September 15, 2006 - 2 Peter 2:1-3

Peter, in this chapter, takes a very hard view of those who were causing internal harm to the Church. In his first letter he dealt mainly with the persecutions which came from outside the fellowship of God's people. Now he is looking inside to what is perhaps the greatest danger which confronts the movement of Christianity around the world. These are the false teachers who, for one reason or another, begin to spread false teachings around among the people of God. They are smart, world wise, and very subtle in their error. Peter’s message was relevant to the people of his day and is especially relevant for us today.

1 But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction.

Ψευδοπροφήτης – pseudo-prophets - “likely prophets who are false, but so near the true ones that it is difficult to distinguish them from the real prophets”

This long translation is necessary in order to understand the full meaning of the word. They are also easily mistaken for the real one because they are so near like the real prophet. A radically false prophet would be easily spotted, but one who is so near the real prophet that it is difficult to tell the difference often slips by the one not in tune with God’s word.

A member of the government's secret service was telling of his work against counterfeit money one day. He passed around some of the examples he had recovered in many of the raids that the service had made. Some were so obviously false that it was difficult to tell how a person could be so easily taken in. Others were extraordinarily good and could only be really spotted by an expert. The listeners were surprised at the tremendous amount of money which turned out to be bogus. It was in the several millions of dollars in the country's fourth largest city.

When he asked for questions and comments, one man commented that the agent would have to study the counterfeits very closely in order to be able to spot the counterfeits. The surprising answer was, “We only have to study very closely the real thing, then it is easier to spot that which is counterfeit.

This is a basic, elemental truth which applies also to the unmasking of the “false prophet” and the “false teacher”. Listen carefully, with an ear for sound doctrine, and you just might be surprised who the false teachers are. The teacher that tells you that doctrine is not important is a false teacher. The teacher that would like the church inside to become more like the world outside in order to attract people is a false teacher. The seeker friendly, purpose driven churches of today are teaching the kind of gospel that tickles the ear and makes you feel warm inside, very different from the gospel preached and taught by Peter and the other apostles.

And I would like to carry this in application a bit further. The same applies to the music that we play and sing in our worship service. If the music we call Christian does not teach the truth of the gospel then it is false teaching and the person leading it is a false teacher. A fellow by the name Scott Hill, pastor and chief musician at Murrieta Valley Church in California and contributor to the Fide-o blog stated the following: “To sing songs in corporate worship for any other reason, other than the desire to teach the great truths of scripture, edify one another, and testify to what God has done for a congregation is a dangerous, dangerous game. Picking a song because of its popularity or its ease of use has no place in corporate worship. To flippantly choose a song without thoroughly checking its accuracy is no different than stepping to the mic to preach error. If you choose a song that teaches error then you have just taught that same error to your congregation. Do you think God will hold you responsible? I do.” Oh, how our worship leaders need to give this consideration before allowing secular music and this candy coated so called “Christian” music played and sung in worship.

Ψευδοδιδάσκαλος – pseudo –teachers - Same as the false prophet.

Παρεισάγω - to introduce or bring in secretly or craftily. The exact meaning of the verb is “to bring in by the side” as if it would pass inspection and then take the place of what was there before. Something false very seldom attacks the truth head on. It usually attacks obliquely in order to work its way in without notice. Beware, just because it’s taught in the church does not mean that it is true. Example, there is a book titled “Wild at Heart” that has been widely accepted as truth in many churches today. The author appears to be an open theist and teaches that God is a risk taker. God is absolutely sovereign and to teach that God is a risk taker diminishes God and removes Him from His throne and elevates man. It is heresy!

αiρεσις – heresies – sects – factions – divisions. A heresy is any teaching/belief that diminishes Jesus and elevates something or someone above Him.

A word of caution. This does not mean that we are to measure everything that we are taught by what our church or denomination teaches. This also does not mean that we should measure everything by what a favorite preacher in church, over radio, or over television espouses. What it means is that WE are, RESPONSIBLE for letting the Holy Spirit guide us in a personal study of the Scriptures in order to be able to tell what is true and what is false, repeat, a PERSONAL STUDY. We will stand or fall on what we ourselves believe, so it is incumbent upon us as individuals to keep keen enough in the Scriptures in order to “rightly divide the Word of Truth”.


