Beloved, I am glad to share with you today the above theme from 2 P 2.1 and following. Indeed, the sects of perdition are currently flourishing. Their appearance is announced in advance so that today we are neither surprised nor discouraged. They trade in souls (Rev. 18:9-13). To overthrow the truth as established in 2 Pet.1, Satan employs two means always the same: he persists in corrupting it (this is chp 2) or in openly denying it, as we will see in chp 3. His instruments for leading souls astray are presented here in their true light. And what an abominable and frightening portrait of those religious leaders in whom moral evil goes hand in hand with doctrinal evil (Mat 7:15-20). Those men who promise others freedom are themselves slaves to their lowest passions and appetites.
For, a serious word also for the believer, “one is a slave of the one by whom one is defeated”. Is each of us free, freed by the Lord (John 8:31-36; Isa 49:24-26)? Or is he still embraced by an unspeakable chain? This world is captivating because, like a quagmire, it holds captive the foot of the reckless who ventures into it, at the same time as it dirties the soul (the defilements of the world). The end of the chapter denounces the illusion of those who were temporarily social or intellectual Christianity able to momentarily get out of the rut of sin. That is why a moral reform is not a conversion.
For, in contrast to the “holy men of God” of which he has just spoken, the apostle announces that there will be false teachers among Christians, as there were once false prophets among the Jewish people. To give an example, it is enough to mention the story of 1 Kings 22. We do not quote Balaam who, on the one hand, was not part of the people, and on the other hand is not called a false prophet, but a prophet.
To these false prophets, the apostle opposes the false teachers of early Christianity presenting themselves in the midst of the faithful and stealthily introducing “sects of perdition”. These sects of perdition abound today in professing Christianity, as they once wreaked havoc among Christians who left Judaism. Their character was to attack the very person of the Savior. They denied Christ, the Master who had bought them (not redeemed) and extended His power over them to take possession of them as part of His people. These people would be doomed to “prompt destruction.” I have no doubt that after the departure of the apostles, things did not happen like this in the midst of these Jews professing Christianity. For among them were doctors, named after Christians, who denied Christ as the Son of God; has their number diminished today? The big point is that their judgment as corrupting the truth will not be long in coming.
These words are addressed to those who, among these Jewish Christians, had had, as in Heb 6. 4-6, the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and had, by this fact, escaped the defilements of the world. Nothing, in fact, exerts a more blessed influence on the soul drawn to the truth, than to be in contact, even external, with the One who represents perfect purity. In this way, they escape, if only momentarily, the influence of the prevailing corruption. Excellent things, such as “participation in the Holy Spirit” are not foreign to them, but then they fall back under a yoke from which they had been delivered only by intention, and their last condition is worse than that in which, embraced by these defilements, they were still ignorant of purification. It would have been better for them not to have known a path whose sin is absent (the path known to the redeemed of Jesus Christ) than to turn away after having known the way of the “holy commandment”: “Be holy, for I am holy”.
So there had been, in these disciples, the knowledge of holiness by leaving impurity, there had been a commandment that sheltered them, momentary obedience and the enjoyment it brings to the soul, and then they had listened to evil and sin, believing that they were thus obtaining freedom, and had become slaves of impurity again more than before. Their fate was worse. Their natural state had not been changed by the knowledge and even the enjoyment of better things. The same is true of the dog returning to vomiting, or the sow finding more delight in wallowing in the quagmire, than in being washed of its defilements.
The following verses have been compiled for your edification and regroused for your better understanding.
Propagators of false teachings:
- Evil Words of Men
-Vain Jb 16:3 When will these speeches in the air end? Why this irritation in your answers?
-Hurtful Pr 15:1 A gentle response calms fury, but a harsh word excites anger.
-Thoughtless Pr 29:20 If you see a thoughtless man in his words, there is more to be expected from a fool than from him.
“Disrespectful” Ml 3:13 Your words are harsh against me,” said the Lord. And you say: What have we said against you?
-Seductive Col 2:4 I say this so that no one deceives you with seductive speeches.
-Flattering 1 Thes 2:5 Never, indeed, have we used flattering words, as you know; never have we had greed as our motive, God is a witness.
-Deceptive 2 Pet 2:3 Out of greed, they will deceive you by means of deceptive words, which have long been threatened by condemnation, and whose ruin does not lie dormant.
-Grandiloquent 2 Pet 2:18 With speeches swollen with vanity, they begin with the lusts of the flesh, with dissolutions, those who have just escaped from men who live in bewilderment;
-Bad Jb 6:25 That true words are persuasive! But what do your remonstrances prove?
