Five Bible Verses on Corruption

1. 2 Peter 2:19 They promise them freedom, but they themselves are slaves of corruption. For whatever overcomes a person, to that he is enslaved.

This passage from Peter is a good message on moderation. Almost anything can overcome us and start to replace the spot in our hearts for our spiritual connection to God. It's insidious, remember that! If we don't reflect often things can and will sneak in. The evil one is cunning in his deceptions. Eternal vigilance is important. I myself was a slave to addictions of all kinds early in my life. I knew I was enslaved eventually but at first I did not. I thought it was cool and I marveled at how rebellious all I did was. Some do marvel at their own addictions! We can easily become slaves to anything, and through this enslavement it corrupts us.

2. Galatians 6:8 For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.

I've been coming across plenty of Bible verses on desires of the flesh. The point can't be made enough: We are not of this world! We do not belong to it once we are saved, we belong to God. We ought not to live like children of the world. We end up deep in constant gratification. I often found myself constantly pleasuring myself with food, drink, women, drugs, and anything else I found to give me a temporary feeling of joy. It was never real, and it never lasted. So if we sow these things, these gratifications that are temporary, we end up creating in ourselves corruption of all kinds. It's hard enough already, why add more troubles to our lives? If we work in the word of God and apply it to our lives we reap eternal life. Eternal life is worth it!

3. 2 Peter 1:4 By which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire.

We learn in Peter that through the teaching of Christ we learn the ways of divine nature. We learn how to be complete human beings under God. It is a very real escape from constant bombardment of desiring this or desiring that. It is truly slavery. We chase after our desires, and after years we chase after them not in delight but in sadness. We get to the point where we are sick and tired of chasing them. They no longer pleasure us yet the flesh continues it's endless demand for more, more, more! The companies and governments of the world love to push this idea of consumption because it profits them. It does not profit us. We can be free of it, if we'd only follow the teaching of Christ.

4. Acts 13:34-37 And as for the fact that he raised him from the dead, no more to return to corruption, he has spoken in this way, "'I will give you the holy and sure blessings of David.' Therefore he says also in another psalm, "'You will not let your Holy One see corruption.' For David, after he had served the purpose of God in his own generation, fell asleep and was laid with his fathers and saw corruption, but he whom God raised up did not see corruption.

In this passage the word corruption is used to denote death or returning to the dust. We see that David returned to corruption or death after he passed away. We see that Jesus never saw death but was risen to heaven. This is just a reminder that we ought not to worship David, but we should worship Jesus Christ. David was a man and returned to the dust for now. Jesus the son of God ought to be praised and worshiped as he is divine. The word corruption in the Bible can sometimes refer to death itself, it's something we ought to avoid!

5. Revelation 22:14 Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life and that they may enter the city by the gates.

I'm a huge fan of the book of Revelation. I find it extremely exciting and transforming at the same time! This passage is at the very end of the Bible, just seven lines from the last passage which is 22:21. It's obviously a very important message! Once again I say that reading the book of Revelation is a good idea for anyone. The passage says blessed are those who wash their robes. Blessed are those who seek forgiveness and through Christ receive it. Then they are clean. Their robes are then clean to stand before God. The tree of life is mentioned here, the gift of eternal life. The city gates mentioned here refer to the city of New Jerusalem which will be on the new earth. Are you excited to get there? I am.