Please recall that Peter wrote this second letter after it had been revealed to him that his life was almost over. There was urgency to get the important ideas on paper so they would be preserved for the next generation (2 Peter 1:12-15).
This week's passage speaks of three sins that can entice and derail. It appears that Peter shared the same concern that Jude included in his letter written possibly ten years prior, for it parallels the following verses:
Yet in like manner these people also, relying on their dreams, defile the flesh, reject authority, and blaspheme the glorious ones. But when the archangel Michael, contending with the devil, was disputing about the body of Moses, he did not presume to pronounce a blasphemous judgment, but said, “The Lord rebuke you.” But these people blaspheme all that they do not understand, and they are destroyed by all that they, like unreasoning animals, understand instinctively.
Woe to them! For they walked in the way of Cain and abandoned themselves for the sake of gain to Balaam's error and perished in Korah's rebellion.
These are hidden reefs at your love feasts, as they feast with you without fear, shepherds feeding themselves; waterless clouds, swept along by winds; fruitless trees in late autumn, twice dead, uprooted; wild waves of the sea, casting up the foam of their own shame; wandering stars, for whom the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved forever.
Jude calls out (v. 11) the sins of:
· Cain – Who in envy, killed his brother (Genesis 4:1-16).
· Balaam – Who in greed, led people into sin (Numbers 22-24, Numbers 31:15-17).
· Korah – Who in pride, rejected authority and led people against Moses (Numbers 16:1-35).
This is also seen in the threefold testing of Jesus (Matthew 4:1-11):
“If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.”
Jesus resisted not only hunger but also the temptation to end His humiliation. He could have ended His earthly ministry of sacrifice and once again taken His rightful position in envy of the Holy Spirit who was not similarly humiliated.
But in envy, Cain killed his brother when his sacrifice was not chosen.
“If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written, ‘He will command his angels concerning you,’ . . . "
Jesus resisted the temptation to reject the Father’s authority (John 6:38) and force God the Father to obey Him instead.
But in pride, Korah was tempted by power when Moses was chosen.
“All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.”
Jesus resisted the temptation to grasp the immediacy of the temporal rather than wait for the permanence of His inheritance (Psalm 2:7-8; Acts 13:33; Hebrews 1:5).
But in greed, Balaam was tempted with riches and taught others to do likewise (Numbers 31:15-17; Revelation 2:14).
For indeed these are the three sins the world tempts us with:
Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.
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