2 PETER CHAPTER 2
by
Jim Bomkamp
1.
VS 2:1 - “2:1 But
false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will also be false
teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even
denying the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves” - Peter warns the church that false prophets would come among them
1.1.
In New Testament times, the
church only remained pure for the first generation of believers in the book of
Acts, everything throughout church history goes down from there.
1.1.1. It is amazing how fast the church went into doctrinal error after the
first generation of believers in Jerusalem.
1.1.2. Simon Magus, the sorcerer in the book of Acts who supposedly came to salvation
in Christ, went astray in his heart from the Lord and sought to buy from the
apostles the ability to lay hands on whomever he wanted and have the Holy
Spirit fall upon them.
1.1.3. The Gnostics soon came into the churches teaching that spirit was good
and body was evil and thus fostered among the people the emergence of two opposite
extremes: the ascetic lifestyle of
monks, and the complete giving over to licentious living.
1.1.4. There is also the heresy of the Nicolaitans which is mentioned in the
book of Revelation.
1.2.
In 1 Peter we saw that Satan
did his work on the church from the outside through persecution, here in 2
Peter we see him doing his work from within.
1.3.
Satan always tries to enter
the church from within because if he can get a foothold on the inside he can do
much more damage than only working on the church externally. Persecution actually has only served to
strengthen and purify the church.
1.4.
The New Testament is full of
warnings that false prophets would come into the church, as we read the words
of Jesus, Jude, Timothy, and Paul. For
instance, Paul wrote about this in 2 Cor. 11:13, “13 For such men are false
apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. 14
And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. 15
Therefore it is not surprising if his servants also disguise themselves as
servants of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their deeds.”
1.5.
Jesus’ harshest rebukes were
reserved for the religious leaders who should have been leading people to the
truth, but instead were deceiving them and leading them astray.
1.6.
In 2 Peter, Peter seeks to
enlighten the church as to what are the motives and actions of those who are
false prophets and teachers in the church, as well as their future impending
judgment by God.
1.7.
Peter tells his readers here
that in the Old Testament times that they had false teachers come in amongst
the people of Israel, and that they will likewise come in and exist among the
church.
1.8.
The strongest rebukes of the
Old Testament were reserved for the false prophets and corrupt shepherds over
Israel who were leading the people astray.
1.9.
The false prophets that will
come in among us will, at least at first, not openly declare their deceptions,
but they will work very deceitfully and ‘secretly.’
1.9.1. Those who are false teachers in the church carefully concoct their plan
to deceive the church.
1.9.2. As a for instance, I have know of a couple of pastors who hired assistant
pastors who after many years of service were discovered to believe some
destructive heretical doctrines. One
guy turned out to be a “New-ager” in disguise.
1.10. The heresies taught by false teachers are such that they cause the
deceiver and those who follow his teachings to actually ‘deny the Lord.’
1.10.1.The denial of the Lord by
false teachers is a turning away from the Lord to worship other so-called gods.
1.10.2.The denial of the Lord by
false teachers is a denial of His Lordship over their life.
1.10.3.The denial of the Lord is a denial
of the one ‘who bought them’ which indicates that it is a denial of His
expiatory death on their behalf to atone for their sins.
1.10.4.This denial of the Lord is a
denial to eternal damnation.
1.11. The false teachers bring ‘swift judgment upon themselves’ by the Lord.
1.11.1.We often don’t see God’s
judgment happening in a swift manner upon false teachers, however this is just
because God is slow to anger and is giving them every opportunity to repent and
come to salvation.
1.11.2.The judgment of those who
teach heresy is already pre-determined, and thus will occur in God’s time.
1.11.3.God sometimes dealt out
punishment of people in Old Testament times in a swift manner, such as Korah
and his household whom the earth swallowed, after his rebellion.
1.12. In 1 Cor. 11:19, we read that the Lord will allow factions to arise
within the church in order to test and reveal the hearts of the people in the
church (whether or not they go along or are influenced by these people), “19 For there must also be factions among you, so that those who are approved
may become evident among you.”
2.
VS 2:2 - “2 And
many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of the truth
will be maligned” - Peter tells us that the
false prophets and teachers who come within the church live in ‘sensuality’
2.1.
The word ‘sensuality’ and
the way it is used in this verse suggests that false prophets not only taught
false doctrine, but also tended to live sexually immoral lives.
2.2.
Not only in our age, but in
all ages, the church is maligned by the world because of the corruption of
those who are within the church.