2 And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of truth will be blasphemed.

aσέλγεια - Debauchery, licentiousness, lewdness, be unrestrained in moral attitudes and behaviors (Mk 7:22; Ro 13:13; 2Co 12:21; Gal 5:19; Eph 4:19; 1Pe 4:3; 2Pe 2:2, 7, 18; Jude 4) This is a word which is often used to describe the way people can push to extreme the base desires of sin. Evidently part of the "heresies" which Peter is writing against has to do with a very base life-style being practiced and justified while, at the same time, claim to be Christian. They carried to extreme the idea of “Christian freedom”. We most often hear this error preached by way of the statement, “I can commit any sin I want to as a Christian, and still go to heaven”. There needs to be a very close examination of the “want to” of such teaching.

When the church inside, looks like the world outside, there will be less of a change in people’s lives. When the lives of the people of the church take on the likeness of the lives of the world outside then God is not in it. It will attract a lot of people, the message and the music will be popular but it will not be of God. Jesus turned to the multitudes and said “If any man wishes to follow after me he must deny himself, take up his cross and follow me.” Not a popular thing to say and I imagine that a great majority of the multitude turned and walked away.

aλήθεια - the truth as taught in the Christian religion, respecting God and the execution of his purposes through Christ, and respecting the duties of man, opposing alike to the superstitions of the Gentiles and the inventions of the Jews, and the corrupt opinions and precepts of false teachers even among Christians.

βλασφημέω - future, passive indicative verb which means “to blaspheme”. Taking the tense into consideration shows that this "blaspheming" will continue to be a problem into the future. The victim of all of this is the TRUTH.

3 And in their greed they will exploit you with false words. Their condemnation from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.

Here we get to the root of the problem. It’s greed.

Πλεονεξία – Greediness, Covetousness, Exploitation

Eμπορεύομαι – Cheat, be in business, carry on commerce. It is the Greek word from which we get our word “emporium”. In its best sense it means “to travel for the purpose of doing business”. In the sense here, which is bad, it means “to make a gain of” or “to exploit”. Notice that Peter is telling his readers that they were the victims of the exploitation of the false teachers.

The judgment of the false teachers is not going to be long in coming. Judgment is not just something which will happen in the far future. It is going on all the time. Those who deal so lightly and treacherously with the only thing which can set people free, God's Truth, do not have to wait for the end time to know God's judgment. They stand in jeopardy every moment.

We see here that Peter does not view the false teachers as Christians who have strayed slightly from their appointed place in God's Kingdom. Damnation is only for those who are God's enemies. It is not asleep. It is wide awake and in operation in the moment.

It would be well to take note that the word “destruction” has occurred three times in these first three verses. If there is any wonder about the way Peter feels, it should be dispelled. He feels that the problem of false teachers is very critical and must be addressed by the churches.

I will close this study with words spoken recently by Dr. Donald McCall (Mac) Brunson at the September 12 chapel service at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. In his sermon he made three points worth our consideration:

First, Christians have depreciated doctrine in exchange for shallow emotionalism. It is often difficult to distinguish between Christians and non-Christians today because their beliefs and lifestyles are virtually identical, Brunson said,"We've got all kinds of mess that's going on in the church today," he said. "The gap is so small between the believer and the unbeliever that you can hardly distinguish between the two."

Many Christians have even bought into the popular but deadly notion that truth is relative, Brunson said."By claiming the authority to determine right from wrong, we crown ourselves the kings and queens of reality, yet we have no authority," he said. "We constantly pay the price for the arrogance of believing and acting like we are in control of our destiny and experience. What an affront it is to God for us to claim His name and protection but to resist His moral truths on the basis of human feelings."

Second, Christians have abandoned the absolutes of God's Word and seek to gain approval from the world, he said. Scripture pictures the Christian holding the Word of God with one hand and holding back the world with the other hand, Brunson said. "[The world has] No discernment whatsoever," he said. "We have abandoned absolute truth. We don't adhere to ancient texts. We do what we feel led to do."

