Topical Studies
What the Bible says about
Scoffers
(From Forerunner Commentary)
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John 6:52
Verse 52 shows that the Jews again interpret His words in a strictly literal sense: "How can this Man gives us His flesh to eat?" How utterly impossible it is for those who do not believe, who do not "come to Him," to understand the mysteries of salvation! Their hearts are ever ready to quarrel, scoff, and resist. Jesus does not back down in the face of their scoffing. Instead, He strengthens His statement about eating His flesh by adding that one must also drink His blood! He moves from something that seems foolish to His audience to the outright absurd.
John W. Ritenbaugh
Eating: How Good It Is! (Part Four)
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Romans 14:7-13
These verses give the proper perspective of our relationship and responsibilities to Christ and our brothers and sisters in the church. Paul wrote this to confront a problem, judging and scorn, that was dividing the church. The counsel he gives fits our circumstances, and if used, it can go a long way toward solving many of our problems. He reminds us first to remember to whom we belong, why we belong to Him, and what responsibility this gives us. We belong to Christ because He died for us, rose from the grave, and now sits at the right hand of God, judging those the Father has called into His church. We should be acutely aware of this, knowing we are being judged according to what we do. We are to strive with all our being to please Him by living as He lived, not to serve ourselves, but to serve Him and the church. Judging each other does not fall into our area of responsibility. Living according to the Sermon on the Mount does. If we do this, we will not cause any brother to fall. We appear not to be striving hard enough to please Christ, which is why we continue to split.
John W. Ritenbaugh
The Beatitudes, Part One: The Sermon on the Mount
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2 Thessalonians 2:3-4
Scripture indicates just how far this defection from truth—the falling away—goes. In three places, the Bible says that when Christ returns, people will mourn when they see the One from whom they have distanced themselves and oppose (Matthew 24:30; Zechariah 12:10; Revelation 1:7). In Revelation 1:7, John says that every race or clan will be dismayed—apparently including most physical Israelites—because the falling away will be so widespread. The falling away does not have to include every person, but as a generality, the creation will defect from its Creator, leading to ready support of a man who exalts himself above God. Even though the scope of II Thessalonians 2 is more indicative of the world than the church, this trend will still put pressure on us. The spirit of the age guides the world, but it also always influences the church to some degree. As one evangelist once said, “If it is in the world, it is in the church.” Peter gives us warning: You therefore, beloved, since you know this beforehand, beware lest you also fall from your own steadfastness, being led away with the error of the wicked; but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory both now and forever. Amen. (II Peter 3:17-18) This is the conclusion to a warning that in the last days there will be scoffers, walking according to their own lusts, and denying the surety of Christ's return. This, too, indicates a defection from once-held truth. Peter says that, since we have been warned about these things, we must stand vigilant against them. He warns against falling from our steadfastness or losing our spiritual stability. Obviously, the apostle did not believe in the Doctrine of Eternal Security, and there is good reason for his warning. The danger for us is probably not a ready acceptance of atheism, nor a sudden sprint into one of the rising belief systems. The greater threat is the slow and gradual one, the peril of neglect, of apathy, of little compromises that set the stage for larger defections. Without a steady walk with God and a consistent practice of His Word, we may forsake the rare understanding that we have been given in favor of the wisdom of men and the opinions of the day. Even now, in corners of the church of God, baptized members shrug at things that the Creator God calls abominations. These viewpoints do not arise from the Word of God, but from its dismissal, as the ideas of the age fill in the cracks little by little. True Christians believe that this present world will end when Christ returns. God has a superior way of life for mankind, and that way is open now to those whom He has called in this age. However, when He returns, the door closes for us. Those who have a love of the truth will be on the victorious side, and those who do not will be condemned. They will have had their pleasure in unrighteousness, and God will give them over to what they have been seeking all along. In verse 18, Peter counsels us to grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ. If He is the desire of our hearts, we will seek Him, and He will be our reward. If the world is what we find attractive, we will love the world and perish with it. God does not direct us to arrest the falling away that is taking place in the world, but to make sure we do not let things slip in our lives. We are urgently warned to take heed that no one deceives us (Matthew 24:4), to take care lest we be weighed down by the cares of this life (Luke 21:34), and to take heed lest we fall (I Corinthians 10:12), so that the day of Christ's return will be a day of victory for us rather than a day of condemnation.
