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Scripture Reading: 2 Pet. 2:1-9
The first chapter of the Epistle of 2 Peter is on the divine provision. This provision includes two matters: life and light. The first part of chapter one emphasizes the divine life, and the second part emphasizes the divine light. The divine life is contained in the faith that has been allotted to us, and the divine light is contained in God’s word, in the word of the Old Testament prophets and the New Testament apostles. Therefore, life and light are the two components of the divine provision.
Chapters two and three of 2 Peter are on God’s government. In the messages on 1 Peter we had much to say regarding God’s governmental judgment. Chapters two and three of 2 Peter continue to show us how God exercises His governmental judgment. In 2 Pet. 2 we see God’s judgment on the false teachers (2:1-3), God’s judgment of old on both angels and men (vv. 4-9), and the evils of the false teachers and their punishment under God’s judgment (vv. 10-22). In this message we shall cover 2:1-9. Let us consider these verses one by one.
Second Peter 2:1 says, “But there arose also false prophets among the people, as also among you there will be false teachers, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction.” After presenting to the believers the rich provision of the divine life and the shining enlightenment of the divine truth, thus providing for the maintenance of life and inoculating against the poison of apostasy, the apostle Peter faithfully indicates as a warning to the believers in this chapter the awful contents of the apostasy and its dreadful result. This warning is a close parallel to that given in Jude 4-19.
In the Old Testament there were not only genuine prophets speaking God’s word, which is like a lamp shining upon us, but there were also false prophets among the people. In 2:1 Peter says that there will be also false teachers among us, those who will secretly bring in destructive heresies.
The Greek words rendered “secretly bring in” may also be translated “bring in by smuggling.” Literally, the Greek means to bring in alongside, to bring in sideways, to introduce a new subject for which the hearers are not prepared. Here it denotes the false teachers bringing in and introducing their false teachings alongside the true ones. These false teachings are called destructive heresies, or, literally, heresies of destruction.
“Heresy” is an anglicized Greek word, hairesis, which means choices of opinion of doctrine different from that usually accepted, “self-chosen doctrines alien from the truth” (Alford), thus causing division and producing sects. This word is also used in Acts 5:17; 15:5; 24:5, 14; 26:5; 28:22; 1 Cor. 11:19; Gal. 5:20 and Titus 3:10 in the adjective form, hairetikon, heretical. Here it denotes the false and heretical doctrines brought in by the false teachers, the heretics, similar to the doctrines of today’s Modernism.
Heresy involves three matters: opinion, the causing of divisions, and the producing of sects. Therefore, opinion, divisions, and sects are the three constituents of heresy. Heresy, of course, is not constructive. Instead of building up the church, heresy destroys the church. For this reason, Peter speaks of destructive heresies, or heresies of destruction.
In Peter’s words the false teachers even deny the Master who bought them. The word “Master” implies the Lord’s Person and His redemptive work. The false teachers at Peter’s time, like today’s Modernists in their apostasy, denied both the Lord’s Person as the Master and His redemption, by which He purchased the believers.
A type of Modernism that was prevailing fifty years ago was called Buchmanism, after a man named Buchman, a professor at Oxford University. Buchman put out a book entitled For Sinners Only. When we were in China, we criticized this book and opposed it because it did not say anything concerning the blood of Jesus. When Buchman became elderly, he was the leader of a movement called Moral Rearmament. Buchman may be regarded as a false teacher, one who denied the Master and His redemption.
Peter says that the false teachers will bring upon themselves swift destruction. No doubt, this means that destruction will come upon them.
In this Epistle Peter uses three different Greek words concerning the consequence of the apostasy under God’s judgment. Apollumi signifies to destroy utterly; in middle voice, to perish, as in 2 Pet. 3:6, 9. The idea is not extinction, but ruin, loss, not of being, but of well-being. Its usage in Matt. 10:28; 22:7; Mark 12:9; Luke 17:27, 29; John 3:16; 10:28; 17:12; 1 Cor. 10:9, 10; 2 Cor. 2:15; 4:3; 2 Thes. 2:10 and Jude 1:5, 11 unveils more of God’s governmental judgment.