Third, Brunson said many Christians have become infatuated with influence and are preoccupied with prestige. This trend should be of particular concern to the Southern Baptist Convention because many in the denomination are excessively concerned with growing big churches and gaining notoriety, Brunson said. Such attitudes differ greatly from Jesus' teachings in Scripture, he said."We want a crowd, but you go and find me in the Gospels where Jesus' bottom line was a crowd," Brunson said.

Recover doctrine of discernment, Brunson tells SBTS studentsSeptember 14, 2006By David Roach

“Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles,

August 28, 2006 Bible Study - 2 Peter 1:15-21

15 And I will make every effort so that after my departure you may be able at any time to recall these things.

Σπουδάζω - Make every effort – To be diligent – To do your best – To be eager – To strive
Eξοδος – Exodus – Departure – Departure from life
ποιέω – To carry out

Peter is nearing the end of his life and will make every effort to make sure that the people he is addressing will be able to recall his teachings. This is during a time when false doctrines concerning Christ’s’ return are infiltrating the Church.

16 For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty.

Σοφίζομαι - know how to contrive cleverly; make wise
μuθος – Legends – Fiction – Fable – Falsehood – Invention
γνωρίζω - To make known - “to gain a knowledge of” or “have thorough knowledge of”.
Eπόπτης - spectator, eye witness of anything

Peter told them that they did not follow cleverly devised myths, fables or stories concerning the second coming of Christ. They knew of the majesty of Christ first hand.

This word μuθος, is used by Paul when he refers to those things which we are to have nothing to do.

1 Timothy 1:3&4 - 3 As I urged you when I was going to Macedonia, remain at Ephesus that you may charge certain persons not to teach any different doctrine, 4 nor to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies, which promote speculations rather than the stewardship from God that is by faith.

The practice of the unbelieving Jews was to embellish the Old Testament Scriptures with all kinds of fanciful developments and stories. The simple, clear word of God just is not thrilling and exciting enough for us. We want to embellish it. That is nothing new. The Jews were doing that with their Old Testament Scriptures as well. The embellishments made the stories more interesting, more appealing and more compelling, but it is something that the true believers are to avoid.

1 Timothy 4:7: 7 Have nothing to do with irreverent, silly myths. Rather train yourself for godliness; 8 for while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come

Churches need to be reminded of that. We are not there to entertain with cute, silly little stories; we are there to minister the word of God. I get the idea here that Paul may have been dealing with a church that offered exercise classes instead of the study of the scriptures. Sound familiar?

The church is losing its ability to discern between myths and the truth.

2 Timothy 4:3-4: 3 For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, 4 and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. 5 As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.

The people of the church will want to hear stories that men make up rather than listen to someone teach the pure word of God. Nowadays people think you need to be a good story teller in order to be a good teacher. The simplicity of the word of God no longer holds the attention of people. But as believers we are to have nothing to do with these things - myths, tales, stories, fables.

Titus 1: 13&14: 13 This testimony is true. Therefore rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith, 14 not devoting themselves to Jewish myths and the commands of people who turn away from the truth.

Here again the myths are the Jewish embellishments of the Scripture. Why are the people of God so easily turned aside from the simplicity and the purity of Christ and their devotion to His truth? They want to hear the stories, the myths, and the fables. Why is it more interesting for someone to stand up and tell stories about personal life experiences than it is to hear what the living God has to say? Paul says to reprove them severely so that they don't do these things.

17 For when he received honor and glory from God the Father, and the voice was borne to him by the Majestic Glory, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased,” 18 we ourselves heard this very voice borne from heaven, for we were with him on the holy mountain.

Peter says that they speak with an experiential knowledge of Christ. He was there and he heard the voice of God. What Peter says next is amazing.

19 And we have something more sure, the prophetic word, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts,

βεβαίωσις – Confirmation – Verification
λόγος – Words or statements from the OT prophets, the Old Testament Scriptures.
ποιέω – Perform, give attention – Present active – You will do well to give attention and continue to do so. Do not stop giving attention to…

Peter is saying "You can have full confidence in the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ for two reasons: first, because of our experience on the Mount of Transfiguration, and second, because we have the prophetic word made more sure."

