2 Peter 2

Last time we focused on the importance of scripture. How scripture is God breathed, written by many different people, but all inspired by God through the power of the Holy Spirit. We also talked about how God spoke through the prophets in the old testament and that we can look back on history and see that these prophecies found in the Bible were fulfilled, down to every detail. The Bible is inerrant. It is the Word of God. It is our light in a dark world.

So continuing on today we’ll be reading through 2 Peter 2. This chapter is focused on false prophets and false teachers. Who they are, what they do, why they do what they do, how they trick people and how to discern who is a false prophet or teacher.

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2 Peter 2:1–3 NLT

1 But there were also false prophets in Israel, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will cleverly teach destructive heresies and even deny the Master who bought them. In this way, they will bring sudden destruction on themselves. 2 Many will follow their evil teaching and shameful immorality. And because of these teachers, the way of truth will be slandered. 3 In their greed they will make up clever lies to get hold of your money. But God condemned them long ago, and their destruction will not be delayed.

At the end of the first chapter Peter talked about the prophets of the old testament, now he starts here saying therewere also false prophets within Israel in those times. And just like there were false prophets then, he’s telling his readers they will have false teachers among them. And we deal with the issue of false teachers to this very day. Last week I mentioned Mormonism and Islam, Jesus is a part of those religions. But it’s a twisted version. And there are some teachings that are harder to tell that they are false teachers, such as the teachers of the prosperity gospel. Can God bless us in health and wealth? Of course, when we are in need in any form we take our requests to God, that’s what the Word says to do. The difference is the prosperity gospel ties someone's health and wealth to their faith. It’s a result of their faith. If you’re struggling in that group, you’d be looked at like Job’s friends looked at him, health issues, losing financial possessions, “oh boyyy you must have really messed up.” But it can be tough, you gotta be able to see the flaws in their doctrine. Peter says they “cleverly teach destructive heresies.” Nobody is going to claim to be a false teacher, they’re smart about it and they’re persuasive. You gotta look close at the details because sometimes it’ll sound like they are professing Christ as their savior but then there are major things that they twist that create a false god. The Greek word here in verse 1 for heresies actually means “Chosen beliefs”. That’s a lot of people in our society today, the gospel sounds good, but sometimes God sounds too harsh I can’t believe he would do this or that. He wouldn’t send anybody to hell. I want to pick and choose the details. Many teachers will only teach on God’s love, now God’s love for us is very special, we can’t even comprehend it, there’s a word just for it, agape. However, we must know that God’s wrath does come down on people. Don’t believe so, then why was their a flood to wipe out so many people? Because God is just. And yet people want to take that out, that sounds too mean. Without the justice of God why would Jesus even need to die on the cross? And without the death and resurrection of Christ, we’ve lost the gospel. It’s so easy to twist the truth.

2 Timothy 4:3–4 NLT

3 For a time is coming when people will no longer listen to sound and wholesome teaching. They will follow their own desires and will look for teachers who will tell them whatever their itching ears want to hear. 4 They will reject the truth and chase after myths.

Last week Politics were mentioned and how politicians often lie about what they will do when they get into office. Whether or not they plan to do something or not, and it happens within every party, they know what you want to hear. And that is what they’ll run their campaign on.

With false teaching it’s similar, there will always be some twist of the truth that appeals to the itching ears of a larger group of people. That’s why many will believe these false teachers. But what they are doing is building up judgement for themselves.

Let’s continue on:

2 Peter 2:4–9 NLT

4 For God did not spare even the angels who sinned. He threw them into hell, in gloomy pits of darkness, where they are being held until the day of judgment. 5 And God did not spare the ancient world—except for Noah and the seven others in his family. Noah warned the world of God’s righteous judgment. So God protected Noah when he destroyed the world of ungodly people with a vast flood. 6 Later, God condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah and turned them into heaps of ashes. He made them an example of what will happen to ungodly people. 7 But God also rescued Lot out of Sodom because he was a righteous man who was sick of the shameful immorality of the wicked people around him. 8 Yes, Lot was a righteous man who was tormented in his soul by the wickedness he saw and heard day after day. 9 So you see, the Lord knows how to rescue godly people from their trials, even while keeping the wicked under punishment until the day of final judgment.

