Study Desk

And, "If it is hard for the righteous to be saved, what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?"

Cast all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you.

And after you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself restore you, secure you, strengthen you, and establish you.

His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through the knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence.

For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith virtue; and to virtue, knowledge;

For if you possess these qualities and continue to grow in them, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Therefore, brothers, be all the more eager to make your calling and election sure. For if you practice these things you will never stumble,

For we did not follow cleverly devised fables when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of His majesty.

For He received honor and glory from God the Father when the voice came to Him from the Majestic Glory, saying, "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased."

For no prophecy was ever brought forth by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

For if God did not spare the angels when they sinned, but cast them deep into hell, placing them in chains of darkness to be held for judgment;

(for that righteous man, living among them day after day, was tormented in his righteous soul by the lawless deeds he saw and heard)-

if all this is so, then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials and to hold the unrighteous for punishment on the day of judgment.

Such punishment is specially reserved for those who indulge the corrupt desires of the flesh and despise authority. Bold and self-willed, these men are unafraid to slander angelic majesties.

Their eyes are full of adultery; their desire for sin is never satisfied; they seduce the unstable. They are accursed children with hearts trained in greed.

But he was rebuked for his transgression by a donkey, otherwise without speech, that spoke with a man's voice and restrained the prophet's madness.

These men are springs without water and mists driven by a storm. Blackest darkness is reserved for them.

They promise them freedom, while they themselves are slaves to depravity. For a man is a slave to whatever has mastered him.

It would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness than to have known it and then to turn away from the holy commandment passed on to them.

And by that same word, the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.