Thematic Bible
Thematic Bible
Affections » False teachers seek to captivate
Am I now trying to win the approval of people or of God? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be the Messiah's servant.
These people who have been instructing you are devoted to you, but not in a good way. They want you to avoid me so that you will be devoted to them.
For some of these men go into homes and deceive foolish women who are burdened with sins and swayed by all kinds of desires.
In their greed they will exploit you with deceptive words. The ancient verdict against them is still in force, and their destruction is not delayed.
By talking high-sounding nonsense and using sinful cravings of the flesh, they entice people who have just escaped from those who live in error.
But I have a few things against you: You have there some who hold to the teaching of Balaam, the one who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the people of Israel so that they would eat food sacrificed to idols and practice immorality.
But I have this against you: You tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophet and who teaches and leads my servants to practice immorality and to eat food sacrificed to idols.
Religious zeal » Without knowledge
These people who have been instructing you are devoted to you, but not in a good way. They want you to avoid me so that you will be devoted to them.
For you have heard about my earlier life in Judaism how I kept violently persecuting God's church and was trying to destroy it. I advanced in Judaism beyond many of my contemporaries, because I was far more zealous for the traditions of my ancestors.
For I can testify on their behalf that they have a zeal for God, but it is not in keeping with full knowledge. For they are ignorant of the righteousness that comes from God while they try to establish their own, and they have not submitted to God's means to attain righteousness.
You'll be thrown out of the synagogues. Yes, a time is coming when the one who kills you will think he's serving God.
When they heard about it, they praised God and told him, "You see, brother, how many tens of thousands of believers there are among the Jews, and all of them are zealous for the Law.
Do not be overly righteous, nor be overly wise. Why be self-destructive?
Just then, a scribe came up and told him, "Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go." Jesus told him, "Foxes have holes and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to rest."
While they were walking along the road, a man told him, "I will follow you wherever you go." Jesus told him, "Foxes have holes and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to rest."
Some are preaching the Messiah because of jealousy and dissension, while others do so because of their good will. The latter are motivated by love, because they know that I have been appointed to defend the gospel. The former proclaim the Messiah because they are selfishly ambitious and insincere, thinking that they will stir up trouble for me during my imprisonment. read more.
But so what? Just this that in every way, whether by false or true motives, the Messiah is being proclaimed. Because of this, I rejoice and will continue to rejoice.
But so what? Just this that in every way, whether by false or true motives, the Messiah is being proclaimed. Because of this, I rejoice and will continue to rejoice.