The condemnation of false teachers

Well, we are in 2 Peter, chapter 2, and just at the end, the last two verses, 20 and 22. Then we go on to chapter 3 next week. And I'm going to review of last week. And this is from Roy's lesson from last week, but really good. And here's the verses leading up to those. 17, 18, and 19. And this is not a literal translation, but one that I took from Roy's. He put together the Greek, and this is his translation with some of the tenses and things added in. But it's instructive.

So for 17 through 19. talking about false teachers. These false teachers are being springs without water, mists under strong winds being driven, for whom the false teachers, the gloom of the dark, has been appointed and kept. And one commentator said the dark is the blackness of the darkness, has been kept for them. Bloated words of unreality, false teachers are luring, enticing, and trapping by strong desires of flesh, by uncontrolled senses. These believers who recently, and Macaulay says barely, recently and barely escaping from those who by delusion are being enslaved.

Verse 19, offering them liberty. while they themselves are under rules of depravity, they're slaves to corruption. For what defeats someone also enslaves them. So that's kind of the animated version of 17 through 19. We go on to our verses for today. So starting at verse 20, for if they have For if they escape the defilements of the world by the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are entangled in them and are overcome. The last state has become worse for them than the first.

For it would be better for them not to have known the way of righteousness than having known it to turn away from the holy commandment handed to them. It has happened to them according to the true proverb, A dog returns to its own vomit, and a sow, after washing, returns to wallowing in the mire.

And there you have the part about the sow and the dog. Very strong language from Peter. Moreover, I'd like to touch on what Roy talked about last week. And this is, again, his wording that he It came out from this Greek study of verses 10 through 16 of Peter chapter 2.

The false teachers act like self-survival, focused animals, unreasoning animals, reviling while they have no knowledge. They are corrupted by their own corruption. Point three, they count it a pleasure to revel in the daytime. They are without moral and graceful character. They are stains and blemishes. They have eyes full of adultery that never cease from sin. They attract and bait unstable souls. They have hearts trained in greed. They have followed the way of Balaam, son of Beor."

And I added two points by William Kelly for 9 and 10. Never had these evil workers been sheep of the good shepherd's pasture. These false teachers have never been transformed by the renewal of their minds, which is God's effectual grace when he renews the mind. So I thought that was a, and I just sort of bamfed on what Roy did last week. That was a very good study, so I would encourage everyone to go back and revisit that.

So on to verse 20 of Peter chapter 2. Our verse is, for if they have escaped the defilements of the world by the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and are overcome. Their last state has become worse for them than the first. So the first thing to address is, and this is from Macaulay. He brought this out. No other really commentator brought this out. But he brought out who is the they and the them in verse 20. So we have they and them, as I've highlighted above. Now, when I read this, when I started out studying this, I just thought this whole chapter was about the false teachers.

But if we go back to verse 18, 18a, it says, for speaking out arrogant words of vanity, they entice by fleshly desires, by sensuality, those who barely escape the ones who live in there. So we have they and those in verse 18a and 18b. And you can see how the they in 18a are the ones enticing and luring and baiting. They are enticing, luring, baiting those in 18b who barely escape.

So there's two different groups of people. And this is, again, Macaulay points this out. I found it very helpful, because it's a little turn on this part of the chapter that makes it more easy to understand. We have the teachers in the top. In the King James Version, it's more clear, because 218 says that. The taught are referred to those that were clean. So they were clean at one time. They were barely escaping the false teachers who live in there. Those that were clean is how they are referred to in King James.

So our subject for today, verse 20, is now the taught, the ones that are taught by these teachers. Let's look at some of the characteristics of the top ones. They at one time came to the light of the truth of the gospel. Up there in the first part of the verse, they escaped the confinements of the world by the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

So that knowledge is epinos, it's full knowledge and precise knowledge. I think Roy likes to say correct knowledge or experiential knowledge. So knowledge of what? And that is the saving work of Christ's cross work, his work on the cross, his death, his burial, and his resurrection.

