2Pe 2:1-2 | KingComments | STEP | . In contrast to those who were moved by God ( ), the true prophets, Peter now refers to the prophets who are moved by the devil, the “false teachers”. Everything that comes from God, which is therefore good, is copied by the devil. The false prophets are the weed that looks very much like wheat ( ). They are among the people of God, among whom Peter has his ministry. He warns the believers of them. False prophets and false teachers are not a new phenomenon. They were also there among God’s people in former times ( ). They proceed their work in the false teachers, who in the meantime have populated professing Christianity. There are not few people today who pretend to be prophets while pretending to be teachers. False teachers have been able to enter the Christian company because God’s Word is hardly read, if at all. That is because many Christians have no life of God and those who have, find it hard to read God’s Word. That especially applies to the prophetic word. That’s the reason why they do not pay attention well to it ( ). He who does not know what God’s Word says about the future, is an easy prey to false teachers who surely know how to picture a beautiful future. They let themselves be paid for that too ( ). False teachers twist God’s Word and give another meaning to biblical words. They say things that people love to hear ( ). Their message is completely in line with people who only live for here and now; they love to hear that ( ). These false teachers seek to “secretly introduce destructive heresies”. Their teachings always cause conflicts and division because they never point to the Lord Jesus, but they always seek their own honor and glory. They look for unstable souls and win these souls for their destructive teachings. In that way they gather people around themselves and separate these people from the fellowship of believers of which they first were a part. Heresy or faction is a work of the flesh and not of the Spirit ( ). In it is the germ of destruction. False teachers do not operate openly, but secretly. That proves that they are doing works that belong to the darkness. Such works cannot stand the light. Therefore, be alert as soon as you notice that a person is secretly trying to win your support for his ideas, for instance about forming a church. Test what you encounter against God’s Word. Ask yourself whether the proposal is doing justice to the authority of the Lord Jesus. Another character of a false teacher is namely that he denies the Master by Whom he is bought. He first pretends to be doing what the Master says, but soon it will become apparent that he does not consider Him at all. That he has been bought by the Master does not mean that he is a believer. He has indeed been bought, but not redeemed. The Lord Jesus is the Owner of the universe and everything in it, including the people. Through His work on the cross He has bought the world. He bought the world to possess the treasure that was hidden there ( ). In the same way He has control over all flesh, that is all people. He uses that power to give eternal life to those who were given to Him by the Father ( ). The authority of the Lord Jesus is unlimited, but these corrupted people do not consider that. Their corrupt actions will quickly and unexpectedly bring an appropriate judgment of destruction over them. It is a destruction which they have prepared for themselves ( ). They draw the judgment toward themselves. He Who will judge them is the One of Whom they now deny the rights He has over them. . They are dragging “many” in their slipstream on the way to destruction. Their lawless view of life and their way of living is attractive for the mass of people. If you follow them, you do not need to take anything into account. You can follow your lusts without restraint. The example of the false teachers shows it. This is the way they love to hear and experience the truth. Away with that narrow-minded thinking of petty Christians who take the Bible as an enslaving principle for their lives. They too can read themselves and they cannot read anywhere that God forbids you to go wild as you like it. Love is after all from God and can be enjoyed limitlessly. Limitations are invented by man. And a human being is a free creature. The fact that by this way of thinking and acting “the way of the truth will be maligned” (cf. ), does not arise with them or they refuse to have anything to do with it. With ‘the way of the truth’ the whole Christian truth is meant, both in teaching and in life. Unbelievers dislike and scoff at God’s truth because Christians who talk about standards and values trample God’s truth. . Their lawless life comes from their “greed”. Not only their deeds are corrupt, but also inwardly they are full of corruptness. They seek to rob money from their followers. Through their wonderful speeches and argumentations that they completely invented themselves, they make their victims. These naive people are systematically robbed from their identity and property. For false teachers, there is no humanity. They are predators who see humans only as merchandise to earn money. In Babylon the Great ( ), which stands for the roman-catholic church in the end time, the predator has come to maturity ( ). The judgment has already been established a long time ago and will definitely happen. There is no slumber, no dozing off, as if it will be all right and perhaps pass. . That God will absolutely judge corruption, is illustrated by Peter with three examples from the past. The first example is with regard to the angels who have sinned. By comparing with , the sin of the angels is the sin that is described in . These angels took human form and had sexual intercourse with women. In that way they abandoned the place that was given to them by God. This is a terrible disobedience that God must punish. Therefore He did not spare them. He who falls away from God, deliberately and purposefully proves to go against Him and to defy Him in His Being. He was indebted to His righteousness to commit these angels “to pits of darkness”, away from the earth and away from heaven. They had chosen for the darkness and that they received as a prison. They are in assured custody in the vestibule of hell until this day, awaiting final judgment. This will be executed at the end of the millennial kingdom of peace when all evil will be forever locked up in hell, the lake of fire. . The second example is the flood that came upon the “ancient world”. God could neither spare the ancient world. The cause is the persistence of man in his wickedness. Man continuously invents evil, until the whole earth has been completely filled by it ( ). God has been patient for a long time, no less than one hundred and twenty years ( ). In those days God warned men in His mercy. Through Noah He revealed His righteousness to men that He has to judge sin. At the same time he gave the way for salvation in the ark that Noah was to build. Each blow of the hammer was a warning for a coming judgment. Unfortunately, the preaching of Noah remained without result, but without this changing the content of his message. The proof, the flood, came. Noah, together with his household that also entered the ark ( ), was the only one who was protected against this disaster that destroyed everything. . The third example is the judgment on the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. These cities were full of the most horrible sins. The life of the people in these cities consisted of satisfying all of their physical needs and lusts, from eating and drinking till a general experiencing of homosexual intercourse ( ; ). This deeply depraved way of living calls God’s judgment upon itself. God’s action in judgment is most emphatically mentioned in the judgment on these cities ( ). Also the radicalism of the judgment is impressive. Peter speaks about a point of “reducing [them] to ashes”. It is in no way possible to make something from ashes. God also overthrew [Darby Translation] these cities. These cities had overthrown God’s order of creation by their homosexual conduct and they therefore received an appropriate punishment. There is another aspect attached to this judgment and that is that it serves as a deterrent example for each who would consider to live such an ungodly life. You sin against your own life if you follow the life of the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah in their sinful practice of life. The city of Amsterdam breathes the spirit of Sodom and Gomorrah and the whole Dutch society is heading fast in that direction because it is infused by that spirit. Let yourself be warned by this example and remain faithful to God and His Word. Now read 2 Peter 2:1-6 again. Reflection: What is it that Peter is warning about?

