Pastor Marty Tuesday, September 1, 2026 at 9:43PM 2 Peter 2:10-16. This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on Sunday, August 30, 2026.
Here is the audio. The article will be up later.
Note: There is no audio for Sunday, August 23, because we had a missionary that day.
Pastor Marty Monday, August 24, 2026 at 10:43AM 2 Peter 2:6-10. This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on Sunday, August 16, 2026.
We continue today looking at the examples of divine judgment that Peter gives in 2 Peter chapter two. Last week, we talked about the judgment of The Flood in the days of Noah. God judged the rebellious angels and wicked humans who followed them in sin. At the same time, God rescued Noah and his family from the waters of The Flood by having them build an ark that could raise them above the destruction.
Peter then turns to the example of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. At this point, let me insert that God is not trigger happy with His destructions. They always come after long periods of wicked people “getting away with” wicked deeds. This was true in The Flood episode as well as with Sodom and Gomorrah. We can also recognize that same grace being extended to the modern world.
The modern world can be very hypocritical in this area in its attacks on the God of the Bible. On one hand, it can complain that a truly good and all-powerful God would not allow so much evil on the planet. Yet, on the other hand, they are also the loudest voices of complaint against God’s judgments that are recorded in Scripture. Thus, God is accused when He judges and when He doesn’t judge. In the end, this is an assertion of human wisdom over the top of the divine wisdom found in Scripture. This assertion never ends well for those who insist on casting off God’s wisdom for their own.
The destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah stands as a warning to those who think God’s judgment is “sleeping” or a myth. The day will come as sure as the fact that many will not be ready though they were warned well in advance.
Let’s look at our passage.
The destruction of Sodom and the other cities is found in Genesis 19. However, in Genesis 18 God tells Abraham what He is about to do. He is going down to investigate whether the condition in these cities is as bad as the “outcry” that has come up to God against them. It is not explained, but we can imagine people crying out to God in prayer or just venting to the “heavens” about the treatment they were receiving from these places. Thus, the angels coming into the city is the investigation by God.
This also leads to a discussion between Abraham and God about any righteous people who may be impacted by such a judgment. Would God really destroy the cities if there were at least 50 righteous people in them? Abraham continues this questioning all the way to 10 righteous people. Genesis 18 ends with a statement from God, “I will not destroy it for the sake of ten.”
Of course, the cities are later destroyed with only four people heading the call to escape the coming destruction. We should note that the events of Genesis 19 contain within them a statement of God, to Abraham or any who have the same question, regarding his judgments upon the wicked and any righteous people who may be caught up in it. The message is simply this. God knows how to judge the wicked while rescuing the righteous. His rescue doesn’t have to always look the same, but He will rescue the righteous. We saw this with Noah and his family (note that the whole planet had less than 10 righteous individuals). In this passage, Peter emphasizes God’s rescue of “righteous Lot.”
Peter also tells us that the judgment of destruction upon Sodom was “an example to those who would live ungodly lives thereafter…”
Sodom and the plain around it were struck by brimstone raining fire upon the area. This was most likely a meteor that exploded in the atmosphere above the area. This would have heated the air to thousands of degrees in a fraction of a second, moving forward in a blast wave and followed by burning particles that would pepper the area.
This is what happened to those cities. The warning is not so much about the details of the judgment. Whether God sends a great flood or rains down fiery meteors, the warning is that He will eventually judge men for their wickedness. His judgment is a real thing that all people will have to face in one way or another.
The men of Sodom had given themselves over to sin that was transgressing all kinds of moral boundaries. When you transgress boundaries, you don’t always know where it will take you or how far it will take you. How many visiting strangers had they violated and “got away with it?” The point is not so much that they picked on the wrong guys (i.e., angels who they thought were men). Rather, this was the day of judgment. God was beginning to hold them accountable, and they demonstrated the righteousness of His judgment in their grotesque activity.
This is true of all nations or empires no matter how great they are. God is able to judge them in a second, bringing them down to destruction. How then ought we to live in light of this? Are the cities of America more righteous than this?