For the propitiation of sins, the top had come into contact with that truth. And who had, at least on the surface, took that on and appeared as Christians to these other believers that Peter is addressing. So they, the taught ones, said to this knowledge that they received, they weighed it and considered And they found it haunting.

They said, well, I like what the teachers are teaching me. I will again hearken to their words, because they promised me freedom. And freedom, we go back to verse 19, that the false teachers, it says, promising them freedom while they themselves are the slaves of corruption. And that's talking about the false teacher. So freedom is the kind of carrot on the stick that these false teachers are offering to the top ones. So the result is the top group, again, turn to the false teachers, who promise them false liberty. And then they are, again, entangled with the false teacher.

And that Greek is interwoven. I think its constable has, as entangled, as braided together with the false teachers involved with them. They escape, or are escaping, depending on the tense of the verb. Roy had it. Are escaping, I think, from last week.

They move away from it, but then they circle back and come back to it, the false teaching, instead of the light of the gospel. So if they do that. It would be better if they had never heard the truth at all, right? Their fate is now worse than it would be if they were always in darkness. And again, a Macaulay points that out really well. The ones who are in the dark are better off than those who turn away from the light of the gospel.

That's what I have at point three. OK, on to verse 21. I thought of this comparison to verse 21. Verse 21 says, For it would be better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn away from the holy commandment and hand it to them. So they received it, and they turned away.

I like a boomerang. It's kind of the analogy that I thought of. So in Matthew, Jesus says about receiving little children. He says, and whosoever receives one such child in my name receives me. But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to stumble, it would be better for him to have a heavy millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea. That's Matthew 18, 5 and 6.

So you can see up in 2 Peter chapter 2, verse 21, it begins with, for it would be better for them not to have known the way of righteousness. And Jesus says in his dissertation there, it would be better for him to have a heavy millstone hung around his neck. So parallel kind of thought, or a consequence to it, and we'll see why it's better for them not to have known the truth and to stay in the darkness than to circle back and reject the truth we see that pretty clearly in Hebrews chapter 10 verses 26 through 31 the writer of Hebrews saying, for if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth There no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a terrifying expectation of judgment, and the fury of a fire which will consume the adversaries. Anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses.

29. How much more severe punishment do you think he will deserve? the foot of the Son of God, and has regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has insulted the Spirit of grace." So he insulted the Holy Spirit. Verse 34, We know him who said, Vengeance is mine, I will repay. And again, the Lord will judge his people.

And it ends at verses 31, It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God. And so you see, to state it again, the predicament is much worse for these taught ones. The ones taught are the false teachers. They have been exposed to the Christ gospel than if they had remained ignorant of it and just remained as pagans. One consequence of falling under the spell of a false teacher is more severe punishment, as we see in the Hebrews passage, and falling into the hands of a terrifying, consuming judgment of God. OK, on to verse 22 then. I'm kind of flying along, aren't I? So any questions so far? Any comments? OK, verse 22.

So here's our two aphorisms, is what they're called. It has happened to them, according to the true proverb, a dog returns to its own vomit, and a sow, after washing, returns to wallowing in the mire. And this is kind of fun, just for your information. I looked up what these were. These are called aphorisms. And I might have learned that in junior high or high school, but I'd forgotten that fact. And one of them comes from Proverbs 26. And you see on the right is Proverbs 26. like a snow in the summer and like rain in the harvest.

So honor is not fitting for a fool. If you skip down to some other aphorisms of Proverbs 26 that I like, verse 8, like one who binds a stone in a sling, so is he who gives honor to a fool. Like a thorn which falls into the hand of a drunkard, so is a proverb in the mouth of fools. and affecting reach over here. And you see in verse 11, we have, like a dog that returns to its own vomit, is a fool who repeats his falling. Falling, that's what Peter draws from here. Other aphorisms, not in the Bible, are, if the shoe fits, wear it. That's one.