If you’re going to have perfect justice, you cannot have any favorites where someone is above the law. That is one of the main points here in this passage. It’s an interesting topic, not one we are going to dive into right now, but there are angels who sinned against god and were thrown into hell. We’re not told which angels these are, if they are some of the fallen angels that went along with Lucifer or if it’s the angels mentioned during Noah’s time that some believe lived among the people of that time. The point is not about who these angels are, but the fact that they were angels and even they were held accountable by God for their sin. Nobody gets a pass.

Often times we like to compare ourselves against others to make ourselves feel better. “I know I’m not perfect, but wow did you see what they did the other day?”, “What they’ve done with their lives?” As long as you’re not the worst then you won’t be noticed or punished because God’s got plenty of work to do on the other people. We talked about this a little earlier as well, but look at the example given here, the flood. Everyone except for Noah and his family had all turned to their evil desires, so what did God do, he wiped them all out, except for Noah’s family of course. Because everyone is held to the same standard, the same moral law of God. And it’s the same thing in Peter’s last example, Sodom and Gomorrah were turned into heaps and ashes as an example for us of what happens to ungodly people. Sometimes when you read the Word of God it can feel really heavy. The wrath of God is terrifying. But no matter how heavy it all is, amongst all the examples of God’s wrath and knowing what we deserve, you see that God in all his wonderful grace and love saves those who love him.

Verse 9 again: “So you see, the Lord knows how to rescue godly people from their trials, even while keeping the wicked under punishment until the day of final judgment.”

Among all the evil going on and God’s wrath being poured down, Noah and his family were provided safety, Lot was rescued and removed from the place that was going to be destroyed. And if you know the story of Lot, he’s not necessarily someone that you would look at as great example of a Godly man. Which I think should bring comfort. It’s a great example of God’s mercy upon those who believe in Him, no matter what you’ve done.

God sees all, He knows all, and everyone is held accountable by God. And those who trust in Him and put their faith in Christ, will be kept safe, because we have been washed clean by the blood of Christ. His righteousness is poured out onto us through faith in Him.

2 Peter 2:10–16 NLT

10 He is especially hard on those who follow their own twisted sexual desire, and who despise authority. These people are proud and arrogant, daring even to scoff at supernatural beings without so much as trembling. 11 But the angels, who are far greater in power and strength, do not dare to bring from the Lord a charge of blasphemy against those supernatural beings. 12 These false teachers are like unthinking animals, creatures of instinct, born to be caught and destroyed. They scoff at things they do not understand, and like animals, they will be destroyed. 13 Their destruction is their reward for the harm they have done. They love to indulge in evil pleasures in broad daylight. They are a disgrace and a stain among you. They delight in deception even as they eat with you in your fellowship meals. 14 They commit adultery with their eyes, and their desire for sin is never satisfied. They lure unstable people into sin, and they are well trained in greed. They live under God’s curse. 15 They have wandered off the right road and followed the footsteps of Balaam son of Beor, who loved to earn money by doing wrong. 16 But Balaam was stopped from his mad course when his donkey rebuked him with a human voice.

These false teachers follow their own desires and trust in their own ways. They are proud and arrogant. And this leads them to having no regard for God or any supernatural being. As humans, we are the weak compared to anything supernatural. I’m reading from the New Living Translation, and “supernatural beings” here in the second half of verse 10 in other translations is read as “glorious ones” or “majestic ones”. This is one of those difficult Greek words to translate. We can’t say for certain who Peter is referring to, but many believe it’s likely satan or a demons. When you think about supernatural beings, you think God and his angels or satan and his fallen angels. And here Peter compares these supernatural/glorious/majestic beings against angels. Also, much of this chapter is a parallel to Jude. And if you read Jude 9 it reads:

Jude 9 NLT

9 But even Michael, one of the mightiest of the angels, did not dare accuse the devil of blasphemy, but simply said, “The Lord rebuke you!” (This took place when Michael was arguing with the devil about Moses’ body.)

This verse sounds very similar to what we read here in verse 10 2 Peter 2. False teachers are confident in themselves and do not fear or respect the authority of God. They’re all about themselves. In their arrogance they think they can take on satan without God. They set themselves up for destruction.