The ultimate destructive event is found in Revelation 20. Fire comes down out of heaven melting the elements of the earth. Heaven and earth are found no more, and all humanity stands before the Great White Throne to be judged. The wicked are cast into the Lake of Fire, walled off from God’s new creation.
We might ask, “How does this connect to the false teachers and false prophets that Peter is saying will come?” Where did Sodom learn the wicked things that they were doing? They didn’t learn it from Noah. Over time, men led by wicked spiritual forces taught others to transgress the proper, moral boundaries passed down by those who had seen God’s judgment in the past. They became perverted sexually and perverted religiously through idolatry. Their degrading domination of strangers was completely antichrist, demonic. Do we not have such things today?
Not all false teachers are religious and show up in churches. We have many false teachers within philosophy, the sciences, education, the entertainment industry, government, and false religions.
Thus, we have this ancient problem. There are those who do not want to retain the knowledge of God and quickly grasp at the teaching of those who say, “Did God really say such and such?”
Peter describes Peter as righteous. He may not appear very righteous in all of his actions, but he did remain faithful to God during his time there. He protested the wickedness of the men of the city. In fact, Genesis 19:9 describes their disdain for him. “This one came in as a sojourner and is already acting like a judge…” They didn’t want to be reminded of righteousness. They wanted to pursue wickedness. If you serve the purposes of Christ, warning people of the dangers attached to their sinful activity, many will hate you for it. Lot was acting as a teacher of righteousness in the face of recalcitrant, moral renegades.
Peter also describes Lot as being “oppressed by the sensual conduct of unprincipled men.” These men recognized no boundaries to their desires. The oppression of Lot displayed in the Genesis 19 story is their willingness to disgrace those who were his guests. They then told Lot that they would do worse things to him after they were done with the two visitors (the angels).
God was there that day. The threats of these wicked men were empty and hollow. By the morning, they would be gone. However, how many people were violated by them or perished under their hand without God’s intervention? This can be troubling to us. The timing of God’s judgment may feel like it is too late. However, before we pull on that thread, we should note that the oppression is not just the external things that happen.
Peter speaks of Lot’s righteous soul being “tormented day after day by their lawless deeds.” We have people and cities who are currently living wickedly in the face of such examples and warnings from God. Yet, none of them are “getting away with it.” Their destruction is just as sure as the people who were destroyed by The Flood and those who perished in Sodom and Gomorrah.
The question is this. Am I being corrupted by the constant pressure towards sexual immorality, materialism, unloving actions, and overall godlessness? Or am I living for Christ and sharing the torment of my soul with him and with other believers? We can also carry this internal burden as we attempt to break through their desire to live for the flesh by sharing the truth about God’s Judgment, Repentance, and God’s Grace.
Verse 9 serves as a conclusion to what these examples illustrate. The judgment of false teachers and those who live in wickedness is surely coming. However, this conclusion focuses on God’s ability or knowledge in matters of bringing judgment.
We can look at a powerful government, powerful rich person, a powerful supernatural entity and think to ourselves, “That’s impossible. No one can stop that.” However, God knows how to deal with these things. We might think it is impossible, but that isn’t important. So what? Are you now going to refuse to do what God has told you to do? It may seem to be impotent in front of the wicked and powerful. However, the same God who has told what He desires of you is also planning the judgment of those powerful, wicked forces.
Peter first speaks about rescuing the godly from “trial.” Dealing with false teachers and those who belligerently live wicked lives is a temptation and a test. We can be tempted to go along with them by our own flesh. Or we can be tempted to give up on righteousness out of discouragement. Yet, the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from such things. He supplies spiritual strength and wisdom from the Holy Spirit in the present. Ultimately, there is a great trial that is coming upon the whole earth. It is sometimes referred to as the Great Tribulation of the Last Days. Only God can deliver the righteous from the trial of the wicked and the trial of His judgments upon them.
Both the example of Sodom and The Flood have to do with ultimate judgments. There seems to be a pattern here that Peter is describing. God either removes the righteous (Enoch, Lot) or He protects them through the judgment (Noah). So, it will be in these last days. God has a plan that will remove the righteous before He pours out His wrath upon the nations. Yet, those who repent during this time of wrath can be protected through the trial. In fact, even if they physically die, their spirits are protected and held unto a time of resurrection. This is the ability of God to rescue the righteous in various ways that only require us to trust Him.
