This entire chapter is taken up with the topic of false teachers.
2:1-3 THE DECEITFULNESS OF FALSE TEACHERS
2:4-10a THE DESTRUCTION OF FALSE TEACHERS
2:10b-22 THE DESCRIPTION OF FALSE TEACHERS
But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction. And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of. And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not. 2 Pet 2:1-3
2:1-3 The Deceitfulness Of False Teachers
[1] Having claimed in 1:16 that what he preaches is the truth and also that the Old Testament scriptures are inspired and reliable Peter moves on to talk about those who will distort truth. He labels them ‘false teachers’ and predicts that just as false prophets (pseudoprophḗtēs) arose among ‘the people’ (nation of Israel), so false teachers (pseudodidáskalos) will appear in the Christian church; the new people of God (1 Pet 2:10). The Old Testament definition of a false prophet is given in Deut 18:20-22 (see also Deut 13:1-5). For OT examples of false prophecy see 1 Kgs 22:5-12; Jer 5:31; 14;13-15; Ezek 13:1-23; Mic 3:5-12). The rise of false teachers in the church was also predicted by Jesus (Matt 7:15; 24:11) and by Paul (Acts 20:29-30; 1 Cor 11:19; 1 Tim 4:1).
These false teachers will smuggle in (pareiságō – secretly bring in) ‘heresies of destruction’ i.e destructive heresies. As teachers they were probably in positions of church leadership. ‘Heresy’ is a different school of thought or a sect, but in a bad sense (Gal 5:20). Here the plural word seems to mean the opinions or views of a single school of thought or sect, rather than plural (i.e. several) sects.
These false views will be destructive to the false teachers themselves as ‘they bring upon themselves swift (soon, same word as 1:14) destruction’ (2:1c) and ‘their destruction is not asleep’ (v3).
Peter again raises the concept of the master-slave relationship. In 1:1 he calls himself a ‘slave of Jesus Christ.’ Here in 2:1 he claims that the false teachers are denying ‘the master that bought them’ and in verse 19 says that they are the ‘slaves of corruption.’ This implies that we are all slaves to something.
The false teaching results in them ‘denying the master that bought them.’ This may have been a denial of Christ’s lordship over their lives because of their immoral behaviour but a reading of chapter 3 would suggest that it included rejection of the Second Coming/future judgement. The image of Christians having been bought by Christ’s death and owing allegiance to him as a result is found also in 1 Cor 6:20; 7:23 and Gal 3:13.
In this verse Peter refers to his opponents and by calling them ‘false teachers’ implies that what they teach is not reliable. He does not, however, present reasoned arguments against their doctrine but tries to arouse the emotions of his readers against the false teachers by concentrating, not on doctrinal but on moral failings which he attributes to them. He hopes that, disgusted by these, his readers will reject the opposing teachers.
[2 -3] Because of the many people who will follow the false teachers’ licentiousness (debauched behaviour, disordered sexual activity) the way of truth will be slandered and reviled. The apostles were very aware of the influence the conduct of Christians could have on the surrounding pagans (1 These 4:12; 1 Tim 6:1; Tit 2:5; 1 Pet 2:12, 15; 3:16).
Peter had been accused (1:16) of following ‘cunningly devised fables’ but here again maintains that his teaching is ‘the way of truth’.
In v.3 Peter warns his readers that in their greed (covetousness) the false teachers will exploit them financially with ‘feigned words’ In v.14 he says that the false teachers are ‘trained’ in greed.
plastois logois, ‘plastic words’ – artifical, easily moulded.
In two negative statements Peter maintains that the false teachers will be judged:
1. ‘from of old their condemnation has not been idle.’ – it is already active
2. ‘their destruction does not sleep.’ – it is awake and ready to fall on them.
For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment; And spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly; And turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes condemned them with an overthrow, making them an example unto those that after should live ungodly; And delivered just Lot, vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked: (For that righteous man dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds); The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished: But chiefly them that walk after the flesh in the lust of uncleanness, and despise government. 2 Pet 2:4-10b
2:4-10a The Destruction Of False Teachers
In this section Peter seeks to support his statement that the condemnation and destruction of false teachers is certain. The argument is in the form of ‘If …then…’. He presents three examples from the Old Testament and in v.9 clearly states the point he is making.
