And last week, we saw talked about the trap of the “debtor’s ethic.” Moving beyond the direct content of II Peter to the motivation for living godly lives, we talked about how the reason we should desire to live all-out for God is not as some kind of pay-back for what Jesus has done for us. By way of illustration I looked at Old Testament passages where we saw that God doesn’t complain about people’s lack of gratitude. What God does complain about is a lack of faith and a lack of trust. The reason this distinction is so important that having a mindset that we need to serve God out of gratitude for what He has done tends to make us view what we need to do as something we do in our own strength. God has done His thing, and now it is time for us to do our thing. But God does not ask this of us; instead, He asks us to walk hand in hand with Him, letting Him empower us day by day, moment by moment, to live not just for Him, but in Him.
Well, today, we are going to continue on in II Peter. I will back up to II Peter 1:16so that we get context with the following verses.
We did not follow cleverly invented stories when we told you about the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of His majesty. For He received honor and glory from God the Father when the voice came to Him from the Majestic Glory, saying, “This is my Son, whom I love; with Him I am well pleased.” We ourselves heard this voice that came from heaven when we were with Him on the sacred mountain. – 2 Peter 1:16-18
That word stories is muthos in Greek, from which we get myths. Mythology also has the same root. If you look at the ancient Greek and Roman mythology, a lot of the stories try to explain how things are; for example, one story explains the founding of Rome. Often they try to explain how certain events happened by saying that the gods got involved, manipulating the circumstances in some way. And the way the Greeks and Romans lived, they tended to explain hard things and good things as the result of some invisible intervention of these same gods; this is why they felt obligated to sacrifice to them. Did they personally see these gods? No, because they didn’t exist. Peter here is saying, “Hold on – this is not what I am telling you.”
Peter here is reminding us that he, personally, is an eyewitness of Jesus. He was one of the three who personally saw the miracle of the transfiguration. Beyond this he was an eyewitness of many miracles Jesus did during His several years of ministry before He was crucified. And Peter was an eyewitness of Jesus after the resurrection. He was also an eyewitness and a participant of the tongues of fire and everything else that happened on Pentecost. And then he continued to be an eyewitness and even participant in the miracles that happened in the early church as described in the book of Acts.
It is interesting that out of all the things Peter was an eyewitness to, he chose the transfiguration as the one event with which to make the point that he was there. Why is this? I think it is because at this event Peter saw the glory of God unmasked, unveiled, and it was awesome. Miracles are awesome, seeing the resurrected Jesus is awesome, but not in the same way. Seeing the unveiled glory of God is the kind of thing that makes one respond like Isaiah when he said, “Woe to me! I am ruined!” Seeing the glory of the Holy God is beyond what we, in our current state, redeemed but still with sin, can take. Peter saw His majesty; Peter saw His glory. One day we will all see it.
And we have the word of the prophets made more certain, and you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation. For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. – 2 Peter 1:19-21
I love how this is worded. The word of the prophets: even if you discount Peter’s own testimony, which would be a rather foolish thing to do, you have the fulfilled prophecies. Prophecy after prophecy points to Christ; prophecy after prophecy shows its fulfillment in ways that only Christ could fulfill. And not just individual verses, but whole themes; I don’t think it is a stretch to say that every major theme in the Old Testament finds its fulfillment in Christ.
Just as if you were in a completely dark, unfamiliar place and you had a flashlight but didn’t turn it on, it would be foolish to have a Bible but not “pay attention to it.” The word for dark also means dry or parched, also murky. All of these perfectly describe someone who tries to go through life without studying the Word. The phrase “until the day dawns” refers to that glorious future day when we are with Christ. In that day we will no longer need to rely on the “word of the prophets.” But until then, Scripture is precious beyond measure – if we study it. And then, just as Peter explained how he was an eyewitness to Christ, he explains that the words of the prophets, as it says – “men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.” The same Greek word for “carried along” is used in Acts 27 to refer to ships with sails being carried along by a strong wind. And note that the Holy Spirit is always associated with wind; it is pneuma in Greek and ruach in Hebrew, both of which refer to wind or breath. The point, I think, is that the Spirit had such power that the men were carried along. Just as a sailboat goes where the strong wind takes it, and just as a small seed like a dandelion seed is helpless to fight against the wind, so it is that the men who wrote the Bible were carried along by the irresistible power of the Spirit.