The flip side of this is that God knows how to reserve the unrighteous for the day of judgment. In verse 4, Peter spoke of the angels “reserved for judgment.” Also, there were the spirits of all the wicked humans held in reserve in the grave awaiting the judgment day (they are still there).
The great Judgment Day that is scheduled for the Nations of this world, leading up to the Second Coming of Jesus, is only a taste of the greater Judgment Day that happens a 1,000 years later at the Great White Throne Judgment.
God knows how to judge the wicked while protecting the righteous. It is not that we cannot be touched by difficulties. It is a sure protection that brings us through all that we may have to face and brings us to the great future that He has prepared for those who love Him and are called according to His purposes.
Verse 10 begins the transition out of the illustrations back to the false teachers that we face in this Church Age. He describes them as “especially those who indulge the flesh and its corrupt desires and despise authority.”
Indulging the flesh is similar to Paul’s phrase “walking in [according to] the flesh.” This is a person who let’s their flesh make the decisions of what they do instead of listening to God’s Word and the Holy Spirit.
Peter says that these desires are corrupt. The word has the sense of being polluted or defiled. Desires in and of themselves are not bad. Desires become corrupted when we do not recognize God’s ordained boundaries withing them. Thus, sexual desire is not the problem. It is that our flesh desires that there be no boundaries in our sexual activity (at least only boundaries I give myself). There is no end to the boundaries that sin will pull us past in the name of satisfaction. However, it never satisfies.
False teachers are not happy with the proper boundaries that God has given to truth and right living. They develop interpretative schemes and stories that reinterpret the clear truth of God’s Word.
They also despise authority. This area is fraught with problems. Many church leaders have abused their authority. However, all true authority comes from God. It is God who gives parents authority over their children. However, He does not want them to abuse that authority. Rather, they are supposed to image His loving purposes.
These false teachers despise the authority that God gave to the apostles like Peter, Paul, John and others. They were to lay down a foundation of teaching and principles that Christians could live out and know that they are good with God. False teachers don’t like what Peter has written. They don’t like what Paul has written, so they write their own ideas down and promote them against the truth sent by God.
We see each of these components (walking in the flesh, despising authority) in the two examples. The angels rebelled against God’s authority out of a fleshly desire to have offspring like humans. The ancient world followed in this rebellion against God for their own fleshly reasons. Sodom and Gomorrah cast off the restraints of morality even despising those who reminded them of the boundaries.
We must not be deceived. God is not mocked. If we sow to the flesh, we will reap corruption from the flesh. However, if we sow to the Spirit, we will reap eternal life! Let us follow Jesus and his commands by faith. We will be tempted and tested. However, God has a plan for rescuing us and dealing with the wicked around us. In fact, this is so sure that we can offer salvation to those who are in the camp of the wicked. Of course, they will not all repent. However, it is always surprising when people break down and repent of the choices they have made. Until Jesus comes, let us focus on being teachers of righteousness but also teachers of repentance and grace, teachers of God’s great love for whoever would put their faith in Him.
Email Article | Print Article | Share Article | tagged False Prophets, False Teachers, Flesh, Judgment Day, Righteous, Trials, Wicked Pastor Marty Monday, August 10, 2026 at 10:42AM 2 Peter 2:3b-5. This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on Sunday, August 9, 2026.
Today’s subject connects with 1 Peter 3:19-20. We preached on this verse on March 8, 2026.
Peter brings up the rebellion of certain angels before The Flood of Noah’s days in order to make the point that false teachers will not get away with their rebellion against the truth of God.
Chapter 2 starts with the point that false prophets and false teachers will be a problem for churches. However, verse 3 makes it clear that their judgment from God will catch up with them. Thus, Peter follows this statement up with several examples from the Old Testament demonstrating just how certain the judgment of God is.
In our modern world, science and technology tend t create in us a snobbery towards things in the Bible, i.e., an attitude that we know better than what is recorded. It also tends to create a myopia in which we only see things that our “greatness” will allow us to see while ignoring (or missing completely) other important things.
