2 Peter 2

1 But false prophets also arose among the people,

  • No sharp break between chapters 1 and 2
  • Chiastic construction
    • 1:16-18 NT apostles
    • 1:19-21 OT prophets
    • 2:1a OT false prophets
    • 2:1b-3 NT false prophets
    • Apostles doing right have always been around, false teachers who are wrong have always been around
  • Characteristics of False Prophets
    • Did not speak from God
    • Often spoke peace and security instead of God’s judgment
    • Condemned to punishment by God

just as there will also be false teachers among you,

  • False teachers among you
    • Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Matthew 7:15-16
  • Characteristics of these false teachers
    • Secretly introduce false heresies (v.1)
    • Deny the sovereign Lord who bought them (v.1)
    • Their destruction will come quickly (v.1)
    • Many will follow their shameful ways (v.2)
    • Will bring dishonor to the way of truth (v.2)
    • Will exploit the church out of greed (v.2)

Who will secretly introduce destructive heresies,

  • Secretly introduce
    • Unique in the NT
    • “bring in” (CSB)
  • Heresies
    • Used elsewhere in NT with neutral meaning “sect”
    • By 2nd century always meant heresy
    • Here, the context of “false” teachers indicates heresy
  • “will be among you” and will introduce”
    • Not indicating it hasn’t happened yet
    • Speaks from the perspective of the prophecy of their presence (i.e. Matt.7)

even denying the Master who bought them,

  • Denying the Master who bought them
    • “despoten”
    • Did they genuinely “belong to Christ?”
    • 2:20-20
  • Peter says that those called by God’s grace
  • 1 Peter 1:5
  • 2 Peter 1:3
  • Phenomenological language
  • Philippians 1:6
  • 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24
  • John 10:27-28
  • Romans 8:38-39

bringing swift destruction upon themselves. 2 Many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of the truth will be maligned;

  • Swift destruction
    • Sure and certain
    • Not necessarily immediate
  • Many will follow their sensuality
    • Follow because they do not have to give up fleshly pleasures
    • Follow for an “easier” way
  • Way of truth maligned
    • The Jewish tradition of 2 ways
    • Their licentious behavior was said by unbelievers to be how Christians behaved
    • Sexual immorality, rebellion against authority, greed, meanness

3 and in their greed they will exploit you with false words; their judgment from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.

  • IN greed they will exploit you
    • Seek material gain through their false teaching
    • Language of hawking defective goods
  • False words
    • Fabricated, made up
    • Probably about eschatological judgment and Christ’s return
    • Accused Peter and the apostles of this (1:16 “cleverly designed myths”)
  • Judgment from long ago
    • Their punishment is assured, their judgment already decreed
  • Destruction not asleep
    • Delay does not mean dismissal

4 For if God did not spare angels when they sinned

  • God did not spare angels when they sinned
    • Genesis 6:1-4
  • Expanded in 1 Enoch 6-10 (“watchers”)
  • Paralleled in Jude

but cast them into hell and committed them to pits of darkness, reserved for judgment;

  • Cast them into hell
    • “tartarus” not “gehenna”
    • Underworld, place of the dead
  • Pits of darkness (NASB)
    • Textual variant
    • “chains” of darkness (NIV, CSB, ESV)
  • Reserved for judgment
    • No escape
    • God’s punishment is certain

5 and did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a preacher of righteousness, with seven others, when He brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly;

  • Do not spare the ancient world
    • 2nd of three examples of certainty of God’s judgment
  • Preserved Noah, preacher of righteousness
    • “as the 8th” unusual syntax, where translations get “with 7 others’
  • Preacher of righteousness later Jewish designation
    • See David’s citation of Josephus
  • Brought a flood upon the world of ungodly
    • Entire world involved
    • Flood as a type for final eschatological judgment
    • Righteous preserved, wicked destroyed

6 And if He condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to destruction by reducing them to ashes, having made them an example to those who live ungodly lives thereafter;

