Bible Facts

Beware of the Enemies of the Faith

2 Peter 2.1-11

Israel was blessed with the prophets of God, holy men moved by the Holy Spirit. But there were also false prophets among the people, and they had to be checked for genuineness. We do not need to beware of false prophets at all today: any man who attempts to prophesy today will soon be proven a liar and be ridiculed. Of course, it hurts the cause of Christ when anyone does that.

However, we do need to check false teachers, for, like the prophets among the Israelites, there will always be false teachers in the church: they are referred to as in the future (verse 1), but they are mentioned later as already present (verse 17), and in the past (verse 15).

Historically, we can see that serious heresies, destructive of the Christian faith and holy conduct, were introduced throughout the centuries. As in the parable, where leaven was placed by the woman in the bread: the bread is the Word of God, but more and more false teaching is added to it until an entirely different product emerges. They are still with us, such as:

Denial of the eternal and perfect divinity of the Lord Jesus, or of His perfect humanity, or of His perfect holiness.
Denial of His virgin birth; of His perfect knowledge (omniscience); of His resurrection.
The supremacy and infallibility of the "pope"; cult to Mary, angels, apostles and "saints"; purgatory and the doctrines of the mass.
Salvation or righteousness obtained through observance of the Mosaic Law, or simply the "Golden Rule", a new gospel which is in vogue today; the "liberty" of the Christian to live in sin.
Denial of the full inspiration and infallibility of the Holy Scriptures; denial of eternal death and punishment.

King Ahab kept Micaiah in prison because this true prophet of God never said anything good about him: Ahab would rather hear the false prophets (1 Kings 22). Today a great many people don't like a preacher unless he just says nice things about them all the time.

False teachers are the greatest danger for the church today. Our Lord said, "Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves" (Matthew 7.15). These wolves in sheep's clothing will absolutely destroy the flock and scatter them. They will appear as members of the church, claiming to be Christians, and they will work secretly under cover of hypocrisy. They know the truth but deliberately lie for some selfish reason, or to please people, or for money. They preach and say what people want them to say, although they know it is not true.

False teachers despise holiness because they themselves are worldly and were never converted; they proclaim worldliness, self-indulgence, formal religious practices. They have many followers, whose bad behaviour brings shame upon the name of Christ which they take upon themselves; they organise "holy orders" and sects, which they control for profit, as they are after riches and dominion.

However, God's elect cannot be permanently deceived. As the Bible says, "For there must also be factions among you, that those who are approved may be recognised among you." (1 Corinthians 11.19), and the Lord said, "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me". (John 10.27). Those who follow these false teachers are either ignorantly deceived, or they are deliberately deceived because that is what they want to believe.

Verse 3: "deceptive words" comes from a Greek word "plastos", from which we get our "plastic": plastic preachers abound today, who are moulded and shaped by the people that they serve.

But God does not remain indifferent to all this: his judgment is prepared for those who ravage His flock.

Three examples are given of God's judgment in the past:

On rebellious angels. It is not revealed to us how, or when, but there was an insurrection by angels, and the rebels were imprisoned in the Tartarus, or pits of darkness , where they still are now, awaiting their final judgment.
The world in Noah's day. It was completely destroyed by the Flood because "the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually" (Genesis 6.5). But God "saved Noah, one of eight people, a preacher of righteousness". This is a type of the salvation provided through faith in Christ.
The two cities of Sodom and Gomorra, destroyed by fire "as an example" to those who afterward would live ungodly; Lot, however, a "just man" who was oppressed by the filthy conduct of the wicked in Sodom was saved with his wife and two daughters. This is a type of the Rapture of the church before the Tribulation: on the Day of the Lord, subject of most of the book of Revelation, God's wrath will be released upon this world which does not acknowledge Him. His children, however will be delivered from it: the Lord Jesus will come to take up His church to be with Him, before that happens.

These examples show how the Lord knows how to deliver the faithful and righteous out of temptations: we are not tempted beyond our strength, and with the trials comes deliverance. Noah and his family were saved by means of the ark; Lot, weak but not ungodly, was delivered by an angel; so the believers who are faithful to the Lord and to the apostolic doctrine will not the submitted to the tribulation (called the wrath to come), and the just and the faithful will be saved from eternal punishment.

Being a righteous God, He keeps those who rebel against Him under punishment for the day of judgment, when the Lord's final sentence will be passed upon them. The great final judgment will come upon all the "unjust", be they humans or angels. Great disasters and chastisements happen from time to time, like earthquakes, floods, famine, disease, but they are only warnings of the tribulation to come, and of the punishment to be meted upon all unrepentant sinners with the ungodly, the rebellious and the heretics (Luke 13.1-5).

Among these, and chief among them, are the arrogant, vulgar, vile, and vicious defamatory teachers who disturb the peace among Christian groups. Their characteristics are:

They despise government. Many commentators say that this refers to government here on earth. But the word translated "dominion" is from a Greek word also meaning lordship. The supreme authority is of God or Christ (Colossians 1.16; Ephesians 1.21). In Ephesians the dominion is that of spiritual governments. In other words, these false teachers despise that which is spiritual, that which God has ordained above us: the angels and the way God is running His universe, and Christ runs His churches on earth.
They are presumptuous: they overstep their own position and dare to criticise higher authority, even to the point of blasphemy. It makes them feel expansive and big to use such language.
They are self-willed: they are determined to do their own thing.
They are not afraid to speak evil of dignities: the word for dignities is actually glories. They speak evil of that which is sacred, that which is holy, and the order that God has established in His universe. These dignities include angels, also the evil ones (Jude 1.8,9). Angels don't dare to do what they do. Jude gives a specific instance of this when Michael the archangel was disputing with Satan about the body of Moses. Michael would not bring a railing accusation against the Devil, but only said, "The Lord rebuke you!" This is a spirit that we also need to manifest, a spirit of humility, in the sense that we turn all of this over to God. If Michael the archangel, exalted as he is, wouldn't use offensive words against the devil, a little human down here on earth needs to be very careful.

R David Jones

1 But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction.

2 And many will follow their destructive ways, because of whom the way of truth will be blasphemed.

3 By covetousness they will exploit you with deceptive words; for a long time their judgement has not been idle, and their destruction does not slumber.

4 For if God did not spare the angels who sinned, but cast them down to hell and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved for judgement;

5 and did not spare the ancient world, but saved Noah, one of eight people, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood on the world of the ungodly;

6 and turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, condemned them to destruction, making them an example to those who afterward would live ungodly;

7 and delivered righteous Lot, who was oppressed by the filthy conduct of the wicked

8 (for that righteous man, dwelling among them, tormented his righteous soul from day to day by seeing and hearing their lawless deeds) -

9 then the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations and to reserve the unjust under punishment for the day of judgement,

10 and especially those who walk according to the flesh in the lust of uncleanness and despise authority. They are presumptuous, self-willed. They are not afraid to speak evil of dignitaries,

11 whereas angels, who are greater in power and might, do not bring a reviling accusation against them before the Lord.