- Moral impurity
Ezr 9:11, which you had prescribed to us by your servants the prophets, saying: The land into which you enter to possess it is a land defiled by the impurities of the peoples of these lands, by the abominations of which they have filled it from one end to the other with their impurities; Ps 53:4 All are misplaced, all are perverted; There is none who does good, not even one. Mt 23:27 Woe to you, hypocritical scribes and Pharisees! because you look like whitened tombs, which seem beautiful on the outside, and which on the inside are full of bones of the dead and of every kind of impurity. Rom 6:19 I speak in the manner of men, because of the weakness of your flesh. -Just as you have delivered your members as slaves to impurity and iniquity, to arrive at iniquity, so now surrender your members as slaves to righteousness, to arrive at holiness. 2 P 2.10 especially those who go after the flesh in a desire for impurity and despise authority. Bold and arrogant, they are not afraid to insult the glories,
- Pleasure of the world: fruits of a life dedicated to the search for pleasure
-Poverty Pr 21:17 He who loves joy remains in poverty; The one who loves wine and oil does not get rich.
-The false security Isa 47:8-9 Now listen to this, voluptuous, Who sits you with confidence, And who says in your heart: I, and nothing but me! I will never be a widow, and I will never be deprived of children! 9 These two things will happen to you suddenly, on the same day, The deprivation of children and widowhood; They will melt right on you, Despite the multitude of your spells, Despite the great number of your enchantments.
Spiritual sterility Lk 8:14 What has fallen among the thorns are those who, having heard the word, leave, and let it suffocate by the worries, riches and pleasures of life, and they bear no fruit that comes to maturity.
-The presumption Lk 12:19 and I will say to my soul: My soul, you have many goods in reserve for several years; rest, eat, drink, and rejoice.
Spiritual death 1 Tim 5:6 But the one who lives in pleasures is dead, though alive.
-The incessant search for entertainment 2 P 2.13 thus receiving the wages of their iniquity. They find their delights in indulging in pleasure in broad daylight; Men tarred and defiled, they delight in their deceptions, making good food with you.
- Distance from God
Ps 58:4 The wicked are perverted from the womb, Liars go astray out of their mother’s womb. Jer 2:5 Thus saith the Lord: What iniquity have your fathers found in me, to distance themselves from me, and to go after things of nothingness and to be themselves nothingness? Ezekiel 14:5 in order to grasp in their own hearts those of the house of Israel who have distanced themselves from me with all their idols. Mt 15:8 These people honor me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. Eph 2:12 Remember that you were at that time without Christ, deprived of the right of the city in Israel, strangers to the covenants of promise, without hope and without God in the world.
From all the above, we note that in 2 Pet.1 the prospect of the coming glory was affirmed by a triple testimony: the anticipated vision on the holy mountain; prophecy; finally, the splendid Star raised in our hearts. Similarly, the certainty of the judgment that will melt on the world is attested by three examples: the fate of the fallen angels (Jude 1:5-7), the flood (Mat 24.32-39), and the end of Sodom and Gomorrah (Jude 1:5-7). All this arouses a holy indignation in the apostle, when he compares all this defilement, of an essentially Judaic character, with the price, the brilliance, the practical holiness that the work of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ brought to believers. Jude applies these same truths to nations; but, in both of them, the horror of evil grows as the end times take shape. But in the midst of an ungodly generation, the Lord distinguishes and delivers the one who fears Him. Despite his worldliness, Lot was a righteous man. But God records every sigh of His own. However, Lot would have spared himself all this torment if he had known, like Abraham, to appreciate the land of promise. A false and equivocal position before men is always a source of misery for the child of God. Lot is the type of a believer saved as through fire (1 Co 3.11-15). He will not have a rich entry into the kingdom (2 P 1.10-11). May the Lord keep us from being like Him! Our prayers are with you all.
PRAYER OF ACCEPTANCE OF JESUS CHRIST AS LORD AND PERSONAL SAVIOR
I now invite every person who wants to become a new creation by walking in the truth, to pray with me the following prayer:
Lord Jesus, I have long walked in the lusts of the world ignoring your love for humans. I admit to having sinned against you and ask your forgiveness for all my sins, because today I have decided to give you my life by taking you as Lord and personal Savior. I recognize that you died on the cross of Calvary and rose from the dead for me.
I am now saved and born again by the power of the Holy Spirit. Lead me every day to the eternal life that you give to all who obey your Word. Reveal yourself to me and strengthen my heart and faith, so that your light may shine in my life right now.
Thank you, Lord Jesus, for accepting me into your divine family, so that I may also contemplate the wonders of your kingdom.
I will now choose a nearby waterpoint to baptize myself by immersion, in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
All adoration, power and glory are yours, now and forever and ever. Amen!
I would be happy to react to any questions and comments you may have, before sharing with you tomorrow “the last days; the coming of the Lord.”
May the Lord Jesus Christ bless you abundantly.
David Feze, Servant of the Almighty God.