‏ 2 Peter 2:1-2

Examples of God’s Judgment

2Pet 2:1. In contrast to those who were moved by God (2Pet 1:21), the true prophets, Peter now refers to the prophets who are moved by the devil, the “false teachers”. Everything that comes from God, which is therefore good, is copied by the devil. The false prophets are the weed that looks very much like wheat (Mt 13:24-25). They are among the people of God, among whom Peter has his ministry. He warns the believers of them. False prophets and false teachers are not a new phenomenon. They were also there among God’s people in former times (Jer 23:11-21). They proceed their work in the false teachers, who in the meantime have populated professing Christianity.

There are not few people today who pretend to be prophets while pretending to be teachers. False teachers have been able to enter the Christian company because God’s Word is hardly read, if at all. That is because many Christians have no life of God and those who have, find it hard to read God’s Word. That especially applies to the prophetic word. That’s the reason why they do not pay attention well to it (2Pet 1:19).

He who does not know what God’s Word says about the future, is an easy prey to false teachers who surely know how to picture a beautiful future. They let themselves be paid for that too (Mic 3:11). False teachers twist God’s Word and give another meaning to biblical words. They say things that people love to hear (Jer 5:31). Their message is completely in line with people who only live for here and now; they love to hear that (2Tim 4:3-4).

These false teachers seek to “secretly introduce destructive heresies”. Their teachings always cause conflicts and division because they never point to the Lord Jesus, but they always seek their own honor and glory. They look for unstable souls and win these souls for their destructive teachings. In that way they gather people around themselves and separate these people from the fellowship of believers of which they first were a part. Heresy or faction is a work of the flesh and not of the Spirit (Gal 5:20). In it is the germ of destruction.

False teachers do not operate openly, but secretly. That proves that they are doing works that belong to the darkness. Such works cannot stand the light. Therefore, be alert as soon as you notice that a person is secretly trying to win your support for his ideas, for instance about forming a church. Test what you encounter against God’s Word.

Ask yourself whether the proposal is doing justice to the authority of the Lord Jesus. Another character of a false teacher is namely that he denies the Master by Whom he is bought. He first pretends to be doing what the Master says, but soon it will become apparent that he does not consider Him at all.

That he has been bought by the Master does not mean that he is a believer. He has indeed been bought, but not redeemed. The Lord Jesus is the Owner of the universe and everything in it, including the people. Through His work on the cross He has bought the world. He bought the world to possess the treasure that was hidden there (Mt 13:38 ; 44). In the same way He has control over all flesh, that is all people. He uses that power to give eternal life to those who were given to Him by the Father (Jn 17:2).

