Be Warned audio (6MB)
If it’s not every night, then at least once a week there’s an exclusive report like this on A Current Affair. And another two or three on Today Tonight! They’re such regular features that the segments often look the same. They follow the same tried and true formula. Today’s passage would fit right in! Though it’s not dodgy builders or shonky salesmen it’s exposing but false teachers! Chapter 2 warns us that there will be those who seek to lead us astray as we strive to lead virtuous lives, growing our faith on God’s word. In graphic detail worthy of ACA, 2 Peter exposes these false teachers. It reveals the truth behind their lies, points out the error in their ways and warns us of the fate that awaits them and those who follow them. Be alert, but not alarmed, in this St. Thomas’ exclusive report.
Some frauds are easy to spot. It’s probably not a real Nigerian prince that’s been emailing you looking for help moving their fortune offshore. But other fakes aren’t so obvious. The characters in the ACA spots often appear respectable, trustworthy or even benevolent. The false teachers Peter’s warning us against appear to be of this sort. Outwardly they don’t appear threatening or deceitful. They’ll arise from within the church, but like a fifth column they’ll be undermining the faith with their message and their actions. Their words, their teaching might look appealing, but what they’re really doing is surreptitiously adding to the gospel. They won’t actually be building up anyone’s faith, but rather sowing the seeds for their destruction. Their greed drives them to exploit people. Unlike the apostles, who proclaimed the truth, who followed Christ’s model of sacrificial leadership, the false teachers proclaim hollow words, and are only in it for their own profit.
We’re not told exactly what destructive opinions, or heresies, they’re promoting are, at least not yet. He does say they’ll even deny the Master who bought them. We might jump to the conclusion that they’re denying some part of the Creed, that they’re denying Jesus came, that he lived, died or rose again. But that’s probably not the case. Those kinds of errors, that kind of false teaching would be easy to spot and even easier to refute. Their ideas, their message is more subversive and secretive than that. In fact, as we work through this passage, we see they’re never accused of doctrinal error, but of aberrant behaviour. By their actions they’re denying Christ. Just as the head of a household would buy slaves at the market, Jesus bought us with his blood. As such, we owe him our full obedience. But in the way that they live, and encourage others to live, these false teachers are denying their Sovereign Lord and Master. It’s orthopraxy, and not orthodoxy, that’s at the heart of this chapter.
We’ll see in chapter 3 that they back their behaviour up by denying the truth. In particular, it seems they deny Christ’s return and the promise of future judgment of sin. By doing that it’s easy for them to claim that how we live has no bearing! Which explains why their message is so appealing, and why Peter says that many will follow their licentious ways. If someone told us that God wasn’t coming back to judge sins, or that God is all about love so he won’t punish us, or that Jesus blood has paid for all our sins, we might be tempted to think that how we live now doesn’t matter at all. Of course nothing could be further from the truth! The Cross isn’t a Get out of Jail Free Card, but the entry into a new life, one that we’re meant to start living here and now.
These false teachers might appear to be living the good life, and encouraging others to join them in it. But that couldn’t be further from the truth. From verse 10, Peter returns to exposing them for what they are. They’re nothing but wolves in sheep’s clothing, or more accurately, wolves in shepherd’s clothing, given they take on the role of teachers and leaders. They assume an air of superiority that knows almost no bounds. They’re quick to slander and judge not just their fellow human beings, but even the angels. They presume the have the authority to judge, but that authority is God’s alone. They’re not just bold and arrogant, but ignorant and foolish. They’re not the super-humans they claim to be, but sub-human, lower even than irrational animals.
Like irrational animals, their appetites and desires have no restraint. Their licentious ways know no bounds, their eyes are full of adultery. They have an insatiable appetite for sin. Verse 13 suggests that they’re even disrupting the feast within which the early church used to celebrate the Lord’s Supper. If that’s the case, they’re at their worst when they should be at their best. It’s no wonder then that Peter lets rip with a series of accusations and alliterations that would make any Today Tonight producer proud. Forget Dodgy Dan, these false teachers are blots and blemishes, accursed children, Balaam’s bad boys, waterless springs.
The reason Peter holds nothing back is because of the effect these false teachers are having on the gospel. Forget ruining Christmas, breaking children’s hearts or destroying dreams. The false teachers are doing something far worse. While they promise salvation, they’re actually leading people into destruction. Jesus said that his words would become a spring of water gushing up to eternal life. These false prophets are nothing but waterless springs. Their words are just hot air, or bombastic nonsense. By the way that’s one of my favourite phrases in the NRSV translation. What a great phrase to use! ‘You sir are speaking nothing but bombastic nonsense!’ Why not try that next time you’re calling someone out for speaking out of their behinds!
