2 Peter - Chapter 2

Peter teaches of the false teachers and their punishment, both of them and their followers. He also uses this portion of his letter to teach on the deliverance of those who are faithful and godly.

Much of this chapter is similar to the book of Jude (as we discussed briefly in chapter one), with some words showing strong consistency. We do not know if Jude borrowed from Peter or if Peter borrowed from Jude. It also may be that both borrowed from a third source that was lost in the early church days. This puzzling question does not, however, affect the truth of either letter.

Peter intensely disliked the false teachers and wrote severe words against them. He wanted his readers not to be swayed by them and to be strong and mature in their faith. There are not many stronger warnings to the children of God about those who would mislead us than those we study in this section of Peter’s writing.

1:

We see immediately a connection with chapter 1, verses 20-21. There were false prophets in the time of the OT just as there were false teachers in the time of Peter. Jesus himself spoke of this matter in Mark 13:22-23. We have been warned to check all that we hear from those who are teaching suspect doctrine (Acts 17:11). The teaching that scripture provides is true because they are inspired of God (2 Timothy 3:16-17).

These false ones told the believers that Peter had made up stories about Jesus and that Peter’s teaching of Christ taking the sin of the world upon himself at the cross was not true. The false teachers will be punished as Peter warns. 

Do we see false teaching in our time?

2:

These false teachers told the faithful to be unconcerned about living wickedly as they were saved and it made no difference. This was the way the teachers lived themselves as well as how they preached. Some people were tempted by their words and examples. 

We must not lose sight of the fact that in John 14:6, Jesus taught “… I am the way…”, and in those early days the followers of Jesus were sometimes referred to as “THE WAY”. The example we have that is the true example for our lives is only Christ Jesus.

3:

These false teachers even lied to the faithful to gain their money (showing covetousness) and were dishonest about this effort. We recall that in the OT (Deut 13:1-5) God told his chosen people to kill false prophets so His judgment on these types of matters had been set long ago. We recall also the 400 false prophets of Baal who were destroyed by Elijah (1 Kings 18:27). 

4:

Peter teaches of the punishment God brought against the disobedient angels. He does not specify their wickedness but Jude in verse 6 tells us they left their proper place. Now these wicked ones are held in prison in darkness, when they once lived in light. They are reserved unto judgment perhaps seen in Revelation 20:10.

5:

God has clearly shown His willingness to destroy wickedness on the earth as He had done in the flood. Noah had preached and warned those wicked ones for many years and none listened.  We saw a view of this teaching also earlier in 1st Peter 3:20. 

Interestingly, Peter refers to Noah as the eighth person, and here it means the eighth person saved in the ark (Noah, his wife, his three sons, and their wives). Jude teaches that Enoch was the 7th person, making Noah actually the 10th person from Adam.

As the first prophet, Noah preached righteousness to the unrighteous, and showed them the path to salvation which all rejected to remain in their wickedness, and all but Noah and his family were destroyed by the wrath that followed their rejection.

6 – 9:

Just as in the days of Noah, the Lord’s wrath fell upon the ungodly in the cities of Sodom & Gomorrah. Just as in the days of Noah, the few godly were saved as the angel of the Lord led Lot and his family away before destruction arrived. 

While Lot was a good man, he made the choice to live inside the wickedness of these cities and he saw clearly the depravity of these ungodly people, but he also remained faithful in the face of evil and was saved because of his faithfulness. God does not spare the Christian from difficulties in the Christian life. He provides strength to each to overcome these times that will always be along the path of our walk.

He also will not fail to punish evil and wickedness. Peter assures his readers and us that those who choose the life of darkness will not go unpunished.

10:

Those false teachers who say that the believer may indulge the temptations of the flesh will be surely dealt with as they are arrogant and speak in evil ways about that which is good & dignified. They think they are beyond challenge as they preach this unclean idea of indulgence. Peter says they are presumptuous, meaning filled with themselves. Most importantly to his readers (and us) is the fact that above all, they are wrong!

