2 Peter 2New King James Version (NKJV)
1 But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction.
[SUP]2 [/SUP]And many will follow their destructive ways, because of whom the way of truth will be blasphemed.
[SUP]3 [/SUP]By covetousness they will exploit you with deceptive words; for a long time their judgment has not been idle, and their destruction does[SUP][a][/SUP] not slumber. [SUP]4 [/SUP]For if God did not spare the angels who sinned, but cast them down to hell and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved for judgment;
5 [/SUP]and did not spare the ancient world, but saved Noah, one of eight people, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood on the world of the ungodly;
6 [/SUP]and turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, condemned them to destruction, making them an example to those who afterward would live ungodly; [SUP]7 [/SUP]and delivered righteous Lot, who was oppressed by the filthy conduct of the wicked [SUP]8 [/SUP](for that righteous man, dwelling among them, tormented his righteous soul from day to day by seeing and hearing their lawless deeds)—
[SUP]9 [/SUP]then the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations and to reserve the unjust under punishment for the day of judgment, [SUP]10 [/SUP]and especially those who walk according to the flesh in the lust of uncleanness and despise authority.
They are presumptuous, self-willed. They are not afraid to speak evil of dignitaries, [SUP]11 [/SUP]whereas angels, who are greater in power and might, do not bring a reviling accusation against them before the Lord.
12 [/SUP]But these, like natural brute beasts made to be caught and destroyed, speak evil of the things they do not understand, and will utterly perish in their own corruption, [SUP]13 [/SUP]and will receive the wages of unrighteousness, as those who count it pleasure to carouse in the daytime. They are spots and blemishes, carousing in their own deceptions while they feast with you, [SUP]14 [/SUP]having eyes full of adultery and that cannot cease from sin, enticing unstable souls. They have a heart trained in covetous practices, and are accursed children.
[SUP]15 [/SUP]They have forsaken the right way and gone astray, following the way of Balaam the son of Beor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness; [SUP]16 [/SUP]but he was rebuked for his iniquity: a dumb donkey speaking with a man’s voice restrained the madness of the prophet. [SUP]17 [/SUP]These are wells without water, clouds[SUP][b][/SUP] carried by a tempest, for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever.[SUP][c][/SUP]
18 [/SUP]For when they speak great swelling words of emptiness, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through lewdness, the ones who have actually escaped[SUP][d][/SUP] from those who live in error.
[SUP]19 [/SUP]While they promise them liberty, they themselves are slaves of corruption; for by whom a person is overcome, by him also he is brought into bondage.
[SUP]20 [/SUP]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 in them and overcome, the latter end is worse for them than the beginning.
[SUP]21 [/SUP]For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered to them. [SUP]22 [/SUP]But it has happened to them according to the true proverb: “A dog returns to his own vomit,”[SUP][e][/SUP] and, “a sow, having washed, to her wallowing in the mire.”
1 But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction.
- These false teachers are amongst the body of Christ
- The Lord bought them – they are included in the redemption offer
- Yet we see a different response from these false teachers to what is considered a godly response to this redemption – they “deny” the Lord.
- How do they “deny” Him in a church context? Do you think they come in and say Christ cannot save you? Do they not speak Church lingo?
- “Denying” here is the Greek G720 – Which means to “contradict”. They contradict the Lord Jesus’ words. They twist scriptures 2 Peter 3 v16b which untaught and unstable people twist to their own destruction, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures.
- 1 John 4v1 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world.
[SUP]2 [/SUP]And many will follow their destructive ways, because of whom the way of truth will be blasphemed.
- Notice there is only one way (singular) of truth, but many ways (plural) of destruction
- What is the way of truth?
- Jesus said John 14v6 [SUP]6 [/SUP]Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.
- Galatians 1v6-10 [SUP]6 [/SUP]I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel, [SUP]7 [/SUP]which is not another; but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ. [SUP]8 [/SUP]But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed. [SUP]9 [/SUP]As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed. [SUP]10 [/SUP]For do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I still pleased men, I would not be a bondservant of Christ.
- A man pleasing gospel is not a God pleasing gospel. Unfortunately this is what we find in the corporate church today. A man pleasing gospel cannot save you.
- Luke 13v24 [SUP]24 [/SUP]“Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I say to you, will seek to enter and will not be able.