2.3.
False teachers will always
tend to have ‘many’ follow them since it is much easier for people to buy a lie
than to accept the truth.
3.
VS 2:3 - “3 and in
their greed they will exploit you with false words; their judgment from long
ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep” - Peter tells his readers that the false teachers within the church
have a motive of ‘greed’ for what they do
3.1.
Whenever someone is making
big bucks on ministry, this is a clear indication that they are not called by
God.
3.2.
The false teachers are
really desiring to make more money and by gaining more followers they ensure
that they will make more money.
3.3.
The false teachers are very
calculated in the way in which they go about deceiving others into following
them and their heresies (their ‘false words’).
3.4.
Peter promises that these
false teachers and prophets will be judged in God’s timing, for their coming
judgment has been determined ‘from long ago.’
3.5.
In the church today we need
to always keep a proper balance of allowing prophetic utterances but also not
turning our brains off but judging from the scripture the legitimacy of any
prophetic word, as Paul writes in 1 Thess. 5:19-22, “19 Do not quench the Spirit; 20 do not despise prophetic
utterances. 21 But examine everything carefully; hold fast to
that which is good; 22 abstain from every form of evil.”
3.5.1. Do not quench the Spirit nor despise prophetic utterances.
3.5.2. Examine everything carefully and hold fast to that which is true.
3.5.2.1.Whenever a supposed
spiritual gift is being exercised, we in the body of Christ need to ask
ourselves, ‘Does this match up to the teaching of the Word of God?’
3.5.2.1.1.Paul wrote in Eph. 4:14 that
we are to be careful not to be carried away by every wind of doctrine, “14 As
a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves, and
carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness
in deceitful scheming.”
3.5.2.1.1.1.We Christians need to get
such a foundation from the Word of God in our lives that we are not deceived by
any false teacher, but rather we can easily spot them for what they are.
4.
VS 2:4 - “4 For if
God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and
committed them to pits of darkness, reserved for judgment” - The First Example Of How God Judges: The judgment that has and will occur for the fallen angels
ensures that those who lead others astray in the church will suffer God’s
judgment
4.1.
The judgment of fallen
angels is a type of God’s judgment for all who commit wickedness continually.
4.2.
Some of the angels that fell
along with Lucifer have been bound up since the fall in Tartarus (the word used
for ‘hell’ here).
4.2.1. This is the only place in the Bible where this word ‘Tartarus’ is used,
so it is a bit hard to give a definitive interpretation of the meaning of the
word.
4.2.1.1.This is probably the
‘bottomless pit’ mentioned in the book of Revelation (see chapter 9).
4.2.1.2.In the book of Revelation,
angels are going to be set free from where they have been bound up in the
Bottomless pit, and the will go out and try to deceive the world.
4.2.1.3.Much of the actual plagues
that come upon the world in the book of Revelation are just demons being loosed
in order to torment men upon the earth.
4.2.1.4.Satan is going to be thrown
into the Bottomless pit for 1,000 years during the Millenial Reign of Christ,
then be released so that he can lead a failed rebellion against the Lord.
4.2.1.5.This is a temporary storage
place where these angels are being held until their final judgment.
4.2.2. Some translations render this ‘chains of darkness’ rather than ‘pits of
darkness’ where these particular fallen angels are being held.
4.2.2.1.It would be frightening to
be held indefinitely in a ‘pit of darkness,’ and thus hell, which shall also be
dark, shall also be no fun for those who are to go there.
4.2.2.2.In Matt. 8:12, 22:13, and
25:30, Jesus called hell ‘outer darkness.’
4.3.
These angels in Tartarus are
‘reserved for judgment,’ and they will be removed from the Bottomless Pit and
thrown into the Lake of Fire which will burn for eternity.
5.
VS 2:5 - “5 and
did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a preacher of righteousness,
with seven others, when He brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly” - The Second Example Of How God Judges: God once destroyed the entire population of the earth except for
8 righteous people in Noah’s house
5.1.
The destruction of the world
by the flood is a type picturing how God will judge the wicked.
5.1.1. If God judged the world the way He did through The Flood, He will also
have to again judge those who are wicked today.
5.2.
Noah faithfully preached ‘righteousness’
both by his life and words for 120 years while he built the ark.
5.3.
Note that Peter believed in
a literal flood which destroyed the earth, just as the Old Testament teaches.
6.
