False Prophets And Teachers
FALSE PROPHETS AND TEACHERS
2 PETER 2:4-16
False teachers are worse than atheists. Atheists say there is no God and act accordingly; false teachers speak in his name and defy him.
In this chapter, Peter largely reproduces Jude 4-16. The humility which is apparent in both his letters probably made him consider that Jude had expressed himself far better than he could.
The remarkable thing about the false prophets and teachers (2:1) is that they ignore the long list of warning judgments. “The angels when they sinned” (2:4): see 1 Peter 3:19f. Clearly this does not refer to Satan. “Cast them into hell,” literally “into Tartarus” (NIV footnote); it is a pity that most translations have “hell,” as hell has taken on the meaning of Gehenna, or the lake of fire (Revelation 19:20; 20:14). Tartarus was the lowest abyss of Hades. The flood and destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah left an indelible impression on Israel. “Lot” (2:7) is mentioned, as is “Noah” (2:5), to make quite clear that these catastrophes were not merely natural events. The deliverance of the only righteous people among those destroyed showed God’s guiding hand over all.
“Defiling passion” (2:10): the presence of false teaching shows itself almost invariably in an ascetic depreciation of marriage or in a denial of its bonds. “Despise authority”: those whom Peter condemns either thought they could prophesy by their own impulse or denied the apostolic authority in the church.
“They are not afraid to revile” (2:10); see Jude 8-9; Peter abbreviates here. By their despising God’s order they have sunk to the level of animals (2:12) and will go to their destruction blindly. “To revel in the daytime” (2:13): contrast Peter’s indignant comment in Acts 2:15. Work is also part of God’s order, not merely a result of the fall (Genesis 2:15). The NEB gets the sense better: “While they sit with you at table they are an ugly blot on your company, because they revel in their own deceptions” (2:13). “Eyes full of adultery” (2:14): they are not merely driven by an insatiable sexual urge; it obtains a special relish in its defiance of the seventh commandment. It is interesting that of the three names given in Jude 11, Peter restricts himself to Balaam. He was a true prophet and feared God. But when the price was big enough he listened to money rather than God. Though he would not prophesy falsely against Israel, he was willing to lead the people of Israel astray (Numbers 31:16).