>
2 Peter 2:15-22

Watch On Biblify

by Randy White Ministries Sunday, Dec 5, 2021

2 Peter | Practical Teaching on Coming Conditions


Session 9 | 2 Peter 2:15-22


2 Peter 2:12-22 | A Specific Word About Specific False Teachers

  • Verses 12-14 -- see session 8

  • Verse 15 --

    • Continuing to note the specifics (prophetically) of the coming false teachers, Peter says that they have forsaken the right way and are gone astray.

    • As throughout this passage, the present tense should be interpreted in its future“in the future."

    • The word forsaken, both in Greek and English, implies that the right way was known but rejected (rather than ignorance the right way). Compare Hosea 14:9.

    • Peter illustrates using Balaam the son of Bosor. Who is he, and what do we know about him?

      • He is definitely the Balaam of Numbers 22-23.

      • In Numbers, he is called Balaam the son of Beor (Num. 22:5).

        • According to Bullinger, the Greeks pronounced the Ayin“s" sound.


      • Many believe that he is the same as Bela the son of Beor in Genesis 36:31-32.

        • If so, he is mentioned on the famous Tel-el-Amarna tablets as a Hittite king.


      • His death is recorded in Joshua 13:22.

      • His problem: he loved the wages of unrighteousness, having taken payment to curse Israel.


  • Verse 16 --

    • Balaam was rebuked for his iniquity.

      • This rebuke came from the Lord by way of a dumb ass speaking.

      • The record of this is found in Numbers 22:21-31. T


    • his miracle forbad the madness of the prophet.

      • The word madnessπαραφρονία [paraphronia], a compound word of para (along side) and phren (understanding), thus the implication that Balaam was outside of solid thinking.


  • Verse 17 --

    • Speaking directly once again about the false teachers, he uses a metaphor to describe them: wells without water and clouds that are carried with a tempest. That is, they give hope but never deliver.

    • The teachers are promised the mist of darkness. A similar phrase is used of false teachers in Jude 13.


  • Verse 18 --

    • These future false teachers will speak great swelling words of vanity. These words *sound good* but mean nothing.

    • These teachers will allure, that is deceive or beguile* *(as translated in verse 14).

      • Those who will be deceived were clean escaped from them who live in error.

      • The phrase clean escaped is fully escaped. This shows the scope of the beguilement in the last days.


    • The allurement will come through two tools:

      • The lusts of the flesh - an almost sure way to allure.

      • Also through much wantonness - The Greek word is translated lasciviousness“unbridled lust" (Strong's Enhanced Lexicon).


  • Verse 19 --

    • These future teachers will promise them liberty but they are servants of corruption.

    • It is not uncommon, in the history of man, to find wonderful offers from those who cannot deliver.

    • Peter gives a natural truth: of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought into bondage.

    • In the future day of which Peter warns, men and women will be overcome by false teaching, and be therefore in bondage to that teaching.

    • This can serve as a reminder to us: be careful not to enslave yourself, especially by false teaching.


  • Verse 20 --

    • This verse stands in stark contrast to the dispensation of grace and the assurance of salvation provided in our dispensation.

    • Note, for example, the following:

      • Their escape is in the active tense, thus works based.

      • Their escape is through the knowledge of the Savior, with nothing said about faith.

      • Their potential entanglement with the pollutions of the world leads to a devastating ending. There is no assurance of salvation in this at all.


  • Verse 21 --

    • What can **the holy commandment delivered unto them** be other than the Law given to the Jewish nation? To see this as the dispensation of the grace of God (Eph. 3:2) would require the greatest hermeneutical gymnastics, it seems.

    • The word knownἐπιγινώσκω [epiginosko“to know thoroughly and accurately" (Bullinger).

    • In what way is it better for someone to have never known the Gospel of grace? I find it impossible to reconcile this verse with our dispensation. Anyone who believes in eternal security would have the same challenge.

    • Psalm 85:8 also warns about turning from the Law. This truth is also clearly seen in Psalm 125:3-4. Compare also Ezekiel 18:24.


  • Verse 22 --

  • Peter closes with a colorful reminder of this truth, citing, in part, Proverbs 26:11.

New on Worshify