Steadfast Day 12: 2 Peter 2:17-19

Read 2 Peter 2:17-19.

Ponder

For the past two days, we’ve considered Peter’s description of the false teachers’ character, but in today’s passage he turned his attention to the false teachers’ effect on others. In previous verses, Peter had compared the false teachers to wild animals controlled entirely by instinct and desire as well as Balaam, led astray by his greed. 

In verse 17, Peter introduced two more analogies. Let’s dig into what these word pictures teach us about the false teachers. 

• “Springs without water”: In an arid environment, water was vital. For a hot, thirsty traveler, a spring was a symbol of hope, but a dried-up spring was useless, disappointing and unsatisfying, promising something it could not deliver. Through this analogy, Peter stressed the emptiness and futility of the false teaching. These teachers promised hope and satisfaction, but in the end, left people in need. 
  

• “Mists driven by a storm”: Most scholars see this analogy as similar to the first. The mists seemed to promise rain—a symbol of refreshment and satisfaction—but the wind would come along and blow them away, dissipating all hope for rain. Like dried-up springs and gone-in-an-instant mists, the false teachers made big promises that they couldn’t live up to. 

In other words, the false teachers over-promised and under-delivered, and Peter wanted his readers to understand just how empty their teachings actually were. 

And with good reason. In verses 18-19, Peter outlined the effect the false teaching had on others, particularly those who are young or immature in their faith (“those who have barely escaped,” v. 18, CSB). Appealing to their listeners’ desires, the false teachers lured them into sin while promising a false sense of freedom. 

But isn’t that what the enemy still does? He tempts us with sin, convincing us that we know better than God and true freedom is being able to call the shots for ourselves. But, for me at least, believing those lies usually leads to deep regret when you find yourself mired in consequences and situations you never intended, but walked into just the same. You thought doing whatever you wanted was freedom, but it just led to chains of a different kind. 

The temptation may seem harmless, fun or freeing, but, in the end, it costs more than you ever wanted to pay. Like the words of the false teachers, sin is full of empty promises that end in disappointment and never satisfy. 

But those who live their lives as Eugene Peterson put it, as “a long obedience in the same direction”? They are like trees planted by flowing streams, producing their fruit in season with leaves that don’t wither, and everything they do prospers (Ps. 1:3). 

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Journal

• Think about a time when you experienced the empty promises of sin. What did you learn from that experience? 

• What have you tried to find hope or satisfaction in other than God? How have you found those things to be lacking? Explain.

• How have you experienced the blessing of living in obedience to God? 

• What are some ways you can recognize the emptiness or false promises of false teaching? 

• Why is it sometimes difficult to recognize false teaching or the false promises of sin for what they are? Explain.