David C. Grabbe
The Falling Away
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2 Peter 3:1-4
In our day, such scoffers have indeed arisen, both inside and outside the church, spreading their ideas that the return of Jesus Christ as King of kings is many decades away. As happened in the first century, members who hear these prognostications begin to wonder if they are true, and sadly, some come to believe them, put down their guard, and begin to drift away. Agreement with any form of "the Lord delays His coming" will take a heavy, spiritual toll on those who accept it as true, as it eliminates their motivation to overcome their sinful human nature and to prepare for God's Kingdom.
Richard T. Ritenbaugh
Where Is the Promise of His Coming?
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2 Peter 3:5-7
Peter gives a powerful example of God's intervention and judgment, but notice that it is prefaced with the statement that these people were willfully forgetting what the Bible teaches. He is not describing atheists or people who are totally unfamiliar with Scripture. In verse 4, these people mention the creation, not evolution. They know what is written, yet they choose to ignore or undermine the truth. If they would acknowledge the biblical accounts as true and meaningful, it would remind them that there is a God to whom they are accountable—which would interfere with their lives. So they perform this mental evasion so they do not have to consider what God thinks of them. However, Romans 1:20-21 says mankind is without excuse. Whether or not a person has been called, ample evidence exists to convict him of God's existence and standards. Peter draws attention to the creation and the earth being formed, as well as to a great flood that caused a previous world to perish. This description could apply to a couple of different events. It is usually taken to refer to the Flood of Noah, which certainly fits. The pre-Flood world is completely gone. However, the world before the Flood was not the original world. In Genesis 1:1, God creates the heavens and the earth, yet by verse 2, something has happened to cause the earth to become “without form, and void.” The earth is covered with water (verses 2, 6, 9). So God re-creates the heavens and the earth, creates man, and later re-creates the world destroyed in Noah's Flood. In reading about the re-creation, it appears that the original world—the first estate of the angels—also perished in a flood. So the world that perished in II Peter 3:6 could have been the re-created world, but it also could have been the original world, the one destroyed when the archangel Hêlêl and his followers left their proper domain (Jude 6). Regardless of which creation and destruction Peter refers to, the fact remains that it was by God's Word—by His spoken command—that both worlds came into existence, and by His judgment both worlds were flooded with water. The same Creator God is now upholding all things by the word of His power (Hebrews 1:3). However, the heavens and earth of our time are being reserved for a future judgment of fire instead of water. Another judgment is coming, and the ungodly will face destruction. We understand this, but we should also recognize that the warning about scoffers is here because it is possible to lose our present understanding and godly fear. If we allow our natural desires to gain the upper hand and overrule our faith as the driving force in our lives, then the return of Jesus Christ and the future judgment will seem like a fable to us, too. The words of the prophets and apostles will lose their gravity, and our focus will be on simply living for the moment.
David C. Grabbe
How Much Longer Do We Have?
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1 John 1:1-5
Why did John begin his epistle in this manner? He was establishing his authority to preach the true gospel because some were disparaging the message he said he heard from Jesus Christ. The false teachers disparaged his message as too conservative, orthodox, and some said downright wrong. His defense was that he had personally seen, heard, and touched the Christ when He was on earth, and for almost seventy years after that, he had continued his fellowship with Him through prayer, study, and obedience! As he wrote, his detractors viewed him as a senile, cranky, old man who looked at life through 100-year-old eyes. Human nature never changes. Satan never changes. Most importantly, God never changes those things that are basic to His purpose! Knowing this, John could speak with powerful authority.
John W. Ritenbaugh
Guard the Truth!
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Jude 1:8-10
Dignitaries (New King James) or dignities (King James) literally means "glorious ones," and it refers to the apostles. However, the indignity does not end there because to disrespect them is to also disrespect the One who sent them, as Jesus reveals in Matthew 10:40. This evil is covered in Exodus 22:28: "You shall not revile God, nor curse a ruler of your people." II Peter 3:3 alerts us "that scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts." Today, the disrespect is boldly, openly, and directly aimed at God. These vile people not only disrespect God verbally, but they also do so in their public, influential conduct. Never has there been such a universal irreverence for our Creator since the period before the Flood. The worst offenders in this nation are those who are younger and who have been thoroughly schooled in liberalism's concepts. On the surface, God's sovereignty appears to have been eclipsed, but we must not think this. God is in absolute and complete control. Though it may appear that Satan and his evil influences are in control, it is not the reality. We can be deceived if we allow this line of thinking to continue. What does the Bible say to the mind of faith? I Timothy 6:15-16 proclaims who is God and who is in control! "[W]hich He will manifest in His own time, He who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone has immortality, dwelling in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see, to whom be honor and everlasting power." This is He about whom they speak evil and at whom they scoff. His time is coming, and we appear to be on its cusp.
John W. Ritenbaugh
Living By Faith and God's Sovereignty
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