2 Peter 2

1-22 False Prophets and Their Punishment

Since this section starts with the word but, it’s good to look at the last verse of the previous chapter: “…men and women moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.” (Hm-m-m! Just noticed that the NRSV includes women here. And sure enough, the Greek word is anthropos, which refers to either men or women.)

• Just as in the past, false prophets will be among you, who
• secretly bring in destruction opinions
• deny the Master, destroying themselves
• will lead many away, maligning the truth
• exploit you with deceptive words
• will be condemned, just like the false prophets before them.
• God will not spare the rebellious, just as he did not spare
• sinful angels
• the ancient world, though he spared Noah
• Sodom and Gomorrah, though he rescued Lot
• He knows how to rescue the godly.
• He will reserve punishment for the unrighteous – “especially those who indulge their flesh in depraved lust, and who despise authority.”
• “Bold and willful,” they
• slander the Lord, which not even angels – greater in power – would do
• are like irrational animals, creatures of instinct
• slander what they do not understand
• revel in the daytime, are dissipated, adulterous, insatiable for sin
• entice unsteady souls, are trained in greed
• follow the steps of Balaam, who loved the wages of doing wrong
• are waterless springs, speaking nonsense
• promise freedom, but are themselves slaves of corruption
• Regarding those who have experienced freedom in Christ and followed the slanderers back into the world, it would have been better if they had never “known the way of righteousness.”
• It’s like a dog eating its own vomit, or a washed pig returning to wallow in the mud.

Whew! Peter leaves no doubt about what he thinks about those who actively defy God, and not only follow wherever their lust takes them, but encourage others to do the same. And he doesn’t have much more consideration for those who follow them.