by Ray C. Stedman
2:1 FALSE PROPHETS. . .FALSE TEACHERS: Peter moves naturally
from the utterances of the prophets of the past, who had false
prophets among them, to the teaching of the apostles today which
would be opposed by false teachers. The difference in terminology
suggests that the false teachers among Peter's readers made no
claim to being prophets, but were distorting apostolic Christian
teaching into dangerous heresies. Peter's certainty that there
will be such false teachers probably rests upon the Lord's predictions
(See e.g. Mt. 24:4-5 and Paul's words in 1 Timothy. 4:1-3). These
teachers could be recognized by their surreptitious (secretive)
approaches; by the logical deductions to which their errors led
(denying the Lord who bought them) and by their often abrupt removal
from the Christian community (See I John 2:19).
2:2 DESTRUCTIVE WAYS. . .WAY OF TRUTH: The chief characteristic
of the false teaching in view is its ethical implications, for
destructive is the Greek word aselgeiai, meaning
shameful or deliberately immoral. Such teachers glory in the privileges
of Christianity but treat with indifference its moral demands.
This attitude infects many people. Some televangelists are modern
examples, who illustrate also the inevitable impact of such teaching:
the way of truth will be blasphemed. The truth of Christian
redemption is held in contempt by many because of the immoral
behavior of professing Christians.
2:3a COVETOUSNESS: The primary motive behind such false
teaching is greed. They do not hesitate to take hurtful advantage
of their followers in order to enrich themselves. Their words
promise much, but their ability to deliver is nil, therefore they
are properly accused of exploiting by deceit. Mayor summarizes
their approach thus: "Their teaching was flattery; their
ambitions were financial; their lives were dissolute; their conscience
was dulled, and their aim was deception."
2:3b JUDGMENT. . .DESTRUCTION: Here Peter turns from the
description of the false teachers to their fate, introducing a
section that runs through 2:10a. Their judgment is already
determined from of old, and their actual destruction is
not sleeping (nustazei also applied in its only
other N.T. use to the sleeping virgins of Mt. 25:5). They fell
asleep and missed the Lord's return--the judgment of these false
teachers does not sleep for it occurs either at death or the parousia
of Christ. There follows three vivid examples of such judgment
from the past. (Similarities between this chapter and Jude are
discussed in the Introduction).
2:4 THE ANGELS WHO SINNED: The incident of Genesis 6:1-6,
referred to also in Jude 6, is here cited as the first example
of God's process of punishment. Certain angels rebelled at God's
choice of ministry for them and presumed to engage in forbidden
lustful practices with the daughters of men. This presumptuos
action met with immediate judgment: they were cast down to
hell, literally, to Tartarus, the place of final punishment
in Greek mythology. It is a place of severe limitation of action
(symbolized by chains) and almost total lack of knowledge and
understanding (symbolized by darkness). In that condition they
await the final judgment, which is what Revelation. 20:14 calls
"the second death" i.e. the lake of fire. Let the false
teachers beware, for God is well able to do the same to them!
2:5 DID NOT SPARE THE ANCIENT WORLD: Peter's second example
is the flood which came upon the ungodly in Noah's day. He mentions
this again in 3:5-6 and also in 1 Peter 3:20. Noah is termed a
preacher of righteousness since his righteous life put to
shame the licentious neighbors among whom he lived. His building
of an ark would certainly have been an occasion for explanation
of the coming judgment and an invitation to repent and believe.
But his entreaties fell on deaf ears, just as the truth of Christ's
atonement fell on the deaf ears of the false teachers of Peter's
day. Such indifference to truth brought the ungodly of Noah's
world to certain destruction. It fell upon them suddenly and unsparingly,
as it will ultimately fall upon any who, in any age, turn their
backs upon the saving grace of God.
2:6 SODOM AND GOMORRAH: The third example occupies vv.
6-8, and was one of the best known incidents of the ancient world.
Probably some form of volcanic action destroyed the cities of
Sodom and Gomorrah, but Genesis 19 makes it clear that sensual
wickedness was the primary cause. This was intended to be a fearful
example of the terrible seriousness of not observing the sexual
distinctions which God has determined. From time to time these
distinctions have been cast aside and widespread breakdowns in
social structures have inevitably followed.
2:7-8 RIGHTEOUS: Three times in two verses Lot is described
as a righteous man. The Genesis account portrays Lot in Sodom
as a man of the world, going along with the culture of his day.
Here we are told his true inward reactions: he was oppressed
(depressed) by their filthy conduct; he was tormented (upset)
by viewing their lawless actions. That capacity for outrage marked
him as truly righteous, and it was for that reason that he was
delivered by divine intervention. This example stresses the importance
of grieving over the condition of the lost, and refusing to accommodate
to their amoral standards.
2:9-10a THE LORD KNOWS HOW: God is in full control of all
events. He can deliver the godly (eusebeis) ) out
of (not "away from") their trials, and He can also see
that the unjust (adikous) do not escape their day of punishment.
