Introduction
The best stories have a moment when everything is dark and hopeless. Darkness and despair close in. Enemies seem innumerable. What should the hero do? In this chapter, Peter answers that question for us.
The Text
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. […]
2 Peter 2:1ff
Summary of the Text
While the Holy Spirit was at work inspiring the prophets of old to pen words that pierced through the fog of their current circumstances and the shadows of the distant future (2 Pt. 1:21), false prophets always were there as well, concocting their heresies (v1). That was true in the ancient days, it was the case in Peter’s day, and it is true now. These false teachers, though visible members of the covenant people, deny the Lord and thus destruction is charging them down, for they not only destroy themselves, but draw in the vulnerable to advance their envy project (vv1-3). But their damnation is wide awake.
Peter gives three examples of God simultaneously not sparing the wicked while preserving the righteous: fallen angels, Noah’s day, and Sodom in Lot’s time (vv4-8). Lot is further singled out as an example of a righteous man being vexed with the surrounding evil (v8). While much of this epistle is marked by smoky clouds of sulfur, Peter, in verse 9, brings us out into the cool, fresh air of the Gospel: the Lord knows how to deliver you out of temptations, and how to dispatch with the wicked (v9, Cf. Ps. 34:15-19). Jerusalem has become Sodom (Cf. Rev 11:8), but God will bring the saints safely through this coming judgement.
These evil men walk in lust, they not only despise authority, but are also presumptuous authorities unto themselves, unafraid to speak impudently of the “glorious ones” (v10); even angels don’t do that, though they could! Peter uncorks how vile these men are. They are brute beasts, prattling on nonsensically, piling up a mountain of condemnation upon themselves for their brazen perverseness. They feast with the saints, while harboring deceit in their hearts; they ogle with adulterous eyes, enticing useful idiots in order to gratify their lusts (vv12-14). These men are nothing new, but are like Balaam of old, who forsook the right path for the right price (vv15-16).
Peter urges the saints to see the great danger of listening to and following such men. They are waterless wells ( v17, Cf. Pro. 25:14-15). Their silver tongue, promising liberty, sweeps many who had at one time escaped from the fetters of sin to become enslaved once more (vv18-19). To be baptized into Christ, and then to willfully return to the pollution of the old world is to turn yourself into a byword: you’re a dog returning to its vomit, a clean pig plopping into the puddle of sewage (vv20-22).
Apostasy is Real
You might be inclined to perceive this chapter as a barren land, full of choking fumes. One danger would be to rush past it as quickly as possible, dismissing it as somehow not applicable to anyone here. But the other danger would be to hear only the thunder and miss the still small voice of Gospel comfort. Some might read the closing verses, describing real and true apostasy, and spiral into an introspective doom cycle. Conviction rises hot that these verses describe them. Their sins loom large. The proverb about a dog eating vomit sounds an awful lot like them.
Those who feel the sting of conscience over their sin, who mourn over their errors, and who sorrow over their many failings need to hear the Gospel word right in the midst of this passage: the Lord knows how to deliver you. You should have ears open to hear such warnings, but make sure your ears are also open to the sweet word that God is able to deliver sinners, even from their own foolish sin. Remember that Lot guy?
Brute Beasts
So, don’t dismiss this warning. However, be sure you know who this warning is for. This passage is not just describing false teachers, but a very particular type of false teacher. Look at the trail of clues.
These men were amongst them. By their teaching and actions they were denying the “Lord who bought them”. They attended the love feasts of the church, but were spots which blemished the sacrificial offering of the church. They had (past tense) escaped the pollutions of the world through knowledge of Jesus, but had gone on to put their old chains on again.