VS 2:6 - “6 and if
He condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to destruction by reducing them
to ashes, having made them an example to those who would live ungodly
thereafter” - The Third Example Of How
God Judges: God destroyed the cities of
Sodom and Gomorrah because of their wickedness
6.1.
The destruction of the
cities of Sodom and Gomorrah is a type picturing how that God will likewise
judge all who commit wickedness.
6.1.1. If God judged those cities because of the wickedness of those who lived
there, then He must also judge just as severely all who give themselves over to
sin, and ‘live ungodly,’ as those cities lived.
6.2.
The way in which God judged
those cities with fire and brimstone indicates that God’s judgments are in fact
punishments for wickedness, otherwise He could have caused them all to die
painlessly.
6.3.
The cross itself reveals to
us that God’s justice and wrath against sin must be carried out in full, for
thus Jesus bore the full extent of God’s wrath on the cross in our place.
7.
VS 2:7-9 - “7 and
if He rescued righteous Lot, oppressed by the sensual conduct of unprincipled
men 8 (for by what he saw and heard that righteous man, while living among
them, felt his righteous soul tormented day after day with their lawless
deeds), 9 then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from temptation, and to
keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment” - The story of Lot’s rescue from Sodom before God destroyed it teaches
us two important principles:
7.1.
The Lord ‘knows how to
rescue the godly from temptation.’
7.1.1. In Genesis 19:16, we see that Lot was hesitant to leave the city of
Sodom and hesitant to believe the angels, however they finally drove him out of
the city so that with him removed they could then destroy it, “16 But he
hesitated. So the men seized his hand and the hand of his wife and the hands of
his two daughters, for the compassion of the Lord was upon him; and they
brought him out, and put him outside the city.”
7.1.1.1.This story shows us the
grace of God since we know that though God considered Lot as righteous, and
thus He would not destroy the city until Lot was removed from it, Lot was
really not walking in the way the Lord wanted him walk.
7.1.1.1.1.Lot wasn’t totally
backslidden since it appears that he didn’t go along with all of the wicked
deeds of the people around him.
7.1.1.2.This story (as also the story
of the fall of angels and the destruction of the world through the flood) also
teaches us that the Lord never punishes the righteous along with the wicked.
7.1.1.2.1.This story also gives us
fuel to believe that the Lord will “rapture” the church first before the
Tribulation comes.
7.1.2. The Lord promises us in 1 Cor. 10:13 that no temptation will come into
our life which the Lord will not give us the way of escape, “13 No
temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful,
who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the
temptation will provide the way of escape also, that you may be able to endure
it.”
7.1.2.1.God doesn’t promise that He
will give us the strength to remain and fight the lusts of our flesh when
tempted, He promises us instead a way of escape “to flee” temptation, and that
is what we need to learn to do when tempted.
7.2.
The Lord knows how to keep
the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment.
7.2.1. Those who refuse to follow and serve the Lord are actually being kept
or reserved by Him for the final judgment of eternal damnation.
8.
VS 2:10-11 - “10 and
especially those who indulge the flesh in its corrupt desires and despise
authority. Daring, self-willed, they do not tremble when they revile angelic
majesties, 11 whereas angels who are greater in might and power do not bring a
reviling judgment against them before the Lord” - Peter
further describes the character of those who are false teachers and prophets in
the church
8.1.
False teachers ‘indulge the
flesh in its corrupt desires.’
8.1.1. They do not even try to put the flesh to death and control the
appetites of their bodies.
8.1.2. The ‘Televangelists’ of our day live an extravagant lifestyle and buy
expensive houses, planes, cars, etc., and they always travel in luxury.
8.2.
False teachers ‘despise
authority.’
8.2.1. They don’t want to be accountable to anyone for their actions.
8.2.2. They often complain that those who are placed in authority over them in
the church have a controlling spirit.
8.2.3. They really don’t respect God who says that He places those who are in
authority.
8.3.
False teachers are ‘daring.’
8.3.1. When they ought to be fearing God and what He might do to judge them
for their wickedness, they instead are arrogant and boastful challenging God to
intervene.
8.3.2. When God’s judgment has not come swiftly upon them, they misjudge that
to be approval.
8.4.
False teachers are
‘self-willed.’
8.4.1. They are not being led by the Lord, and this is evident, for they have
not the fruits of the Spirit in their lives.
8.4.2. We see in the book of Jude (vs 12-13) that though they attend the love
feasts, there is hypocrisy in them, for they are not truly walking in the love
of God.
8.4.3. Rather than being ‘others-centered,’ false teachers are ‘self-centered’
seeing the world as revolving around themselves.
