Beware of False Teachers – 2 Peter 2:1-16
2 But there also were false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will subtly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them—bringing swift destruction upon themselves. (2) Many will follow their licentious conduct, because of whom the way of truth will be maligned.
(3) In their greediness they will exploit you with teachings they have invented. For a long time their condemnation has been actively being prepared,* and their destruction is not sleeping. (4) If God did not spare angels when they sinned, but consigned them to hell, putting them in dark pits where they are being kept for the day of judgment; (5) and if God did not spare the ancient world (although he did protect Noah, a preacher of righteousness, along with seven others, when he brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly); (6) and if God condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah by reducing them to ashes, making them an example of what is going to happen to those who live ungodly lives; (7) and if God rescued righteous Lot who was distressed by the conduct of lawless men living in licentiousness—(8) for by what he saw and heard as he lived among them day by day, that righteous man felt his righteous soul tormented by their lawless deeds; (9) then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly out of trial and how to reserve the unrighteous for punishment until the day of judgment.
(10) This is especially true with regard to those who live for the flesh with its corrupting passion and who treat authority with contempt. Being bold and arrogant, they do not tremble as they blaspheme glorious things; (11) whereas angels, being greater in strength and power, do not bring a reviling judgment against them before the Lord. (12) But these men, like brute beasts who were born as wild animals to be captured and killed, are blaspheming with regard to things they do not understand. By their corruption they will also be destroyed; (13) suffering harm as the retribution for wrongdoing. They consider it to be a pleasure to engage in self-indulgence in the daytime. They are stains and blemishes upon the church as they revel in their lusts while they feast with you. (14) With eyes full of adultery and an insatiable appetite for sin, they seduce unstable souls. Having a heart that has been trained by greed, they are accursed children. (15) Having abandoned the right way, they have gone astray, following the way of Balaam the son of Beor, who loved the wages to be gained by wrongdoing. (16) But he was rebuked for his transgression: a dumb donkey, speaking with a man’s voice, restrained the madness of the prophet.
*Literally, “For a long time their condemnation has not been idle”
Now proceed to the next section of this study, entitled, Exploring the Passage.