Two particular lifestyles are singled out for judgment: those
who live in unclean lust (this suggests the sins of Sodom), and
those who hold authority in contempt (this looks back to the angels
who sinned, and also to v. 1 and the false teachers who were "even
denying the Lord who bought them"). It is characteristic
of Peter that despite his blunt words of warning there is always
great emphasis laid on God's willingness to rescue all who trust
in him, even such men as Noah and Lot who both lived in a morally
degraded and polluted society.
2:10b-11 PRESUMPTUOUS, SELF-WILLED: These words introduce
the section from 10b-19 where Peter examines in detail the character
and methods of the false teachers. Their actions are characterized
by audaciousness; they are recklessly daring, defying both God
and man. Behind that presumption lay a commitment to self-pleasing.
They are determined to have their own way at all costs. The story
of Jim Jones and the tragedy of Guyana is a modern case in point.
As an example of this brash self-centeredness Peter contrasts
their insulting language with that of the angels who respect the
office of their adversary even though they must oppose his actions.
It is difficult to know exactly whom the apostle has in view in
this reference. The dignitaries against whom the false
teachers cavil are probably angels, though they could be church
leaders. Perhaps the false teachers object to the role the angels
played in giving the Law to Moses, since that Law (the Ten Commandments)
would condemn their immoral and selfish actions. But, in contrast,
angels who are much greater and more powerful than men do not
behave so disrespectfully even when justly confronting an enemy
of the Lord. The reference here is almost certainly to Jude 9
where Michael, the archangel, disputing with Satan over the body
of Moses does not revile the Devil but simply says, "The
Lord rebuke you."
2:12 LIKE NATURAL BRUTE BEASTS: Again, the false teachers
are likened to animals in their behavior, for they act in ignorance
of the realities of death and judgment and, like animals, react
only to the present circumstance, heedless of the consequences.
They pour abuse on things which they do not understand, like an
angered dog attacks someone whom he thinks is threatening him.
Since they act like animals they will also end up like animals;
their inner corruption will be the cause of their destruction,
as a mad dog is sometimes shot to death to keep him from harming
others.
The phrase perish in their own corruption can actually
mean corrupted by their own corrupt living. That is the
irony of sinful living; its very pleasures in the end become distasteful.
Sensuality is self-destructive.
2:13a CAROUSE IN THE DAYTIME: A third charge against the
false teachers: their language is insulting and extreme, unlike
the angels; they act out of ignorance of the consequences, like
animals; and they are perverse in their display of evil, like
those who carouse in the daytime. Even pagan society thought it
strange and unnatural to hold drunken revels in broad daylight,
but these teachers have no qualms about practicing their concept
of Christian "liberty" in open display. But the law
of inevitable consequences still holds: they will receive the
wages of unrighteousness, i.e. spiritual death ("the
wages of sin is death" Romans. 6:23).
2:13b DECEPTIONS: This word (Gk. apatais)
governs the thought of vv. 13b-19. The feasts mentioned
were the Agapae, or love-feasts, built around the celebration
of the Lord's Supper. (Some Greek mss. substitute agapais
for apatais here). The heretics were so self-deceived that
they actually thought they were celebrating their freedom in Christ
by drunken revels at the Lord's Table! But in fact they were spots
and blemishes, disfiguring and degrading the purity of
the Lord's feast.
2:14a ENTICING: Another form of their deceptive practices.
Their own eyes were full of adultery (literally, full
of an adulteress), i.e. they looked at every woman as a possible
sex partner! Further, they cannot cease from sin for such
lustful fantasizing had become habitual with them. As a consequence
they easily convinced certain unstable souls in the church
that this was acceptable Christian behavior and lured them into
sexual immorality. The participle enticing (Gk. deleazontes)
means "to catch with bait." These young, unstable converts,
not yet fully grounded in Christ, were easily "hooked"
into a lascivious lifestyle. It happens in every age!
2:14b TRAINED IN COVETOUS PRACTICES: The latter half of
v. 14 belongs with vv. 15-16 since Balaam is an example of the
covetous ways of the heretics. Peter's charge is serious for he
maintains the false teachers have deliberately trained their hearts
in greedy practices. Covetousness (Gk. pleonexia)
is used of both greed for money and greed for bodies, i.e. illicit
or unnatural sex. Here it is primarily greed for money or comforts.
But, as Jesus plainly stated, "You cannot serve God and mammon
(money)" (Matthew. 6:24). To attempt it is to put oneself
under the curse of God, i.e. to be doomed to perish with the world
in its rejection of God's grace.