But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them—bringing swift destruction on themselves. Many will follow their shameful ways and will bring the way of truth into disrepute. In their greed these teachers will exploit you with stories they have made up. Their condemnation has long been hanging over them, and their destruction has not been sleeping. – 2 Peter 2:1-3
I think it is important to pay attention to the details in these verses. These false prophets being described are not outside the church, meaning the church universal, the worldwide collection of believers, but inside the church. These would be leaders, people who are liked, whose teachings can sound attractive. It says they bring their destruction secretly. This means that what they do is subtle. Their teachings even deny the Lord; that means that Satan will use these teachers to try to lead astray people, especially unsaved people who are in the church, ensuring that they stay unsaved. When it says denying the Lord who bought them, “denying” means to actively say “no” to; they are saying “no” to the Lord. And the word for Lord here is despotes from which we get the word despot. This word means master, as in the master of slaves. And that fits in perfectly with the idea of “buying” us. The word for bought is agorazo, based on agora, or marketplace.
Picture yourself in a desperate state, on the slavery auction, where you are about to be bought by a horrible master, a Simon Legree, if you have read Uncle Tom’s Cabin, when an incredibly kind person comes and gives all he has to buy you. He brings you home and treats you with love, only asking that you serve him as is befitting a son, but you say “no” and not only rebel yourself but do your utmost to corrupt the rest of the family. I think this is a good picture for what is described here.
The false teachers say no to the lordship of Christ. This may not be what you think of when you think of false teachers; it is not what I naturally think of. I think of doctrinal error, denying the divinity of Christ, for example, or denying the trinity, or the existence of hell, or something like this. But what this passage says is none of these things – instead, it focuses on their rebellion against the lordship of Christ. They do not want to submit to His will in all things; they have their pet sins, their pet things they refuse to give up, and they will presume to teach despite their personal rebellion against Christ.
Now, where it says many will follow their shameful ways, that phrasing is a bit kinder and gentler than the Greek. In the Greek the word for shameful ways is more literally translated their sensuality, or their sexual immorality. Often, these people’s rebelliousness centers on issues of lust.
And it says people will follow them and bring the way of truth into disrepute. People who also live rebellious lives hurt the gospel. I would hazard a guess that if you took a poll around here, asking people why they don’t come to church, you would find many say they think people who call themselves Christians are hypocrites, and many others would have personal testimonies of bad experiences either in church or out of it by people who call themselves Christians. Rebellious living brings the way of truth into disrepute. Understand that this is exactly what Satan wants to do to the church, and he will happily use these false teachers to do it.
These verses also mention the false teachers’ greed and how they will exploit you. These people are rebellious; they often have problems related to lust, but these are not the reasons that these people choose to be teachers. Often, their motive is money. Unfortunately, the church is big business. People see the opportunity, and they take it. They write books; they go around giving seminars; they have radio and TV shows; in some cases the entire focus of their ministry is getting people to give.
This is horribly unfortunate. One of the effects of the widespread existence of people like this is that even appropriate giving is viewed suspiciously. Here at Clemson Community Church we no longer pass a basket at all; this is not because we think there is something inherently wrong with giving, or giving collectively; Scripture is clear that all believers should give, and give generously for at least two reasons: First, so that the various works of the church can be accomplished, and second, so that no part of a Christians’ life, even one’s pocketbook, is withheld from the transforming power of God in one’s life. For me, I did not give right away, and the Spirit had to work on me – I resisted the call to give. Money had been a kind of idol for me – it was my money. Beginning to regularly give a percentage of each paycheck was powerfully transforming for me, and I am certain that it will be powerfully transforming for you, if you do not already do so.
Anyway, I do not see anything wrong with churches that “pass the plate” – but because so many people have seen the abuses on TV and elsewhere, and because we are trying to reach as many as we can with the gospel, we choose to not do this here. We choose to make giving a private affair, but I do want to be absolutely clear that nobody confuse privacy with unimportance.
