"light of confusion"

Awareness and Accountability

"If they have escaped the corruption of the world by knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and are again entangled in it and overcome, they are worse off at the end than they were at the beginning.  It would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than to have known it and then to turn their backs on the sacred command that was passed on to them." 2Peter 2:20,21

This is the sin of Apostasy - abandoning one's faith. Consider this:

1. What was their fate if they had never come to know the way of righteousness?
Answer: Eternal Damnation! 2. In what way would have been better if they had never come to know the way of righteousness?
Answer: Because if they knew and turn their backs, they would have a worse fate.
But what is worse than eternal damnation?
What is implied in Peter's statement is that even among the damned there are degrees of punishment in hell.
3. What is it in this case that invokes a greater degree of punishment?
Answer: A greater degree of awareness

Another example of this same principle is found in Luke 12:46,47

"That servant who knows his master’s will and does not get ready or does not do what his master wants will be beaten with many blows. But the one who does not know and does things deserving punishment will be beaten with few blows. From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked."

And so also Matthew 11:21,22

"Woe to you, Korazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! If the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I tell you, it will be more bearable for Tyre and Sidon on the day of judgment than for you."

So while these teach us that the degree of one's accountability is associated with the degree of one's awareness, more fundamentally the Lord is teaching us that there are indeed different degrees of punishment for those who will suffer God's wrath.

(have a nice day)