Despite this, the false teachers are succeeding in luring people from the truth, enticing them to join them in their licentious ways. Those who are young in the faith are the most vulnerable. Those who have only just escaped the corruption of the world are most at risk of being led astray. That’s one of the reasons why back in chapter one Peter said we had to grow our faith, to build upon it, so that we might not be deceived. It’s why discipleship is just as important as evangelism. Peter has a pastor’s heart. He’s concerned for the truth, but he’s just as concerned for the church. It’s why Peter holds nothing back in confronting the false teachers, and why we should be just as much on guard.
Not only are these false teachers bringing others down, they’re also bringing down the name of Christ. Their misconduct is plain for all to see, which is no surprise because they count it a pleasure to revel in the daylight. This was particularly damaging in the time that Peter was writing. As the early church was growing there were a lot of misconceptions regarding what Christians actually believed. The message and lifestyle of these false teachers certainly didn’t help. What they were doing was despicable, by Jewish and Greco-Roman standards. They claimed to be leaders within the church and so their actions reflected poorly on the Church and on Christ.
Peter’s words are just as relevant today. Our culture might not be as driven by shame and honour, but a similar dynamic applies. There are just as many misconceptions about Christianity today, if not more! There are plenty who believe that Christians are judgmental kill-joys or hypocrites. That’s on a good day. Others think that Christianity is destructive, dangerous, even deadly. The world around us is quick to jump on any misdeed, any corruption, any fruit of false teaching and use it to prove their point. Sarah and I made it to just one night of Summer under the Sun this week. We heard John Azumah speak on the good, and bad, ways Christians respond to Islam. He made the point that often we can be our own worst enemies. He said whenever he hears an angry fundamentalist appearing on TV, he prays they won’t mention the name of God! I have to confess, at times I’ve felt the same as I’ve watched ‘experts’ on the Panel or Q&A! Any time Christianity is misrepresented, whether by our words or actions, the way of truth is liable to being maligned. It’s not just our reputation on the line, but Christ’s whose name we bear. That’s another reason Peter deals so firmly with the false teachers in this chapter.
One thing shows like A Current Affair and Today Tonight often don’t do, is show what happens next. You don’t often see the perpetrators being brought to justice. The worst they seem to suffer is being accosted and hounded by reporters. In a way you can understand, shows have to be filled and can’t wait for charges or court cases to be resolved. But it can leave you with a sense that there’s no justice, no real consequences for what people have done. 2 Peter 2 though shows exactly what will happen to those who mislead God’s people. The false teachers he’s combating claim that there’s no final judgment, no consequence for sin, so what do they care what Peter has to say? As we’ve seen their teaching is destructive, as it leads to the destruction of those who listen to them. But Peter wants us to know that by their own teaching they’re heaping up destruction for themselves. And while they might deny the coming judgment and stress how long the world has continued in the present disorder, the truth is their judgment will soon come upon them. Their condemnation has not been idle and their destruction is not asleep. Peter gets caught up on this in verses 4-10. Did you notice that it’s one big, long, drawn out sentence? It shows how the false teacher’s sentence might be drawn out, but it is sure and certain! It draws on examples from the Old Testament to show that God’s judgment is sure and certain. The angels, presumably those who sided with Satan, couldn’t escape God’s judgment. They’re the most powerful beings in creation, and even then they could do nothing to stop God from throwing them into prison to wait their day of trial. How ridiculous is it for the false teachers to suggest that they are going to escape judgment? The whole world wasn’t spared in Genesis 6, when God looked with sadness on the wickedness of the world. Only Noah and his family, eight individuals in all were saved. How can the false teachers presume that they will be spared? The cities of Sodom and Gomorrah fared no better. They were flattened as an example of what’s to come. Only Lot and his family were spared. All these are examples of what is coming to the ungodly. They’re reminders that no one can escape God’s judgment, not even those who claim that it doesn’t exist or won’t apply to them. The reality is, these false teachers won’t escape judgment. The graphic proverbs at the end of the chapter show just how wretched a state they’re in. They’ve known, they’ve experienced God’s forgiveness, but have turned their backs on him.
Did you notice though what else Peter’s doing in these verses? He’s showing us how we ought to respond. He doesn’t engage in a game of ‘he said, she said.’ Instead he plays, ‘they say, God says!’ We need to measure everything people say and teach against what we read in God’s word.
Peter does one other thing in this chapter. He’s warning us away from following false teachers, but he doesn’t want us to be worried. We’re to be alert, but not alarmed. We shouldn’t be surprised that they come. And we shouldn’t think that their coming means that God’s lost control. God is in control, God is able to reserve punishment for those who deserve it, just as he’s able to preserve those who persevere in righteousness. In the face of false teaching, we’re not to be lead astray, but to stick to truth, to stick to the way.
Let’s pray that God helps us to do that.