These people make up stories. In my book that is called lying, and I seem to recall that being a sin. The Greek word for made up is plastos, from which we get the word plastic. We forget what this word really means. Plastic originally meant fake. Nobody ever makes something out of wood or metal so that it looks like plastic! These guys give us plastic arguments, plastic theology.
For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but sent them to hell, putting them into gloomy dungeons to be held for judgment; if he did not spare the ancient world when he brought the flood on its ungodly people, but protected Noah, a preacher of righteousness, and seven others; if he condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah by burning them to ashes, and made them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly; and if he rescued Lot, a righteous man, who was distressed by the filthy lives of lawless men (for that righteous man, living among them day after day, was tormented in his righteous soul by the lawless deeds he saw and heard)— if this is so, then the Lord knows how to rescue godly men from trials and to hold the unrighteous for the day of judgment, while continuing their punishment. This is especially true of those who follow the corrupt desire of the sinful nature and despise authority. – 2 Peter 2:4-10
Boy, that first sentence in there is a really long one! The “ifs” here are not hypothetical; they are true statements. We could equally well translate each one with a “since” or “because.” God did not spare angels when they sinned, but sent them to hell. God did not spare the people at the time of Noah, but drowned them, all but Noah and his family. God did destroy Sodom and Gomorrah, even though Abraham talked with God about them and tried to get God to relent. But God would not relent. And God did rescue Lot…
A real quick detour: you may be surprised to find Lot described as a righteous man. Lot had a, well, lot of problems. Read Genesis 13 and there is the whole thing about arguing about the land, and Lot selfishly takes the better land. Read Genesis 19 and you see the whole thing with him offering up his daughters and then when the angel says to get out, he is hesitant and basically has to be dragged out; then, later, he gets drunk and allows his daughter to take advantage. So in what way was he righteous? Peter tells us. His righteousness was in that he knew sin and hated it – he hated the sin of those in Sodom and Gomorrah. Yes, Lot had his share of weaknesses and issues, but at least he knew that what was going on in Sodom and Gomorrah was wickedness, and because of this, God rescued him.
And so, the passage says, based on these examples, God knows how to rescue people from the wicked and He also knows how to punish those who perform the wickedness. And, likewise, God will certainly punish those false teachers, again, as we have already seen, characterized by both their rebelliousness against the lordship of Christ and their willingness to indulge in sin, especially, as the Greek implies, the sin of lust.
Bold and arrogant, these men are not afraid to slander celestial beings; yet even angels, although they are stronger and more powerful, do not bring slanderous accusations against such beings in the presence of the Lord. But these men blaspheme in matters they do not understand. They are like brute beasts, creatures of instinct, born only to be caught and destroyed, and like beasts they too will perish. – 2 Peter 2:11-12
These men are bold and arrogant, literally, even daring to slander celestial beings. Even angels apparently don’t do that. What is Peter talking about? This is a difficult passage. There seems to be a very similar thought in Jude, so let me quote the relevant verses:
In the very same way, these dreamers pollute their own bodies, reject authority and slander celestial beings. But even the archangel Michael, when he was disputing with the devil about the body of Moses, did not dare to bring a slanderous accusation against him, but said, “The Lord rebuke you!” – Jude 8-9
Now, this passage opens another can of worms, which is, what were Michael and the devil arguing about specifically with regards to the body of Moses? I have no idea. Now, this reference in Jude 9 is based very closely on Zech. 3:1-2, but this passage doesn’t give any further information that helps us to answer this question. Permit me to close this can of worms, or we will never get back to 2 Peter!
Even without understanding what they were arguing about, we can understand the point of Jude 8-9, and from this, the point of 2 Peter 2:11. The point is that even one as powerful as an archangel trembles to say something that is potentially slanderously untrue; Michael is even careful not to slander the devil! You wouldn’t think slandering the devil would be that big a deal, given that he is, you know, the devil. But Michael is super-careful not to do this.
Here is another verse that has bearing on this topic:
Do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if you are to judge the world, are you not competent to judge trivial cases? Do you not know that we will judge angels? – I Cor. 6:2-3
An irony here is that some day, true believers will in fact judge heavenly beings! What an awesome responsibility! Recall how people normally respond in the Bible when they see an angel: with terrifying fear. That’s why the first thing they say is usually “Do not fear.” Some day we apparently will judge them? Whether it is a fallen angel (that is, a demon) or an angel, can you imagine actually pronouncing judgment in the presence of one of these? I cannot really imagine this.
