2 Peter 2
False teachers and their destruction
Discussion Questions
- How can we prevent ourselves from falling victim to false teaching?
- What do you make of verses 20 and 21? What do they teach us about God’s judgement?
Share your thoughts below, or tweet about it with the #boundlessbible hashtag. Don't forget this week's Children's Challenge!
Going Deeper From 'Words of Life'
Peter wrote to the newly-established churches, warning them against false teaching. It can so easily happen, allowing more popular and secular thinking to creep into our churches. Just as the churches then needed to be deeply rooted in truth, we today must also make sure we are grounded in our faith – so that we will not get away from sound biblical teaching.
The Salvation Army has 11 Articles of Faith. They have existed since 1878 and are fundamental to this holiness movement. The introduction to the Army’s doctrine book states: ‘Doctrine is therefore the teaching of the Church. It is an expanded explanation of faith, founded on Scripture and developed from the creeds. The Salvation Army’s 11 Articles of Faith (Doctrines) are an explanation both of personal faith and a common vision.
They are consistent with the classical creeds and identify Salvationists as members of the body of Christ on earth.’
As members of the body of believers, let us read together these 11 tenets of faith, affirming our belief in the triune Godhead:
1. We believe that the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments were given by inspiration of God, and that they only constitute the Divine rule of Christian faith and practice.
2. We believe that there is only one God, who is infinitely perfect, the Creator, Preserver, and Governor of all things, and who is the only proper object of religious worship.
3. We believe that there are three persons in the Godhead – the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost, undivided in essence and co-equal in power and glory.
4. We believe that in the person of Jesus Christ the Divine and human natures are united, so that he is truly and properly God and truly and properly man.
5. We believe that our first parents were created in a state of innocency, but by their disobedience they lost their purity and happiness, and that in consequence of their fall all men have become sinners, totally depraved, and as such are justly exposed to the wrath of God.
6. We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ has by his suffering and death made an atonement for the whole world so that whosoever will may be saved.
7. We believe that repentance towards God, faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, and regeneration by the Holy Spirit, are necessary to salvation.
8. We believe that we are justified by grace through faith in our Lord Jesus Christ and that he that believeth hath the witness in himself.
9. We believe that continuance in a state of salvation depends upon continued obedient faith in Christ.
10. We believe that it is the privilege of all believers to be wholly sanctified, and that their whole spirit and soul and body may be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
11. We believe in the immortality of the soul; in the resurrection
of the body; in the general judgment at the end of the world; in the eternal happiness of the righteous; and in the endless punishment of the wicked.
May God help each Salvationist to uphold these Articles of Faith as we strive each day to live for Christ.
Beverly Ivany
Tags: 2 Peter