Click ⟳    |    Please refresh this document to insure the latest copy. Note, the Firefox browser does not reliably give an updated copy. One may try the “F5” key as well to request a fresh copy from the web-server.

March 26, 2023
Beware of the False Teachers

Intro

We left off talking about Peter’s desire to leave the Church with important messages before his departure from this earth; we saw he was focused mainly on the fundamentals in chapter one. This speaks to some degree of how easily it is to get away from the things that keep us in a healthy sanctifying life. What did Peter remind them of—as we saw two weeks ago?

• Peter reminded the Church to strive for the virtuous life.
• Peter reminded the Church of the importance of the Transfiguration.
• Peter reminded the Church that the Scriptures are reliable.

This week we will see Peter put the letter on blast mode for the false teachers of his day.

Read 2 Peter 2

• The outline:
  1 False prophets have been in among God’s people.
  2 God has reserved severe punishment for false teachers.
  3 They are utterly defiled and defile others.
  4 They ultimately show who they are.
• “The fact that the author devotes over one third of his letter to their denunciation underscores the depth of his disdain” for false teachers.[142, Kraftchick, p. 134] (Constable)

Verse 1, But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies,

• False teachers have always been among the faith people of God.
• The nation Israel was constantly being led astray by false prophets.
• Elijah had to contend with the prophets of Baal on Mt. Carmel.
• Both Jeremiah and Ezekiel exposed the “counterfeit ministry,” of false prophets, but the people followed them just the same.
• Lamentations 2:14, Your prophets have seen for you false and deceptive visions; they have not exposed your iniquity to restore your fortunes, but have seen for you oracles that are false and misleading.
• Ezekiel 13:9a, My hand will be against the prophets who see false visions and who give lying divinations. They shall not be in the council of my people, nor be enrolled in the register of the house of Israel.
• 1 John 4:1b, for many false prophets have gone out into the world.
• Matthew 24:24, For false christs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect.
• Why? Because the religion of the false prophets was always easier from a getting along with the world stand-point; these messages are still comfortable and popular to the flesh today. (Wiersbe, 2:938)
• False teachers messages’ have destroyed much.
• They bring in look at verse 1 again: “destructive heresies.”
• How do these false teachers’ heresies come into the Church?
• They “secretly” bring therm in or it can mean to be "craftily alongside.” (Strong)
• Wiesbe explained it well: “They do not throw out the truth immediately; they simply lay their false teachings alongside the truth and give the impression that they believe the fundamentals of the faith. Before long, they remove the true doctrine and leave their false doctrine in its place.” (2:938)
• Harvard, Princeton…they used to be beholden to the truth. One would be hard pressed to find orthodox Christian teaching there.
• Seminaries and colleges and denominations and churches open themselves up to false teachers and they end up taking over.

These false teachers leave their audience with a message that is especially terrible:

• 1b even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction.
• 1 John 2:2, He himself is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours, but also for those of the whole world. (CSB)
• = Jesus death was payment enough for their salvation just as it is for all humankind. (cf. Blum, p 1069 f for other views)
• Here in this verse we see two choices for all people taught implicitly:
• Embrace the Master who bought us or face destruction.
• The false teaches had chosen the latter.

2 And many will follow their sensuality,

• So we begin to see here what the faslse treachers replace the good docrine with: ESV has “sensuality.” >>
• Sensuality >> doesn’t seem strong enough here.
• Gk.: Unbridled lust, excess, licentiousness, wanton acts, manners and filthy words, indecent bodily movements, unchaste handling of males and females. (Thayer)
• licentiousness =
  • Lacking moral restraint, especially in sexual conduct.
  • Ignoring accepted rules or standards in words.
  • Characterized by license; wholly offensive.
• depraved (NIV)
• shameful immorality (NLT)
• abominations (Peshitta)
• These false teachers slowly removed “the bounds of moral constraint and accountability to a holy Judge.” (Moo. p 94)

Look at one result: 2 b and because of them the way of truth will be blasphemed.
When the church starts behaving worldly God and His ways are blasphemed.

They promote depravity with something else verse 3a And in their greed they will exploit you with false words.

• There are many con-men who regard Christians as “dupes to be exploited”. (Barclay)
• Peter pointed out that the false teachers used “false words.” The Greek word is plastos. It literally means properly, moulded, formed.
• We get our English word “plastic” from this Greek word. (Wiersbe, 2:938) The false teaches mold and shape their words to their audiences’ ears.
• False teachers are extortionists as well.

ILLUSTRATION

• Prayer cloth
• Prayer oil
• Money tokens
• Faith giving

APPLICATION

• Quoting Wiersbe again, “The false teachers use our vocabulary, but they do not use our dictionary. They talk about “salvation,” “inspiration,” and the great words of the Christian faith, but they do not mean what we mean. Immature and untaught believers hear these preachers or read their books and think that these men are sound in the faith, but they are not.” (Wiersbe, 2:938)
• Protect yourself from false teachers of today: read and study the Bible.