We can end up reinterpreting what the Bible says and what the apostles believed because we are smarter and know better. An example of this is how many Christians follow in the footsteps of the Sadducees before them by denying the existence of demons. They believe that mental illness was misunderstood and called demon possession in the biblical days. Of course, this undermines the veracity of the Bible which is supposed to be the very words of God.
The reality of what Peter is talking about in this passage is another area where modern Christians tend to reinterpret so as to make the passage more palatable to our senses.
God has revealed in His Word that there are things in our future that He has been restraining. Real, spiritual enemies who have been locked up for thousands of years by God will eventually be released upon a world that has rejected Jesus.
This restraining of particular spirits is of a greater nature than the restraints placed on Satan. Satan is not locked up right now. Yet, there are limitations on what he can do, as we see in the book of Job.
Only those who read the Word of God and believe it have a true picture of where this world is headed.
Let’s look at our passage.
All false prophets will be judged by God. If we look at a particular individual, that judgment may come quickly or appear to never come at all. However, all false prophets will find themselves in torments in the grave at their death. Eventually, they will stand before the Great White Throne of God to receive the judgment upon their wicked actions. We don’t know when, but we do know their judgment is certain.
Peter parallels the ideas of judgment and destruction. Their judgment is not idle. If you imagine a car idling, you may get the wrong idea. An idling car is a picture of a car that is ready to go. Whereas an idle worker or an idle officer of the law is a picture of something that is inactive or not operating. The judgment of God is His decision about the things the people do. A person who misleads others through false prophecies or false teaching will be held accountable for destroying the lives of others. They are not “getting away with it.”
Peter also says that their destruction is not sleeping. This is the same image as the idle judgment. Their destruction is alive, awake, and coming for them.
All false teachers and those who mislead others will be destroyed by God Himself. They have destroyed the lives of people in the now and also destroy their future. They are one with The Destroyer, whether we think of the devil or the angel king held in the bottomless pit of Revelation 9. Whoever works with the devil to destroy people’s lives will find themselves participating in God’s judgment that the devil and his followers will be destroyed.
A similar picture is given in the book of Revelation. All humans must pick a side. Who is your champion? Is it the ferocious beast, or is it the slain lamb? Through the prophets of Israel, God has made His decision clear to all the world. A day is coming when all the rebels of the heavens and of the earth, angelic and human, will be removed from God’s good creation.
Peter gives an example of God pouring out His judgment in the past. He mentions God not sparing the “angels who sinned,” but instead casting them down to hell. Verses 4 through 11 parallel Jude chapter 1. Both Peter and Jude use the judgment on the pre-flood world and the judgment on Sodom and Gomorrah as examples and warnings to us today.
What is this mention of angels who sinned before the flood and were cast down to hell? We can piece some of it together with Scripture. Genesis 6:2-4 states that the Sons of God took wives from among humans and created giant, hybrid offspring.
It is common today to claim that these Sons of God were actually sons of the godly line of Seth, or that they were human kings. The problem with this is that the phrase Sons of God elsewhere in the Old Testament is used of spiritual beings and not humans. Also, it is hard to imagine how the intermarriage of godly people and ungodly people would give rise to giants.
The truth is that until the late AD 300’s most bishops and teachers taught that these were fallen angels. Over time, it became more and more uncouth to believe and teach such things.
By the way, this is what Jude 1:6 is talking about. “The angels who did not keep their proper domain, but left their own abode, He has reserved in everlasting chains under darkness for the judgment of the great day…” Their proper domain was the spirit realm. Any interactions with humans and the earth would have to be sanctioned by God for His purposes. They abandoned their posts in the heavenlies and interfered with humans on earth for their own purposes in rebellion against God’s.
This is also connected to the “spirits in prison” to whom Jesus proclaimed his victory after his death (1 Peter 3:19-20).
You could say that Genesis 1 through 11 is depicting the fallenness of humanity as not just a problem of human sin. Rather, at all three points, there is some spiritual interference. Genesis 3 depicts the devil interfering in God’s relationship with Adam and Eve causing the fall. Genesis 6 depicts a group of angels who also follow the devil in his rebellion. Genesis 11 is not as clear, but the fact that Nimrod was trying to build a tower into the heavens begs this question. What did he really think he would accomplish? We know from the ancient writings in this area that they used pyramidal structures to serve as a gate or portal for connecting with the spirit realm. Humanity has a sin problem, but it also has a problem of spiritual entities who are working to separate us from God.