EXAMPLE 1 The Angels That Sinned (2:4)
‘God did not spare the angels that sinned’ refers to the story in Gen 6:1-4 of heavenly beings that lusted after human women and produced offspring with them. The story is also referenced in Jude 6. More details are found in the Jewish apocryphal book 1 Enoch ( https://www.ccel.org/c/charles/otpseudepig/enoch/ENOCH_1.HTM) chapters 6 and 7 which was well-known at the time and from which (1 En 1:9) Jude quotes (Jude v.14).
Peter does not specify the angels’ misdemeanour but simply states that they ‘sinned.’ He concentrates instead on their punishment. God cast them (not necessarily ‘down’) into hell and consigned them to ‘pits (seirá – lit. pit) of darkness’ where they are kept until the judgement. The text of Jude v.6 reads ‘chains’ (desmós – strong bonds, chains) and many translations use ‘chains’ in both passages, although the words are different.
Strangely, Peter uses a rare verb tartaróō for ‘cast into hell’. It comes from the noun Tartarus (Tártaros) which in ancient Greek mythology denoted the deepest area of Hades. Since Peter’s readers in Asia Minor were from a Greek-speaking background he uses a word that they would understand to describe the fate of the angels that sinned. Although this incident occurred a long time in the past and the judgement is in the future they are even now undergoing punishment.
EXAMPLE 2 God Did not Spare the Ancient World but He Saved Noah and Seven Others (2:5)
Referring once more to Genesis chapter 6 Peter says that God brought judgement upon the ancient world through a flood and wiped out everyone; sparing only Noah and seven others (see 1 Pet 3:20), all members of the one family.
Noah is here called a ‘herald of righteousness.’ ‘Righeousness’ is upright behaviour. The word kḗrux can be used in the sense of ‘preacher’ e.g. 1 Tim 2:7. There is no mention in the Old Testament of Noah calling upon the antediluvians to repent.
EXAMPLE 3 GOD DESTROYED SODOM AND GOMORRAH BUT DELIVERED LOT (2:6-8)
The third example gets fuller treatment because the situation was similar to that in which Peter’s readers found themselves. Like Lot, the Christians in Asia Minor whom Peter addresses lived in a wicked society and found the sexual immorality and lawless conduct of their neighbours distressing. Not only that but false teachers in the church were denying the Lord’s Second Coming and rejecting the possibility of a future judgement. Thinking that they would not have to account for their conduct these teachers lived and promoted an evil lifestyle.
Genesis chapter 19 records how righteous Lot was rescued but Sodom and Gomorrah judged by fire. Peter says that this made them a model or pattern (hupódeigma) for what will happen to those who have lived ungodly since that time on. In the next chapter (3:10-12) Peter employs images of fire, heat and melting when describing the judgement at the end of the world (Day of the Lord).
[9-10a] In v.9 Peter sums up the main point of the ‘If…then…’ style argument he has been making in vv. 4-8 and applies the lesson from the well-known examples of God’s judgement that he has presented:
‘The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished.’
If God has punished those that sinned in Example 1, and punished sinners and saved the righteous in Examples 2 and 3, then God knows how to save the righteous and punish sinners.
The section ends at 10a with the comment that judgement falls especially upon those who ‘follow the flesh with its depraved desire’ and ‘despise lordship’. The latter term is probably equivalent to ‘denying the master’ in v.1. Peter thus brings the subject back to the false teachers mentioned in vv.1-3.
2:10b-22 The Description Of False Teachers
Presumptuous are they, self-willed, they are not afraid to speak evil of dignities. Whereas angels, which are greater in power and might, bring not railing accusation against them before the Lord. But these, as natural brute beasts, made to be taken and destroyed, speak evil of the things that they understand not; and shall utterly perish in their own corruption; And shall receive the reward of unrighteousness, as they that count it pleasure to riot in the day time. Spots they are and blemishes, sporting themselves with their own deceivings while they feast with you; Having eyes full of adultery, and that cannot cease from sin; beguiling unstable souls: a heart they have exercised with covetous practices; cursed children: Which have forsaken the right way, and are gone astray, following the way of Balaam the son of Bosor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness; 2 Pet 2:10b-16
[10b-16] Peter launches into a description of false teachers and in vv.10b-16 deals with two of their main characteristics; arrogance and sensuality. In v. 10b he negatively assesses them as brazen and insolent and says that they are not afraid to slander the glorious ones. The example of this given in the following verses is difficult to understand.