Peter, however, has more in mind than just accepting his personal testimony. He points his readers to the prophetic sections of the Scripture which told of the coming Messiah. The real power of the Old Testament is its ability to project the coming of Christ in such detail that there is no doubt about His Deity and Person. Peter is telling his readers that Scripture is superior to personal experience. It may well be that Peter was alluding to the entire Old Testament when he used the phrase "word of prophecy". Peter is leaving no doubt in anybody's mind that he believes in the superior authority of Scripture.


Psalm 119:105: Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.

In the dark you can say anything and be anybody. But when the light is turned on you are exposed to who you really are. That is what the word of God does. It is a lamp, a light in the midst of darkness.

The “World” is pictured as dark.

1 John 1:5: 5 This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. 6 If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. 8 If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

Ephesians 6:12 12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

20 knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation.

One point should be made. People have their favorite translation of the Scriptures today, and there is entirely too much argument about which is the best. This verse should be a grave warning to all those who take on the task of translation, especially those who use the pages of the Scripture Itself for their own comments; but it should serve as a warning to those who choose certain translations to prove their point of theology. Some of the modern “paraphrases” are most dangerous at this point. While they may help in understanding some of the more difficult verses, they are not faithful enough to the original language of the Bible to be used for proof texts.

Let us look at one of the passages for instance.

The King James Version of I Corinthians 2:9 says, “But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.”

The New International Version says, “However, as it is written: "No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him”--

The American Standard Version reads, “but as it is written, `Things which eye saw not, and ear heard not, And[ which] entered not into the heart of man, Whatsoever things God prepared for them that love him.'”

The Revised Standard Version has it, “But, as it is written, "What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man conceived, what God has prepared for those who love him,”

Now let us look at one of the “Paraphrases”, The Living Bible. It has, for the same verse of Scripture, “That is what is meant by the Scriptures which say that no mere man has ever seen, heard or even imagined what wonderful things God has ready for those who love the Lord.”

Notice the word WONDERFUL inserted into the verse. While this may strike a chord on the heart of many of the readers, it is very inaccurate. Such a word does not appear in either the Greek New Testament or the Hebrew Old Testament passage of Isaiah 64:4, from which Paul quotes it. The reason for seeking accuracy when formulating doctrine is that, as far as this passage is concerned, God has prepared many things for his people which are hurtful and painful, but in the long run give God Glory. Every truly regenerated Child of God willingly accepts those “bad” experiences God has in store for him in order that he might either grow in God's Grace or be useful in bringing God Glory. I rest my case.

21 For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

Φέρω - carried along - from the word φέρομαι.

Luke used this word in referring to a sailing vessel carried along by the wind (Acts 27:15, 17).

The inspiration of Scripture was given by God Himself. Peter also notes that God set aside certain men, chosen by His Sovereign Will, to speak and have set down in writing as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. We have here one of the glimpses of the ministry of God's Holy Spirit in the Old Testament. In some cases the Scripture was dictated by the Holy Spirit, as in the case of the Law given to Moses and the Prophetical books. In other cases the man spoke and wrote as he saw the need for the Word of God in a particular situation. In others it was God being in control of an historian chronicling the events of Hebrew history, as in the case of 1 and 2 Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings, and 1 and 2 Chronicles. In every case, God was in complete control of the Record God wished to reach the people.

APPLICATION OF THE SCRIPTURE:

Peter moves from recounting his own personal experience with hearing the testimony of God to the written testimony of Scripture. In so doing he subordinates himself to the written Word and gives to It the supreme authority of God's Revelation to mankind. It is of extreme importance that we recognize this and constantly reach for, through study and prayer, the interpretation and application which God wants in each particular instance. It must be said, however, that the right interpretation will always agree, and the right application may well vary. There is only one correct interpretation, the interpretation which God has for the Scripture. Any disagreement means that either all are wrong or one is right, all varying opinions cannot possibly be correct. The application is something else altogether. The application meets the need which God wants for any given situation and may vary with the situation. It cannot be stressed too strongly that people need to be able to differentiate between that which is interpretation and that which is application, or else grave errors will be made.

“Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles,