reserved. For, while they pour out their frivolous and arrogant talk, they use earthly cravings--every kind of immorality--as a bait to entrap men who are just escaping from the influence of those who live in error. And they promise them freedom, although they are themselves the slaves of what is corrupt. For a man is the slave of any one by whom he has been worsted in fight. For if, after escaping from the pollutions of the world through a full knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, people are once more entangled in these pollutions and are overcome, their last state has become worse than their first. For it would have been better for them not to have fully known the way of righteousness, than, after knowing it, to turn back from the holy commandments in which they were instructed. Their case is that described in the true proverb, "A dog returns to what he has vomited," and also in the other proverb, "The sow has washed itself and now goes back to roll in its filth."


Among them are included the men who make their way into private houses and carry off weak women as their prisoners--women who, weighed down by the burden of their sins, are led by ever-changing caprice, and are always learning something new, and yet are never able to arrive at real knowledge of the truth. And just as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so also these false teachers withstand the truth--being, as they are, men of debased intellects, and of no real worth so far as faith is concerned. read more.
But they will have no further success; for their folly will be as clearly manifest to all men, as that of the opponents of Moses came to be.