2 Peter 2:13-20
2:13 a They delight in deception even as they eat with you in your fellowship meals: Cp. Jude 1:12 b. Christians often ate fellowship meals together in celebration of the Lord (see Acts 2:46 c; 6:1 d). The false teachers were using these mealtimes as opportunities to deceive true believers. Some manuscripts read They delight (or revel, or carouse) in their fellowship meals as they eat with you. If this reading is correct, they were using the fellowship meals for self-indulgence (cp. 1 Cor 11:20-22 e).2:15 f who loved to earn money by doing wrong: Despite consulting with God about what he should do, Balaam was determined to go his own way in hopes of receiving Balak’s money (see Num 22–24 g). The Old Testament account hints at Balaam’s greed, and Jewish tradition developed this theme (see Numbers Rabbah 20:10; Mishnah Avot 5:22; Philo, Moses 1:266-268).
Summary for 2Pet 2:17-22: 2:17-22 h Peter continues his description of the false teachers by explaining their effect on other people.
2:18 i those who have barely escaped: The false teachers cleverly targeted new converts, people who had only recently committed themselves to Christ.
2:19 j One of the great lures of false teaching through the centuries has been the promise of freedom from authority, but such freedom is illusory (Rom 6:16 k). The false teachers, while reveling in their freedom from authority (see 2 Pet 2:10 l), were in fact slaves to sin and corruption.
2:20 m they are worse off than before: The false teachers or their followers had known the truth, but their deliberate rejection of that truth put them in a far worse situation than when they ignorantly lived in sin.
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