Truth and Holiness vs Error and Ungodliness (II Peter 2:1-3)
Truth and Holiness vs Error and Ungodliness:
An Introduction to II Peter
A Sermon by the Rev. S. Randall Toms, Ph.D.
St. Paul’s Anglican Church, Baton Rouge, LA
But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction. And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of. And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not. (II Peter 2:1-3)
The most dangerous enemies of the church of our Lord Jesus have arisen, not outside the church, but within her ranks. Persecution by evil empires and governments has often posed significant dangers to our faith. Atheists and agnostics with extraordinary abilities to deceive have lured some people away from the faith. The world, with its allurements, has caused many people to make an idol of the things of this world, and many have left the church to pursue the vain pleasures of sin. But by far, false teachers within her have done the most damage to the church, and the danger posed by false prophets prompted the writing of this little epistle of Second Peter.
Our Lord Jesus Christ, in his Sermon on the Mount, warned us about these false teachers. He said, Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves” (Matthew 7:15). Interestingly, our Lord did not say, “Beware of Greek philosophies and pagan religions.” No, the danger to the people of God is those who claim to be part of the people of God, who claim to teach the truth of God, and who claim that they love you and are concerned about your welfare. The false prophet appears as one of the meek and mild sheep, but inside, he is a ravenous wolf.
If you read through the New Testament epistles, you will discover that people like St. Paul, St. Peter, and other writers have to deal with false teachers who have arisen in the church. As St. Paul was taking his leave of the Ephesian elders, he said, “Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood. For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock.[30] Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them (Acts 20:28-30). Notice that these wolves, these false teachers, would arise from within the church itself and draw people away from the true faith. It is a sad thing that so much of a pastor's duty involves keeping people from falling prey to these wolves, these false teachers. Unfortunately, sometimes a pastor can fall into the danger of preaching nothing but the false teaching of others. Still, it is easy to fall into, since we are commanded to keep our flocks from this danger. Since these false prophets will always quote Scripture, it is always the pastor’s duty to teach people the true meaning of the word of God and to teach his people how to recognize when they are being lured away from the truth found in Christ Jesus.
In this little epistle of II Peter, the apostle addresses a group of false teachers who have arisen in the church. In II Peter 2:1-2 he writes, “But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, [again notice who Peter teachers will be among you--they will be members of the church] who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction.[2] And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of.” Peter is asking his readers to remember the stories in the Old Testament about false prophets among the people of Israel, and it is no different now. There will always be people who arise from within the people of God, sneak in among the people of God posing as true teachers, but who teach damnable heresies, destructive doctrines, and such a thing has happened to these people whom Peter is writing this epistle.
We don’t know for sure to whom Peter is writing this epistle. In his first epistle he writes, “to the strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia” (I Peter 1:1). But there is no mention in his opening salutation of the destination of this letter. But in chapter 3, verse 1, he does say, “This second epistle, beloved, I now write unto you; in both which I stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance.” I take the phrase “second epistle” to mean that what we now call I Peter, was the first epistle to these people, and II Peter is the second, to this exact audience—Christians in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia. Since Peter does not mention false prophets in his first epistle, we can probably assume that between the first and this second epistle, a dangerous group of heretics had arisen within the church. They are professing Christians, since they “deny the Lord who bought them” (II Peter 2:1). In verse 21, Peter describes them as those “who know the way of righteousness.” They appear to be members of the church, as they participate in the church’s “feast of charity,” which seems to indicate they are participating in the Lord’s Supper.
We aren’t told exactly who these false prophets are or what specific group they may represent. Different kinds of heresies arose within the early church concerning the person and work of Christ, the way to be justified in the sight of God, and false teachings concerning the resurrection, to name a few. Although we don’t know the exact heretics Peter had in mind, we do have a brief outline of their major beliefs.
First, they taught a form of antinomianism, a heresy that is still very much alive in the Church today in various quarters. Antinomianism basically means “anti-law,” but for our theological purposes, it means those who teach that since Jesus Christ has saved us, we can live any way we please and suffer no consequences for our actions. As we shall see as we look deeper into this letter, they were particularly intent on telling people that since they were believers in Jesus, they were free to commit all kinds of sexual perversion. This heresy has arisen throughout the history of the people of God. One of the great temptations for the people of Israel was the fertility cults of the surrounding pagan cultures, which made sexual perversion one of the chief features of their religion. We often find the people of Israel trying to incorporate these practices within the worship of the God of Israel. Since sexual desire is one of the most powerful drives within human beings, it is no wonder that one of the fondest desires of the human heart is unbridled sexual license. But since the law of God forbids that kind of sexual expression, false teachers have often found a way to incorporate those practices within the church or at least to condone them. So many branches of Christianity today promote and condone sexual practices that the church had condemned since its inception. The heretics mentioned in Second Peter taught the people that since Jesus Christ had saved them, there was no sin in unbridled sexual activity. Jude called this practice “turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness” (Jude 4). Some Bible scholars have thought that perhaps these false prophets represent a form of early Gnosticism, or incipient Gnosticism. While it is true that some forms of Gnosticism did promote immoral behavior, since they believed that what one did with their bodies didn't matter, Gnosticism did not really take a recognizable form until the 2nd century. Nevertheless, there have been forms of Christianity that did advocate a licentious lifestyle. Many streams of Christianity in the 21st century are teaching their people these same heresies. These false teachers not only condone sexual perversity, but they are also characterized by greed, covetousness, pride, and lack of respect for authority.
