Peter's Letters
11 - Beware of False Teachers
Let me greet you with Peter’s words in the first chapter of his second letter: “Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord” (verse 2). He’s addressing believers who have ‘escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust’ (verse 4).
We live in a day when religious deception is on the increase because believers don’t know their Bibles. Peter writes, “We have the word of the prophets made more certain, and you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a light shining in a dark place” (verse 19). The word ‘dark’ suggests ‘dismal, murky’ – a picture of a dark cellar or a dismal swamp. The Message puts it this way “The prophetic Word --- is the one light you have in a dark time as you wait for daybreak and the rising of the Morning Star in your hearts.”
Peter writes (verse 20), “You must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophets’ own interpretation. For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man.” Isaiah didn’t get out of bed one morning and say, ‘I think I’ll write a few prophecies today.’ “Men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit” (verse 21). These were holy men ‘blown along by the wind of God’s Spirit’ like a sailing ship. “All scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness” (2 Timothy 3 verse 16).
And so to 2 Peter 2 which Martyn Lloyd-Jones called “One of the most terrible chapters in the entire Bible.” It’s about false prophets and their shameful ways. There were ‘false prophets’ in the Old Testament, for example, Zedekiah (1 Kings 22) and Hananiah (Jeremiah 28). Often they brought a popular “Peace, peace” comfortable message opposite to what God was saying. Peter warns that false teachers ‘secretly introduce destructive heresies’ (verse 1). Heresy is literally something which forces people to make a choice. Wrong teaching creates division. False teachers had to be stopped before the faith was wrecked by their perversion of the truth.
Satan works overtime at influencing the running of churches. He deals in forgeries and counterfeits. The devil has false apostles, false Christians, children of the devil, a false gospel and one day he’ll present to the world a false Christ.
False teachers are often better known for what they deny, than what they affirm. Because they deny ‘the sovereign Lord who bought them’ (verse 1), they are clearly not saved and are later compared not to sheep, but to dogs and pigs. Jude describes them in his letter (verse 19) thus: “These are the men who divide you, who follow mere natural instincts, and do not have the Spirit.” The Message says such charlatans “give truth a bad name. They’re only out for themselves. They’ll say anything, anything that sounds good to exploit you.”
False teachers are often clever with words. They use plastic words twisted to mean anything you want them to mean. They may talk of resurrection, but they don’t mean bodily resurrection. They may talk of salvation or inspiration, but they don’t mean what we mean. Warren Wiersbe remarks, “The false teachers use our vocabulary, but they don’t use our dictionary.”
Peter makes it crystal clear that judgement is sure for all false teachers ‘Their condemnation has long been hanging over them’ (verse 3). If rebel angels, who sinned against God, could not escape judgement, why should we suppose men and women could? The same God who protected Noah, a preacher of righteousness, used the flood waters that drowned the ungodly ancient world to lift him and his household up above the judgement. The same God who burnt to ashes Sodom and Gomorrah as ‘an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly’ (verse 6), rescued Lot whose soul was daily tormented by the lawless deeds he witnessed. This same God is the Lord who “knows how to rescue godly men from trials and to hold the unrighteous for the day of judgement’ (verse 9).
We’re surprised to see Lot described as a ‘righteous’ man. Genesis Chapter 19 shows him as a greedy, selfish man who treated two of his daughters abominably. But God’s assessment is, “Lot trusts in Me.” It was torture for him to live in Sodom. We never got that impression of Lot, whilst reading Genesis.
Pause to reflect what a privilege Lot had – to walk with Abraham, who walked with God. Lot chose to live in Sodom where he lost his testimony. Lot had entered Sodom and then Sodom had entered Lot and he found it difficult to leave. Clearly Lot was saved: he is called ‘a righteous man.’ He hated the lifestyle in Sodom and he was justified because of his faith, but his life denied everything he believed and he never had a moment’s peace down here. I reckon the rescue of Lot from Sodom prefigures the rapture of the church – the great snatch of God.
The apostates are described as ‘bold and arrogant’ (verse 10). They despise authority and rush in where angels fear to tread. Godly angels do not even speak against fallen angels but apostates know no such bounds. They are not afraid to slander celestial beings.
The Message paraphrase calls them “brute beasts ... predators on the prowl ... losers in the end.” Indeed this chapter is one of the most sombre in scripture, with a grim message and dire warnings.
Satan works overtime at influencing the running of churches. He deals in forgeries and counterfeits. The devil has false apostles, false Christians, children of the devil, a false gospel and one day he’ll present to the world a false Christ.
False teachers are often better known for what they deny, than what they affirm. Because they deny ‘the sovereign Lord who bought them’ (verse 1), they are clearly not saved and are later compared not to sheep, but to dogs and pigs. Jude describes them in his letter (verse 19) thus: “These are the men who divide you, who follow mere natural instincts, and do not have the Spirit.” The Message says such charlatans “give truth a bad name. They’re only out for themselves. They’ll say anything, anything that sounds good to exploit you.”
False teachers are often clever with words. They use plastic words twisted to mean anything you want them to mean. They may talk of resurrection, but they don’t mean bodily resurrection. They may talk of salvation or inspiration, but they don’t mean what we mean. Warren Wiersbe remarks, “The false teachers use our vocabulary, but they don’t use our dictionary.”