Honesty is the best policy. from Benjamin Franklin. Here's one from Ferris Bueller's Day Off. Great movie. Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it, said Ferris Bueller. Here's one from Proverbs 22. Train up a child in the way he should go. And when he is old, he will not depart from it. Absence makes the heart grow fonder. How about this one, which would apply to my situation of the last few weeks. Children should be seen and not heard.

Oh, here's an interesting one. If you want something done well, do it yourself. Napoleon said that. Plato said necessity is the mother of invention. And here's my favorite one. I've known this since I was a kid, and I like this one. And it goes, this aphorism goes, before you criticize a man, walk a mile in the shoes. That way, when you do criticize him, You'll be a mile away, and you'll have to shoot. That's from Steve Marr.

And I'm just sort of going into popular culture here, but Red Deer Kittling had this poem, The Gods of the Copybook Headings, and he quotes that same The same, he quotes 2 Peter 2.22 in the poem you see down there at the end of the slide. As it will be in the future, it was at the birth of man, there was only four things certain since social progress began, that a dog returns to his own vomit and a sow returns to her mire. And the bird fool's bandaged finger goes wobbling back to the fire.

So you see the similes and the creative imagery and the metaphors and things in aphorisms. That's a really cool poem that Kipling wrote. If you read the whole thing, it talks about the copybook headings are the things that when Maybe some of you, when you were young, I think I can remember this. I think our teacher did that. But to copy handwriting, the teacher would write an aphorism on the chalkboard, really neat and in cursive, like the quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog. And everyone would copy that. And that's the copybook headings.

And what Kipling is saying is there's true wisdom in those insights. There's truth in those. But then with social progress, you know, with the media and advertising and science, there's all this junk that comes at us. All this junk knowledge and junk things. But he argues that these copybook headings are the true wisdom and those will come back and destroy all. all the things. And we think about it today with politics, and propaganda, and mainstream media.

And it really kind of fits that poem from Red Yard Kipling. OK, the consequences, which are the theme studied today, so that consequences of being overcome with these false teachers and their doctrines. In Proverbs 26, we have the subject of these aphorisms, returning to his folly. But Peter's subject, Peter addresses people who are regressing back to sin and error, and the error of the false teachers. having escaped those defilements or pollutions in the King James Version.

In verse 18, once again, this lesson I found, I'm making a lot of the same points in different ways, but maybe that makes it more clear. I kind of feel like I'm repeating myself this morning, but maybe that's good because it makes a clearer lesson. We don't cover new things after new things. And maybe this is the most clear lesson I've ever given. Who knows? But I seem to be repeating myself a lot. But in point two, we go back to verse 18.

The ones who were taught were once clean. They had escaped. And Jesus said, you are already clean because the words which I have spoken to you so The water of the word washes a person. And these people kind of clean up their act from paganism. But now they're going back to it. They were washed with words of truth, point three, but are now returning to vomit and mud, like the dog and the pig.

So how do we know that these subjects, And Kelly and Macaulay and other commentators point this out, that Peter's not addressing born-again Christians here. How do we know that they aren't born again? And I like this quote from William Kelly in his book.

There is no such anomaly in the Christian sphere as the degradation of a sheep to a dog, nor a metamorphosis into a swine. A dog does not become a sheep, nor does a sheep become a swine. To claim it, that is false science of theology. Never had these evil workers been sheep in the good shepherd's pasture. And we touched on that in the beginning of the lesson. And of course, the words from Christ himself, that which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit, is Spirit, in John 3, 6.

So, and I don't think, if you think about it, you know, Peter or Paul or the writers of the New Testament, they would never refer to their believers as a dog, because a dog in ancient times was a terribly unclean animal, very unclean. And they didn't have them as pets. They were wild. So you'd never refer to a believer as a dog or a swine. They're always saints, aren't we? We're always addressed as saints, even if you're living in error and you're like the Corinthians. Paul always addresses his believers as saints. because it's right there. And they've gone through the born-again process by the work of the Holy Spirit, the baptism that the Holy Spirit does.