Since these heretics were telling people that they could live in disobedience to God with impunity, Peter begins this second epistle by teaching people the absolute necessity of living a disciplined, godly life. While believing that you can sin all you want and have heaven too is a tempting idea, such teaching is precisely the opposite of the Christian faith. So, Peter tells his readers, that they are those who have “escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust” (II Peter 1:4). False teachers always tell us that all our human desires are perfectly normal and natural and could in no way be considered sinful, especially since they say that Jesus has completely freed us from all obligations to live in obedience to God’s righteous standard. But far from encouraging his reader to abandon attempts to live a godly life, Peter says, “giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity” (II Peter 1:5-7). This kind of holy life is Peter’s response to the heresy that gives people a license to sin. Living the life described by the apostle Peter is the way we make our calling and election sure (1:10). In other words, living in a manner characterized by virtue, knowledge, self-control, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness, and love is the proof that we are children of God, having been purged from our old sins.
The second major characteristic of the teaching of these false prophets is that they denied that our Lord Jesus Christ was going to come in judgment. In fact, they mocked and scoffed at any such notion, saying, “Where is the promise of his coming?” (II Peter 3:4). Some Bible scholars have suggested that these sentiments of the false teachers reflect Epicurean influence. We usually summarize Epicureanism as “eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow.” But while Epicureans did advocate a life of pleasure as the highest good, they didn’t advocate the unbridled pursuit of pleasure, since such a lifestyle could result in pain, and pain was something that Epicureans strove to avoid. But, like the scoffers here in II Peter, the Epicureans did not believe in any future judgment where wickedness would be punished and the world put to rights. While it may be possible that the scoffers of II Peter were influenced by Epicureanism, the scoffers described by Peter seem to practice an unbridled licentiousness that was not characteristic of Epicureanism, which was interested more in a life of ease free from anxiety.
Either by coincidence or influence, Peter’s scoffers do share some characteristics with Epicureans, especially the denial of a future judgment. But Peter will warn his people that just as God did not spare the angels who sinned, nor the people of Noah’s day, nor the people of Sodom and Gomorrah, Christ will not spare the ungodly when he returns. This teaching of these false prophets that people will not be held accountable for their sins goes hand in hand with their antinomian way of life. These false teachers seemed to have been saying, “Since we are saved by grace alone and works are unnecessary, what reason could Christ have for coming to judge people?” A future without judgment has always been the dream of sinful human beings. A future without judgment is the real reason behind atheism. People aren’t atheists because they have suddenly become more intelligent than all other human beings. They aren’t atheists because they are vastly superior intellectually to philosophers such as Augustine, Thomas Aquinas, Blaise Pascal, and Pavel Florensky. They are atheists because they don’t want to appear before a holy and righteous God who will judge them. Rather than face that fact, they try to wipe out the Judge of all the earth by denying his existence. But these false teachers described by St. Peter did the same, and in their case, the result was an ungodly life. Peter states that believing in the coming of Christ spurs us to live a holy life. In II Peter 3:14-15, we read, “Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless.” The word “diligent” carries us back to the opening words of the apostle, where he tells his reader to be diligent in living the virtuous Christian life.
Every book of Scripture is always relevant, and we need to study all of Scripture to learn the great doctrines of our faith and to be instructed in how to live in a manner that is pleasing to God. But II Peter seems especially relevant for us at present because of the various themes we find in this short epistle. Here we find much instruction about how to live a virtuous and godly life, how to recognize false teaching, especially the false teaching that a Christian is at liberty to live any way he pleases simply because he claims to have faith in Christ. The epistle also teaches us how to deal with those who mock the teachings of Scripture, especially those who laugh at the idea that God will judge people for their sins. This epistle also teaches us to look upon the Scriptures as God’s inspired, infallible, inerrant word of God, and how lost and aimless we would be if we regarded the Scriptures simply as a work of men who were struggling, and sometimes failing, to teach us the truth. As we will see in this epistle, St. Peter teaches us that all of Scripture is the inspired, inerrant, infallible word of God, even his own writings and those of the apostle Paul.
II Peter teaches us that truth matters. In these days when the dominant philosophy of our culture is postmodernism, which denies that anyone can be sure of the truth, Peter writes as one who knows the difference between truth and error. Our culture teaches us that we all have different truths and that each person must live according to their own. The Scriptures teach us precisely the opposite. Truth has been revealed to us in the holy scriptures, and any departure from that truth is not just false teaching, it is destructive teaching. American society, with its crime, its failing educational system, its rampant sexual perversity, its broken homes, its greed and cruelty, its utter ignorance and foolishness, is the result of accepting false teaching. Discipline, faith, virtue, knowledge, self-control, patience, godliness, kindness, and love are disappearing rapidly from the earth because we have rejected the true message of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Only a diligent life of seeking virtue, coupled with a firm commitment that we must all stand before the judgment seat of Christ, can save us from the corrupting influence of unbridled lust and licentiousness. Amen.