11 – 12:

Angels are created a little higher than humans (Psalm 8:5) and they have more power and are stronger than the false teachers but angels will not sit in judgment of them or of other angels who have lost their way. While these false ones pretend they know a lot about God, they know little and are not humble before God. These people are to be considered animals, natural brute beasts, which will perish in the corruption they have created.

Angels know that the judgment will come from God, not themselves.

(Jude 8-11 provides extra details on this matter).

13:

The false teachers live in behavior that is not moral or worthwhile. Peter reminds that they eat meals with the faithful which Jude calls ‘feasts of charity (love). They make no effort even to hide their sin, having no conscience. These feasts are not to honor God but rather are to enjoy pleasures not proper or pleasures to excess, such as wine. We see this lesson given by Paul in 1 Cor 11:20-21. This behavior was not proper for a child of God to enter into and these false teachers provided the temptation, which should be refused.

14:

False teachers also practiced adultery as further sin. Peter teaches that those who had unstable souls (weak of character) were beguiled by these false ones. Notice that Peter gives his strongest condemnation in this verse as he teaches that they cannot cease from sin. Does this phrase remind us of those who were wicked in the days of Noah who were in continual thoughts of evil?

15 – 16:

Peter reaches back to the familiar story from the OT for a lesson to illustrate his points (Numbers 22-24). Balak, the king of Moab, wanted Balaam to speak bad things about the Jews. Balak even offered to pay him to do so. At first Balaam refused but then he gave in but God forced him to bless the Jews instead. Like Balaam, these false teachers were anxious to get money (wages of unrighteousness).

Balaam’s donkey could see the angel in his path while he, at first, could not. Balaam beat his donkey for stopping but then the donkey spoke to him in a human voice and the angel spoke to Balaam as well. The donkey was used by God to stop Balaam along his evil path and just as in those days, God will stop these evil ones as well.

17:

Peter uses beautiful word pictures to make his points. These false teachers appear to be what they are not. Wells may look promising on the outside to quench thirst, but if they are dry wells, they offer nothing. These teachers showed a form of godliness, which was indeed corruption. It is the living water of Christ that can quench the spiritual thirst of those who seek the Lord, not these false ones. Peter calls them clouds carried with a tempest, meaning clouds of little substance that can easily be blown away. We can refer to Jude again (verse 12) and see that they are “carried about of winds”.

The mist of darkness is reserved for them, along with the fallen angels cast into darkness (Jude 6). This place is held (reserved) for their arrival.

18:

False teachers lied to those who may have just converted and were not yet well versed in the path of the Lord. These lies demonstrated the vanity of these teachers, and once more Peter impresses upon his readers that iniquity of these teachers by using the term “wantonness” and he was very direct to show that they lived in error.

19:

Jesus had taught that he came to make people free (John 8:32) but these teachers twisted this lesson to say that people can live as they wish after conversion, free from judgment, using their freedom in Christ as an excuse for wicked living. The lesson of this verse is that we are a slave to this world and its evil or we accept that we are slaves in Christ as Paul taught in Romans 6:15. The choice is ours. There is NO middle ground.

20 – 22:

Peter says that these false ones knew the right way to live but left the right path to live in evil ways. It would have been better for them not to have known at all than to know and to then turn away and try to turn others away as well.

Peter returns to vivid word pictures to finalize his condemnation of these awful teachers. He repeats the story of the dog turning again to his own vomit which is taken from Proverbs 26:11. The comparison to dogs and pigs were meant to seriously disparage these men as both animals were considered as unclean creatures to the Jews. Jesus had used the same word picture in Matthew 7:6, teaching that one should give not that which is holy to the dogs (those who reject the Lord through His Son).

We should recall that these teachers were teaching that they were Christian but were adding to the gospel and were lying about the gospel to pervert the Holy word of the Lord. These last sentences by Peter were intended to conclude his anger and disregard for these false teachers by showing that they were like the things most disliked by Jews, vomit, mire, and these word pictures were his most effective attack on these false ones.