John 12:40
He hath blinded their eyes,
and hardened their heart;
that they should not see with their eyes,
nor understand with their heart,
and be converted, and I should
heal them.
2 Thessalonians 2 10-12
10and in every sort of evil that deceives those who are perishing. They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. 11For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie 12and so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness
Exodus 9:12
But the LORD hardened Pharaoh’s heart and he would not listen to Moses and Aaron, just as the LORD had said to Moses.
Isaiah 6:10 Make the heart of this people calloused; make their ears dull and close their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed."
Mark 4:12 so that, “‘they may be ever seeing but never perceiving, and ever hearing but never understanding; otherwise they might turn and be forgiven!’”
But then here it says that its the god of this world (satan)
that has blinded their eyes…
2 Corinthians 4:4
In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them
Having praised the apostle Paul as
a beloved brother
speaking with wisdom
given by God,
Peter now acknowledges that some
of Paul's writings are
hard to understand.
He also refers to Paul's writing
as "Scripture."
Both of these are important ideas.
First, this reveals that at least some of Paul's letters were already
considered the Word of God, even as early as Peter's day.
Peter recognized that
Paul spoke with
authority
and on
behalf of the Lord
That helps to confirm that the
New Testament
writers and apostles
were not competing with
each other;
they understood they
were
together delivering
God's words
to
God's people
Secondly, though, some of Paul's writings were hard to understand.
We have certainly seen the same with Peter's letters.
The best way to understand some Bible passages is
not always clear or obvious.
Unfortunately, according to Peter,
there are those who
See
difficult passages
as an opportunity to
distort the overall
Truth
of
God's Word
Either due to
ignorance or instability, they
twist the meaning
of a difficult passage to
try
to make Scripture say
what it
actually does not.
God takes His word seriously, and He holds accountable those who distort His meaning. Peter warns that destruction comes to those who do so.
This leaves us in tough spot: how should we handle difficult-to-understand passages? Peter doesn't answer that question directly. However, the implication is that we should not use an obscure or difficult passage to contradict the clear teaching of other Scriptures.
Reasonable and honest Christians may disagree quite strongly over the meaning of some things in the Bible. However, we cross a dangerous line when we distort the meaning of any passage to try to support our position on some theological argument.
The bottom line is that all of us must handle God's Word with respect, honesty, and a healthy dose of fear about getting it wrong—even when it's hard to understand.
Second Peter 3:18 tells us to
"Grow in the
grace and knowledge
of the
Lord Jesus Christ.”
To grow in grace is to
mature
as a Christian.
We are saved by grace
through faith (Ephesians 2:8–9),
and we mature
and are sanctified
by grace alone.
We know that grace is a blessing that we don’t deserve.
It is God’s grace
that
justifies us, sanctifies us, and
eventually glorifies us
in heaven.
The sanctification process,
becoming more like
Christ,
is synonymous
with
growing in grace
We grow in grace by reading God’s Word and letting it “dwell in us richly” (Colossians 3:16) and by praying. Those actions by themselves don’t mature us, but God uses these spiritual disciplines to help us grow. Therefore, maturing in our Christian life is not about what we do, but about what God does in us, by His grace. Understanding and applying God’s grace in our lives is important. We are not to impair it by being proud, because God says that He resists the proud but gives grace to the humble (James 4:6). Grace is that attribute of God that enables us to break free of our sinful nature and follow Him. It gives us strength and protects us. Without God’s grace, His favor, we would be hopelessly lost in this world. The more grace we have and ask God for,
the more mature as Christians we will be.
To grow in grace does not mean gaining more grace from God.
God’s grace never increases; it is infinite, it cannot be more, and according to the nature of God, it could never be less. He gave His only Son so that whoever believes in Him should be saved (John 3:16). How much more grace could there possibly be than that?
But to grow in grace is
to grow in our
understanding of what Jesus did
and to grow in our appreciation
of the grace
we have been given.
The more we learn about Jesus, the more we will appreciate all He has done, and the more we appreciate His love and sacrifice for us, the more we will perceive the never-ending grace of God.
Peter also confirms that we need to grow in our knowledge of Jesus and to have that intimate relationship with Him because the more we know of Him, the more of Him will be seen in our lives.
Paul said in Colossians 3:1–4: “Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.”
The Scriptures contain all the knowledge we will ever need to learn of God, His Son, and His Spirit, at least in this life. God`s desire for those He has saved is their sanctification and transformation. He wants us to become more holy like Himself. He wants to transform us into the image of His Son. The way to do this is by meditating on the Scriptures and applying their principles to our lives as we yield to the conviction and power of the Holy Spirit who dwells within us. Then we will prove 2 Corinthians 3:18: “We, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord.”
Jesus warned us that “false Christs and false prophets” will come and will attempt to deceive even God’s elect (Matthew 24:23-27; see also 2 Peter 3:3 and Jude 17-18). The best way to guard yourself against falsehood and false teachers is to know the truth. To spot a counterfeit, study the real thing. Any believer who “correctly handles the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15) and who makes a careful study of the Bible can identify false doctrine. For example, a believer who has read the activities of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in Matthew 3:16-17 will immediately question any doctrine that denies the Trinity. Therefore, step one is to study the Bible and judge all teaching by what the Scripture says.
Jesus said “a tree is recognized by its fruit” (Matthew 12:33). When looking for “fruit,” here are three specific tests to apply to
any teacher
to determine the accuracy
of his or her teaching:
1) What does this teacher say about Jesus? In Matthew 16:15-16, Jesus asks, “Who do you say I am?” Peter answers, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God,” and for this answer Peter is called “blessed.” In 2 John 9, we read, “Anyone who runs ahead and does not continue in the teaching of Christ does not have God; whoever continues in the teaching has both the Father and the Son.” In other words, Jesus Christ and His work of redemption is of utmost importance; beware of anyone who denies that Jesus is equal with God, who downplays Jesus’ sacrificial death, or who rejects Jesus’ humanity. First John 2:22 says, “Who is the liar? It is the man who denies that Jesus is the Christ. Such a man is the antichrist—he denies the Father and the Son.”
2) Does this teacher preach the gospel? The gospel is defined as the good news concerning Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection, according to the Scriptures (1 Corinthians 15:1-4). As nice as they sound, the statements “God loves you,” “God wants us to feed the hungry,” and “God wants you to be wealthy” are not the complete message of the gospel. As Paul warns in Galatians 1:7, “Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ.” No one, not even a great preacher, has the right to change the message that God gave us. “If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let him be eternally condemned!” (Galatians 1:9).
3) Does this teacher exhibit character qualities that glorify the Lord? Speaking of false teachers, Jude 11 says, “They have taken the way of Cain; they have rushed for profit into Balaam’s error; they have been destroyed in Korah’s rebellion.” In other words, a false teacher can be known by his pride (Cain’s rejection of God’s plan), greed (Balaam’s prophesying for money), and rebellion (Korah’s promotion of himself over Moses). Jesus said to beware of such people and that we would know them by their fruits (Matthew 7:15-20).
For further study, review those books of the Bible that were written specifically to combat false teaching within the church: Galatians, 2 Peter, 1 John, 2 John, and Jude. It is often difficult to spot a false teacher/false prophet. Satan masquerades as an angel of light (2 Corinthians 11:14), and
his ministers masquerade as servants of righteousness (2 Corinthians 11:15).
Only by being
thoroughly familiar
with the truth
will we be able to recognize
a counterfeit