8.5.
False teachers do not
tremble when they revile angelic majesties.
8.5.1. We don’t know for sure if these ones in Peter’s day were denouncing the
character of God’s angels or the fallen angels.
8.5.2. Peter writes that God’s holy angels leave all judgment in God’s hands
and never accuse even the wicked of sin.
8.5.2.1.For an example, Jude writes
in Jude 9 about an incident in which Michael the archangel would not speak evil
against the devil, “9 But Michael the archangel, when he disputed with the
devil and argued about the body of Moses, did not dare pronounce against him a
railing judgment, but said, “The Lord rebuke you.””
8.5.2.2.We Christians should follow
the example of Michael the archangel and the rest of God’s angels and not unfairly
judge or speak evil against wicked people, and even fallen demons, but rather
leave all judgment to God.
9.
VS 2:12 - “12 But
these, like unreasoning animals, born as creatures of instinct to be captured
and killed, reviling where they have no knowledge, will in the destruction of
those creatures also be destroyed” - Peter writes that the
destruction of the false teachers in the church is deserved and certain
9.1.
False teachers are like
‘unreasoning animals, born as creatures of instinct.’
9.1.1. False teachers in the church act as animals who respond only to their
instincts with no ability to think on their own, and then cannot be reasoned
with.
9.1.2. Rather than responding to the higher God-like motivations for life, false
teachers follow only animal instincts.
9.2.
False teachers are like
animals which cannot be tamed and that are only good to be ‘captured and
killed.’
9.3.
False teachers opinions are
based upon ignorance not knowledge as they revile the character of angels.
9.4.
False teachers will be
destroyed along with the fallen angels (thrown into the Lake of Fire of Rev.
20).
10.
VS 2:13 - “13 suffering
wrong as the wages of doing wrong. They count it a pleasure to revel in the
daytime. They are stains and blemishes, reveling in their deceptions, as they
carouse with you” - Peter writes that the
false teachers are ‘doing wrong’ and ‘suffering wrong’
10.1. False teachers have bad things tend to happen to them because they are
reaping the fruit of their own actions.
10.1.1.Having made their bed, they
are now sometimes caused to have to sleep in it.
10.2. False teachers ‘revel in the daytime,’ openly proclaiming their
deceptions, whereas normally people tend to do their sinful activities at night
and not in plain sight due to their fear of being shamed.
10.3. False teachers are ‘stains and blemishes,’ the very embodiment of
imperfections and flaws.
10.4. The interaction of false teachers with God’s people is a “carousal,”
something that is of an unholy nature.
11.
VS 2:14 - “14 having
eyes full of adultery and that never cease from sin, enticing unstable souls,
having a heart trained in greed, accursed children” - Peter
writes that the false teachers ‘never cease from sin’
11.1. False teachers have ‘eyes full of adultery.’
11.1.1.Spiritual adultery towards
God is probably intended.
11.1.2.The false teachers are
always looking at the wrong things and seeking new things to fill their lusts.
11.2. False teachers entice ‘unstable souls,’ those ones who are new in their
faith or perhaps sitting on the fence regarding their commitment to Christ.
11.3. False teachers have ‘a heart trained in greed’ which they have educated
well to lust after more of this world.
11.4. False teachers are ‘accursed children,’ those who are destined from all
eternity for hell.
12.
VS 2:15-16 - “15 forsaking
the right way they have gone astray, having followed the way of Balaam, the son
of Beor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness, 16 but he received a rebuke
for his own transgression; for a dumb donkey, speaking with a voice of a man,
restrained the madness of the prophet” - The false
teachers are following the way of Balaam in the Old Testament
12.1. In the 22nd chapter of the book of Numbers, Balak the king of the
Moabites tried to hire this man Balaam, who is a peculiar type of prophet, to
curse the children of Israel, however whenever he sought the Lord, God told him
that He would bless Israel.
12.1.1.Balaam had been told by the
Lord not to curse Israel and yet he kept trying to get the Lord to give him a
curse to pronounce against the people, and then finally he ended up telling
Balak how to enslave the Israelites by getting their daughters to commit
immorality with and to intermarry with the Israelites.
12.1.2.Balaam is mentioned many
times in the scriptures as an example of someone who allowed himself to become
corrupted by greed.
12.1.2.1.Peter writes that Balaam
‘loved the wages of unrighteousness.’