  • Sodom and Gomorrah
    • 3rd example of certainty of God’s judgment on wickedness
  • Reduced to ashes
    • Genesis 19:24, 26-29
  • Made an example to those who would live ungodly lives
    • Matthew 10:14-15

7 and if He rescued righteous Lot, oppressed by the sensual conduct of unprincipled men

  • Rescued righteous Lot
    • Not blameless and without fault
    • Later Jewish tradition
    • Showed covenant loyalty to Abraham
    • Showed hospitality to visitors (who were angels)
    • Protected the visitors from the sensual conduct of men

8 (for by what he saw and heard that righteous man while living among them, felt his righteous soul tormented day after day by their lawless deeds),

  • By what he saw and heard
    • Not personal danger, but the evil that surrounded him
    • One sign of righteousness is distress over the wickedness

9 then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from temptation, and to keep unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment,

  • Then
    • Conclusion of the “if” clause begins in verse 4, “If God did not spare…”
  • Knows how to rescue the godly
    • God’s activity in history shows He can and will save the righteous
  • From temptation (NASB
    • Here “trials” (CSB, ESV, NIV) better fits the context
  • Keep unrighteous under punishment
    • God’s activity in history demonstrates he can and will judge wickedness
    • 3 examples prove God’s judgment is certain even when delayed

10 and especially those who indulge the flesh in its corrupt desires and despise authority

  • Indulge in fleshly desires
    • Fallen angels with human women
    • Corrupt men seeking to accost Lot’s guest

Daring, self-willed, they do not tremble when they revile angelic Majesties, 11 whereas angels who are greater in might and power do not bring a reviling judgment against them before the Lord

  • Shifts from previous examples of judgments to false teachers time
  • daring and self-willed
    • Bold and arrogant
  • Revile angelic majesties
    • Revile/slander “glories”
    • Probably obedient angels
  • Angels greater in power and might
    • Superior to the false teacher who revile them
    • Do not revile, but leave judgment in hands of God

12 But these, like unreasoning animals, born as creatures of instinct to be captured and killed, reviling where they have no knowledge, will in the destruction of those creatures also be destroyed,

  • Unreasoning animals
    • Irrational, unthinking
    • Sub-human
  • Creatures of instinct
    • Base desire instead of reasoned thinking
  • To be captured or killed
    • Like beef cattle providing food
    • Or predators to be eliminated
  • Revilign where they have no knowledge
    • Lack the experiential, relation knowledge of God
    • No basis for reviling and slander, they don’t know why they claim to know
  • In the destruction of those creatures, they will be destroyed
    • Just like predatory animals, they will be destroyed in the judgment

13suffering wrong as the wages of doing wrong. They count it a pleasure to revel in the daytime. They are stains and blemishes, reveling in their deceptions, as they carouse with you.

  • Suffering wrong as wages of sin
    • No honor in being punished justly (1 Peter 2:20,3:17)
  • Revel in the daytime
    • Open, visible, unhidden, flouting of God’s righteous standards
    • Neglecting necessary labor during daylight hours
  • They are stains and blemishes
    • In contrast to the spotless lamb of God
    • Opposite of God’s calling and purpose for His church
    • 2 Peter 3:14
  • Reveling in their deceptions while carousing with you
    • Possibly at table fellowship, love feasts
    • Indulge their appetites, pursue pleasures
    • No genuine love for brothers and sisters in Christ
    • No worship and remembrance of Him at the Lord’s table

14 having eyes full of adultery that never cease from sin, enticing unstable souls, having a heart trained in greed, accursed children;

  • Eyes full of adultery
    • Literally “full of adulteresses”
    • Look at every woman as an object o their pleasure
    • No wife/daughter/sister is safe in the presence of these predators
  • Enticing unstable should
    • Seducing/enticing with bair
    • Those not mature in the faith, failing to grow in their walk with God
    • Teaching to live to satisfy physical desire because there is no judgment
  • Hearts trained in greed
    • There are well trained and proficient in their practice of greed
  • Accursed children
    • Peter’s pastoral assessment of their status under God’s judgment

15 forsaking the right way, they have gone astray, having followed the way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness;

  • Forsaking the right way
    • Have left the “straight” way
    • Matthew 7:13-14
  • Followed the way of Balaam, son of Beor
    • Numbers 22-24, 31, also in Jude and post-OT Jewish tradition
  • Loved wages of unrighteousness
    • The greedy desire for material gain rather than God’s truth

16 but he received a rebuke for his own transgression, for a mute donkey, speaking with a voice of a man, restrained the madness of the prophet.

