2 Peter · chapter 2 of 3
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2 Peter 2 warns that just as there were false prophets in Israel, there will be false teachers among believers who bring in destructive heresies, live in sensuality and exploit others out of greed. Peter recalls that God judged the angels who sinned, the world of the flood and Sodom and Gomorrah, and that he rescued Noah and Lot. He describes the false teachers with stark images and warns that the one who turns back ends up worse.
After affirming the certainty of the apostolic and prophetic word in chapter 1, Peter turns to what threatens that word: false teachers. This chapter is the sternest part of the letter and has a notable parallel in the letter of Jude. Its purpose is to protect believers and to remind them that God knows how to rescue his own and to judge the ungodly.
Peter affirms that there were false prophets among the people, and that there will also be false teachers among you who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them. Many will follow their sensuality, and the way of truth will be reviled because of them. In greed they will exploit people with false words, but their condemnation is not asleep (vv. 1-3).
Peter gives examples of God's judgment. He did not spare angels when they sinned but cast them into hell and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness until the judgment. He did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a herald of righteousness, with seven others when he brought the flood on the world of the ungodly. He condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah by turning them to ashes as an example of what is coming to the ungodly, but rescued righteous Lot, distressed by their sensual conduct. So the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials and keep the unrighteous under punishment until judgment day, especially those who despise authority (vv. 4-10).
The false teachers are bold and willful, revile what they do not understand and delight in pleasure in broad daylight. They have eyes full of adultery and hearts trained in greed. They followed the way of Balaam son of Beor, who loved gain from wrongdoing and was rebuked for his transgression when a speechless donkey spoke and restrained the prophet's madness (vv. 10-16).
They are waterless springs and mists driven by a storm, who speak loud boasts and entice with the desires of the flesh those who had barely escaped from error. They promise freedom, but they are slaves of corruption. If those who escaped the defilements of the world are again entangled, their last state is worse than the first. The proverb fits them: a dog returns to its vomit, and a washed sow returns to the mire (vv. 17-22).
References follow ESV book names and verse numbers. Read each verse in your Bible before the explanation.
Peter says that as there were false prophets among the people, there will be false teachers who bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them. The danger comes from inside the community, not only from outside.
God did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a herald of righteousness, with seven others. Peter shows that the same God who judges also protects his own.
The Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment. This sentence sums up the lesson of the earlier examples and comforts those who live surrounded by evil.
Peter closes with two sayings: the dog returns to its vomit and the washed sow to the mire. They describe someone who knew the way and then goes back to the old life, and they warn those who are tempted to be led astray.
6 questions with answers and references, ready for Sunday school, small group or a Bible quiz night.
Answer: Destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them. — 2 Peter 2:1
Answer: Greed: they exploit people with false words. — 2 Peter 2:3
Answer: Seven others, and he calls Noah a herald of righteousness. — 2 Peter 2:5
Answer: Sodom and Gomorrah, and he rescued righteous Lot. — 2 Peter 2:6-7
Answer: The way of Balaam son of Beor, who loved gain from wrongdoing. — 2 Peter 2:15
Answer: The dog returns to its vomit, and the washed sow wallows again in the mire. — 2 Peter 2:22
2 Peter 2 calls us to pay attention to what is taught. Not everything that sounds spiritual is faithful to the Word. A healthy practice is to compare what we hear with Scripture, as the Bereans did, and to look at the fruit in the life of the teacher: greed, sensuality and pride are warning signs.
At the same time, the chapter comforts. God knows how to rescue the righteous, as he did Noah and Lot, who lived in the midst of a corrupt society. A group can encourage those who feel alone in their faithfulness: the Lord knows them and will keep them.
2 Peter 2 shows the face of the false teachers and the certainty of God's judgment. In chapter 3 Peter faces a particular mockery: those who say that the promise of Christ's coming will never be fulfilled.
Peter speaks of teachers who, although they claim to belong to Christ, deny him by their teaching and their lives. The phrase indicates that Christ paid a price for them, which makes their betrayal more serious. Christians debate whether they are true believers or only people within the community, but the text stresses the gravity of their error.
Both texts describe false teachers with very similar images and use examples such as the angels who sinned, Sodom and Gomorrah and Balaam. Scholars think that one used the other or that both drew on a common tradition. In any case, both aim to protect the church.