12.2. In Numbers 22, Balaam went with Balak when the Lord had told him that
he could not curse Israel, and his donkey saw an angel with sword drawn in the
road and would not continue, so Balaam finally started beating the donkey
because he wouldn’t go, and then the donkey spoke and rebuked him saying that
he had always been a good donkey and that he was trying to save his life by not
proceeding past the angel with sword drawn.
12.2.1.This was how the donkey
‘restrained the madness of the prophet.’
13.
VS 2:17 - “17 These are
springs without water, and mists driven by a storm, for whom the black darkness
has been reserved” - Peter describes here how the false teachers can only
falsely advertize being able to give a blessing
13.1. False teachers are ‘springs without water,’ unable to refresh the
thirsty soul with God’s living water.
13.2. False teachers are like the storm clouds that appear on the horizon
during a drought only to be blown away before they can refresh the earth with
water.
13.2.1.‘The black darkness’ is a
reference to hell, the place which Peter writes is ‘reserved’ for false
teachers in the church.
14.
VS 2:18 - “18 For
speaking out arrogant words of vanity they entice by fleshly desires, by sensuality,
those who barely escape from the ones who live in error” - Peter describes the way the false teachers orate
14.1. False teachers speak out ‘arrogant words of vanity.’
14.1.1.Their speaking is big and
boisterous and sounds anointed, but it has not substance.
14.1.2.We in the church must learn
to not be persuaded by that which sounds as if it is from God, but to search
out God’s Word and test first whether or not what is being said lines up with
scripture.
14.1.3.The false teachers of our
day are really using psychological techniques of crowd control in order to
manipulate God’s people emotionally so that they can be persuaded to believe
that which is doctrinally perverted.
14.2. False teachers ‘entice by fleshly desires.’
14.2.1.The false teachers study how
to say things in such a way that makes people really feel like they can relate
to what he or she is saying, it sounds good.
14.2.2.The false teachers stir up
in people unholy feelings and emotions that cause them to desire and think the
same kinds of things that the greedy false teachers desire and think.
14.3. False teachers entice by ‘sensuality.’
14.3.1.The false teachers cause
God’s people to respond emotively according to their feelings, and when they
can get the people to the place where they no longer are judging things
rationally, then they can teach their heresies.
14.3.2.The false teachers don’t
just immediately begin teaching and speaking of their bizarre and twisted
doctrines, they first speak much truth to God’s people and begin to get the
people worked up into a fever pitch of emotion.
14.4. False teachers entice those ‘who barely escape from those who live in
error.’
14.4.1.Their converts are those who
are just trying to come out of the world and follow Christ.
15.
VS 2:19 - “19 promising
them freedom while they themselves are slaves of corruption; for by what a man
is overcome, by this he is enslaved” - The false
teachers in the church promise their followers ‘freedom’
15.1. Jesus taught that ‘the truth’ would set us free, and perhaps as often
happens with false teachers today, the false teachers in Peter’s day were
proclaiming that they alone had the deep truths which could set people free.
15.2. The only freedom that exists for people is the freedom that one has
when God has given him victory over all of the sin in his life.
15.3. In ancient times, when a king conquered a people, he would usually
enslave the people to himself and make them pay him heavy tribute.
15.3.1.Peter uses this same common
concept to teach the fact that if a person were conquered by sin, that he would
likewise be enslaved by that sin.
15.3.2.Jesus taught in John 8:34
that the one who commits sin is the slave of sin.
15.3.3.Paul taught the same
principle in Rom. 6:16.
16.
VS 2:20-21 - “20 For
if after they have escaped the defilements of the world by the knowledge of the
Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and are
overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first. 21 For it
would be better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than
having known it, to turn away from the holy commandment delivered to them” - Peter writes that to turn away from Christ after having once tried
to follow Him is worse than never having tried to follow Him
16.1. The writer to the Hebrews wrote in Heb. 6:4-6 that it is impossible to
renew someone to repentance who has fallen away, “4 For in the case of those
who have once been enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift and have
been made partakers of the Holy Spirit, 5 and have tasted the good word of God
and the powers of the age to come, 6 and then have fallen away, it is
impossible to renew them again to repentance, since they again crucify to
themselves the Son of God, and put Him to open shame.”
16.1.1.The question that is usually
debated about this verse, as well as the one in 2 Peter, is whether or not the
person who has fallen away ever was truly saved or not.
16.2. To turn away from the Lord after having learned the great truths about
what He did for us in love upon the cross causes a tremendous hardening which
only God can soften.