Yet these false teachers, apparently, just make stuff up, even going so far as slandering heavenly beings about which they really know nothing. Back to the 2 Peter passage, it says these men blaspheme in matters they do not understand. Who are these “celestial beings”? We don’t know exactly. I think perhaps they made up stories about encounters with such beings, and in their made up stories, they slandered these beings, giving aspects to their character that was not correct. You see a similar thought, although from the “opposite side,” in Col. 2:
Do not let anyone who delights in false humility and the worship of angels disqualify you for the prize. Such a person goes into great detail about what he has seen, and his unspiritual mind puffs him up with idle notions. – Col. 2:18
This person also goes into detail about things that may well be made up, but this person worships the heavenly creatures rather than slanders them. Actually, I think it is possible to do both simultaneously.
Now, that last sentence in verse 12 is pretty blunt. They are like brute beasts, creatures of instinct, born only to be caught and destroyed, and like beasts they too will perish. If you present yourself to a wild, hungry lion, what do you think will happen? You will become lion food. The lion is a brute beast. It doesn’t make a distinction about you, whether you are good or bad, or whether you plead with it or not. It doesn’t care if you are a king or a nobody. You are lunch. The lion destroys what it can destroy to feed its own desire. So it is with these false teachers.
They will be paid back with harm for the harm they have done. Their idea of pleasure is to carouse in broad daylight. They are blots and blemishes, reveling in their pleasures while they feast with you. With eyes full of adultery, they never stop sinning; they seduce the unstable; they are experts in greed—an accursed brood! – 2 Peter 2:13-14
Again here there is an emphasis on their lusts and on their greed. Remember how the early church had their “love feasts”? They would share a meal together. Imagine these false teachers coming to these times, perhaps dressed in holy robes so as to command attention. Recall from Acts how during these times everyone was encouraged to share what the Lord was teaching them, much like our sharing times once a month as well as our home fellowships. Picture these false teachers coming to these times, speaking boldly, persuasively, yet speaking things dangerous, heretical. Imagine these people gaining a bit of a following, leading to tension in the fellowship, a dividing among the people with regards to who they follow. Imagine these people requesting money so that they can continue to teach their little flock without having to work. Imagine these people using their free time to indulge in sins of lust with some of the people in the fellowship or with other people not a part of the church at all. Put all this together and I think you get a pretty good idea of the kind of people Peter was warning against.
They have left the straight way and wandered off to follow the way of Balaam son of Beor, who loved the wages of wickedness. But he was rebuked for his wrongdoing by a donkey—a beast without speech—who spoke with a man’s voice and restrained the prophet’s madness. – 2 Peter 2:15-16
Now we don’t have time to go in depth into Balaam’s life, but you can read for yourself in Numbers 22, 23, and 24. Basically, Balak, king of Moab, offered to pay Balaam money if he would pronounce a curse on Israel. Balaam kept saying he couldn’t, but what seems to have been happening was that this was a kind of negotiating for price. It is like the stereotypical situation in the movies where someone tries to tip at a fine restaurant so as to bypass a line or get the best table and the person being tipped keeps saying “No, I can’t do that” until the tip gets high enough. He won’t do it for $5 or $10, but he will do it once you give him $20. Regardless, the result was that God used his donkey to prevent Balaam from cursing Israel.
Here is how the whole story is explained in Deut. 23:
No Ammonite or Moabite or any of his descendants may enter the assembly of the Lord, even down to the tenth generation. For they did not come to meet you with bread and water on your way when you came out of Egypt, and they hired Balaam son of Beor from Pethor in Aram Naharaim to pronounce a curse on you. However, the Lord your God would not listen to Balaam but turned the curse into a blessing for you, because the Lord your God loves you. – Deut. 23:3-5
False teachers allow money to supersede principles (that is, if they have any principles). They will change their teaching for money, let you hear what you want to hear, just like Balaam was ready to do when he was ready to curse Israel without the approval of God.