The authority of the Lord Jesus is unlimited, but these corrupted people do not consider that. Their corrupt actions will quickly and unexpectedly bring an appropriate judgment of destruction over them. It is a destruction which they have prepared for themselves (Rom 9:22). They draw the judgment toward themselves. He Who will judge them is the One of Whom they now deny the rights He has over them.

2Pet 2:2. They are dragging “many” in their slipstream on the way to destruction. Their lawless view of life and their way of living is attractive for the mass of people. If you follow them, you do not need to take anything into account. You can follow your lusts without restraint. The example of the false teachers shows it. This is the way they love to hear and experience the truth. Away with that narrow-minded thinking of petty Christians who take the Bible as an enslaving principle for their lives. They too can read themselves and they cannot read anywhere that God forbids you to go wild as you like it. Love is after all from God and can be enjoyed limitlessly. Limitations are invented by man. And a human being is a free creature.

The fact that by this way of thinking and acting “the way of the truth will be maligned” (cf. Rom 2:24), does not arise with them or they refuse to have anything to do with it. With ‘the way of the truth’ the whole Christian truth is meant, both in teaching and in life. Unbelievers dislike and scoff at God’s truth because Christians who talk about standards and values trample God’s truth.

2Pet 2:3. Their lawless life comes from their “greed”. Not only their deeds are corrupt, but also inwardly they are full of corruptness. They seek to rob money from their followers. Through their wonderful speeches and argumentations that they completely invented themselves, they make their victims. These naive people are systematically robbed from their identity and property.

For false teachers, there is no humanity. They are predators who see humans only as merchandise to earn money. In Babylon the Great (Rev 17:5), which stands for the roman-catholic church in the end time, the predator has come to maturity (Rev 18:12-13). The judgment has already been established a long time ago and will definitely happen. There is no slumber, no dozing off, as if it will be all right and perhaps pass.

2Pet 2:4. That God will absolutely judge corruption, is illustrated by Peter with three examples from the past. The first example is with regard to the angels who have sinned. By comparing Job 1:6 ; Job 2:1 ; Job 38:7 with Gen 6:2, the sin of the angels is the sin that is described in Jude 1:6. These angels took human form and had sexual intercourse with women. In that way they abandoned the place that was given to them by God. This is a terrible disobedience that God must punish. Therefore He did not spare them.

He who falls away from God, deliberately and purposefully proves to go against Him and to defy Him in His Being. He was indebted to His righteousness to commit these angels “to pits of darkness”, away from the earth and away from heaven. They had chosen for the darkness and that they received as a prison. They are in assured custody in the vestibule of hell until this day, awaiting final judgment. This will be executed at the end of the millennial kingdom of peace when all evil will be forever locked up in hell, the lake of fire.

2Pet 2:5. The second example is the flood that came upon the “ancient world”. God could neither spare the ancient world. The cause is the persistence of man in his wickedness. Man continuously invents evil, until the whole earth has been completely filled by it (Gen 6:5-12). God has been patient for a long time, no less than one hundred and twenty years (Gen 6:3). In those days God warned men in His mercy.

Through Noah He revealed His righteousness to men that He has to judge sin. At the same time he gave the way for salvation in the ark that Noah was to build. Each blow of the hammer was a warning for a coming judgment. Unfortunately, the preaching of Noah remained without result, but without this changing the content of his message. The proof, the flood, came. Noah, together with his household that also entered the ark (Heb 11:7), was the only one who was protected against this disaster that destroyed everything.

2Pet 2:6. The third example is the judgment on the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. These cities were full of the most horrible sins. The life of the people in these cities consisted of satisfying all of their physical needs and lusts, from eating and drinking till a general experiencing of homosexual intercourse (Lk 17:28-29; Gen 19:4-5). This deeply depraved way of living calls God’s judgment upon itself. God’s action in judgment is most emphatically mentioned in the judgment on these cities (Gen 18:20-21 ; Gen 19:24).

Also the radicalism of the judgment is impressive. Peter speaks about a point of “reducing [them] to ashes”. It is in no way possible to make something from ashes. God also overthrew [Darby Translation] these cities. These cities had overthrown God’s order of creation by their homosexual conduct and they therefore received an appropriate punishment.

There is another aspect attached to this judgment and that is that it serves as a deterrent example for each who would consider to live such an ungodly life. You sin against your own life if you follow the life of the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah in their sinful practice of life.

The city of Amsterdam breathes the spirit of Sodom and Gomorrah and the whole Dutch society is heading fast in that direction because it is infused by that spirit. Let yourself be warned by this example and remain faithful to God and His Word.

Now read 2 Peter 2:1-6 again.

Reflection: What is it that Peter is warning about?