Last thought on this passage is something else that Roy touched on last week at the end of his lesson that I wanted to touch on. And it's going back to verse 17. And verse 17, we're talking about the false teachers. Once again, and then extending back days 20 through 22, we're also talking about their progenies, or the top ones. These are springs without water and mists driven by a storm, verse 17, for whom the black darkness has been reserved.

It's interesting that I think I quoted that on Facebook, too. if you follow Ken Marr. And I said, a lot of this chapter 2 of Peter 2 sounds like it's talking about politicians, doesn't it? Instead of false teachers. If you just kind of substitute in your mind false teachers for politicians, it's about the same. So I kind of quoted that, and I got a few likes on that Facebook post.

John 4.14 is along the same lines. But whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst. But the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up into eternal life.

And then in John 7.39, He who believes in me, as the scripture said, from his innermost being will flow rivers of living water. And I'll stop there on that.

But I just want to make the point that one who is born again, or a true Christian, will have the water, Christ's water in him, the water of it eternal life, this spring of eternal life, and that's the Holy Spirit within him. So when we are talking about up in the earlier part of 2 Peter chapter 2, where it describes in 17, these are springs without water and mist driven by the storm, for whom the black darkness has been reserved, a born-again one won't be referred to as having no water or only mists. It's only because they have Christ's living water within them. And so I just wanted to touch upon that. And I found it interesting that the water and the mists kind of tie into that passage that Christ spoke in John. So I think I'm running pretty early today. I thought I would. Let's see. Yes? Here's the black darkness of the black night. OK. That's what you'd expect. So any thoughts? Questions? Hesitatingly have a question?

Yeah. Going back to your analysis of the verses. Are you saying, then, that the ones being taught are not born-again ones? Yeah. Yeah, I think so. Because there's a second class, the taught ones. And he seems to be addressing subject of professing Christians, the ones who come into contact with the truth, but who aren't born again.

And if you think of, well, gee, and I hate to name names, but think of some televangelists, some people in the media who have big ministry platforms, and they do these, that they have Learjets and things, and they're in it for the money. Yeah, I tend to think so.

You could go the other way, though. You could say that these are believers who turn away from the gospel and who go back to the things of paganism and who leave the gospel. I tend to agree with Macaulay and Kelly that they are unbelievers. But do you see it differently, Roy?

I try to give what the text says in my analysis here. And what the text does say is that they have escaped. And the correction is that they have escaped from the text in a way and the perspective of it. would be the corruption that comes from the world, that they have escaped from that. I don't know how to say it any other way than, in staying with the text, it disagrees with Napoleon and many others to take the position which you say we could take with that these are believers, who are new believers, being deceived by these false creatures that are in the water, or swimming in the clouds without water, that kind of thing.

They're not born again. But the believers, the other, are deceived by them. If you take the text literally, it appears to be more of the same. And I'm with you, you can take it either way, don't get me wrong. But it appears from the text to disagree that these are two camps of people here, believers and unbelievers. Unbelievers deceiving believers.

I don't know if I've said that clearly enough, but that's where I'm at with this text. I went back and forth myself on that because you could say that these are believers who just get caught up with the false teachers and then move over to the false teachers camp and then move back. Well, I think that I could add to that maybe with my focus here is the moment that the hands of the living God that we worship is a terrible thing. I mean, it's going to discipline us if we aren't going to get in and offer false air and bring us back, by all means, right at the disposal and that means that now we are cheaper than being disciplined whereas the unbeliever is not under that he has eternal damnation looking forward to but in this life we have God as well disciplining us and bringing us back to himself yeah, but I noticed that in 2 Peter chapter 2 And the verses today and the ones that you covered last week, there's no...

He never gets into restoration, right? Like something you think Paul would do, how a believer is restored. There's no mention of restoration. And it's all blackness and darkness and calling them dogs and sows and things like that. To where I agree with you that believers can be restored, but here it just seems like he's addressing people, like in Hebrews chapter 10, they're just, they're gone, they're, they're, they just, like Judas, and I don't think I brought that up in my, I had it in, I might have taken it out, but Judas was, he was hanging out with the Twelve for many years, or three years. I guess I took this out of my lesson. I had it in there.