Apoleia, akin to apollumi, indicates loss of well-being, not of being, ruin, destruction, or perdition (physical, spiritual, or eternal). It is used for “destruction” in 2 Pet. 2:1 (twice), 2 Pet. 3, 3:7, 16. The same word denotes different results of God’s varied judgments (see second paragraph of note 2 in 1 Pet. 1:17). In cases such as those described in 2 Pet. 2:1, 3; 3:7; John 17:12; Rom. 9:22; Phil. 1:28; 3:19; 2 Thes. 2:3 and Rev. 17:8, 11, it denotes eternal perdition. In cases such as those described in 2 Pet. 3:16 and Heb. 10:39, it denotes the punishment of God’s governmental discipline, not eternal perdition. In Matt. 7:13 and 1 Tim. 6:9, it denotes a principle for any case.
Phthora denotes corruption unto destruction, destruction that comes with corruption, destroying by means of corrupting, of morality, soul, and body. It is used for “corruption” in 2 Pet. 1:4; 2:12, 19, and for “corrupting” in 2 Pet. 2:12. The verb form, phtheiro, is used in future passive voice for “shall be corrupted” in 2:12, and in present passive voice for “are being corrupted” in Jude 1:10. Its significance can be further seen in Rom. 8:21; 1 Cor. 3:17; 15:33; 2 Cor. 7:2; 11:3; Gal. 6:8; Rev. 11:18 and Rev. 19:2.
In verse 2 Peter continues, “And many will follow their licentiousness, because of whom the way of the truth will be reviled.” The way of the truth is the path of the Christian life according to the truth, which is the reality of the contents of the New Testament (1 Tim. 2:4; 3:15; 4:3; 2 Tim. 2:15, 18; Titus 1:1). It is designated by other titles according to its various virtues, like the straight way (2 Pet. 2:15 see Heb. 12:13), the way of righteousness (2 Pet. 2:21; Matt. 21:32), the way of peace (Luke 1:79; Rom. 3:17), the way of salvation (Acts 16:17), the way of God (Matt. 22:16; Acts 18:26), the way of the Lord (John 1:23; Acts 18:25), and the way (Acts 9:2; 19:9, 23; 22:4; 24:22). It was slandered as the way of heresy (Acts 24:14).
Because of the false teachers, the way of the truth will be reviled. Since the way of the truth is the way of reality, and the way of reality is the way of God’s economy, this means that the false teachers will cause the entire revelation of the New Testament to be reviled.
In verse 3 Peter goes on to say, “And by covetousness with fabricated words they will make merchandise of you, for whom the judgment of old is not idle, and their destruction does not slumber.” Peter’s first Epistle stressed God’s governmental judgment (1 Pet. 4:17-18). This is continued in the second Epistle. Under God’s government the fallen angels were caught and are being kept for judgment (2:4), and the age of the deluge and the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah were all judged (vv. 5-9). But God will especially mete out serious judgment to the New Testament heretics (v. 10). And all the ungodly will be judged and destroyed at the day when the heavens and earth will be burned by fire (3:7). Because of this, the God of justice and holiness has begun His governmental judgment from His own household — the believers.
In verse 3 Peter indicates that as God exercised judgment upon the false teachers of old, that is, in ancient times, as illustrated in 2:4-9, so He will also exercise judgment upon today’s false teachers. Peter says that for such ones the judgment is not idle, and their destruction does not slumber. God’s judgment is not idle. This judgment will come upon the false teachers, and they will be destroyed.