Genesis does not tell us exactly what spirits were imprisoned for their sin. However, the Old Testament does show God giving judgment and punishments upon these spiritual interlopers. Genesis 3 actually gives God’s judgment against the ancient serpent, the devil. Isaiah 14:12-15 also uses the imagery of judgment against a spiritual being. We see it again in Ezekiel 28:12-17.
It is in the book of 1 Enoch that we have the details filled in for us. 1 Enoch is being referenced by Peter and Jude. In fact, Jude even quotes from 1 Enoch at Jude 1:14-15. Let’s be clear that 1 Enoch was never regarded as Scripture. Just like we would not treat a modern commentary on the Bible as Scripture itself, so the Jews did not treat 1 Enoch as Scripture. Yet, it represented a commentary on the Genesis 6 event that was in existence at least 200 years before the apostles and Jesus. It isn’t scripture, but it tells us what is in the minds of men like Peter and Jude as the Holy Spirit directs them to warn us about the reality of the judgment that lies ahead for all who join in league with these fallen spirits.
In 1 Enoch, it is the fallen angels of Genesis 6 who are imprisoned. God did not spare them. Instead, He had them cast into a pit and bound there. Almost all translations of 2 Peter 2:4 say that they were cast into “hell.” This is an unfortunate translation because it masks the reality of what is being said.
In fact, three different Hebrew and Greek words were all given the same translation of “hell.” The Hebrew word “Sheol” (Greek Hades) is probably best translated as the grave. The Grave is a spiritual holding place for the spirits of departed humans. Jesus pictured it as having 2 compartments in his story of The Rich Man and Lazarus. One side was for the wicked and sounds a lot like what we imagine in “hell.” However, the other side was for the righteous and was a paradise called Abraham’s Bosom.
The word translated as hell in our passage today is literally to be cast into Tartarus. If you know your Greek mythology, then you know that Tartarus was pictured as being as far below Hades (the holding place for human spirits) as Hades was beneath the earth. It corresponds to the Hebrew concept of The Pit. In the book of Revelation, it is called the Abyss or Bottomless Pit. So, the rebel angels of Genesis 6 were chained in the bottomless pit in order to be held until the great judgment day.
Thus, Peter pictures these angels as committed into pits of darkness, being held for judgment. This is the background to the opening of the bottomless pit in Revelation 9 which allows a horde of scorpion beings to exit with their king being an angel named Apollyon (Abaddon in Hebrew), which means The Destroyer.
Revelation is depicting the end times judgment of God upon mankind as a kind of spiritual copy of The Flood. Just as flood waters fell upon the earth from the heavens and also shot up as geysers from under the earth, so the spiritual rebels will be pushed out of the heavens down onto the earth. At the same time, the bottomless pit (Tartarus) is opened, and spiritual rebels flood the earth with a fury. Both these spiritual beings and the wicked humans they torment will then come under the judgment of God.
Just as these angels were not spared, so too the humans of the ancient world who followed them were not spared. Those who turn away from God’s ways and follow the powerful rebels will receive a rebel’s reward, aka destruction.
A judgment of global proportions may evoke fear in those who are righteous. However, the flip side of the judgment of those who lead others into wickedness is the protection (vs. 5) and the rescue (vs. 7) of those who were spared.
In the flood, Noah and his family were spared. Genesis 6:5 shows us the effect of the Genesis 6 rebel-angel incursion. “Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” Yet, “Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD!” How? By trusting God in the midst of a world that was falling away from truth into apostasy.
Noah is described as a preacher of righteousness, a proclaimer of following God’s ways and not the ways of the fallen angels and their gigantic, wicked offspring. Through the wisdom of God, Noah constructed an ark and saved his family. He is a type of Christ. Jesus is the Greater Noah who has constructed a means by which all his family (those who believe on him) can be protected and rescued from the coming judgments upon humanity. In fact, the seven family members represent the whole group of the righteous, however many that will be.
