»Alas for you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you scour sea and land in order to win one convert–and when he is gained, you make him twice as much a son of Gehenna as yourselves.«
For men of that stamp are not bondservants of Christ our Lord, but are slaves to their own appetites; and by their plausible words and their flattery they utterly deceive the minds of the simple.
Every one of you already has all that heart can desire; already you have grown rich; without waiting for us, you have ascended your thrones! Yes indeed, would to God that you had ascended your thrones, that we also might reign with you!
But I am afraid that, as the serpent in his craftiness deceived Eve, so your minds may be led astray from their single-heartedness and their fidelity to Christ.
For, while they pour out their frivolous and arrogant talk, they use earthly cravings –every kind of immorality– as a bait to entrap men who are just escaping from the influence of those who live in error.
Thirsting for riches, they will trade on you with their canting talk. From of old their judgement has been working itself out, and their destruction has not been slumbering.