In 2:4-9 Peter speaks concerning God’s judgment of old on both angels and men. Verse 4 says, “For if God did not spare the angels who sinned, but delivered them to gloomy pits, having cast them down to Tartarus, being kept for judgment.” These angels are the fallen angels (see notes 192 in 1 Pet. 3 and 41 in Rev. 12), who were the first fallen ones in the universe in the sequence of historical facts recorded in this chapter. These angels have been delivered to gloomy pits, having been cast down to Tartarus. Tartarus is a deep and gloomy pit, where the fallen angels are detained as in a prison (see note 193 in 1 Pet. 3).
In Tartarus the fallen angels are being kept for judgment or kept unto judgment. This will be the judgment of the great day (Jude 1:6), which will probably be the judgment of the great white throne, executed upon all the dead, upon the demons, and probably also upon the fallen angels (Rev. 20:11-15). It is logical for all the angels, demons, and men who have joined Satan in his rebellion to be judged at the same time, in the same way, and with the same result, immediately after their evil leader is judged and cast into the lake of fire (Rev. 20:10). Into that place they also will be cast (see second paragraph of note 172 in 1 Pet. 1).
In verse 5 Peter says, “And did not spare the ancient world, but guarded Noah, the eighth, a herald of righteousness, when He brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly.” To say that Noah was the eighth means that he was one of the eight (1 Pet. 3:20). Here Peter says that Noah was a herald of righteousness. To be righteous and godly or unrighteous and ungodly is crucial with respect to God’s governmental judgment (2 Pet. 2:5-9). To be righteous is to be right with man before God, and to be godly is to express God before man. This was the manner of life Noah and Lot lived, which spared them from God’s governmental judgment according to His righteousness.
Noah did not preach the gospel, but he preached God’s righteousness over against the corruption of his generation. As we have pointed out, Peter speaks of righteousness because his emphasis is on God’s government. Noah’s preaching of righteousness was related to God’s government. God told Noah that He would wipe out the world and that Noah should preach righteousness to his generation. God exercised His judgment upon that corrupted generation by bringing a flood upon the world of the ungodly.
Verse 6 continues, “And having reduced to ashes the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, He condemned them to ruin, having set an example to those who intend to live an ungodly life.” To live an ungodly life is to live in the flesh in the lusts of men, not in the will of God; it is to work out the desire of the nations (1 Pet. 4:2-3) and to live in a vain, ungodly manner of life (1 Pet. 1:18).
In verses 7 and 8 Peter says, “And rescued righteous Lot, oppressed by the licentious manner of life of the lawless (for that righteous man making his home among them, in seeing and hearing, tormented his righteous soul day after day with their lawless works).” In these verses Peter uses three cases: the case of the fallen angels, the case of Noah and his generation, and the case of Lot and the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. These cases are presented according to their biblical sequence. In Genesis first the fallen angels are judged by God, then there is the judgment of Noah’s generation, and later there is the judgment upon the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah.
Peter tells us in 2:7 that righteous Lot was oppressed by the licentious manner of life of the lawless. The word “lawless” here means unprincipled; it is a different word in Greek from lawless in verse 8. The lawless here especially denotes those who violate the law of nature and conscience. As God judged the lawless ones in Sodom and Gomorrah, He will also judge today’s sodomites.
In verses 7 and 8 Peter uses the word “righteous” three times in speaking of righteous Lot, that righteous man, and his righteous soul. This word is used in relation to God’s government. Likewise, the Greek words rendered lawless in verses 7 and 8 are also used here as governmental terms.
In verse 9 Peter says, “The Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of trial, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment.” The godly are those like Noah and Lot who live a godly life, in contrast to an ungodly life. The unrighteous are those who live an unrighteous life, in the licentious manner of the lawless, like those in Noah’s time and those in Sodom and Gomorrah. The day of judgment will be the day of the final judgment of the great white throne. The unrighteous ones who lived at the time of Noah and Lot must still face the judgment at the great white throne. After that judgment has been carried out, they will be cast into the lake of fire.