TRANSITION

• Now that we see that false teachers have always been among the people of faith and that their molded messages are consistent. Let’s look at Peter’s point two: God has reserved severe punishment for false teachers.

3b Their condemnation from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep. 4 For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgment; 5 if he did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a herald of righteousness, with seven others, when he brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly; 6 if by turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to ashes he condemned them to extinction, making them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly; 7 and if he rescued righteous Lot, greatly distressed by the sensual conduct of the wicked 8 (for as that righteous man lived among them day after day, he was tormenting his righteous soul over their lawless deeds that he saw and heard); 9 then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment, 10 and especially those who indulge in the lust of defiling passion and despise authority.

• 3b Their condemnation from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.
• Their destruction is close by; their day is coming.

ILLUSTRATIONS

• 4 For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgment;
• Peter’s point: God dealt with these angels. He will deal ever so harshly with these false teaches also.
• 5 if he did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a herald of righteousness, with seven others, when he brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly;
• Peter’s point: God annihilated all the humans in the world save eight. He will deal ever so harshly with these false teaches.
• 3000 years separated Noah from Peter!
• Think back.
• 6 if by turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to ashes he condemned them to extinction, making them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly;
• Peter’s point: God annihilated Sodom and Gomorrah with fire. God will deal ever so harshly with false teaches.
• 2000 years separated the Sodom and Gomorrah events from Peter.
• All these were from lust filled people and beings.
• What did all these places have in common? >>
• Unbridled lust, excess, licentiousness, filthy words and manners, unchaste handling of males and females. (Thayer)

CONTRASTING ILLUSTRATION

• 7 and if he rescued righteous Lot, greatly distressed by the sensual conduct of the wicked 8 (for as that righteous man lived among them day after day, he was tormenting his righteous soul over their lawless deeds that he saw and heard);

TWO-FOLD APPLICATION

• 9 then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials,
• We are going to be rescued.
• They are not.
• 9b and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment,
• Angles’ and humans’ judgment >> it’s not pretty; it’s not snuggle bear stuff.
• v 4, “chains of gloomy darkness”
• v 6, “made people extinct”
• Men, women, children experienced hailstones.
• Families drowned! God is serious!
• These were examples of judgment for humankind to take heed.

Verse 10 and especially those who indulge in the lust of defiling passion and despise authority.

• The two hallmarks of false teachers:
• lust of defiling passion
• and despise authority
• These are badges of pride of the New Babylon’s 21st heresy.
• We too are supposed to remember back thousands of years knowing that false teachers’ judgment is assured.
• Remember!
• Have faith!

TRANSITION

Now that we have seen that God has reserved severe punishment for false teachers. Let’s look at the reason God will be so harsh with them is that they are utterly defiled and defile others. Verse 10b:

COMMENT THU
Bold and willful, they do not tremble as they blaspheme the glorious ones, 11 whereas angels, though greater in might and power, do not pronounce a blasphemous judgment against them before the Lord. 12 But these, like irrational animals, creatures of instinct, born to be caught and destroyed, blaspheming about matters of which they are ignorant, will also be destroyed in their destruction, 13 suffering wrong as the wage for their wrongdoing. 13b They count it pleasure to revel in the daytime. They are blots and blemishes, reveling in their deceptions, while they feast with you. 14 They have eyes full of adultery, insatiable for sin. They entice unsteady souls. They have hearts trained in greed. Accursed children! 15 Forsaking the right way, they have gone astray. They have followed the way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who loved gain from wrongdoing, 16 but was rebuked for his own transgression; a speechless donkey spoke with human voice and restrained the prophet’s madness.

ILLUSTRATION

• " 15b They have followed the way of Balaam, the son of Beor [almost certainly Bosor], who loved gain from wrongdoing, 16 but was rebuked for his own transgression; a speechless donkey spoke with human voice and restrained the prophet’s madness."
• The sin of Balaam, the son of Beor, was that the prophet ultimately led the people into sexual immorality with Moabite, cultic prostitutes during cultic worship.

APPLICATION

• These false teachers were and still are doing the same thing.
• Culture desires illicit sex. False teachers aim to please this base nature in man.
• This was and is still at the center of false religion. Today, no different.
• The false teachers of Peter’s day were trying to get Christians to participate in both idolatry and immoral practices.
• The false teachers of our day are trying to get Christians to participate in both idolatry and immoral practices.

TRANSITION

• Let’s look at how Peter describes them as Peter continues to illustrate these false teachers with metaphorical language. Verse 17

17 These are waterless springs and mists driven by a storm. For them the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved. 18 For, speaking loud boasts of folly, they entice by sensual passions of the flesh those who are barely escaping from those who live in error.

