Steadfast Day 8: 2 Peter 2:1-3

Read 2 Peter 2:1-3.

Ponder

We ended the first week of our study of 2 Peter focused on 2 Peter 1:16-21, in which Peter sought to dispel the false teaching that Jesus would not one day return. The eyewitness accounts of the apostles and fulfilled prophecies confirmed Christ’s Second Coming, Peter explained in those verses, but the false teaching could lead people into destruction and immoral lifestyles, believing that if Christ isn’t coming back, there’s no reason to live a godly life. 

As Peter transitioned into the next section of his letter, he stressed that false prophets were nothing new. “There were also false prophets in Israel, just as there will be false teachers among you,” (NLT) Peter wrote in 2 Peter 2:1. In fact, Jesus himself had warned his followers that false teachers would arise (Matt. 24:11, 24; Mark 13:22) during his earthly ministry, stressing that true believers would remain faithful and persevere in living godly lives, even when the world around them chased other ideas, values and goals. 

In other words, false teachers are a part of living in this world. But in today’s remaining verses, Peter outlined some of the characteristics and tactics these false teachers often use. Let’s take a look: 

• They question Jesus’ power, authority or deity. The false teachers Peter warned about weren’t outsiders coming into the church; they were people within the community who began to introduce teachings (“destructive heresies,” v. 1) that didn’t match up to what Jesus had taught. This false teaching, it seems, centered on Jesus and denied the power of his life, death and resurrection (“denying the Master who bought them,” v. 1). Maybe they taught that Jesus was simply a talented teacher or a good example for people to follow, but in some way, they were questioning Jesus’ role in salvation and redemption, claiming that while he did a lot of nice things, he did not redeem us from our sin. Believing that, Peter seems to stress, leads to living life however you want to, with no regard for morality or ethics which ultimately leads to destruction.
  

•  Many people will follow them. The problem with false teachers is that they don’t just hurt themselves; they lead people astray and encourage them to follow their “depraved” (v. 2) ways. In the New Testament, “depraved” usually refers to sexual sin, so the idea here is that the false teachers in Peter’s day were luring people into a “do-whatever-feels-good” lifestyle fueled by passions. Rather than living under the authority of Christ and living to honor God, these false teachers and their followers pursued what they thought was freedom in doing whatever they wanted, whenever they wanted.
  

• They defame the gospel and harm the church. Because these false teachers came from within the church, they had at some point claimed to be believers. By claiming to know Christ and then living however they pleased, these false teachers maligned the reputation of the church and caused people to question the validity of the gospel and God’s Word.
  

• They are fueled by greed. As Thomas Schreiner puts it in the New American Commentary, “These teachers were not selling a product to help their hearers. They were hawking defective goods (morally speaking) for their own financial advantage.”¹ The false teachers didn’t want to help people, build the church or pursue the way of Christ. They desired the comforts of this life, making temporary pleasure their reward rather than eternity with Christ. They wanted more, even making up their own stories about Jesus (instead of relying on eyewitness testimony and prophecy) so they could further exploit believers, fleecing them for money and possessions. 

Peter ends these verses with a warning: false teachers may experience temporary pleasure and success in the here-and-now, but their destruction is sure. Judgment will come, and their empty promises and hollow words will be shown for what they are. 

1 Thomas R. Schreiner, 1, 2 Peter, Jude, vol. 37, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2003), 333.

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Journal

• Are you living for temporary pleasures or eternal joy? Explain your answer. 

• How does claiming to follow Christ then living however you want defame him? How does it tarnish the gospel, especially for those who aren’t Christians? 

• Are there any areas of your life in which you’re denying Jesus’ authority and continuing to live however you want? What would it look like this week to give him control and authority over those things? 

• How does this passage reaffirm the importance of knowing Jesus and spending time in God’s Word? How will these things help you recognize false teaching when it arises? 

• The best way to recognize a counterfeit is to know the real thing. What steps can you take today to get to know Jesus more?