Since ‘dignities’ (doxai – glories, glorious ones) seems to refer to angelic beings (whether good or bad) in Jude v.8 many take it that here in 2 Peter the ‘glorious beings’ are also angels. Most who hold this view take it that in this instance the reference is to evil angels/demons(2:4) and that the false teachers must have been reviling them. Keating (2011, p.182) summarizes this view:
‘They are charged with bringing reviling and blaspheming judgments against the glorious beings (literally, “the glories”), which is a reference to the angels or to demonic powers. If Peter is referring to good angels, then the false teachers are reviling them either by denying the authority of the Scriptures that the angels were mediators of, or more probably by denying the final judgment that was to be carried out by the angels. The angels were often understood in Jewish and Christian tradition to be the mediators of the Old Testament revelation (see Heb 2:2) and to be the instruments of the final judgment (see Matt 13:39–41). If Peter is referring to demonic powers here, then the false teachers are reviling them probably by “denying that the devil could have any power over them and speaking of the powers of evil in skeptical, mocking terms.”
In 2 Peter, however, it is God (1:17) and Jesus Christ (1:3,17; 3:18) who are said to have glory. I think it more likely that the disparaging of the glorious ones refers to the denial by the false teachers of the the Second Coming of Christ and dismissal of the fact that God will one day judge the world (See chapter 3).
[11] The conduct of the angels is contrasted with that of the false teachers.
Either:
The false teachers arrogantly slander glorious beings but the good angels, who are superior in strength and power to the false teachers, do not advance a slanderous judgement against the fallen angels before the Lord. (e.g Jude v.9).
Or:
The false teachers arrogantly slander God and Jesus Christ but angels, who are superior in strength and power to the false teachers, do not advance a slanderous judgement against the false teachers before the Lord.
[12-14] These three verses are one long sentence.
‘But these’ (i.e. the false teachers in contrast to the angels) are irrational animals born naturally for capture and destruction (i.e caught and killed for food). The emphasis is on the ignorance of the false teachers. They behave irrationally and live like animals. They slander things they are ignorant of (this is equivalent to ‘slander the glories’ in v.10b) and will perish in their own corruption. This tells us that these people were unregenerate as in 1:4 believers are said to have ‘escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.’
There is some wordplay in the original ‘shall utterly perish in their own corruption’. To replicate it in English the phrase would read something like: ‘ They shall be destroyed with the same destruction they have brought about.’ (Kraftchick cited by Vinson, Wilson & Mills 2010, p.338).
[13] They will receive the ‘reward of unrighteousness.’ This is similar to the ‘wages of sin’ in Rom 6:23.
‘They count it pleasure to revel in the day-time.’ Normally revelling was regarded as taking place at night (darkness is associated with evil) but the false teachers were so immoral that they practised their debauchery in full view during the day as well.
The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light. Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying. Rom 13:12-13
Woe to thee, O land, when thy king is a child, and thy princes eat in the morning! Ecc 10:16
Woe unto them that rise up early in the morning, that they may follow strong drink; that continue until night, till wine inflame them! Isa 5:11
‘spots and blemishes as they carouse with you, revelling in their own deceptions.’ This is about disgusting behaviour at their parties and banquets, but may refer to the Lord’s Supper.
[14] ‘Their eyes are filled with an adulteress and they are insatiable for sin.’ The false teachers are always eying up women with a view to sexual activity.
‘they ensnare unstable souls’ They try to bring those who lack foundation in the faith, probably recent converts, under their control.
‘souls’ More or less equivalent to ‘people.’
‘unstable’ (astḗriktos) This word occurs only here and at 3:16.
