It is clear, then, that in these verses Jesus is talking about the danger of being ‘trapped’ by our own sinful desires, and this reminds us of James’s words, quoted earlier, that “each one is tempted when by his own evil desire he is dragged away and enticed” (1.14). The word here translated as “enticed” (‘deleazo’) is particularly relevant to our study of ‘skandalon’ since it is the ‘verbed’ form of ‘delear’, the Greek word for ‘bait’. The noun does not appear in the NT, but the verb appears twice more, both in 2 Peter 2, where the apostle is uttering a long diatribe against false teachers. In v.14, he describes them as having “eyes full of adultery” (like John, Peter was clearly listening carefully to Jesus’ teaching on adultery in Matthew 5.27-30), and “enticing those whose faith is not yet fully established”; and in v.18 he elaborates further, saying that they “appeal to the lustful desires of sinful human nature and entice people who are just beginning to escape” from a sinful lifestyle. It is young and insecure Christians who are particularly likely to ‘take the bait’ offered to them by antinomian teachers who tell them that they do not need to live holy lives because God will forgive them anyway. Paul, in rather more measured language, gives a very similar warning to the Romans (16.17-18) – and obligingly gets us back to ‘skandalon’: “I urge you, brothers and sisters, to watch out for and keep away from those who cause divisions and ‘scandals’ contrary to the teachings you learned; such people do not serve our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own sinful appetites, and with fine-sounding language they deceive the hearts of impressionable young Christians.” Both the language of this last clause and the parallel with Peter’s letter strongly suggest that the ‘scandals’ here are traps baited with “fine-sounding language” which lead young disciples into sin.
Wednesday, 11 January 2012
SKANDALON 2 (c) false teaching [i] Peter and Paul
It is clear, then, that in these verses Jesus is talking about the danger of being ‘trapped’ by our own sinful desires, and this reminds us of James’s words, quoted earlier, that “each one is tempted when by his own evil desire he is dragged away and enticed” (1.14). The word here translated as “enticed” (‘deleazo’) is particularly relevant to our study of ‘skandalon’ since it is the ‘verbed’ form of ‘delear’, the Greek word for ‘bait’. The noun does not appear in the NT, but the verb appears twice more, both in 2 Peter 2, where the apostle is uttering a long diatribe against false teachers. In v.14, he describes them as having “eyes full of adultery” (like John, Peter was clearly listening carefully to Jesus’ teaching on adultery in Matthew 5.27-30), and “enticing those whose faith is not yet fully established”; and in v.18 he elaborates further, saying that they “appeal to the lustful desires of sinful human nature and entice people who are just beginning to escape” from a sinful lifestyle. It is young and insecure Christians who are particularly likely to ‘take the bait’ offered to them by antinomian teachers who tell them that they do not need to live holy lives because God will forgive them anyway. Paul, in rather more measured language, gives a very similar warning to the Romans (16.17-18) – and obligingly gets us back to ‘skandalon’: “I urge you, brothers and sisters, to watch out for and keep away from those who cause divisions and ‘scandals’ contrary to the teachings you learned; such people do not serve our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own sinful appetites, and with fine-sounding language they deceive the hearts of impressionable young Christians.” Both the language of this last clause and the parallel with Peter’s letter strongly suggest that the ‘scandals’ here are traps baited with “fine-sounding language” which lead young disciples into sin.
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