Peter says they are like creatures of instinct. Think about a wild animal, doesn’t matter what animal, they’re life is about eating, sleeping, and reproducing. That’s it. Creatures of instinct, no logic or reasoning. No other purpose. We are made in the image of God given the purpose to glorify His name. If you do not glorify God, if you do not follow him, you’re like a creature of instinct. All these false teachers do is self indulge in their own desires that are not of God. And they twist God’s word to make it sound like they’re lifestyle is the way, and it looks appealing to the human eye so many will follow even those who may have been following the true gospel. In verse 14 it reads “They lure unstable people into sin”. Unstable people can be understood as someone easily persuaded or a young believer, but immature is probably the better wording because you could be a believer for a long time and still be unstable and immature. How much do you desire to know God more, to grow in that walk with Him. We must be strong in the Word so we can have a strong foundation and then when we hear someone preaching, we’ll be able to discern whether it’s the true gospel or a false doctrine. We won’t be lured into falling into sin by them. We can rebuke them. We’ll stay on the right path. These false teachers are among us in the churches

Peter compares them against Balaam. If you don’t remember him, he’s mentioned in numbers 22. The king of Moab wanted Balaam to curse the Israelites, and he agreed to do it for money. That was his motivation. This is also an interesting example, because as Peter just mentioned false teachers are like animals, Balaam ends up being rebuked by a donkey. And if you don’t recall this story, this is also a great example of God’s mercy as when Balaam goes out to curse the Israelites, he ends up only being able to speak blessings upon them.

Let’s go through the last section now.

2 Peter 2:17–22 NLT

17 These people are as useless as dried-up springs or as mist blown away by the wind. They are doomed to blackest darkness. 18 They brag about themselves with empty, foolish boasting. With an appeal to twisted sexual desires, they lure back into sin those who have barely escaped from a lifestyle of deception. 19 They promise freedom, but they themselves are slaves of sin and corruption. For you are a slave to whatever controls you. 20 And when people escape from the wickedness of the world by knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and then get tangled up and enslaved by sin again, they are worse off than before. 21 It would be better if they had never known the way to righteousness than to know it and then reject the command they were given to live a holy life. 22 They prove the truth of this proverb: “A dog returns to its vomit.” And another says, “A washed pig returns to the mud.”

In other translation verse 17 reads a dried up well. So we get this picture of something that should be a source of water but yet has none of it. Can you imagine living in these times and being out on a hot day and desiring for just a little water, you walk up to the well or spring and there’s no water, it’s dry. You’d be left still thirsty and very angry. That is what false teachers are like, they promise what we desire, and truly what you need and desire is a life with God. The source of true happiness is a relationship with God. And false teachers do not provide a way for that. They are useless. They provide an idea that justifies your evil desires. They are twisted up in sin and they entice others to follow in sin. We see a similar pattern here to what we read in the previous section, believers in the true gospel can get tangled up in a false doctrine. Once again we get the picture of an animal in this last verse 22: “They prove the truth of this proverb: “A dog returns to its vomit.” And another says, “A washed pig returns to the mud.”

Now when you read this you can start to wonder, is Peter saying you can lose your salvation? I mean he says It would have been better for them to had never known the way to righteousness than to know it and then reject it. This is a hotly debated topic. In 1 John He writes about false teachers, saying that because they walked away from the faith this proves that they never were true believers in the first place.

But then in the Gospel of John you can read from Jesus’ words that those who follow him receive eternal life and those that God has called no man can pluck away from Him. This doesn’t mean we’ll have seasons of struggles. I believe in the security of eternal life when your relationship with Christ begins. We shouldn’t look at this and wonder is there a line, if so how close can I get to it and if not then great I’m good to do whatever. Satan is attacking the church from the inside, we need to grow in our relationship with Christ and become mature Christians. In doing so we won’t stumble on following false teachings and being brought back in to a life of sin.

1 Thessalonians 5:19–21 NLT

19 Do not stifle the Holy Spirit. 20 Do not scoff at prophecies, 21 but test everything that is said. Hold on to what is good.

Every message that someone speaks in the name of Christ must be tested against the Word of God because it is the source of truth.