  • Rebuked for his sin by a donkey
    • In Numbers, donkey rebukes him for mistreatment
    • Donkey perceived God’s presence when Balaam could not
  • Donkey restrained the madness of a prophet
    • Balaam represents false teachers with unrestrained “animal” passions
    • Madness to go against God
    • Seek self-advancement
    • Pursue physical gratification
    • Greedy seeking wealth

Would Peter think his warning had been heeded when today it is hard to distinguish the behavior of professing believers from the world’s behavior?

17 These are springs without water and mists driven by a storm, for whom the black darkness has been reserved

  • The shift from the character of false teachers to the content of their teaching
  • These are springs without water
    • Dried up oasis in an arid land
    • John 7:37-38
  • Mists driven by a storm
    • Promise of rain, driven off by dry winds
    • Promise spiritual refreshment, have none to offer
  • Black darkness reserved
    • Eternal gloom of God’s judgment

18 For speaking out arrogant words of vanity they entice by fleshly desires, by sensuality, those who barely escape from the ones who live in error

  • Arrogant words of vanity
    • Boastful empty words (CSB, NIV)
    • Loud boasts of folly (ESV)
    • Bombastic nonsense (NRSV)
    • “hot air”, but not harmless
    • Talk much, say little
  • Entice by fleshly desires, by sensuality
    • removing God’s righteous restraints on behavior
    • If it feels good, do it
  • Those who barely escape from ones who live in error
    • Better “newly” or “only recently escaped”
    • New converts rescued from corruption of the world

19 promising them freedom while they themselves are slaves of corruption; for by what a man is overcome, by this he is enslaved.

  • Promising them freedom
    • From the law (moral restraint)?
    • From judgment?
    • From guilt (denying reality of sin)? man is over
  • Slaves of corruption
    • Teachers themselves enslaved by sin
    • Slaves to their physical desires
  • By whatever a man is overcome
    • A person is enslaved to whatever masters them

20 For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world by the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and are overcome.

  • If they have escaped
    • False teachers or their “recent” convert followers?
    • Maybe both
  • By the knowledge of the Lord
    • NOT believers losing their salvation
    • Their knowledge has given us everything we need for life and godliness
    • “If” condition not yet met
    • Phenomenological language for outward appearances of pseudo believers
  • Entangled again
    • Repudiation of the gospel, return to the corruption of the world

…the last state has become worse for them than the first. 21 For it would be better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn away from the holy commandment handed on to them.

  • Last state is worse than the first
    • Dangers of apostasy are very real
    • Deceiving yourself into believing you have something you didn’t
    • Once repudiated, little chance they will truly repent
  • Better to not have known
    • The difficulty of reclaiming those who have had an intellectual knowledge of salvation
  • Turn away from the holy commandment
    • God’s conviction, the invitation of the gospel
    • Christian instruction in God’s truth

22 It has happened to them according to the true proverb, “A DOG RETURNS TO TIS OWN VOMIT,” and, “A sow, after washing, returns to wallowing in the mire.”

  • Dog returns to its vomit, washed pigs wallow in the mire
    • Proverbs 26:11
    • Both dogs and pigs unclean to Jews
    • Animals have an unnatural interest in their filth
  • Can true believers apostatize?
    • No, perseverance is a mark of true salvation
    • Must not dismiss the seriousness of warning of this passage
  • Can you know you are saved?
  • can you know if someone else is saved?