Humans seem bent on rejecting the Father and His Messiah, Jesus. In doing so, they ally (whether knowingly or unknowingly) with the devil and his rebel angels. Part of the wrath of the Lamb (see Revelation 6:16-17) will be to stop restraining all the wickedness that the devil wants to bring forth upon this earth. When the rejection of the love of the truth (that is found in the Gospel of Jesus) is completed, then God will allow these things to come forth. This will be the final days of the world as we know it.
Let us remain faithful to the Lord. Let it not be because we imagine this will procure for us a future absent any suffering. Rather, let us suffer whatever it takes now to join in the glory that is coming for all the righteous!
Email Article | Print Article | Share Article | tagged Angels, False Prophets, False Teachers, Judgment, Protection, Rebellion, Rescue, Salvation, The Flood, Wrath of God Pastor Marty Tuesday, August 4, 2026 at 1:09PM 2 Peter 2:1-3a. This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on Sunday, August 2, 2026.
In chapter one, Peter has shared some things that he does not want believers to forget. However, he now turns to encouraging them to be vigilant in defending these things from false apostles, false prophets, false teachers, false Christs etc.
The devil doesn’t want us to know and live out the truth because it is a threat to him and his purposes. Thus, he attacks believers through the temptation of false teaching. It is important for Christians to be aware of this and to guard against it.
Let’s look at our passage.
One way that the enemy of our souls robs us of truth is by undermining its foundations. Once the foundation is greatly removed, then greater truths can be supplanted and replaced by lies and twisted truths.
False teachers can come in a multitude of ways, and this is made more complex by the sheer number of them. They can be deceptive with partial lies, and they can be bold with complete lies. I’m reminded of Miss Poppin’s song that says, “A spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down.” We should always understand that a spoonful of “sugar” can help the poison (lies and half-truths) go down as well.
Though believers were receiving the pure and true teachings of the Messiah from his apostles, they should not expect to be somehow protected from false apostles. In this age, Christ himself commands us to beware of false prophets and their false teachings. His apostles went on to not only warn against them but also to rebuke them. Essentially, we must not be deceived.
In Matthew 24:4, Jesus says, “Take heed that no one deceives you…” He then warns of false christs in verse five, “many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many. In verse 11, he warns of false prophets, “Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many.” Later in verse 24, he again warns, “For false christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect.”
Deception was a big concern for Jesus. He not only points to the real threat of deception but also speaks to it being a powerful deception. Of course, we can overcome it, if we pay attention and guard against it. This is what Peter is doing here. He is passing on the Lord’s concern that we be not deceived.
It is easy to think that you cannot be deceived, but that is itself the beginning of deception. I can be deceived, so I take care to watch carefully.
Peter’s description doesn’t use the words Church and Israel, but it is the natural understanding of what he is saying. He uses tenses here that emphasize what has happened in the past and the expectation that it will continue into the future. The Church will have false prophets just as Israel did. We are not immune from it.
I do not believe Peter is making a distinction between false prophets and false teachers here. Both of these words recognize that there are real prophets and real teachers. Yet, false ones will also show up. The word false here emphasizes lying and deceiving.
A person could be promoting the teachings of a false teacher. He would be a false teacher as well. We can make a distinction between false teachers who are “wolves in sheep’s clothing” versus those who are simply deceived. Both are dangerous and need to be rebuked, but the simply deceived group may be saved. We need God’s wisdom in calling people on false teaching.
The best defense against false teaching is to be focused on being a true follower of Christ. To do this we must be students of the words of our Lord and his apostles. We must be a faithful brother or sister in the Lord. We see this in the life of Jesus. He spoke the truth while loving the disciples to the end. They all made mistakes and their flesh often was in the way of spiritual maturity. However, Jesus was a true brother even to Judas. Jesus knew who was going to betray him and who wouldn’t. We don’t have that same knowledge. All we can do is be faithful in the truth to one another. If a person is a wolf, or simply deceived, the truth in you will eventually provoke it into the open.
Peter then explains the work and effect of false teachers. They will introduce destructive heresies in a secretive or crafty way. They are generally not honest in the way they promote their ideas.
