Answer: God wants us to escape the corruption in the
world caused by evil desires, (verse 4).
MORE INFORMATION AND/OR OTHER SCRIPTURE REFERENCES:
Proverbs 25:26: "Like a muddied
spring or a polluted well is a righteous man who gives way to the
wicked."
Acts 2:40-41: "With many other
words he [Peter] warned them; and he pleaded with them, 'Save
yourselves from this corrupt generation.' Those who
accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were
added to their number that day."
Romans 6:11-13: "In the same way,
count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ
Jesus. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so
that you obey its evil desires. Do not offer the parts of
your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer
yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to
life; and offer the parts of your body to Him as instruments of
righteousness."
Colossians 3:5-10: "Put to death,
therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual
immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is
idolatry. Because of these, the wrath of God is coming.
You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived.
But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger,
rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. Do
not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with
its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed
in knowledge in the image of its Creator."
2 Timothy 2:22: "Flee the evil
desires of youth, and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace,
along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure
heart."
James 1:27: "Religion that God our
Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans
and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being
polluted by the world."
1 Peter 1:14-16: "As obedient
children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived
in ignorance. But just as He Who called you is holy, so be
holy in all you do; for it is written: 'Be holy, because I am
holy.'"
1 Peter 4:1-2: "Therefore, since
Christ suffered in His body, arm yourselves also with the same
attitude, because he who has suffered in his body is done with
sin. As a result, he does not live the rest of his earthly
life for evil human desires, but rather for the Will of
God."
2 Peter 2:17-22: "These men are
springs without water and mists driven by a storm. Blackest
darkness is reserved for them. For they mouth empty, boastful
words and, by appealing to the lustful desires of sinful human
nature, they entice people who are just escaping from those who
live in error. They promise them freedom, while they
themselves are slaves of depravity--for a man is a slave to
whatever has mastered him. 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. Of them the proverbs are true:
'A dog returns to its vomit,' and, 'A sow that is
washed goes back to her wallowing in the mud.'"