- Those who seek to enter were those who thought they had the truth of the gospel but didn’t (verse 25 and 26). What disqualified them was simply this: (verse 27) – they were workers of iniquity. They thought they could have both Christ and their sins.
- A true gospel message will always include the renunciation of your sins as a core gospel message. This means not only confession and seeking forgiveness, but also forsaking them. Proverbs 28v13 He who covers his sins will not prosper,
But whoever confesses and forsakes them will have mercy.
[SUP]3 [/SUP]By covetousness they will exploit you with deceptive words; for a long time their judgment has not been idle, and their destruction does[SUP][a][/SUP] not slumber. [SUP]4 [/SUP]For if God did not spare the angels who sinned, but cast them down to hell and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved for judgment;
- Do not be confused. The topic here remains on “sin”.
- This next passage is going to build for you a comparison of God’s righteous judgements on sin, no matter what part of His creation He is dealing with.
- He will over the next few passages of scripture show that these false prophets will likewise be in line for the same judgements that God meted out on all of these enemies of the cross. Philippians 3v18-19 [SUP]18 [/SUP]For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ: [SUP]19 [/SUP]whose end is destruction, whose god is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame—who set their mind on earthly things.
5 [/SUP]and did not spare the ancient world, but saved Noah, one of eight people, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood on the world of the ungodly;
- Ungodliness brings judgement; Righteousness brings deliverance.
6 [/SUP]and turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, condemned them to destruction, making them an example to those who afterward would live ungodly; [SUP]7 [/SUP]and delivered righteous Lot, who was oppressed by the filthy conduct of the wicked [SUP]8 [/SUP](for that righteous man, dwelling among them, tormented his righteous soul from day to day by seeing and hearing their lawless deeds)—
- Ungodliness brings judgement; Righteousness brings deliverance.
[SUP]9 [/SUP]then the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations and to reserve the unjust under punishment for the day of judgment, [SUP]10 [/SUP]and especially those who walk according to the flesh in the lust of uncleanness and despise authority.
- Let’s look at verse 9 again: The Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations.
- Hebrews 4v15 [SUP]15 [/SUP]For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.
- Because Jesus overcame sin in the flesh Romans 8v3 [SUP]3 [/SUP]For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, [SUP]4 [/SUP]that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
- Now that Jesus (praise the Lord) obtained victory over the flesh, He by the power of the Spirit working in us can appropriate the same to His believers.
- 1 Corinthians 10v13 [SUP]13 [/SUP]No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.
- So believer, do you “believe” these scriptures? If indeed you believe.
They are presumptuous, self-willed. They are not afraid to speak evil of dignitaries, [SUP]11 [/SUP]whereas angels, who are greater in power and might, do not bring a reviling accusation against them before the Lord.
- Presumptuous : Def: (of a person or their behaviour) failing to observe the limits of what is permitted or appropriate.
- Self-willed – the opposite of “Thy Will Be Done”
12 [/SUP]But these, like natural brute beasts made to be caught and destroyed, speak evil of the things they do not understand, and will utterly perish in their own corruption, [SUP]13 [/SUP]and will receive the wages of unrighteousness, as those who count it pleasure to carouse in the daytime. They are spots and blemishes, carousing in their own deceptions while they feast with you, [SUP]14 [/SUP]having eyes full of adultery and that cannot cease from sin, enticing unstable souls. They have a heart trained in covetous practices, and are accursed children.
- You will know them by their fruits. Matthew 7v15-16a [SUP]15 [/SUP]“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. [SUP]16 [/SUP]You will know them by their fruits.
- They cannot cease from sin. As we can see, the gospel message commands us to abstain from sinning. It commands us to resist temptations. Yet these teachers make allowances for this lifestyle.
- And by this lifestyle, and the message of “Grace, Grace” they entice unstable souls away from the truth. The theme could be: “Here, we are Christian brothers, you can do as I do. God isn’t the same as the strict Old Testament God anymore. We are not under the law but under grace, so you are now free indeed. All things are permissible, but not all things are beneficial. Thank God for His grace and mercy. Let’s go party tonight.” And so they fall into the snare of the enemy.