Heresy is a word that we rarely use outside of church. Heresy refers to a teaching or idea that is outside of the truth and captures people from within the truth. A person can still desire to love Jesus but have a weakness for a heretical idea. It depends how foundational the lie is.
It is called destructive for many reasons. Heresy, or false teaching, misleads us and affects us spiritually. Even heresies about small matters need to be corrected. However, some heresies are far more destructive than others.
Paul dealt with this in the letter to the Galatians. If it was simply a matter of choice, circumcision was not a bid deal. In Galatians 5:6, he states, “For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything, but faith working through love.” However, this was precisely the point. The Galatians were not being motivated to circumcise themselves out of faith in Jesus, or love for others. They were being motivated to do so as a necessary work for salvation. Paul recognized that the importance of Jesus was being diminished and the importance of our work was taking its place. Thus, he strongly states in 3:1, “You foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified?” Their desire to be circumcised was in order to be acceptable to certain false teachers. Yet, Paul saw this as a bewitching. Somehow, they were so impressed by these false teachers that they were willing to let the cross of Christ be diminished in their lives. Paul saw this as a separation from Christ himself. To let yourself be separated from Christ is to be separated from the grace that is found only in him (5:3-4). Paul is not being contradictory. He is sifting the motivations behind the actions.
Peter then says that these destructive heresies can be to the point that they are “denying the Master who bought [them].” I believe this is the main point of the Galatian heresy. They were beginning to turn their back on Christ. Peter doesn’t give examples of what he is thinking.
There is no question that the Master he has in mind is the Lord Jesus. How does false teaching “deny” Jesus? It can do so as a full rejection of Jesus. Peter actually was guilty of this on the night of the betrayal of Jesus. He denied knowing Christ. Of course, this was a dangerous thing to do. Jesus had warned his disciples that those who deny him before men will be denied by him before the Father. How thankful we can be that this is not about ever doing it once. If Peter had never repented and believed upon the Lord later, then he would have had to face that fearful denial of Jesus before the Father. However, Peter did repent. He believed upon the Lord Jesus Christ and faithfully confessed him before men.
To deny the Lord Jesus can also be to contradict particular things about Jesus that were revealed to the apostles. In the words of Galatians, this is following “another Jesus” or “another Gospel.” (See Galatians 1:6-10).
Throughout history many heresies have centered on the true person of Jesus. They will either reject his divinity, or they will reject his humanity. Heresies have even developed around the cross and exactly what Jesus was doing. Some diminish the price that is being paid (1 Corinthians 6:20). They teach that Jesus was only showing us an act of love. His lordship is often challenged. He may be the first in time, but now that he has shown the way, we can take it from here and eclipse him.
Such heresies always diminish a core truth about our Lord Jesus. Today, it has become vogue for society to co-opt ideas from Christ and reinterpret them. Thus, Christ taught that a love for God and a love for one another is the whole of the Law of God. The modern world reinterprets love to mean that you approve of all that a person chooses. You must even approve of sinful lifestyles, otherwise you are not loving them. This is heretical. Jesus is the very definition of love. He who said, “Go and sin no more.” It is not love to pat the homosexual on the back and tell them to just be a loving homosexual. Love speaks the truth in love. Love challenges us to see their bondage to the flesh and its desires. It challenges us to plead with them and love them enough to warn them.
The flip side of this is some callous Christians who so despise homosexuals that they can’t show them even the least bit of Christian love. Jesus demonstrates what this could look like with the woman at the well in John 4.
Peter then states that these false teachers are bringing swift destruction upon themselves. The word swift is a related form of the word used in Revelation 22:7 (one is an adjective and the other is the adverbial form). Some versions translate the Rev 22:7 passage as “I am coming soon.” You may note that other versions have, “I am coming quickly.”
This word can mean both. It essentially means to be quick. That quickness can be emphasizing the timing between now (when the statement is made) and then (when the event happens). In this case, I am coming soon translates that meaning well. However, it can also emphasize the quickness of the event when it happens, whenever that may be. In such case, I am coming quickly would be a better translation.