The false teachers have hearts ‘well-trained’ in greed. The word gumnázō was used of athletic training and exercise. Their greed was habitual, they were experts.
At the thought of it Peter cannot help exclaiming ‘Accursed creatures!’ (lit. children of a curse).
[15] The false teachers have abandoned the straight road, they have gone astray and followed the road of Balaam, son of Bosor, who loved profit from wrong-doing. It was believed that the non-Israelite Balaam willingly accepted a bribe to curse Israel (Read Num 22, for the four oracles of Balaam see Num 23:7-10, 18-24; 24:3-9, 15-19.
‘road’ or ‘way’ was generally used of conduct (see 1 Sam 12:23; Hos 14:9; Psa 107:7; Acts 13:10) and go astray for ‘being corrupted.’
In the Old Testament Balaam’s father’s name is given as Beor (Num 22:5, 25:3).
[16] Peter relates that the ‘dumb’ (áphōnos, without articulate speech)’beast of burden’ (hupozúgion) rebuked Balaam for his error. An irrational beast saw the error of Balaam’s way and spoke to him, the false prophets do not see the error of their way and proceed like brute beasts.
In the Old Testament account in Numbers 22:21-35 it was the angel of the Lord that issued the rebuke to Balaam. The ass had been aware of the angel’s presence and would not go any further After Balaam struck it the animal protested in a human voice. (See also Num 31:16; Deut 23:5; Neh 13:2; Jude v.11; Rev 2:14)
These are wells without water, clouds that are carried with a tempest: to whom the mist of darkness is reserved forever. For when they speak great swelling words of vanity, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through much wantonness, those that were clean escaped from them who live in error. While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption: for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage. For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning. For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them. But it is happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire. 2 Pet 2:17-22
Slaves and Apostates 2:17-22
[17] Peter continues his description of the false teachers and refers to them as ‘these [people].’ He calls them ‘waterless wells and mists blown away by sharp gusts of wind’ Just as an empty well would leave thirsty travellers disappointed and mists that disappeared would disillusion farmers anxious for rain to water their crops so the teaching of the false teachers was empty and useless.
‘the gloom of darkness has been reserved for them’ Compare v.4.
[18] ‘great swelling words’ (hupérogkos) bombastic, inflated, swollen, oversized
They ensnare in the ‘passions of the flesh’ and ‘sensualities’ people who ‘are only just escaping.’ The false teachers target new converts who are still in the process of breaking away from their old way of life and from their former associates who live in error.
[19] The false teachers promise freedom (they probably taught that Christians are not bound by the moral law, see Rom 6:15; 1 Pet 2:16) but while talking to others about liberty they themselves are slaves to corruption (moral corruption). There follows a saying or maxim based on the image of someone defeated in battle, taken captive and enslaved: ‘for a man becomes the slave of him who overpowers him.’
[20] ‘For’ What does ‘for’ refer back to?
a) Perhaps it looks back to ‘slaves of corruption in 19a and is therefore a reference to the false teachers themselves. This is most likely.
b) Perhaps it looks back to v.18 and refers to those (recent converts) who are just escaping paganism but have been ensnared by the false teachers.
To become an apostate, to leave Christianity and return to paganism, is to be in a state worse than one was at first. Peter emphasizes the seriousness of this in the next verse.
[21] It would have been better to have remained pagans than to have known ‘the way of righteousness’ (Christianity) and then have turned from the ‘holy commandment’ (the gospel message – holy because it is from and about Jesus Christ).
Peter uses the noun epígnōsis in v.20 and twice in v. 21 the verb epiginṓskō. These speak of an intense, full sort of knowledge.
[22] ‘But it is happened unto them’ This is a dramatic perfect which speaks of what is certain to happen in the future as if it has already happened.
Peter then quotes two sayings about the filthy and disgusting habits of dogs and pigs.
- ‘The dog has returned to its vomit’ This same saying is used in Prov 26:11 of a fool who repeats his folly.
- ‘The sow which has been washed [has returned] to wallow in mire.’
These proverbial sayings aptly illustrate both the uncleanness and the apostasy of the false teachers
Written Exposition 