2:15-16 THE WAY OF BALAAM: The account of Balaam in Numbers
22-24 is used in the N.T. in Jude 11, Revelation. 2:15, as well
as here, to depict a dangerous temptation to Christians to forsake
the right way and to go astray. Balaam's primary downfall
was that he loved the wages of unrighteousness. He sold
his prophetic powers to the pagan king, Balak, and for a promised
monetary reward sought to curse the children of God. On his way
to do this he was rebuked by his donkey, who saw what Balaam could
not see--a mighty angel with drawn sword standing in the path.
By this story Peter is encouraging those unstable souls who
were easily impressed by the teaching of the heretics. "A
dumb ass possessed sounder prophetic vision than a religious official
whose moral sense had been perverted by gain from wrongdoing"
(Barnett). Though Balaam's subsequent sin of introducing immorality
into the camp of Israel is not mentioned here, it is significant
that both avarice and lust were the major motivations of the false
teachers here. The two sins are seldom far apart!
2:17 WELLS. . .CLOUDS: Continuing his exposure of the deceitful
ways of the heretics Peter accuses them of awakening false expectations,
like springs which, when approached, contain no water; or like
storm-driven clouds which darken the earth temporarily as if it
will soon rain heavily, but prove to be dry. The temporary but
barren darkness they cast is prophetic of the great darkness which
will be their fate forever (Calvin).
2:18 THEY ALLURE: The verb is deleazo "to
catch with bait" again. The bait is great swelling words
of emptiness, i.e. high-sounding promises which prove to have
no real content. The hook is the lusts of the flesh, the
normal sexual desires of the young, which are practiced in wrongful
ways. These heretical teachers clearly were implying that once
the soul is saved, what is done with the body is of no account.
Paul answered this same teaching by showing that the body is the
temple of the Holy Spirit, and one cannot misuse it without giving
insult to the Spirit who lived within (1 Corinthians. 6). Peter
indicates the ones under attack from the heretical leaders were
new Christians for they are barely escaping (NKJV margin)
from the pagan society around, described as those who live
in error. This guarding of the flock from "wolves in
sheep's clothing," as Jesus described them, is one of the
chief concerns of the apostles, and is one of the chief tasks
of pastors.
2:19 SLAVES OF CORRUPTION: The irony of wrong teaching
is that it promises great freedom, but its advocates are themselves
already slaves!
The gospel offers release from the corruption (moral ruin)
of the world, but these teachers were themselves involved in that
moral ruin by their immoral practices and greedy motivations.
How, then, could they bring their disciples into liberty? They
could not, of course, for the disciple becomes like the teacher.
Jesus had stated clearly, "Whoever commits sin is a slave
of sin" (John 8:34). These teachers were themselves in bondage
to sin; all they could do by their teaching was to bring others
into bondage with them.
2:20 THEY HAVE ESCAPED: The subject of this phrase is the
heretical teachers who are called slaves of corruption in
v. 19. V. 20 makes clear that they were once orthodox Christians
who had turned from the pollutions (Gk. miasmata)
of the world through the full knowledge (Gk. epignosis)
of Christ. But now, though they kept on chattering about knowledge
(gnosis) it was only head-knowledge for they had
been misled by the "way of Balaam" (i.e. greed), and
a false view of liberty, and had fallen again into immorality,
even becoming teachers of a lustful lifestyle, so the latter
end is worse for them than the beginning. This phrase is almost
certainly taken from Jesus' words in Matthew. 12:45, and probably
reflects Peter's memory of that occasion. The next two verses
explain what that worse end involves.
2:21 BETTER. . .NOT TO HAVE KNOWN: Knowledge (especially
"full knowledge") without obedience is exceedingly dangerous!
Jesus said of Judas that it would have been better for him not
to have been born, then to have turned from the truth he had known
(Matthew. 26:24). The words way of righteousness and holy
commandment stress the ethical content of the knowledge these
false teachers had. They knew what was right and holy but they
deliberately chose to keep on doing what was wrong and defiling.
2:22 ACCORDING TO THE TRUE PROVERB: This v. reveals the
ultimate truth about these teachers: they never had really been
born again by the knowledge about Christ they had learned! The
parallels here with 1 Corinthians. 10:1-12, Hebrews 6:6, and Hebrews
10:26 are evident. They will be given over to the fate they have
chosen, for despite all their protestations their nature remains
unchanged. "The dog which has got rid of the corruption inside
it through vomiting it up cannot leave well enough alone; it goes
sniffing around the vomit again. The pig that has got rid of the
corruption outside by means of a scrubbing cannot resist rolling
in the mud" (Michael Green). The first proverb is found in
Proverbs. 26:11; the second is from the Syrian story of Ahikar,
obviously known to our author and his readers. Both dogs and pigs
are referred to by Jesus, in Matthew. 7:6, as pictures of mankind
far away from God. A review of the whole chapter shows that yielding
to the money-mad, sex-obsessed, materialistic and anti-authoritarian
drives of modern society are indications that an individual's
heart is not in touch with the lordship of Christ, but has succumbed
to the delusions of the devil instead. Pride in knowledge is the
point of attack.