Why is this important? There are some who like to emphasize that Jesus and his apostles thought that he would be coming back within days, weeks, months, at most years. However, this does not fit with many of the parables of Jesus that he used to explain the kingdom of God. He commonly speaks of a king who is gone for a very long time. It is so long that the stewards put in charge of his estate begin to act as if he will never return. They drink the master’s supply and beat their fellow servants. In each of these parables, the master shows up and quickly dispatches justice upon their heads. The emphasis is not on the length of his absence but on the quickness of his arrival. No one will be able to get ready once he arrives. Judgment will be quick and swift. Now is the day of repentance, while there is still time.
I believe that the swift destruction here should be seen in a similar way. Many false teachers have lived long lives and did not appear to have “swift destruction.” All judgment is in the hands of our lord Jesus. His slowness to judgment may challenge our faith because of its timing. In fact, God may allow a false prophet to live to an old age just to test our faithfulness to His Word and the witness of His Apostles.
Every false teacher who neglects to repent before Christ will find themselves standing before Jesus one day. They will not have a long, drawn-out appeals process. Their destruction will come swiftly.
In verse two, Peter makes it clear that false teachers will affect many, causing the Way of Truth to be maligned. It would be one thing if false teachers only affected their own salvation. However, they can affect the destinies of people we love. Peter emphasizes many just as Jesus did in Matthew 24. We cannot over-emphasize that even among those who embrace the Gospel of Jesus, many are susceptible and will succumb to these deceptions. The word “many” says nothing about the percentage. Yet, it should still be concerning. Our being on guard against false teaching is not just for our own sake but also for the sake of our brothers and sisters.
Peter says that many will follow their “sensuality.” They are living for the senses of their flesh: what tastes good, what feels good, what looks good, etc. Of course, bodily pleasures are a part of God’s design. There is nothing wrong with enjoying them properly. However, we must never let the desires of our flesh become more important to us than the will of God and pleasing Him. These false teachers live for their flesh and not for Christ. They are led by their appetites and not by the Spirit of God. Those who follow their teaching are being led astray into such sensuality as well.
Jesus told us that we would know false teachers, false prophets, by their fruit (Matt 7:16). What is produced in their lives and the lives of people who follow them? It is not always evident immediately, but it will eventually surface. A good tree does not produce bad fruit. Jesus described them as those “who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves.” A wolf may put on pretense around the sheep, but eventually a ravenous wolf will satisfy his belly with one of the sheep, however that comes about.
These false teachers will always have trouble in the area of the desires of the flesh. They may be sexually immoral, but they may also appear quite moral in that area. Whether they are hiding it, or they simply have other appetites, the point is not about any one sin. The lust for money, the lust for power, or the lust for sexual immorality, all of these things can be a part or most of the motivation.
Ultimately, they give the Way of Truth (i.e., Jesus) a bad reputation. The word for maligned is the word for blasphemy. People will think and say untrue things about the Gospel of Jesus when we do not do a good job at exposing false teachers and protecting the body of Christ.
Verse 3a states that they will “exploit you with false words.” The lust of their flesh will push them to use their followers for their own gain in many ways.
They obtain this through false words. The word false here is not the same as the false prophets and false teachers. The false teachers are liars and deceivers. “False” in this verse is a different word that is the root for our word “plastic.” It speaks of words that are shaped and formed not for veracity but for the ensnaring of those who will swallow and believe them. Scammers employ these methods today. In fact, they are most effective when we are not controlling our own greed and strong desires.
We must beware of deceptive teaching that leads us away from following Christ in righteousness by faith in him. Or, as Paul put it, we must have faith in Christ working itself out in actions of love for God and for one another.
The deception in this world is only going to become worse. Yes, charlatans may be somewhat easy to spot. Like the spiritists and their seances in the 1800’s, they can employ a modern equivalent of “spirit knocking” and “smoke and mirrors.” Yet, Jesus and the apostles all warn of great and powerful signs and wonders done by deceivers in the end times. We must not bank on our ability to sniff out liars because of their tricks. We must continually feed upon Christ’s Word and His Spirit so that when the day comes of great delusion, we will not become casualties. Instead, we will rescue others from the jaws of the wolf!
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