If I fought wild animals in Ephesus with nothing more than human hopes, then what did I gain by that? If the dead aren’t raised, “Let us eat and drink, because tomorrow we’ll die.”
But these people say insulting things even when they don’t know what they’re talking about. They’re like wild animals that can’t think and just live by instinct, that are born only to be caught and destroyed. These people will die like animals too.
But these people say insulting things about whatever they don’t understand. And the only things they do understand will destroy them. They’re like wild animals who can’t think for themselves and live only by instinct.
I’m using an example from everyday human life to help you understand. You used to offer yourselves as slaves to dirty habits, and you did more and more things that were wrong. Now offer yourselves as slaves to the right way of living. Then you will become holy.
But some people might be thinking about this in a human way and ask, “Doesn’t the fact that we’re wrong prove more clearly that God is right? So how is it fair for God to punish us?”