Thematic Bible
Thematic Bible
Alliance and society with the enemies of God » Means of preservation from
Straying » Who strays from the right path
Now there were false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you too, who will insidiously introduce destructive heresies and deny the Master who has bought them, thus bringing on themselves swift destruction. Many people will follow their immoral ways, and because of them the true Way will be abused, In their greed they will exploit you with messages manufactured by themselves. From of old their condemnation has not been idle and their destruction has not been slumbering. read more.
For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but hurled them down to Tartarus and committed them to dark dungeons to await their doom, and if He did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a preacher of righteousness, and seven others when He brought the flood upon the world of godless people; and if He condemned, by burning them to ashes, the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, making them an example to godless people of what was coming to them, and saved the upright Lot who was constantly distressed by the immoral conduct of lawless men -- for as long as that upright man was living among them, his upright soul, day and night, was always being tortured by what he saw and heard in their lawless actions -- surely, then, the Lord knows how to rescue godly people from trial and to keep wrongdoers under punishment for the day of judgment, especially those who satisfy their lower nature by indulging in its evil passions which defile them, and who despise authority. Daring, headstrong men! They do not tremble when they abuse persons of majesty, whereas angels who are far superior in strength and power to these beings bring no abusive accusation against them before the Lord. These men, like irrational animals, mere creatures of instinct created to be caught and killed, abuse the things that they do not understand, and so by their corruption they will be destroyed, suffering wrong as punishment for their wrongdoing. They think their daily luxurious living real pleasure; they are spots and blots, deceitfully living in luxurious pleasure while they continue their religious feasting with you. They have eyes full of adultery and insatiable by sin. They practice enticing unsteady souls. They have trained their hearts in greed. They are doomed to a curse! They have left the straight road and gone astray. They have followed the road that Balaam, the son of Beor, trod, who fell in love with the profits of wrongdoing but was reproved for his offense; a dumb animal spoke with a human voice and stopped the prophet's madness. Such men are dried-up springs, clouds driven by the storm, and they are doomed to densest darkness. For by uttering arrogant nonsense, through base desires of the lower nature, they entice into immorality men who are just escaping from those who live in error, promising them freedom, though they are slaves of destruction themselves; for a man is the slave of anything that conquers him.
For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but hurled them down to Tartarus and committed them to dark dungeons to await their doom, and if He did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a preacher of righteousness, and seven others when He brought the flood upon the world of godless people; and if He condemned, by burning them to ashes, the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, making them an example to godless people of what was coming to them, and saved the upright Lot who was constantly distressed by the immoral conduct of lawless men -- for as long as that upright man was living among them, his upright soul, day and night, was always being tortured by what he saw and heard in their lawless actions -- surely, then, the Lord knows how to rescue godly people from trial and to keep wrongdoers under punishment for the day of judgment, especially those who satisfy their lower nature by indulging in its evil passions which defile them, and who despise authority. Daring, headstrong men! They do not tremble when they abuse persons of majesty, whereas angels who are far superior in strength and power to these beings bring no abusive accusation against them before the Lord. These men, like irrational animals, mere creatures of instinct created to be caught and killed, abuse the things that they do not understand, and so by their corruption they will be destroyed, suffering wrong as punishment for their wrongdoing. They think their daily luxurious living real pleasure; they are spots and blots, deceitfully living in luxurious pleasure while they continue their religious feasting with you. They have eyes full of adultery and insatiable by sin. They practice enticing unsteady souls. They have trained their hearts in greed. They are doomed to a curse! They have left the straight road and gone astray. They have followed the road that Balaam, the son of Beor, trod, who fell in love with the profits of wrongdoing but was reproved for his offense; a dumb animal spoke with a human voice and stopped the prophet's madness. Such men are dried-up springs, clouds driven by the storm, and they are doomed to densest darkness. For by uttering arrogant nonsense, through base desires of the lower nature, they entice into immorality men who are just escaping from those who live in error, promising them freedom, though they are slaves of destruction themselves; for a man is the slave of anything that conquers him.
Understanding » What understanding does
Whoredom » Whoremongers
Marriage must be held in honor by all, and the marriage relations kept sacred. Persons who are sexually vicious and immoral God will punish.
Verse Concepts
But the cowards, the unfaithful, the polluted, the murderers, the sexually immoral, the practicers of magic, the worshipers of idols, and all liars will have their portion in the lake that keeps on burning with fire and brimstone. This is the second death."
Verse Concepts
For you may be absolutely sure that no one who is sexually impure, immoral or greedy for gain (for that is idolatry) can have a part in the kingdom of Christ and God. Stop letting anyone deceive you with groundless arguments about these things, for it is because of these very sins that God's anger comes down upon the disobedient. So you must stop having anything to do with them.
Indeed, I know that the law is an excellent thing, if a man makes a lawful use of it; that is, if he understands that law is not enacted for upright people but for the lawless and disorderly, the godless and sinful, the ignorant and profane, people who kill their fathers or mothers, murderers, the immoral, men who practice sodomy, men who make other men their slaves, liars, perjurers, or anything else that is contrary to sound teaching,
I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end. Blessed are those who wash their robes, so as to have a right to the tree of life and to enter the gates of the city. The dogs, that is, those who practice magic and immorality, murderers, idolaters, and those who love and practice lying, are on the outside.
Whoredom » Whores
Wisdom » The lord giving wisdom
Yet, when among mature believers we do set forth a wisdom, but a wisdom that does not belong to this world or to the leaders of this world who are passing away; rather, we are setting forth a wisdom that came from God, once a covered secret but now uncovered, which God marked off as His plan for bringing us to glory. Not one of this world's leaders understands it, for if they had, they would never have crucified our glorious Lord. read more.
But, as the Scripture says, they are: "Things which eye has never seen and ear has never heard, and never have occurred to human hearts, which God prepared for those who love Him." For God unveiled them to us through His Spirit, for the Spirit by searching discovers everything, even the deepest truths about God. For what man can understand his own inner thoughts except by his own spirit within him? Just so no one but the Spirit of God can understand the thoughts of God. Now we have not received the spirit that belongs to the world but the Spirit that comes from God, that we may get an insight into the blessings God has graciously given us. These truths we are setting forth, not in words that man's wisdom teaches but in words that the Spirit teaches, in this way fitting spiritual words to spiritual truths. An unspiritual man does not accept the things that the Spirit of God teaches, for they are nonsense to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are appreciated by spiritual insight. But the spiritual man appreciates everything, and yet he himself is not really appreciated by anybody. For who has ever known the Lord's thoughts, so that he can instruct Him? But we now possess Christ's thoughts.
But, as the Scripture says, they are: "Things which eye has never seen and ear has never heard, and never have occurred to human hearts, which God prepared for those who love Him." For God unveiled them to us through His Spirit, for the Spirit by searching discovers everything, even the deepest truths about God. For what man can understand his own inner thoughts except by his own spirit within him? Just so no one but the Spirit of God can understand the thoughts of God. Now we have not received the spirit that belongs to the world but the Spirit that comes from God, that we may get an insight into the blessings God has graciously given us. These truths we are setting forth, not in words that man's wisdom teaches but in words that the Spirit teaches, in this way fitting spiritual words to spiritual truths. An unspiritual man does not accept the things that the Spirit of God teaches, for they are nonsense to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are appreciated by spiritual insight. But the spiritual man appreciates everything, and yet he himself is not really appreciated by anybody. For who has ever known the Lord's thoughts, so that he can instruct Him? But we now possess Christ's thoughts.