2 Peter 2 Studies

For those who may wish to ‘study’ this chapter, the following simple resources are provided for you. Each chapter is divided into a number of studies and each study or passage has a simple four-Part, verse-by-verse approach, to help you take in and think further about what you have read.

Passage: 2 Peter 2:1-9

1 But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them – bringing swift destruction on themselves. 2 Many will follow their depraved conduct and will bring the way of truth into disrepute. 3 In their greed these teachers will exploit you with fabricated stories. Their condemnation has long been hanging over them, and their destruction has not been sleeping. 4 For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but sent them to hell, putting them in chains of darkness to be held for judgment; 5 if he did not spare the ancient world when he brought the flood on its ungodly people, but protected Noah, a preacher of righteousness, and seven others; 6 if he condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah by burning them to ashes, and made them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly; 7 and if he rescued Lot, a righteous man, who was distressed by the depraved conduct of the lawless 8 (for that righteous man, living among them day after day, was tormented in his righteous soul by the lawless deeds he saw and heard) – 9 if this is so, then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials and to hold the unrighteous for punishment on the day of judgment.

A. Find Out:

1. Who came and will come? v.1a
2. What will these coming ones do? v.1b-3
3. What examples does Peter give of God’s destruction? v.4-6
4. Yet what other examples does he give in contrast? v.5b,7
5. What point does he make? v.9

B. Think:

1. What are the motives of false teachers and how are they shown?
2. What does God warn about them?
3. Yet what encouragement is given?

C. Comment:

       Having just spoken about prophecy, that leads Peter to go on to mention false prophets and then warn about false teachers who will come. Let’s consider the WORK OF FALSE TEACHERS.

      First of all, they deny Jesus. Anyone who takes you away from Jesus is a false teacher. Anyone who gives you a method to follow instead of a relationship to work out is a false teacher.

      Second, their teaching is destructive. If it is not focused on Jesus, it will be focused on self, and that will end in destruction.

      Third, this form of teaching will result in behaviour that is sensual and self-seeking and will be shameful and will be seen to be what it is and will bring dishonour.

      Next let’s consider the apparent DELAY BY God in dealing with them. Look, says Peter, these men will come and will seem to get away with it for a while, but understand two things: first God will deal with such people in time and, second, His grace can keep you in the meantime.

      Peter then gives three illustrations of how God did eventually bring judgement in Old Testament history but there was a delay in each case. Yet while that delay persisted there were righteous men who held onto their righteousness in the face of other men’s ungodliness and unrighteousness. So, says Peter, hang on and maintain your righteousness when such men come.   Will we maintain our righteousness, even though all others fail?

D. Application:

1. God may delay but He will deal with the unrighteous.
2. We are to maintain our righteousness despite what others do.

Passage: 2 Peter 2:10-16

10 This is especially true of those who follow the corrupt desire of the flesh and despise authority.

Bold and arrogant, they are not afraid to heap abuse on celestial beings; 11 yet even angels, although they are stronger and more powerful, do not heap abuse on such beings when bringing judgment on them from the Lord. 12 But these people blaspheme in matters they do not understand. They are like unreasoning animals, creatures of instinct, born only to be caught and destroyed, and like animals they too will perish.

13 They will be paid back with harm for the harm they have done. Their idea of pleasure is to carouse in broad daylight. They are blots and blemishes, revelling in their pleasures while they feast with you. 14 With eyes full of adultery, they never stop sinning; they seduce the unstable; they are experts in greed – an accursed brood! 15 They have left the straight way and wandered off to follow the way of Balaam son of Bezer, who loved the wages of wickedness. 16 But he was rebuked for his wrongdoing by a donkey – an animal without speech – who spoke with a human voice and restrained the prophet’s madness.

A. Find Out:

1. How are these men described in action and attitude? v.10
2. What does Peter say they are like? v.12
3. What further does he censure them for? v.13
4. What also do they do? v.14
5. Who are they like? v.15
6. But what happened to him? v.16

B. Think:

1. How would you summarise the attitude of these men?
2. How would you describe their activities?
3. What does Peter say will happen to them?

C. Comment:

      Peter has just been speaking against false teachers, and now he extends it to those who follow the way of the flesh, of the sinful desire, who have not crucified their old lives (see Rom 6:6,11). These people are rebellious and despise authority, so they do whatever they feel like doing regardless of the consequences. They speak out foolishly without thinking of what they say, they blaspheme without understanding. Really, says Peter, they are just like wild animals who go by instinct alone, and as such they will end up being destroyed.

      Further, these men revel publicly, openly and even at the Lord’s Supper. They look for pleasure and have no moral boundaries, and so they venture into adultery, they seduce women and they are greedy. There is nothing to be said good about these men. They will be condemned. Yet there are indications through all this that these men purport a form of spirituality, but they are far from spiritual.

     Peter speaks of them slandering celestial beings (?fallen angels) and being compared to the seer, Balaam.  Peter’s condemnation of these men is outspoken. There is no room, he is saying, in the church of God, for men like this, whether or not they call themselves teachers and leaders, they are not of Christ. Are we discerning in the days in which we live?

D. Application:

1. Teachers should be holy. There is no room for unrighteousness.
2. The unrighteous will be disciplined severely by God. Beware.

Passage: 2 Peter 2:17-22

17 These people are springs without water and mists driven by a storm. Blackest darkness is reserved for them. 18 For they mouth empty, boastful words and, by appealing to the lustful desires of the flesh, they entice people who are just escaping from those who live in error. 19 They promise them freedom, while they themselves are slaves of depravity – for ‘people are slaves to whatever has mastered them.’ 20 If they have escaped the corruption of the world by knowing our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ and are again entangled in it and are overcome, they are worse off at the end than they were at the beginning. 21 It would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than to have known it and then to turn their backs on the sacred command that was passed on to them. 22 Of them the proverbs are true: ‘A dog returns to its vomit,’ and, ‘A sow that is washed returns to her wallowing in the mud.’

A. Find Out:    

1. How does Peter first describe them and their end? v.17
2. What does he say about what they say and do? v.18
3. What is contradictory about what they say and do? v.19
4. What has happened to them? v.20,21
5. How have they fulfilled the proverb? v.22

B. Think:

1. What indication is there that Peter is speaking about Christians?
2. Yet what had become their lifestyle?
3. What does Peter say about their end?

C. Comment:

     This is one of those very sobering passages of Scripture, not so much because of what can happen to us even though we may be Christians today, but sobering because it shows again the folly of the human heart in its most extreme form.

      If these were people of the world, non-Christians, Peter wouldn’t go to the trouble of wasting words on them, he would simply say preach the Gospel to them and if they reject it, stay away from them. But instead he talks about those who have known the Lord and then become entangled again by the world. We may try and escape the truth by saying well perhaps they weren’t really Christians, but Peter speaks about them knowing the Lord.

      Yes, tragically, these are people who have known the Lord but gone back to a life of sin where they live to appease the flesh and its wrong desires and, even worse, to entice others to do the same.

      Peter’s words of condemnation cannot be stronger: “blackest darkness is reserved for them” (v.17) and “they are worse off at the end than they were at the beginning” (v.20). If this doesn’t mean loss of eternity it certainly means the most terrible of discipline needed to restore them. Rather than argue over the possibility of the loss of eternal inheritance, let’s simply say, this is to be avoided at all costs.   Take care of your life!

D. Application:

1. Christians CAN move away from knowing the Saviour. Beware.
2. Christians CAN be enticed back into the folly of the world. Beware.