[SUP]15 [/SUP]They have forsaken the right way and gone astray, following the way of Balaam the son of Beor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness; [SUP]16 [/SUP]but he was rebuked for his iniquity: a dumb donkey speaking with a man’s voice restrained the madness of the prophet. [SUP]17 [/SUP]These are wells without water, clouds[SUP][b][/SUP] carried by a tempest, for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever.[SUP][c][/SUP]
- To forsake means to leave behind or abandon (Strongs 2641)
- They have left behind the right way and chosen a path of unrighteousness, the way of the flesh.
- For Balaam, a prophet of God (yes he was a prophet of God, and heard the voice of God) was willing to go a curse the nation of Israel, his brothers, for a sum of money. Instead of heeding the leading of the Spirit, he succumbed to the riches of the world. Balaam eventually sold out again in Numbers 31v16 and showed the way to bring the curses upon Israel through their disobedience. That’s right – the curses of God land on those who are walking in disobedience. Both Israel, as well as Balaam were judged.
- In the same way, both the deceiver as well as the deceived both share in the same judgement from God. Matthew 23v15 [SUP]15 [/SUP]“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel land and sea to win one proselyte, and when he is won, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves.
18 [/SUP]For when they speak great swelling words of emptiness, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through lewdness, the ones who have actually escaped[SUP][d][/SUP] from those who live in error.
- let it be clear from this scripture, that there is a distinction being made in this verse between the (A) false teacher and (B) those who are being deceived.
- The ones speaking swelling words and alluring are the false teachers.
- The ones targeted are those “who have escaped” from those who live in error.
- Many assume that because the preceding paragraphs in this chapter talk about false teachers, that this applies to this and the next few verses. No. You are now able to see the effects of the teachings and seductions of these false teachers upon those who have previously escaped the world.
[SUP]19 [/SUP]While they promise them liberty, they themselves are slaves of corruption; for by whom a person is overcome, by him also he is brought into bondage.
- They (false teachers) promise them (believers who have previously escaped the world) liberty
- Yet this promise to the believer of liberty is pointless, because the false teachers themselves are slaves of corruption.
- And what exactly is this bondage? It is bondage once again to sin.
- Romans 6v16 [SUP]16 [/SUP]Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness?
- Believer, do you believe you have such liberty that sin is of no consequence to your eternal security?
[SUP]20 [/SUP]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 in them and overcome, the latter end is worse for them than the beginning.
- Who is this scripture referring to? It is referring to the same ones in verse 18 (who have actually escaped).
- These are those who have committed their lives to Jesus Christ, have escaped to pollutions of the world (escape means escape). For one cannot escape unless there is a deliverance by the Lord. For a person cannot escape by their own moral effort, as it has been proven in scripture that: Romans 3v10 [SUP]10 [/SUP]As it is written: “There is none righteous, no, not one;
- Yet we have a situation where those who have escaped have not continued to heed the Lord’s warnings to test the spirits 1 John 4v1, not rightly dividing the word of truth 2 Timothy 2v15; not leaned on the Lord for understanding 1 John 2v26-27. They have misjudged the standard of righteousness, through the seduction of false teachers.
- And because they have heeded these teachings, they have fallen back into a sinful and fleshly lifestyle. This becomes a snare to them (Hebrews 12v1; Job 18v9)
- They begin to ignore the true warnings from the Lord to repent, for they have been lulled into the false teaching that repentance was a one-time event at conversion. That it’s no longer needed. And so this believer, having started off so well, remains entangled and eventually overcome. The end state apostasy is the fruit of unrighteousness.
[SUP]21 [/SUP]For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered to them. [SUP]22 [/SUP]But it has happened to them according to the true proverb: “A dog returns to his own vomit,”[SUP][e][/SUP] and, “a sow, having washed, to her wallowing in the mire.”
- The apostates, having once known the way of righteousness, having once actually escaped the world – if they be overcome – will be judged more harshly than an unbeliever who never accepted Christ.
- Luke 12 v46-48 [SUP]46 [/SUP]the master of that servant will come on a day when he is not looking for him, and at an hour when he is not aware, and will cut him in two and appoint him his portion with the unbelievers. [SUP]47 [/SUP]And that servant who knew his master’s will, and did not prepare himself or do according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. [SUP] 48 [/SUP]But he who did not know, yet committed things deserving of stripes, shall be beaten with few.