• Waterless springs and mists driven by storms.
• There’re springs without water–useless.
• Storms with only mist = a tease of truth. That’s all that is left of the message of Living Water.
• A farmer never prayer for mist.
• A lot of people cannot tell the difference between a religious shyster and a truth teller of the Bible. (Wiersbe, 2:458)
• The false teachers were picking their audience well (see them in verse 18): those that were barely escaping away from those who live in error, the world. This group probably included new Christians, carnal ones “who were still in the process of making a final break with their pagan past” … [157, Kelly, p. 345; Hiebert, Second Peter …, p. 126.] (Constable)
• Their hope was to entice new believers before they mature.
• Their hope was to entice those considering the gospel.
• Verse 19 They promise them freedom, but they themselves are slaves of corruption. For whatever overcomes a person, to that he is enslaved.

• “Seneca [the Greek Stoic philosopher] said, ‘To be enslaved to oneself is the heaviest of all servitudes.’”[161, William Barclay, The Letters of James and Peter, p. 396] (As quoted in Constable)

TWO APPLICATION POINTS HERE

• #1 Christian are free when we act in line with the Holy Spirit.
• For us to act in line with our flesh does not bring freedom, but bondage.
• All sin causes death and bondage; sin is not freedom!
• #2 Discipleship is key.

TRANSITION

• Now that we have seen that the false teachers that Peter spoke of are utterly defiled and defile others. Let’s turn our attention to what they return to; Peter explains that they ultimately return to who they are.

20 For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first. 21 For it would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness than after knowing it to turn back from the holy commandment delivered to them.

• To whom does “they” refer?
• Some interpreters believe the “they” is the new Christians that Peter mentioned at the end of verse 18.[163]⁴
• Others think that the “they” are the unstable unsaved people who were listening to the gospel.[164, Gangel, p. 874]
• Still others believe that they are more mature Christians who have fallen into false teaching and sinful practices.[165, Hodges, “The Second …,” 2:1182]
• Many of the commentators have concluded, however, that “they” are the false teachers who have been the main subject of Peter’s warning throughout this chapter and in the immediately preceding verses (vv. 18-19). What Peter said of them in verses 20-22 seems to bear this out. (Constable)
• These people are not, were never saved.
• They possessed the knowledge to be saved, but were again overcome by the defilements of the world.
• These false teachers had the gospel message, they knew it. They did not embrace it therefore Peter describes them in the foulest terms he can muster.

ILLUSTRATION:

• Hungry dogs and muddy swine.
• 22 What the true proverb says has happened to them: “The dog returns to its own vomit, and the sow, after washing herself, returns to wallow in the mire.”
• 1 John 2:19, They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us.

APPLICATION

• They ultimately return to who they are.
• We protect ourselves by being students of the Bible.
• We protect others from the mud and vomit of the false teachers by discipling new Christians and not leaving things to chance.

Notes

¹ David H. Wheaton, “2 Peter,” in The New Bible Commentary, Revised, p. 1256. Cf. McGee, 5:740; and Charles H. Savelle, “Canonical and Extra canonical Portraits of Balaam,” Bibliotheca Sacra 166:664 (October-December 2009): 387-404.

² Jamieson, et al., p. 1491. Italics omitted.

³ Nathaniel M. Williams, “Commentary on the Epistles of Peter,” in An American Commentary on the New Testament, p. 102.

⁴ E.g., Duane A. Dunham, “An Exegetical Study of 2 Peter 2:18-22,” Bibliotheca Sacra 140:557 (January-March 1983):40-54.

Works Cited

Scripture quotations [unless otherwise noted] are from The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Click here to access the works cited web-page for this document, save those marked as “Notes” or “Other Works Cited”–if any. Most of these cited works correspond to the verses they are outlined with. In the case of general background information and references, one will find cited material with the Bible books the citations are associated with. ¶ Furthermore, all numbered notes that are URL linked are retained numbered notes from Thomas Constable’s, “Dr. Constable’s Expository (Bible Study) Notes.” These links are preserved “as is” at the time of this work’s formation and sometimes include other citation information from Constable.

Other Works Cited

Blum, Edwin A. “2 Peter.” The Expositor’s Bible Commentary—Abridged Edition: New Testament, ed. Kenneth L. Barker and John R. Zohlenberger III, et al., Zondervan, 1994. Sourced from archive.org.

Moo, Douglas. 2 Peter, Jude. “The NIV Application Commentary,” ed. Terry Muck, et al., Zondervan, 1996.

Wuest, Kenneth S. In these last days: II Peter, I, II, III John, and Jude in the Greek New Testament for the English Reader. WM. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co, eighth printing, 1972.

^4.1