These men are springs without water and mists driven by a storm. Blackest darkness is reserved for them. For they mouth empty, boastful words and, by appealing to the lustful desires of sinful human nature, they entice people who are just escaping from those who live in error. They promise them freedom, while they themselves are slaves of depravity—for a man is a slave to whatever has mastered him. – 2 Peter 2:17-19
Charles Finney over a hundred years ago wrote a short note called “Mastering the Art of Preaching so as to Convert Nobody.” Here is how it goes (slightly paraphrased by John MacArthur):
Let your supreme motive be to secure your own popularity and success. If you preach that way you're not going to say anything to offend and if you don't offend you can't convert anybody. Aim at pleasing for money and sexual favors, rather than correcting for holiness. Let your sermons be literary, flowery, ornate, flowing beautifully so your hearers never remember the lack of content. Be sparing of thought lest your sermon contain enough truth to convert someone. Avoid preaching doctrines that are offensive to the carnal mind. Deal with sin in the abstract and make no allusion to the sins of your audience. Preach salvation by grace but ignore the condemned and lost condition of the sinner, lest he should understand what you mean by grace and sense his need of it. Make no appeal to the fears of sinners, but make the impression that they have no reason to fear, God loves them. Preach the love of God and ignore the holiness of His love. Do not rebuke the worldly tendencies of the church, lest you should hurt their feelings and convert some of them. Select your themes and so present them as to attract and flatter the wealthy, aristocratic, self-indulgent, extravagant, pleasure-seeking classes and you won't convert any of them to the cross-bearing religion of Christ. Ridicule solemn earnestness in pulling sinners out of the fire and recommend by precept or example that jovial, fun-loving religion and sinners will have little respect for serious preaching. Cultivate fastidious tastes in your people by avoiding all disagreeable allusions to the last judgment and final retribution. Treat old and uncomfortable doctrines as obsolete and out of place. And so exhibit religion as to encourage the selfish pursuit of it. Make the impression upon sinners that their own safety and happiness is the supreme motive of being religious. And see to it that you say nothing to any of your hearers to demean him or her, but only what is flattering.
What is sad is how this describes many churches over the past century and on into today. I’m not going to be specific, but if you don’t think there are any churches like this, talk with me afterwards and I can give you examples. Sometimes we call the movement of churches like this liberalism. This phrase unfortunately has many meanings including a political one, but historically it describes a situation much like that described. The people who join these churches are not fed. The people don’t grow. The people don’t become saved. And it is the leaders of churches like this that Peter is so strongly calling into account.
If they have escaped the corruption of the world by knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and are again entangled in it and overcome, they are worse off at the end than they were at the beginning. It would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than to have known it and then to turn their backs on the sacred command that was passed on to them. Of them the proverbs are true: “A dog returns to its vomit,” and, “A sow that is washed goes back to her wallowing in the mud.” – 2 Peter 2:20-22
Who is the “they” here? It is the false teachers this passage is talking about! The word for corruption here is miasma, which means the noxious, poisonous smell of death and decay. That’s a strong word! These false teachers at some point did seek knowledge, they did seek a better life, but they did not find. They did not submit to the lordship of Jesus Christ. They did not restrain their indulgences. And now, as false teachers, they are destined for hell, dragging many more there with them.
Dogs and hogs: both are used also in Matthew 7:6, in the Sermon on the Mount, where Jesus says not to give what is holy to dogs and not to cast your pearls before swine. Both animals were symbolic of dirtiness, disease. For pigs, this is probably obvious as they were forbidden food for Jews and also are quite dirty, loving to roll around in the mud. For dogs, you need to understand that, unlike today, back then most dogs were wild, dangerous, stealing what food they could find. They were despised. Peter says to think of these false prophets in a way similar to how you think of these dogs and hogs.
This is a heavy passage. What are we to take away from it? I have 4 things. 1.Be aware of the prevalence of false teachers in the church universal. 2.Know that many unsaved people go to these churches, and they really need to find their way out of them and into good churches if they are to be saved and grow. 3.Don’t assume that everyone with a religious title is godly, or even safe. 4.Pray that we all would grow in purity, in love for God, in faith, in willingness to be His bondservant, obedient in all things, truly repentant over our sin, and seeking to live day by day, moment by moment by faith and in Christ.
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