16.3. To turn away from the Lord after having learned the great truths about
what He did for us brings a much greater judgment of condemnation upon a person
on the day of judgment than if they had never known the truth.
16.3.1.Jesus said of Judas that it
would have been better for him if he had never been born than to have turned
away from Him after attempting to follow Him.
16.3.2.Jesus taught in Luke
12:41-48 that judgment shall be according to one’s understanding of what is
right, “41 And Peter said, “Lord, are You addressing this parable to us, or
to everyone else as well?” 42 And the Lord said, “Who then is the faithful and
sensible steward, whom his master will put in charge of his servants, to give
them their rations at the proper time? 43 “Blessed is that slave whom his
master finds so doing when he comes. 44 “Truly I say to you, that he will put
him in charge of all his possessions. 45 “But if that slave says in his heart,
‘My master will be a long time in coming,’ and begins to beat the slaves, both
men and women, and to eat and drink and get drunk; 46 the master of that slave
will come on a day when he does not expect him, and at an hour he does not
know, and will cut him in pieces, and assign him a place with the unbelievers.
47 “And that slave who knew his master’s will and did not get ready or act in
accord with his will, shall receive many lashes, 48 but the one who did not
know it, and committed deeds worthy of a flogging, will receive but few. And
from everyone who has been given much shall much be required; and to whom they
entrusted much, of him they will ask all the more.””
16.3.3.Whether the person was truly
saved before turning away or not does not really make much difference, for what
is really the horrible issue is the condemnation that the person will receive
for doing so.
16.4. Jesus taught a parable in Matt. 12:43-45 about a demon who is cast out
only to bring back seven other spirits with it later, “43 “Now when the unclean
spirit goes out of a man, it passes through waterless places, seeking rest, and
does not find it. 44 “Then it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I
came’; and when it comes, it finds it unoccupied, swept, and put in order. 45
“Then it goes, and takes along with it seven other spirits more wicked than
itself, and they go in and live there; and the last state of that man becomes
worse than the first. That is the way it will also be with this evil generation.””
16.4.1.This is what happens to a
person who begins to try to follow Christ and have faith in Him, yet whose
nature has not truly been regenerated.
16.5. The author to the book of Hebrews wrote in Heb. 10:26-31 a terrifying
warning about the judgment that shall fall upon the person who turns away from
following and abiding in Christ to live in a life of sin, “26 For if we go
on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no
longer remains a sacrifice for sins, 27 but a certain terrifying expectation of
judgment, and the fury of a fire which will consume the adversaries. 28 Anyone
who has set aside the Law of Moses dies without mercy on the testimony of two
or three witnesses. 29 How much severer punishment do you think he will deserve
who has trampled under foot the Son of God, and has regarded as unclean the
blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has insulted the Spirit of
grace? 30 For we know Him who said, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay.” And again, “The Lord will judge His
people.” 31 It is a terrifying thing to
fall into the hands of the living God.”
16.6. It is wonderful to consider that salvation for the Christian involves
having escaped ‘the defilements of the world by the knowledge of the Lord and
Savior Jesus Christ.’
17.
VS 2:22 - “22 It
has happened to them according to the true proverb, “A dog returns to its own
vomit,” and, “A sow, after washing,
returns to wallowing in the mire.”” - Peter writes that the
falling away of a brother or sister in Christ reveals what is their true nature
17.1. Dogs and pigs were considered unclean animals by the Israelites.
17.1.1.A dog doesn’t realize that
its vomit is gross, it smells it as being food like any other, therefore it
will eat its own vomit.
17.1.1.1.The false teachers don’t
even realize how disgusting their heresies and sinful actions are before the
Holy Lord, therefore they continue in them.
17.1.2.You can wash a pig up, and
even place a golden necklace around its neck, however because its true nature
is that of a pig, it won’t be long before that pig will be back wallowing in
the muddy mire.
17.1.2.1.The false teachers in the
church might look and act righteous on the outside, however because their
nature is unregenerate, they eventually will show their true colors and line up
with the world in all of its sinful activities and attitudes.
17.1.2.2.We Christians need to be
careful not to cast our pearls before swine, as the Bible teaches, for a true
swine does not and cannot appreciate the pearls of God’s riches which we might
share with them.
17.1.2.3.When someone refuses to take
our God given advice, we need to realize that they have told us by doing that
they we are not their teacher, and from that time forth until their heart has a
radical change toward us, we will be wasting our time if we continue to try to
share with them our counsel.