The next chapter will provide more detail of what they teach, but Peter gestures emphatically towards the wicked manner of these men’s lives. Specifically that they are guilty of walking after the flesh, and reviling the “glories” (dignitaries). That last one might perplex us a bit. But remember that a common temptation, especially amongst Jewish Christians, was to return to the old way of doing business under the law (Gal 1:8, 4:8-11, Heb. 10:26). The accusation towards Christians was that they were dishonoring the glories of the Old Covenant. But it was really these crafty creeps who were speaking evil of these glories. Thus, these false teachers were Jews who had, at one time, professed faith in Jesus, and had even been baptized. However, they had now come to the conclusion that Jesus hadn’t really changed absolutely everything. Thus, they were reverting to factory settings, while also trying to get lots of people to join them.
These apostate men were beckoning Christians to come back to the old world of never-ending animal sacrifice, a divide between Jews and Gentiles, and to do it all for the sake of tradition. But all the saints of old, all the sacrifices, all the shadows of the Old Covenant were pointing towards what was about to happen in A.D. 70. As divine judgement swept away the ungodly and delivered both Noah and Lot, Christ was, in like manner, about to come in the clouds of judgement upon the Old World. His coming would both grind the wicked to powder and lead His people in glorious exodus into His Kingdom. These false teachers wanted to live in denial of that great and hastening divine intervention.
The Appeal of False Teachers
Perhaps the most alarming aspect of Peter’s teaching here isn’t the grotesque nature of these apostate false teachers, but that their tactics work. These men determined to live with animalistic urges guiding their actions. They did so while having the audacity to say that it was the followers of Jesus who were dishonoring the Old Covenant. Yet, their life and doctrine were alluring. Which is why Peter (following Jude’s earlier urgent letter, Jd. 1:3) implores the early Christians to plug their ears and ignore these damnable actions and teachings.
What is so effective about all this? First, it entices you to join in their delusion that living according to animalistic urges bears no consequences. Second, it allures you to live by the rules of the old world: covetous rivalry. Third, it assumes a godless view of the world: everything will continue as it always has.
All this is a denial that God––in both creation and redemption––has intervened in history to showcase His glory. It is to deny both that God is, and that He is sovereign over time. The saints of Peter’s day were being enticed to return to business as usual, reducing the Old Covenant glories to simple ethnic strife and vainglory, and even worse, an entitlement to selfish indulgence.
Modern false teachers are much the same. Their podcasts and online personas feign that they are your friend. But all you are to them is merchandise. You only represent more clicks to them and their advertisers. They do not love you. They will not slake your thirst for truth. You following them proves, to them at least, that their immoral living and their ungodly worldview can go on without consequence.
But Peter warns you that these guys are wells without water. They are clouds dancing in the wind. True ministers, as servants of the Bridegroom, wash the people of God in the clean water of the Word, leading them to drink deep at the still waters of Christ. But false teachers, who almost invariably arise from within the church, don’t see you as sheep to be tended but as meat for their table.
Swift Deliverance
Ungodly men want to pretend that time will go on just it as always has. History is cyclical. Time is a flat circle. But you must live in the reality that God is the Great and Sovereign Intervener. History is not the meaningless grinding away of time and chance. History is governed by God’s hand. While this was particularly true of the dark days before the temple’s destruction in A.D. 70, it’s also true in all times. Are wicked men in abundance? Are many Christians falling away into erroneous thinking and immoral living? Are there daunting thunderclouds of danger? No fear. Hold steadfast. Sing a Psalm. The very God who saved the world by the death of His Son is the same God who will preserve you through all dangers, toils, and snares. So, what does the saint do in the midst of the storm? They sing (Ps. 34:19).
But which song? Not the monotone drone, “que sera sera.” Something more like this:
Crown him the Lord of years, the Potentate of time,
Creator of the rolling spheres, ineffably sublime.
All hail, Redeemer, hail! For thou has died for me;
thy praise and glory shall not fail throughout eternity.
Charge & Benediction
It is important for us to remain vigilant over who we listen to and are shaped by. This is true all the time, but especially so in times of unravelling like ours. The question to ask is whether a certain voice is compelling you to walk in greater virtue, or are they enticing you to join them in vice. If their swelling speeches tickle your ears, its time to turn them off.
The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make His face to shine upon you, and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up His countenance upon you, and give you peace.
Numbers 6:24-26
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