When Christ said, the disciples said, who is it, Lord, who will betray you? And Christ said to them, it is the one who I will dip my morsel into the wine and give to him. So he did that. They gave it to Judas. And the disciples still, after that, did not put their finger on Judas as the one who would betray Christ. And think of it. Judas appeared as one of them, and the disciples accepted Judas. But was Judas born again?

No. He was lost. And that's something that I think it was Kelly who brought out, too. He used that, or maybe it was Macaulay, the example of Judas. So that's why I kind of fall in Macaulay's lead here, in that we're talking about people who are like Judas, who never had been born again. But I can see the other side of it, too. fully would accept that as well.

So yeah, it's interesting. It's a little tough. Well, with the Christian, all things work together for good. The Christian may be in a pit, but the all things that work together for good would possibly be able to discern these false prophets. Right. Yeah, and I would agree with that.

But there's no, in this passage and the one from this whole chapter, there's no working out together for good for these people. It's just a really dark chapter. There's no coming up out of this. Yeah, it's a tough chapter because Peter is excoriating these guys and there's just no... there's no Christian restoration.

It will make you think twice about teaching. Yeah, having to cover this, imagine that. Yeah, imagine. Yeah, this isn't the hopeful, and I'll tell you, it isn't a hopeful passage. There's almost no hope, but we have to cover it because, you know, it's in here. Yeah, there's people lying at the end of the tunnel there.

Yeah, and now coming up in chapter 3, I think we'll, but he's just really, he's just really, you know, talking about judgment and things like that. I have a question in regards to this too, though. If you do take it as believers, the other that are being deceived here, who has And then you get into, and this has been exploited extensively by Arminius indeed, the following, that we can lose our salvation.

And you're subject then to eternal damnation, the darkness. And that's where you get the addition of unto eternity in 2nd Peter's narrative. versus in Jude, he adds it. He puts it in there. The darkness of the ages are unto eternity. It's interesting, though, in Jude, it's singular. The darkness of the age. It's not the ages, the ages of the ages.

Anyway, I just pass it along, guys, that this is something that I wrestle with you. Yeah. And those are things that need to be addressed honestly and believe when we come to the end. Right. Yeah. And so I think each of us in reading this, and we'll have to kind of just I think it can go both ways. I really can't. But I just see it so dark. And especially verse 17 about the black darkness has been reserved. I mean, would Peter ever say that to a believer? And I just don't. I don't see it. But. Or would the brother of our Lord add, of the age? Yeah. And if you add, of the age, then it's a specific period of time of judgment. And you need to take that on as well. So you say, well, was he talking about eternity? Or is this age that we're in? Right. Right. Yeah. Wouldn't these passages also lead a young believer to search for the doctrine of eternal security? Absolutely. I agree. Because you wouldn't want to experience these things that Peter brings up here, yeah, you'd want to escape that. And I like the message of the end is near. Repent, because I think we're in those times to avoid exactly what he's talking about here. That's a good point. Yeah, so we could be on a street corner preaching these scriptures, huh? Well, yeah, yeah.

I always thought that those guys were wacky, but now those guys might have a point, you know. The end is near. Good. Yeah, you wallowers in the mud. Yeah, isn't it? Right. Well, good. Good discussion. Yeah. Yeah, Andrew and Roy, you guys had, you know, some of the toughest passages that I think, you know. Right. It really is tough. Yeah. Yeah, they are. They are tough.

Remember one thing here, everybody. This is from God. This is the Holy Spirit speaking to us. Be careful. Amen. Yeah. Alright. Roger, should we close it up? Yeah, go ahead. It's almost time. Father, we thank you for this study today. We, as Roy said, we take seriously and with heavy weight that these passages that we've been discussing are your judgment and the things that you will bring upon people in this age and ages to come. And we respect that. bow before you in reverence over that, and we just pray for wisdom we think that will escape all this, being one with Christ and one with you, and that we are saved, we've believed on your holy name. We pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen.